By Henry Umoru
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said that members of the National and State Houses of Assembly were major beneficiaries of the decision of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, to hand over power to a civilian administration in 1999.
In a statement by his Special Assistant On Media, Jackson Udom, Akpabio who stated this on Saturday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential villa during the public presentation of three books in honour of the former head of state and his 84th birthday celebration said,, “Your Excellency, on behalf of my colleagues, I thank you that patriotic action and decision you took on May 29th 1999. By that action, you restored democratic structures at both the National and state levels. We the lawmakers are major beneficiaries of that act of sacrifice in the over two decades.
“My colleagues are awaiting your approval for a date to celebrate and honour you for your selflessness and sacrifice for this nation despite the pressure from sycophants in the corridors of power for you to extend your tenure by one year, three or six months.
“I salute your courage and sacrifice because you did not allow yourself to be misled by sycophants who came to impress it on upon you to extend your handing over date by either one year, six or three months. If you had changed your mind due to that pressure, nobody would have challenged you. But as a man of integrity with the fear of God, you ignored them and kept to your promise and when it was time, you put in place a democratically elected government with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the first beneficiary of that decision.
“Your Excellency, this podium is too small for members of the National and State Assemblies to eulogise and celebrate you because you did a lot for Nigeria and Nigerians. During military rule, the Executive and Judiciary are always intact. It is the legislature that is usually suspended and that is why we have to celebrate you for restoring democracy at the shortest time.”
The President of the Senate said that “your emergence as the head of state in 1998 was a fulfilment of God’s plans for you. You were destined to lead Nigeria and no one could change it. My prayers and that of my colleagues in the NASS for you is that you will live to see more decades after today.
“Thank you for putting down your thoughts in the biography for Nigerians and for the enrichment of our history. Nigerians yet unborn would ever be grateful for what you did on that fateful day.”
