When should the National Assembly start debating on President Buhari?

by Alexander O. Onukwue

Wednesday, June 14, was the victory parade day for Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki.

After coming through the trial process at the Code of Conduct Tribunal unscathed, he promised to solely focus on delivering the good life to Nigerians.

Nigerians are still wondering why the National Assembly’s budget is larger than those of Tertiary Institutions and Teaching Hospitals combined. Many are still miffed that, while they have been inundated with the excuse of recession, the legislators have appropriated change of cars to their plans for the coming fiscal year.

But Nigerians still need the National Assembly, just as they did in 2010.

There is the insistence that the situation with the health of President Buhari is not the same as that of Yar’Adua seven years ago, but there are enough similarities to warrant the attention.

The high-level hush. The manic impulse to contrive a tale in defense. The lack of communication to the Nigerian people. The indefinite wait.

Both chambers of Nigeria’s parliament are in the control of the ruling All Progressives’ Congress (APC), but recent events have shown us they don’t exactly agree on every issue. The presence of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House at the signing ceremony of the 2017 Budget was customary and perfunctory. It went well, it looked normal. But if you put aside the concerns of some about the absence of a single woman in the commemorative photos, you would have noticed the imbalance in size represented between the Acting President and the delegation from the National Assembly.

Due to Prof Osinbajo’s acumen, there has been little or no imbalance in the running of Government in Buhari’s absence, but the wider tensions in the society are not masked by his covering up for his principal. In their own way, the President’s gatekeepers in London are managing Buhari’s health and apparently making their own plots in the context of these tensions, but who will now speak for the people?

As the officially elected representatives, self-interested though they may be, it is through the National Assembly that the Nigerian people can call their President to account. To count his days so far in office, and tell them if he is still up to providing surprising blessings based on his Change agenda.

The PIGB has passed second reading in the House. 2017 Budget has passed, so their allowances for the next season are assured. Is there any other business for the leaders in the National Assembly to discuss now other than this matter of extracting a definitive statement on the state of the Nigerian President?

One comment

  1. THE LITLE ABSENCE OF MR PRESIDENT ,has expose the corrupt oriented leaders nigeria has , POLITICIANS &THEIR CIVIL SERVANTS FRIEND / JUDICIARY ARE SET TO RUIN NIGERIANS FUTURE.

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