Lawan Praises Mark, Saraki, Says He Has Leant A Lot From Them

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has heaped praises on two former Senate Presidents – David Mark and Bukola Saraki for their roles in building the National Assembly.

Lawan pointed out that the current National Assembly is benefitting from the leadership abilities of the two former Senate Presidents and the foundation they laid when they were in charge.

Naija News understands the current Senate President made the submission about his predecessors on Saturday in Lagos State while speaking after receiving the award of the “Political Icon of the Year 2021” by the Sun newspaper.

According to him, the ninth National Assembly couldn’t have achieved what it has achieved so far without the good foundation laid by Senators David Mark and Bukola Saraki who held the position in previous years.

Lawan went ahead to dedicate the award to previous presiding officers of the National Assembly.

“Thank God in less than three years, the ninth national assembly has done tremendously well in the area of important, critical and crucial legislation for national development,” he said.

“I have dedicated this award to previous presiding officers since Nigeria started as a democracy because whatever we have achieved in the ninth national assembly, there must have been some foundation set by others before we came on board.

“Let me say that I have learnt a lot from one very outstanding presiding officer and his name is senator David Mark who was senate president for two terms – the sixth and the seventh assemblies.

“And of course the 13th president of the senate, my brother and my friend (Saraki) who was here (for this occasion) before he left. I worked with him as a senate leader. He made contributions too like the previous president of the senate did.

“Therefore I cannot take credit for the ninth national assembly but the ninth national assembly stands out in one way. He stands out in the way of conquering the most difficult legislations that defied passage and where they were passed, defied assent.”

Speaking further, Lawan praised President Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring a smooth and cordial relationship exists between the legislators and the executive.

He said President Buhari has assented to more bills than all the previous presidents since the fourth republic started.

“Let me also pay tribute to President Muhammadu Buhari because for us in the Ninth Assembly, if not because we have the buy-in of the President, to ensure that the Legislature works very cordially with the executive arm of government, all the legislations wouldn’t have been assented to,” he added.

This article was originally published on Nigeria News