Senate president Akpabio & Speaker Abbas are mere stooges & appointees of Tinubu ….No courageous voice in national Assembly —Saliu Lukman, Ex APC chieftain

Malam Salihu Lukman, former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), has described the National Assembly’s leadership as mere appointees of the President.

He also chastised the 10th Assembly for failing to raise courageous voices to counter the executive’s excesses.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)’s immediate-past National Vice Chairman, North-west, gave the current National Assembly leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas a dismal rating.

In a statement titled “Importance of Legislature to a Democracy,” Lukman reflected on the protest in Kenya over President William Ruto’s Finance Bill, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 39 people, as well as Sen. Crystal Asige’s position on the protest, which has gone viral on social media.

According to Lukman, there is widespread concern among Nigerians that the courageous voices of individual legislators in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are dwindling and both chambers are becoming more like rubber stamps. Because of the faint or nearly complete absence of courageous voices in the National Assembly, the President and members of the Executive branch of government are able to get away with almost every wrong decision that is detrimental to the well-being of Nigerian citizens.

“A good example is President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s rash decision to eliminate petroleum subsidies without a clear plan. Following that, an impulsive decision was made to float the Naira exchange rate against other international currencies with little planning.

“The result of this reality is a rock-bottom drop in living conditions in the country as a result of an unimaginable decimation of income values. More than a year later, there appears to be no logical response from the government, and there is little dedicated debate about these issues in either of the National Assembly’s two chambers. Not even during the debate over passing the 2024 budget.

“It is no secret that Nigerians are shocked and deeply disappointed by the performance of the 10th National Assembly, which has so far had the most expeditious record of passing executive bills, including the scandalous reversion to an old National Anthem that makes little sense without a public hearing.”

Lamenting the country’s sorry situation with budget operations, Lukman stated, “As it is now, thanks to the 10th National Assembly, President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government is operating three budgets concurrently – 2023, 2023 Supplementary, and 2024 Budgets. There are rumours that a fourth Supplementary Budget for 2024 is on its way, which, if passed, will make it the fourth concurrent budget running.”

Explaining the factors that led to the nation’s current situation, the APC immediate-past National Vice Chairman, North-west, inquired as to how Nigeria arrived at this abysmally low level of legislative practice, to the point where democracy is almost synonymous with darkness in Nigeria.

“Without going into detail, a number of factors that have occurred over the last 25 years contribute to this. Some of the factors include the reality that the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly has been gradually reduced to the status of presidential appointees. This was made possible in large part by the weakening and subordination of the party machinery or organs that are supposed to serve as negotiation platforms.

“As a result, in addition to having a democracy that equates to darkness, as described by Sen. Asige in Kenya, ‘unity’ is being ‘violently gunned down in the streets, not by men, but by monsters who have no concern for human lives’. Unlike in Kenya, where monsters are only associated with the nefarious activities of trigger-happy overzealous police officers, in Nigeria they are also amorphous, operating as Boko Haram, bandits, kidnappers, and other variants of terrorist groups in the country.

“And unlike Sen. Asige’s observation about Kenya, ‘although this government has demonstrated that lifeless Kenyan bodies are not to take precedence over their punitive finance bill, young Kenyans have looked their oppressors in the eyes and shown them that when it comes down to the wire, there are only two times to be brave – when you feel like it and when you don’t,’ Nigerians only wish the same could be said here in our context.”

He observed that punitive policy decisions by successive Nigerian governments, including the current one, take precedence over citizens’ lives.

He stated: “Fifteen trillion Naira is being spent on a coastal road from Lagos to Calabar; billions have been spent on a Presidential Yacht, Vice President accommodation, the purchase of luxury vehicles for elected and appointed government officials, including members of the National Assembly; a new Presidential aircraft is about to be procured, and so on. The list is nearly endless and is constantly growing, and the cost is simply punitive.

“Although young Nigerians are making every effort to engage these issues, a lack of organisational strategy, compounded by a lack of inclusiveness, has hampered opportunities for young people in Nigeria to effectively confront today’s forces of darkness.” As a result, many are wondering when young Nigerians will stand up and look their oppressors in the eyes, demonstrating that when it comes down to the wire, there are only two times to be brave: when you feel it and when you don’t. When that time comes, will Nigerians have a strong voice in the two chambers of the National Assembly to echo their grievances and advocate for them, as Sen. Asige did for Kenyan youth?”

According to Lukman, the two chambers of the National Assembly and their members have failed to serve as a check on the President and Executive. This has led to an atmosphere of denial and the use of ‘brute force’ against citizens, implying that ‘brute force’ is ‘the operating system’ built into today’s government.

“Given such an unfortunate reality, innocent and law-abiding Nigerians are dying on a daily and hourly basis.” Sen. Asige correctly stated that “when they kill us, they are killing themselves. The arrogance of some of these top government officials has been outrageously condescending to young people, disgusting and reminiscent of narcistic abuse.”

“It must be admitted that Sen. Asige is a representative of both Kenyans and Africans.”

He did, however, mention that one of the “challenges of our democracy is that the two chambers of the National Assembly are only accountable to themselves.”