Senate Scolds Opposition Parties On Rubber-Stamp Claim

Opeyemi Bamidele, the Nigerian Senate Leader has rebuffed claims that the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly is a rubber-stamp of the executive.

Senator Bamidele representing Ekiti state in NASS made the remark on, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports.

According to the former Commissioner of Information in Lagos state, the NASS has been working with the Executive by ensuring due diligence in terms of the bills and other interactions.

The Senator’s remark also comes on the heels of suggestions by not a few Nigerians that the NASS has become a ‘yes man’ to the president, in terms of truly performing their function of holding the Executive to account.

But Bamidele said the claim is untrue citing the fact that the NASS has maintained its independence considering the manner it passed the Tax Reforms Bill and the 2025 Budget.

He said it took painstaking consultations between the Assembly and Presidency before the two bills were passed by the Senate and House of Representatives.

The Senator noted that many Nigerians will appreciate the NASS if they know what transpires between the two arms of government before agreements are arrived at.

He therefore dismissed the rubber-stamp tag on NASS by key opposition political parties in the country.

Bamidele: “If we are actually a rubber-stamp parliamentary institution as most opposition political parties have claimed, the bills would have been passed within one week or two weeks after they were laid before us.

“In the process of passing the bills, both executive and legislative arms held over 39 engagements to trash grey areas in the Tax Reform Bills, 2024 before both chambers of the national assembly eventually passed the bills.

“But people do not know all the efforts and sacrifices we made to ensure the effective delivery of public goods. They were only eager to label us a rubber stamp when the bills came from the executive,” stated the politician.

Recall that a former Governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi recently accused the 36 state governors of failure to hold the presidency to account in terms of the way the country has been governed under the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC.

Amaechi was the immediate past Minister of Transportation under APC.