Former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, has called on the authorities to name the House of Representatives’ wing of the National Assembly after deceased former speaker, Ghali Umar Na’Abba.
The latter passed away on early hours of Wednesday morning at the National Hospital, Abuja, following an undisclosed illness.
Anyim, who together with the deceased led the 4th National Assembly in the capacities of Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives respectively, said him and some of their colleagues in the hollow chambers were on the brink of flying late Na’Abba abroad for further medical attention when he succumbed to the affliction he was battling with.
He said this in a tribute to the late former Speaker, titled, ‘The Lion of the 4th National Assembly’.
In it, the ex-SGF stated that the late Na’Abba deserved being immortalised with the wing of the Green Chamber named after him.
The tribute reads in part, “I remember, with sufficient patriotism, how Ghali and I got together to decide on the Senate’s and the House of Representatives participation ratio in the international parliamentary bodies. I will always be grateful to Ghali for supporting me during my difficult Senate tenure. I respect Ghali’s courage and convictions, and I acknowledge with due sense of humility his sense of brotherhood and camaraderie. His rare insight and intellect are enviable and admirable.
“Today my associate, my friend and my brother, Ghali Umar Na’Abba is no more. I lost a friend, the nation lost a patriot, and his family lost a loving and caring father but God receives in heaven an honest and compassionate soul. In remembrance of the pioneer work Hon. Ghali accomplished in the House of Representatives, it may be needful to name the House of Representative Wing of the National Assembly Complex as Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba Wing.”
