Godswill Akpabio, President of the SenateFiery pastor and former presidential aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tunde Bakare, has described Godswill Akpabio’s led 10th National Assembly (NASS) as the most spineless in Nigeria’s history.
Bakare lamented the cozy relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government under President Bola Tinubu, saying it was an abuse of the principle of separation of power.
Bakare who is the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), said this in his state of the nation address delivered in the Lagos auditorium of his church on Sunday. He described Tinubu as a leader ‘playing God’.
Reflecting on the actions of Tinubu and NASS in the emergency rule in Rivers state, the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Bakare said the country’s legislative arm of government is now “an extension of the executive, grossly violating the principles of separation of powers, and rubber-stamping the whims and caprices of” President Tinubu’s office.
Tinubu, Akpabio and Abbas
“This National Assembly, the 10th, has by its unconstitutional endorsement of the president’s abuse of powers proven to be the most spineless in our recent history.
“Through its actions and inactions, the National Assembly has, in effect, become the 48th member of the president’s cabinet, while a cabinet minister has, more or less, become a third-term state governor in Rivers State, pampered by the indulgences of the president,” he said.
He referred to Tinubu’s brand of politics as toxic and a recipe for disaster, stressing that the nation is drifting under the president.
“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under whose brand of politics the institution of legislative oversight is collapsing and our democracy is faced with an existential threat, I say: Mr. President, Nigeria is too delicate for this kind of politics,” the preacher said.
“If this state capture was what you meant by emi lo kan, it is an anti-climax that can only be counterproductive in the end. I urge you, Mr. President, to think deeply and reflect on these words: ‘No man is wise enough nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.’ Please, stop playing God!”
“Mr. President, it is through your influence that the Nigerian National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality,” Bakare said.
Bakare, before and after the 2023 elections, had been a consistent critic of the Nigerian government including the government of Muhammadu Buhari, a man he once ran as his running mate.
