…Urges Lawmakers To Insist on Oversight Functions

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised the National Assembly to subject every request from the executive arm of government to thorough legislative scrutiny.

The party said the statement credited the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, that any request from President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly is good for the nation, amounts to surrendering legislative independence.
PDP in a statement Sunday by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described such stance as unconstitutional and unacceptable as it amounts to relinquishing statutory powers of checks and balances of the National Assembly.

The party said such would create an impression that the present National Assembly has been annexed by the executive and reduced to a rubber-stamp legislature.

“The statement by the Senate President has heavily detracted from the expected independence of the legislature.

“It is fast eroding the confidence Nigerians have on the Senate and the National Assembly, as true representatives of the people at the national level,” PDP noted.

It added that even if the Senate leadership believes in the import of any request or bill from the President, the 1999 Constitution (as amended) requires the legislature to pass such through
its statutory checks and balances process to ensure that the content and intent are in tandem with overall national interest.