ON June 13, anointed candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for leadership positions in the National Assembly emerged victorious during elections at the federal parliament. While the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District in the Red Chamber, Godswill Akpabio, emerged as the President of the Senate, his running mate, Senator Jibrin Barau, won the position of Deputy Senate President. At the House of Representatives, Honourable Tajudeen Abbas took the position of Speaker, while Benjamin Kalu emerged as the Deputy Speaker. Both were candidates of the ruling party, which had approached the election with some anxiety following the outcome of the 2023 polls which gave the opposition parties more seats at the lower legislative chamber. The party, which also faced internal wrangling from members who felt hard done by its zoning formula, was apparently anxious to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2015 when the candidates it anointed, perhaps rather undemocratically, failed to clinch the positions. At the time, Senator Bukola Saraki and Honourable Yakubu Dogara shunned the party’s zoning arrangement to emerge as the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively.
Reacting to the outcome in a statement he personally signed, President Bola Tinubu said: “Being elected by their peers as presiding officers and assuming the leadership of the National Assembly is a great honour that comes with a huge responsibility. I trust that you will justify the confidence reposed in you by your members and many Nigerians. As your president, I am prepared to transparently work with the National Assembly. Nigerians expect distinguished senators and honourable members to make laws and carry out oversight duties that will enhance the performance of government to achieve successful outcomes including improving their quality of life.” The president said he anticipated disagreement between the executive and the legislature in the days to come, but added reflectively: “When we disagree, it will not be out of malice, ill-will, and the quest to diminish the institution of the National Assembly or any individual member.” He called for harmony between the two arms of government, adding that this was the only way to deliver quality service to Nigerians.
In its own reaction, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), speaking throuugh its chairman, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, said: “The popular choices of the new Senate President and the Rt. Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as their deputies underscored the confidence that their colleagues reposed in them and their abilities to work in harmony with the other arms of government for the development of our country. We look forward to working with the new leadership on different issues of national interest. We wish them God’s guidance and protection as they lead their colleagues in the 10th National Assembly to champion a vibrant legislative agenda that complements the Renewed Hope agenda of President Tinubu and other subnational governments across Nigeria.”
Truth be told, the 10th National Assembly has no option but to meet the yearnings and aspirations of long-suffering Nigerians who, since 1999, have had their hopes serially dashed by the legislature. The Akpabio-led National Assembly must bear this in mind and strive to live up to the expectations of Nigerians. It must bear in mind the fact that the ninth National Assembly was widely known as a rubber stamp given its pliable and rather serville approach to the Executive and tolerance of extremely insidious and reprobate behaviour by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) which recklessly plundered the public till without recompense. The Assembly under the feckless Ahmad Lawan was notorious for supporting all the negative actions of President Muhammadu Buhari, including the contracting of dubious loans resulting in humongous debts in spite of national protestations.
In approving President Buhari’s borrowing spree, it completely reversed the gains of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s debt relief fight for Nigeria at the onset of the Fourth Republic. Indeed, under the ninth National Assembly, legislative independence simply did not exist, and Senate President Lawan was on record as saying that he would consider any proposal by President Buhari as being good for the country. The point cannot be overstated that the eighth and ninth National Assembly were deeply implicated in the making of the current deplorable situation in which Nigeria finds itself as they openly enabled all the avaricious policies and actions of the Buhari government that resulted in the present gloom.
This time around, while not necessarily antagonising the Executive, the Red Chamber and the Green Chamber have a critical role to play as a bridge between the Executive/Judiciary and Nigerians. Nigerians have been going through a lot, including naira crisis and subsidy removal, and the legislature must strive to give them relief through public spirit. We expect debates to be robust and people-oriented. The importance of the legislature to the running of the democratic system that Nigeria operates should reflect profoundly on the National Assembly and its leadership as the country continues to confront challenges of economic downturn and deepening insecurity. We hope that the new leadership of the National Assembly will make concrete contributions to national development by leveraging on the constitutional independence of the legislature to checkmate the excesses of the executive while also providing legislative platform for innovative and insightful policies.
Nigerians are in dire need of a positive reorientation to enable them to overcome the current challenges. They want a National Assembly committed to helping in that regard. We hope that the new National Assembly and its leadership will seek a departure from the regrettable performance of the last Assembly and discontinue the deplorable tradition of serving as lapdogs to executive recklessness. Nigerians are looking forward to a vibrant and purposeful National Assembly to create a better future and we hope the new leadership and its members will hearken to this desire.
and then