Many Lawmakers Failed To Get Return Ticket Because Of Corrupt System – Speaker Gbajabiamila

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has blamed corrupt system for the inability of serving members of the House to get tickets as candidates for their political parties.

The speaker pointed out that some members suffered losses in the just concluded party primaries because the system adopted was corrupt.

Gbajabiamila made the claim in his opening remark at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday.

The Speaker said, “The past few months have been dominated by political developments in the country, as political parties carry out various activities to nominate their candidates for the forthcoming general elections.

“All of us, members of the House of Representatives have not been exempted from this process. Unfortunately, as it is always the case in electoral contests, some of us who sought the nomination of our parties to return the legislature did not get it.

“Others who sought nomination to contest other positions have also fallen short in their quests. Honourable colleagues, it is rather unfortunate that the process went the way it went.

“I made bold to say here that the legislature has once again suffered losses. The loss is not only for members who lost, it is a lost to democracy, to the institution and to the country.

“If it means anything, I know and I am aware that many of our members did not lose the primaries because they were rejected by their constituents, no, far from it.

“Many of our members lost because of the process. The process which we foresaw in the House of Representatives. The delegate system, which unfortunately was not what the delegate system is supposed to be.

“Many of our members lost because they were not even given a fair share or fair shot. We have good legislators, both here in the chambers and back home, who are probably not coming back because of this same process.

“When we fought for Direct Primaries in this House, we knew exactly what we were saying. And in that fight, we kicked and was pushed back by those who failed to know what they needed to do, that has now become the bane of the institution of the legislature.”