The Founder of Household of God Church, Reverend Chris Okotie, has called for the scrapping of the National and State Assemblies due to the high cost of governance in the country.

This is as he also asked the presidential candidates of the political parties for the 2023 election to step down for him in his bid to take over from the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

He made the call on Sunday while addressing journalists at his church in Oregun, Ikeja during the celebration marking his 63rd birthday.

Okotie said, “We must also rise above tribe and religion because there is an imbalance in the country and we are not practising federalism instead, what we are practising is a presidential system of government. Since 1999, things have been declining because the presidential system of government we are practising has failed us.

“We must get rid of the National and State Assemblies because maintaining each member costs the country billions of naira. Some of the standing committees at both assemblies are not useful to the country, they are only representing themselves, not the populace.

“For the best of the country, both assemblies should be scrapped and the money for maintaining them should be used for something else. What we have in Nigeria today is the government of the party, by the party and for the party.

“Ministers and the commissioners should also be expunged because Nigeria’s democracy has been hijacked by the elite for their interest and they are deceiving the downtrodden who don’t know anything. And the most important of all is our constitution. It should be changed to a people-oriented constitution, not the military one we have now. After the change, we can then restructure the country for the better.”