Politics
National Assembly And Over Sight Functions
The National Assembly under the Nigerian presidential system
of government is a bicameral legislature with two chambers, namely the Senate
and the House of Representatives.
The 7th National Assembly was inaugurated on June 6, 2011,
with the Senate having 36 re-elected members and 73 elected for the first time,
making the 109 Senators of the upper chambers; House of Representatives with
360 members had 100 persons re-elected while 260 were first timers.
The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as
amended provides that the National Assembly is the highest elective lawmaking
body of the country. It has vested in it the power to enact laws for the peace,
order and good governance of the federation.
No doubt, the National lawmakers had made relevant laws for
the betterment of society and corporate existence of the nation as well as
undertaken oversight functions to the best of their ability in line with the
principle of checks and balances.
Just recently the lawmakers intervened in the Central Bank
proposal for the introduction of N5,000 note and other denominations requesting
that the plan be kept in abeyance. President Jonathan also accepted the
resolution and subsequently directed the Central Bank to put the idea on hold.
This move was applauded by Nigerians for government being sensitive to
perceived negative impact of the proposal for the wellbeing of the common man.
In the words of Mr. Gary Hamel, author and research fellow
at the Harvard Business School, “The real challenge for leaders is not to seek
perfection in all issues but to set up structures that allow institutions to
thrive with their less than perfect leadership and the key strength of
democratic institutions are the capacity to adapt and evolve peacefully.”
There is no gainsaying the fact that members of the National
Assembly are political leaders in their own right, they represent the interests
of their constituencies whose mandate they carry and it behoves on them to make
justifiable laws for the benefit of the people.
Shortly after the proclamation of the National Assembly, the
issue of leadership structure created some challenges because the ruling
People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was alleged to have zoned major political
offices with the emergence of Dr Goodluck Jonathan as president from the
South-South region.
It was rumoured that the presidency have endorsed Senator
David Mark to continue as Senate President while the exit of former speaker
Oladimeji Bankole left a vacuum. Jonathan was said to have favoured a candidate
from the South-West but the odds weighed against her as majority of House
members preferred the incumbent speaker from the North.
Barrister Innocent Sunday, a political analyst and pundit,
fingered these initial scenarios as the contaminating blood in the political
vein of the house and the presidency.
“Otherwise how can you fathom the quick alliance with the opposition in a House
dominated by the President’s party members to issue impeachment threat for
below average implementation of the 2012, budget barely five months after its
passage.
Although, the constitution provides that any law passed in
any chambers must have a concurring response from the other and the state House
of Assembly are equally empowered to deliberate on such issues especially on
the impeachment of the commander-in-chief.
Simply put, if the plot was probably to attract the
attention of the president, then they have succeeded, otherwise, the effect was
like water poured on the back of a duck.
In a presidential system of government lobbying of lawmakers
by the executive and other interest groups, is a necessary pastime to either
support or discourage the passage of a bill into law, depending on which side
of the divide.
In America, President Barak Obama’s Health bill generated
controversy among citizens, Republicans and Democrats but it has since been
passed into law because the government utilised the instrument of lobbying.
This process which engages persons with oratory prowess and knowledgeable in
government affairs have been degraded in the Nigerian system misunderstood,
misrepresented and even given the colouration of bribe.
However, there is nothing that demoralises people more
effectively than the belief that other persons are being rewarded or favoured
for reasons that has nothing to do with talent, effort and results.
Without mincing words, President Jonathan and the National
Assembly have enjoyed cordial working relationship particularly for allowing
each arm performs its duties without interference. To this end, several laws
have been passed and assented to, some were inherited proposed laws improved
upon and given the green light like the Freedom of Information Law (FOI).
Worthy of note and rightly too is for the legislature to
discharge its oversight function on the executive arm to ensure that
appropriations approved in the budget for implementation were carried out.
Regrettably, such exercise has attracted misdemeanor consequences on the
lawmakers.
As earlier mention, the motion which was adapted by the
House on the non-implementation of the 2012 budget was sponsored by Chairman
Committee on Business and Rules, Hon. Albert Sam-Tsokwa, and 20 others. Opinion
is divergent on the rational for the hasty impeachment threat on the president
even when the Senate had not peeped into the matter, considering the time
frame.
Perhaps, the achievement of the House radicalism has
necessitated the need for early presentation of the budget and in compliance
with the perceived lapses Dr. Jonathan has concluded arrangements to present
the 2012, appropriation bill to the joint session of the National Assembly soon
to allow ample time for legislative inputs and approval.
Infact, under the current 7th Assembly, the Senate appears
to have demonstrated more maturity in debates, motions and resolutions to
justify their distinguished status as against the House that ventured into
critical sectors of the economy, raised hopes and aspirations of Nigerians
towards sensitizsing the system but unfortunately ended up debasing the very
essence of such endeavour.
The lawmaker began the oversight function journey that
brought dishonour to the honourable members with the Independent Power Project
(IPP) of the federal government, otherwise called Power probe headed by Hon.
Elemelu and the outcome of the engagement ended in scandalous circumstances.
As Speaker, Hon. Aminu Bello Tambuwal puts their duty in
proper perspective when he said “the act of law making is crucial to the
success of our nation in all sphere, however, the legislature does not work in
isolation but places great emphasis on its cooperation with other arms of
government.”
Again, in the spirit of patriotism to the father land, the
House in a motion brought before it resolved and indeed set up a probe panel
for the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the intention to redeem
the organisation. Sadly enough, the effort was marred by accusations and
counter accusations of alleged demand of bribe from the SEC boss Ms Arunma
Oteh. The rest of the issues can be confined to our political history as the
rife led to some level of ego and muscle flexing by the stakeholders.
Certainly, not done with controversies, the mother of them
all was unveiled in the now popular Faroukgate scam. Kudos must be given to the
House for its vibrancy and concern for the masses but having probably suffered
credibility questions in previous attempts, went into its arsenal and assigned
the petroleum subsidy probe to the litherto respected Hon. Farouk Lawan as
chairman with other equally ace lawmakers to dive into the hydra headed
downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Hon. Lawan failed to learn from the mistakes of others and
literally urinated on his trousers. The courageous outburst of an oil merchant,
Chief Michael Otelola to expose corruption has today diminished the flourishing
political fortune of the once vibrant lawmaker.
Nigerian leaders must learn the key skills in achieving
balance in the onerous task of developing the country by engendering the
communality of interest and doing away with personal egocentrism. It has
therefore become pertinent to appreciate that despite individual differences,
the nation’s founding fathers worked together, devoid of rancour, bickering and
acrimony to secure. Independence.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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