Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has promised that his regime will ensure good relationship with the Executive arm of government to make Nigerians enjoy the dividend of democracy.
Lawan gave the assurance on Wednesday while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He spoke with journalists, shortly after a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The Senate President said he was at the Villa to say thank you to Osinbajo for the support he gave during the contest for the post of the Senate President.
He explained that his mandate was bi-partisan and that his regime would do everything possible to ensure a united house.
Said he: “As new National Assembly, we have received a bipartisan mandate from across the parties.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Young Progressives Party (YPP) voted for us and we believe that this is an opportunity to consolidate the support that we received across the political parties in the National Assembly.
“We believe that we must remain united in the National Assembly; we must remain focused for us to be able to deliver those legislative interventions that are necessary for good governance in the country.
“We also believe that we must foster relationship with the Executive Arm of government that is based on cooperation and collaboration.’’
He allayed the fear that the 9th Assembly might end up being a rubber stamp of the executive.
His words: “My comment is that parliament is not a primary school or secondary school where you have a headmaster or a principal that will dictate to his students.
“Those who know what parliament is know that it is an aggregate or an assemblage of people who have equal status.
“Being elected as the Senate President does not mean that I am the boss of other senators; I am simply to co-ordinate and lead and aggregate views and lead debates.
“And whoever is in the majority that will be the decision of the senate appropriately and accordingly; so, there will be nothing like rubber stamp.
“So far, I have never seen a National Assembly that had a rubber stamp leadership and I have been around for 20 years to know if there was one.’’
