Saraki Dismisses Leadership Of NASS After Him As Subservient To Executive

By Adesina Soyooye

“The Executive (under President Buhari) deliberately frustrated the passage of good laws, initiatives and recommendations that would have been highly beneficial to our society”

A former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has lamented what he literally described as the weak Leadership of the of Nigeria’s National Assembly, NASS.

Saraki, also, a former two-term Governor of Kwara State, bemoaned a situation where the NASS Leadership has become nothing but a rubber stamp in the affairs of the country.

Dr Saraki, a medical doctor-turned politician spoke in Houston, USA  at the 2025 Reunion Gala Celebration of the Kings College Old Boys Association (KCOBA). The theme of the Reunion was “Empowering the Future from Legacy to Infinity.”

Speaking on his tenure as Senate President in the first term of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration, Saraki disclosed that he was hounded and harassed and intimidated because of his opposition to Buhari’s penchant for borrowing. What pained him most, he disclosed, was that while he suffered all that humiliation for the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, most Nigerians – the elite, the ordinary – were aloof; nobody  raised a voice in his support.

The result, Saraki revealed, is that since after him, his successors in office have been embarrassingly subservient to the Presidency; they never disagree on anything; they simply became rubber stamp to the Executive arm of Government. Because of his ordeal, Saraki said, none of them wanted to go through same route.

For his “strong-headedness”, Saraki was denied another term as a Senator and has since not been able to re-enact the magic that made the Saraki family the  ultimate political power house in Kwara State. He has not won any other election since then, something that was unheard of in Kwara before.

His immediate successor in office was Dr Ahmad Lawan, then President Buhari and APC’s preferred occupant of the office before  Saraki outwitted them. Senator Lawan was succeeded by the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Saraki: “The legislature under my leadership was silenced, harassed, assaulted, bullied, and blackmailed, and the executive deliberately frustrated the passage of good laws, initiatives, and recommendations that would have been highly beneficial to our society.

“We were like orphans. The elite and ordinary people kept quiet, were nonchalant, and stayed aloof. Now, years after we left office, subsequent leadership of the National Assembly would rather be a rubber stamp and play dumb because they do not want to go through the harrowing experience that Saraki went through.

“I could have agreed with everything the Presidency under Buhari wanted and cut deals with them all the way. I would have been a good ally. Thus, when I read posts on social media or stories in the traditional media criticising the current National Assembly and praising our tenure, I just shrug my shoulders and feel unconcerned.

“This is a big failure of followership, and it is an enabler for the continuous failure of leadership. These sad developments are indications that our institutions are weak. Instead of building institutions, we are building strong men and women.

“We should decide that from today, we will no longer keep quiet while our country is being misgoverned. We must always intervene when we see a wrong candidate being fielded, a wrong policy being implemented, or a wrong project being sited.

“We must leave our comfort zone. With the level of education, experience, and exposure available to those of you present here, Nigeria needs your involvement in her governance.

“You can participate by either contesting elections or supporting the emergence of those you believe are capable and can make a difference. Your voice and resources can push good candidates into offices. All of you here must play key roles at the various levels.”

Saraki was Senate President from June 2015 to June 2019. He was of the PDP, but along with others, including former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, decamped to the APC. Both men later re-decamped to the PDP when they were sidelined by the APC. Saraki himself faced a lot of fights including being dragged to Court in a bid to remove him as Senate President.

Saraki, Atiku and Co. are held responsible by not a few for the falk of the PDP since 2015.