The Senator representing Borno South, Borno State, Ali Ndume, has advised the Federal Government to absorb Senators who were not re-elected into the 10th Senate to serve in various capacities.
Ndume gave the suggestion during the valedictory session to mark the end of the 9th Senate on Saturday, and to usher in the 10th Senate on Tuesday.
He said, “Mr President, I want to make a request, these gentle men and women that are not coming back here are very important resources to Nigeria.
“They should make sure that our colleagues who are very resourceful and can be useful to this country, that are grassroots politicians are called back to serve in various capacities.
“Especially now when we have the leadership of this country in the hands of, more or less, legislators.”
He questioned his colleagues of the 9th Senate, if they have truly done well, seeing that 75 percent of them will not return to the 10th Senate.
Ndume stated that those of them coming back will be coming back like tenants in their houses.
“Mr President, my distinguished colleagues, this is one of the moments again where we come to do what we call valedictory session.
“And since I joined this National Assembly, it is always a time to come and say goodbye to people you don’t want to part with.
“Yes, we have done all we could, we have corporated that much, but, can we say we have succeeded, when 75% of us are not coming back?
“75%, and when the new ones come in, there are not going to be handover notes to them. They’re going to start afresh, or we are going to start afresh.
“And some of us that are coming back, just about 25% of us, it’s just like coming into your house like a tenant,” he added.
He said the rest of them not coming back to the Senate is not because they chose not to or that they do not deserve to come back. Ndume said it is an issue that needs to be considered as, “the institution is going down.”