The senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, Oluremi Tinubu, has expressed the belief that President Muhammadu Buhari will work hard to ensure that the nation has a better Senate in the 9th Assembly.
She said it was important for the President to do so in order to forestall a repeat of the present situation in which she said the upper chamber of the National Assembly was populated by some people who are frustrating Buhari’s efforts aimed at repositioning the country.
Tinubu spoke in Lagos on Saturday during a media luncheon where she unveiled her plans for the senatorial district for 2019-2023.
While responding to questions from journalists on the strained relationship between the legislative and executive arms of government, she said some members of the 8th Assembly were bent on frustrating Buhari’s programmes.
She said she was sure that Buhari would not want a repeat of what he witnessed with members of the present National Assembly.
She, therefore, urged Nigerians to re-elect Buhari for another term in order to complete his task.
Tinubu also called on Nigerians not to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party because the main opposition party was responsible for the hardships currently being experienced in the country.
She said Buhari would have learnt in his three and a half years in office that his inaugural statement that “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” was not exactly the way he thought.
She said, “I believe the President would have learnt a thing or two because when he came in, he said ‘I belong to everybody and belong to nobody.’ But I know by now that he knows those people that belong to him.
“What I am saying is not to take the President’s comment for granted, but now, I am sure he knows that some Nigerians are very dangerous to his decisions, even moving forward. The President should know those who are his own by now.
“It is a lesson to him and I know that he would fight to ensure that we have a better Senate in the 9th Assembly, not what we have now with a set of people who are frustrating his efforts. I do not think he would want to go through that route again.”
Tinubu said a term of four years was not enough for the President, hence the need for Nigerians to give the ruling All Progressives Congress another chance in 2019.
“Nigerians should give the APC another chance in 2019; four years is not enough for a President to complete his task, he is not a magician. We did not get to where we are overnight,” she said.
Speaking on her plan to return to the Senate, Tinubu said the leaders of her senatorial district convinced her to seek re-election.
“I am doing a third term because the leaders of my district asked me to contest. Beyond that, there is so much more to be done.
“I have shown through our quarterly town hall meetings that power belongs to and rests with the people. This third term is thus a chance to consolidate on previous achievements.
“To ensure that the third term is even more productive, we have set out to focus more on empowering our youths and finding ways to make them self-reliant.
“Through our quarterly town hall meetings, 27 in the series, I have been able to bond more effectively with our constituents,” she added.
