The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has described the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, as an enabler of executive recklessness.
On Wednesday, the Senate removed Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, from his position as Chief Whip.
He was replaced by Senator Tahir Monguno from Borno North. This decision came during a plenary session, following a request from the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress.
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The call for his removal was formally made by the APC’s National Working Committee in a letter co-signed by the National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and the National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru.
The letter, read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, stated that Ndume had misused his position through unguarded utterances and outbursts against the Federal Government, particularly targeting President Bola Tinubu.
Reacting, Atiku stated on Thursday that a key concern in the evolution of governmental systems has been to create a framework that limits the highhandedness of the executive branch.
He emphasized that a participatory approach to governance, where the government’s legitimacy comes from the people, is rightly considered to better serve the interests of the masses.
The former Vice President expressed regret that under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, democracy in Nigeria has sadly deviated from its fundamental principle of safeguarding the people against executive overreach.
Atiku said, “Regrettably, however, the democracy in Nigeria in the current administration of President Bola Tinubu has become an anathema to that general principle of democracy as providing primary protection for the people against executive excesses.
“This ugly tendency is being manifested by the steady posturing of our National Assembly, especially the Senate, of taking a reverse course in its core function and becoming a puppet in the hands of the President.”
He criticized the situation as unfair, stating that whenever senators fulfill their duty to hold the executive accountable on the Senate floor, they are reportedly chastised for it.
Atiku stated, “When Senator Abdul Ningi called the attention of the country to the incident of budget padding in the 2024 Appropriation bill, rather than calling for a thorough investigation into the observation, the reaction of the Senate was to hand him a suspension. Today, the people of Nigeria are victims of an ambiguous budget framework upon which appropriations for the current fiscal year are hinged in the face of a multiplicity of appropriations.
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“Only yesterday, Senator Ali Ndume called for the President to wake up to his responsibilities and provide succour to address the biting hunger and poverty in the country. Ironically, the response of the @NGRSenate to his patriotic warning is to relieve him of his principal office as the Chief Whip of the Senate.
“Also, despite persistent solicitations that the government put its priorities on canceling the excruciating hardship in the land and suspend the idea of spending scarce resources on the purchase of new aircraft for the presidential fleet, the Senate took a stand against the people and ignored the voices of altruism by decorating the President with controversial purchases of an aircraft and a yacht amidst the worst material conditions of the average citizen in the history of our country.
“We are, therefore, beginning to see a pattern in which the National Assembly has become an enabler of executive recklessness, and the concerns of the people stand in the nadir of the priority list of the legislature.”
“This emerging reality must stop. The health of our democracy is being compromised by this unholy alliance between the executive and the legislature and portends a dictatorship that will worsen the lot of the people.”
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