A former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has tasked former legislators to speak out against any wrongdoing, irrespective of their political or regional affiliations, to preserve Nigeria’s democracy.

Mr Dogara stated this on Thursday in Abuja while addressing former members of the house at the 2024 House of Representatives Reunion Conference.

He said that having served the country at the level of the National Assembly, they had joined the elite class and should, therefore, not keep quiet in the face of any wrongdoing.

“As statesmen, as elites, as leaders in this land, if we see something going wrong, we should do something, we should say something and let us offer everything within the ambit of our powers to see that those things are corrected,” he said.

The former speaker said Nigeria must first exist before there could be political offices either in the executive, legislature or judiciary to aspire to.

“Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, the political system is organised in such a way that it is all about what you demand, and sometimes, they may not even listen to you when you speak out.

“The truth remains that, whether they listen to you or not, it is not an excuse to keep quiet; we should always speak out. For those of us who want to be role models, to be a role model entails two things.

“You must act worthy of your calling, and then you have to speak against wrongdoings. But once you miss out on either of the two, you cannot be a role model,” he said.

The eighth assembly speaker said that as former lawmakers, it was high time they came together to continue contributing their quota to nation-building.

In her remarks, Mulikat Adeola, the majority leader of the fifth assembly and convener of the reunion, said there were a group of people who had been in all the constituencies and were in touch with the people.

According to the former majority leader, there are very knowledgeable people among them who should not be left behind.

“I expect that we should be the ones holding the government to account. Anytime a government is in power, we can speak to policies, we can speak to government actions; whatever it is they are doing, we can demand explanation or accountability.

“That will put the government on its toes, even though some of us might also be in government at the particular time,” she said.

(NAN)