Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has warned that Nigeria’s democracy is at risk if lawmakers fail to challenge the Executive, insisting that a legislature that cannot reject government proposals has abandoned its constitutional duty.
Speaking at the June 12, 2026 edition of The Platform, Saraki stressed that the National Assembly must remain independent and thoroughly scrutinise every proposal from the executive to safeguard democratic governance.
Addressing the public lecture organised by the Covenant Nation, the former Senate President said, “So what I learned in those four years in the National Assembly is that a legislature that cannot say no is not a legislature at all. A legislature which simply receives executive proposals, approves them without scrutiny, and goes home has not fulfilled its constitutional mandate.
“It has merely performed a ceremonial function. It’s an echo. A democracy made only of echoes is only one election away from becoming something else entirely.”
Saraki’s remarks came shortly after Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the legislature provides solutions beyond debates on social media.
The former Kwara State Governor argued that the greatest threat to freedom is not a weak government but one that operates without accountability.
According to him, the framers of Nigeria’s Constitution intentionally separated powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary while ensuring each arm remained independent despite their interdependence.
“They built friction into the system on purpose; it was not a mistake. That friction is not dysfunction; it is the very thing that guarantees your freedom.
“This is a fundamental concept we must understand if we want to strengthen our democracy, because I am sure the majority of us struggle with it. People ask, ‘Why are the executive and the legislature always at each other?’ By constitutional design, they are meant to challenge each other so there can be checks and balances.”
Saraki described the legislature as a vital safeguard for democracy, warning that weakening it would endanger the country’s democratic system.
Reflecting on the significance of June 12, he said Nigerians lost democracy in 1993 not because the people failed, but because institutions that should have protected the people’s mandate were too weak.
“On this June 12th, the lesson is plain. We did not lose democracy in 1993 because the people failed; we lost it because the institutions that should have defended the people’s verdict were too weak to do so. The remedy is not less politics; it is stronger institutions, and the legislature stands at the centre of them,” he said.
He also cautioned that suppressing political disagreements only allows them to build up until they erupt in public protests.
“Political tension does not vanish when suppressed – it accumulates. A society where grievances cannot find expression through its institutions will see those grievances vent on the streets. The legislature is built to let those voices be heard and resolved before they explode.”
To underscore the importance of legislative oversight, Saraki recalled how the National Assembly uncovered alleged fraud in the fuel subsidy regime during his time in the Senate.
“I remember in the 7th Senate when I was moving a motion on fuel subsidy regime and how there was corruption,” he said.
He explained that importers allegedly submitted documents claiming petroleum products had arrived aboard vessels that were never anywhere near Nigerian waters.
“In those days what used to happen was we used to import petroleum products, and they would bring in vessels with documents to say ‘Vessel MV’, and those vessels were nowhere in Nigeria, and they would stamp the documents and pay them.
“But as somebody who had the ability to reach out, I went as far as going to the register, and I could see that the vessel that was supposed to be in Lagos port was somewhere in Colombia.
“So I told NNPC to see the vessel they paid for and see where it is. This is the capacity of what I mean by legislatures also having the capacity.”
Saraki served as Senate President from June 9, 2015, to June 11, 2019.
