Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
By Dianabasi Effiong
The Democratic Front (TDF) has welcomed what it described as great insight by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms of government.
The group made this known in a statement by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad.
The TDF stated that the National Assembly was expected to act independently but in cooperation with the Executive to fulfill its checks and balances role.
It stated, “Where both arms fulfill their distinctive roles, the Executive will deliver good governance to the people, and there will be development being the reward of democracy.
“We posit that Senate President Godswill Akpabio was on point when he said in a yet-to-be-aired documentary that federal lawmakers were not primarily elected to engage the executive in confrontation and fisticuffs but to work in collaboration for the common good of the nation.
“We hold that besides the need to prevent tyranny and abuse of power, promote accountability, encourage checks and balances, and protect individual rights, the principle of separation of power would not have been necessarily embedded in democracy.”
It also stated that the perception in certain quarters about the role of lawmakers in Nigeria as agents of perpetual political opposition against the executive arm was wrong and undemocratic.
“The distasteful and unacceptable description of the current National Assembly, by the opposition, as a rubber stamp on account of symbiotic partnership with the Tinubu-led Executive Arm of government, is ridiculous, baseless, and uninformed.
“The irony is that we have seen a similar relationship between the Senate of Senator David Mark and the then President Goodluck Jonathan, but we are not aware that the Senate was tagged a rubber stamp
“TDF believes that the speedy landmark of infrastructural development and macroeconomic reforms that have been achieved in the last two years was primarily enabled by the mutual understanding and consensus on issues of national importance between the Legislators and the Executive.
“We, however, note that the relationship has not been as rosy in the last two years because we are aware that a few ministerial appointees were rejected. It is also worthy to note the heated political debate in the two chambers of the National Assembly over the National Tax Reform Bill.
“This, for us, reflects the independence of the Federal Legislature as enshrined in the constitution and has paved the way for unhindered passage of numerous bills in the last two years,” the group stated.
The TDF also urged the Senate President and his colleagues in the 10th National Assembly to sustain their philosophy of non-confrontation so that Nigeria can continue to be seen as an enviable model of democracy in Africa.
