SPEAKERSHIP: GBAJABIAMILA’S EMERGENCE WILL BE A HUGE MORAL BURDEN ON NIGERIA – COPA
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Adeboye Omoboye
– The impending Speaker-ship election in the House of Representatives continues to generate discourse while throwing up characters for election into said position which invites public scrutiny and input
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The Coalition of Public Interest Lawyers & Advocates (COPA) have in the preceding weeks been at the vanguard of calls for a sound leader bereft of character flaws and ineptitude that can bring the Green Chamber to disrepute nationally and internationally.
In the press release, Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq.
Convener of the coalition said “Our continuous thorough interrogation of the circumstances and dynamism of Nigeria makes it pertinen that the House of Representatives, being the single largest legislative chamber in the country and princely positioned to set the tone for further offices within government circles, should be guided by the highest possible standards in their choice of a leader”.
COPA, having interacted with the public severally and conducted an impartial inquest into the antecedents of all who have indicated interest for the position of Speaker-ship of the House of Representatives have summed up its findings expressed in a singular concern which is that with the leanings in the Green Chamber, the touted candidacy of one Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila presents the most undesirable alternative.
We have concluded that A Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila leadership of the House of Representatives (HOR) would be a severe moral burden on the country. This is a bare statement of truth that takes into cognizance his precedence on the Green Chamber as a lackey and in his prior private life as a man who has accumulated questionable wealth while bearing the baggage of being morally fraudulent and dishonest.
COPA said Gbajabiamila’s years of practice as a lawyer in Georgia, United States of America ended with a disbarment and an indictment for dishonorably defrauding his client thus breaking the fiduciary trust innate in such interactions.
Further findings have had him placed as the man with multiple identities in the United States of America, strongly fingered as being behind several identity theft while living off the evil gains of his shrewd life.
There isn’t the tiniest shred of honor in a man who has lived his life on the other side of the law leading others in a legislative assignment in the House of Representatives. His mere membership of the House is an indictment of our political process and choices and is cause for great regret and shame.
The uprightness of a political leader is non-negotiable. The position of a Speaker for the HOR is itself such a sensitive one that demands the most stringent scrutiny, and for which the standard may not be sacrificed on the alter of mediocrity, patronage nor godfatherism.
Is it truly the case that Hon. Femi Gbajiamila is the best the House of Representatives has to offer? Or is his ascendancy to the Green Chamber and temerity to vie for the seat of Speaker in the HOR incurable symptoms of our political slumber, unethical process and political patronage taking precedence over merit and upright-ness?
Nigerians must not relent in holding its leaders up to the best possible standards. To lower our value system to accommodate lesser men of disrepute is to set the nation up to fail and embarrass itself globally. We have suffered enough from bad leadership brought on by elective processes skewered to favor hollow men against those with the adroitness for leadership.
COPA will continue to be the conscience of the nation and the voice of millions of Nigerians imploring the members of the newly constituted 9th House of Representatives assembly to show themselves true and responsive to the mandate of the Nigerian people and act right by their oath of office. It is instructive that this election will set the tone for what Nigerians are to expect going forward form the House or Representatives. This election may very well make or mar the 9th House of Representatives. Failing Nigerians is not an option.
Lowering the standards of leadership to accommodate a political lackey bereft of the tiniest claim to moral uprightness is selling the nation short on true leadership and also not an option. Nigerians will resist such attempts vehemently as they always have.
