Lawan: N’assembly under me has done well… David Mark, Saraki laid good foundation

Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the national assembly under his leadership has so far “done tremendously well”.

Speaking after he was awarded as the “Political Icon of the Year 2021” by the Sun newspaper on Saturday in Lagos, Lawan said the national assembly has worked on critical legislation for national development.

Lawan said he is successful as senate president because the likes of David Mark and Bukola Saraki, his predecessors, laid a good foundation.

“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.”

Lawan praised President Muhammadu Buhari for cooperating with the national assembly.

“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 said.

“This president assented to more bills than all the previous presidents since the fourth republic started.”