Salihu Lukman, a former All Progressives Congress (APC) national vice chairman for the northwest, has bemoaned the fact that Nigerians' interests are not being adequately represented in the current National Assembly.
Daily Post reported that in a statement released on Tuesday, Lukman stated that the fact that the two houses of the National Assembly are solely answerable to each other presents a portion of Nigeria's democratic dilemma.
He pointed out that the National Assembly's financial management is intended to be overseen by the Public Accounts Committees in both houses.
He emphasized that these are problems that, in one way or another, have led to the current situation in which the National Assembly, its leaders, and its members have forfeited their moral right to control how the executive branch of government operates.
With that, he continued that they operate nearly as if they are employees of the executive branch, essentially at the whim of the president and other members of the executive arm.
He said that the president and other members of the executive arm skillfully activated the "gaslight" by using all of these incentives.
According to him, this forces members to accept and trust any idea, even if it goes against the interests of the public. They became liabilities after acting as the machinery that injured people, and as a result, they were finally abandoned.
In Lukman's words, “The point is, Nigerian democracy, as it is, is not functionally representing the interests of citizens largely."
"This is because the parliament represented by the two chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives, have involuntarily submitted themselves to the narcissistic control of the president."
“Until and unless the parliament can free itself from the president, it will almost be impossible for it to develop the capacity to defend and protect the interests of Nigerians.”