How National Assembly’s blind loyalty to presidency destroys separation of powers

The sing song in Nigeria nowadays is the call for implementation of separation of powers as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

Many observers say that it appears that the Executive arm has swallowed up the judiciary and legislative arms, a sad development which has continued to frustrate governance.

Perhaps, at no other time since the return of the country to civil rule in 1999 has Nigerians experienced a total absence of the legislature in governance than now.

The bicameral National Assembly, made up of 109 Senate members and 360 members of the House of Representatives, has sold itself to the Executive under the control of President Muhammadu Buhari.

At best, it can be said that the federal legislature is non-existent in Nigeria as the 9th Assembly has proven to be a rubber stamp of the Executive.

The legislative house is now ruled by primordial sentiment. Religion, ethnicity, and party affiliation have ruined the chambers.

In the United States of America, where Nigeria copied its version of presidential system, the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives work independent of the executive arm. None is subservient to the other. They all work in harmony for the good of the country.

If it were not for strong institutions in place, the general election in the US last year would have flopped. But National Assembly played their role; the electoral body played its role appropriately and the country was saved from going into crisis.

In Nigeria’s case, the nation’s Judiciary and National Assembly are extension of the Executive. They are tied to the apron string of the Executive. They have no mind of their own.

When the Senate President or Speaker goes to see the President and they kneel down to greet the President, almost fidgeting, it means they do not know their job and their powers. There is nothing like father-son relationship when it comes to separation of powers. They are supposed to be a check on the Executive.

On a number of occasions, the National Assembly had discussed the seriousness of the insecurity situation in the country. Suggestions had also been made to summon the President, but that has not happened, because a greater number of the legislature, because they are of the same party, religion or ethnic leaning with the President, they shut down the plan.

Some members of the National Assembly had also called for the impeachment of the president on the ground of incompetence, but that has also been shut down.

Recently, Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC-Kogi) cried on the floor of the Senate while speaking on the worsening security situation in the country, and he urged his colleagues to take a drastic action by calling the President’s attention to a menace that he noted was threatening the lives of every citizen. But he was not taken seriously by fellow party members.

A National Assembly that worth its salt protects the interest of the masses by prevailing on the Executive to do what is right. But Nigeria’s case is different as the federal legislators collude with the Executive to drive long nail into the head of citizens, as it were.

The National Assembly allows the Executive to run rough shod over the citizens. Incessant increase in pump price of fuel amid biting poverty in the land is part of government’s insensitivity. Increasing electricity tariff without commensurate supply of power is insensitive. Many companies are not functioning optimally; the healthcare system has collapsed, unemployment rate has become scandalous, and government pays deaf ear to people’s plight. In all of these, the federal legislators are not restraining the Executive even with the level of hardship in the country.

The Federal Government is not complete without the National Assembly. In other words, the executive, and the judicial arms, whose powers are vested by the Constitution of Nigeria in the National Assembly, cannot function well without the check and balances provided by the legislature. But this is missing, in the real sense of the word.

A clear instance of primordial sentiment featured on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday, when Idris Wase, deputy speaker of the House, who presided over the plenary, shut down a motion by Solomon Bob (PDP, Rivers) to call the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami to order over his comments on the ban on open grazing by Southern Governors.

Wase, who was intolerant of the motion, was said to have shouted down his colleague who was irked by Malami’s comments and raised a point of order (Order 6 of House Rules Book) at the plenary, accusing the Attorney-General of the Federation of making inciting comments.

Wase reportedly shouted: ”The order which you are bringing this matter is wrong. It’s either you bring it as a full motion but coming under matters of privilege is wrong so take your seat.”

It was the same Wase who resisted Mark Gbillah, a Tiv lawmaker from Benue State in March from raising a motion on behalf of Tiv indigenes in the diaspora, who were condemning the rate of killing in their state and displacement of their people from their ancestral land.

Wase vehemently resisted Gbillah and rejected their petition against the Federal Government of the alleged takeover of their ancestral lands.

Such actions by Wase do not convey that elected members have the right to air their views in the chambers, just because the principal officers are being sentimental or trying to please some individuals or groups.

Adelaja Adeoye, a politician and political analyst, decried the rubber stamp status of the legislature in the country.

According to him, “For Nigeria to effectively function as a country, there must be full separation of powers, amongst the Executive, Legislators and the Judiciary as demanded by the 1999 constitution, which is still subject to review and amendment.

“The Executive arm both at the Federal and State has formed the habit of using the legislators as rubber stamp in carrying out their agenda, which in most cases do not reflect the wishes of their constituencies.”

A number of issues of national importance that affected the lives of Nigerians have been glossed over by the National Assembly.

Nigerians are expecting that there should be total independence of the National Assembly, but that is not the case as their refusal to play their oversight role on the Executive, has worsened the bad governance by the Buhari administration, leaving the nation’s economy in tatters.

“Nigerians have the right to think that there is a predetermined position on the proposed constitution amendment process for instance, because the federal legislators have not acted like they have the mind of their own since they came into power,” Adeoye said.

“Very worrisome is the fact that, they tend to do esprit de corps as APC members than to show loyalty and concern for the Nigerian people.

“This is where I will call on all opposition Senators and Reps members in the PDP and others to stand to be counted and not allow anything that will further polarise the country,” he added.

He further urged Nigerian voters to work hard in 2023, to ensure that credible people and of robust knowledge are voted from all the constituencies across Nigeria to the National Assembly to avoid a situation where loyalty will be to the President rather than to the country.

Kunle Okunola, a political analyst, said it was quite unfortunate that the National Assembly that ought to seriously serve as a check on the President and the entire executive operates like a rubber stamp arm of the government.

“Although the NASS in a presidential system work in harmony with the Executive for the progress of the country, that should not be taken to a level that it becomes unhealthy for the development of the country. The separation of powers provision must be adhered to,” Okunola said.

He further said that, “Blind loyalty to the president is immoral, unconstitutional and illegitimate because their loyalty should be to the people who elected them to represent their interest.

“The National Assembly’s excessive loyalty to the President is inimical to the development of the country and so, they need to work more for people’s interest than the president’s interest.”

But Ahmed Lawan, Senate president, does not believe the 9th Assembly under his leadership has missed the mark.

Speaking at an event recently, Lawan said: “This relationship is misunderstood by many. Some, out of mischief, describe the National Assembly as a rubber stamp, some out of misunderstanding. For us, what is utmost in our minds in the ninth Assembly is: how do we work with the executive to make Nigeria better? If the price to pay is the names that we get, then let it be the price, because we believe that Nigerians deserve better service, better infrastructure development in the country and it is difficult if not impossible in this country or indeed in any democracy without understanding and harmony in the way and manner the two arms of government work.”