- Activist Counters: “ Stop Talking Rubbish
By Abiola Olawale
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has raised an alarm, claiming that the Senate which is meant to checkmate the excesses of the executive no longer recognises its duties.
The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the national assembly is gradually becoming an “enabler of executive recklessness”.
Atiku made this known on his official X handle while condemning the removal of Senator Ali Ndume, the lawmaker representing Borno South senatorial district of Borno State at the Senate, as the chief whip of the senate.
The New Diplomat reported that the Senate announced Senator Tahir Monguno as the new Chief Whip of the Senate.
Ndume has been critical of the government over the state of the nation with his recent claim that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is populated by kleptocrats.
Reacting to the development, the former vice-president alleged that
the Tinubu-led administration is clamping down on people speaking truth to power.
Atiku said: “In the evolution of systems of government, a major concern for thinkers was a governmental framework that will reduce the highhandedness of the executive arm of government,” he wrote.
“It was thought, and rightly so too, that a participatory approach to governance, such that will make the government derive its legitimacy from the people will better serve the interest of the masses.
“And thus, to make sure that the executive does not go overboard in the application of its powers, the legislative arm of government was conceived as a means of protecting the people from the authoritarian tendencies of wielders of state powers.
“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.
“It is uncharitable that whenever members of the Senate stand on the floor of the red chamber to perform their statutory duty of calling the executive to order, they are immediately reprimanded for so doing.
“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 ambiguous budget framework upon which appropriations for the current fiscal year are hinged in the face of a multiplicity of appropriations.
“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 Senate 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 cancelling 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 nad the ir of the priority list of the legislature. This emerging reality must stop.”
Abubakar said the nation’s democracy is being “compromised” by an “unholy alliance” between the executive and the legislature and “portends a dictatorship that will worsen a lot of the people”.
But in a swift reaction, an activist, comrade Ojo Nelson tongue lashed Atiku, saying he is talking rubbish and making unfounded allegations.
“ These are baseless allegations and let it be clear that he is talking rubbish.”, he added.
