By Newspot Nigeria Editorial Desk
Nigeria’s National Assembly was not created to clap for the executive. It was meant to restrain excess, interrogate power, and reflect the will of the people. What Nigerians increasingly see instead is eye service, lawmaking shaped by who is watching, not by what is right.
The controversy around amendments to the Electoral Act, especially the initial reluctance to make real-time electronic transmission of results mandatory, exposed this trust deficit. The protests at the National Assembly complex were not accidental. As Zainab Suleiman Okino observed in her recent column, “The protests at the National Assembly gates were not just about a bill, they were an expression of collective exhaustion.” Nigerians were reminding lawmakers that democracy requires vigilance.
That vigilance worked. Only after sustained public outcry did the Senate reconvene in an emergency session to rephrase the contentious clause. Writing in his February 14, 2026 column titled “National Assembly and Public Trust Deficit,” Mobolaji Sanusi captured the moment pointedly when he asked, “Of what essence is a legislature whose lawmaking prowess is in contempt of the people’s wishes?” His intervention underscored a central truth, that public pressure, not internal conviction, often forces legislative responsiveness.
Political thinkers understood the danger long ago. Montesquieu warned that “There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united.” James Madison added, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” When lawmakers abandon that counterbalance, trust collapses.
Under Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Senate continues to struggle with this perception. From executive-friendly optics to shrinking tolerance for dissent, many Nigerians believe legislative independence has been diluted by partisan loyalty to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Cooperation is expected. Eye service is not.
Martin Luther King Jr. warned that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” George Orwell reminded us that political language can be used “to make lies sound truthful.” Nigerians are listening carefully.
The message from the streets is simple, stop performing, start governing. Trust cannot be demanded, it must be earned.
At Newspot Nigeria, we strongly believe that a legislature that works only when power is watching has already surrendered its mandate. Democracy survives not on loyalty to leaders, but on loyalty to the people.
-Newspot Nigeria
