Nigeria’s Senate President from 2015 to 2019, Bukola Saraki has observed that Nigerians are so obsessed with the presidency as though the legislative and judicial arms of government are mere inconveniences.
This was as he pointed out that the framers of the Constitution deliberately instituted separation of powers, stressing that they built friction into the system to guarantee citizens’ freedom because the greatest danger to a free people is not a weak government, but an unchecked government.
Delivering a lecture at The Platform Nigeria organised to commemorate Democracy Day, the former Kwara governor said, “A legislature that cannot say ‘no’ is not a legislature at all.
“A legislature which simply receives executive proposals, approves them without scrutiny, and goes home has not fulfilled its constitutional mandate.
“It has performed a ceremonial function. It is an echo. A democracy made only of echoes is only one election away from becoming something else entirely.”
Saraki, who was known to have asserted Senate’s independence and stood up to the executive arm led by President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke to the issues they faced at the time.
“The independence of the National Assembly is not rebellion against the government of the day. I say that loudly, having been a victim where when you stand for the independence of the National Assembly, they say, ‘Ah, Saraki is a bad boy. He’s against the government.’ No. We are talking about how institutions can do what they are meant to do.”
The former Senate President argued that an independent legislature actually strengthens the government’s legitimacy.
“Because a mandate that is never tested is a mandate no one can trust. How do you trust your government if it is not a government that is subjected to questions?” he asked.
According to Saraki, framers of the 1999 Constitution knew what they were doing when they “built friction into the system. It was on purpose. It was not a mistake. That friction is not dysfunction. That friction guarantees your freedom.”
