The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio said the National Assembly will not be intimidated to pass laws that will not be in the best interest of Nigerians.
Akpabio who spoke on Saturday at public presentation of a book, “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria” written by Senator Effiong Bob, noted members of the Senate had come attack by Nigerians since last week even when the amendment of the Electoral Act, 2022 has not been completed.
“People are abusing the National Assembly even when the Senate has not approved the votes and proceedings.
“We have processes that we must follow, and until that process is completed you can’t say this is law.
“Electoral Act incomplete, and people are setting up panels. Until we pass votes and proceedings, it is incomplete.
“We will not be intimidated. Our laws must reflect the wishes of Nigerians,” Akpabio stated.
The Senate President explained that the Senate has not removed electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act, but added that what was removed is the word “real-time.”
He argued that if the National Assembly made electronic transmission mandatory, it would put the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under pressure.
Akpabio stated that the commission may encounter network or electricity challenges that may hinder electronic transmission of election results”real-time.”
According to him, “technology must save not endanger democracy, particularly untested democracy. Even the best countries are having problems with technology.”
He advised anybody who has issues about the Electoral Act to wait until the Conference Committee of the National Assembly completes the harmonisation.
Former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, said the position of opposition political parties is for the Senate to do its own part of the work and allow INEC to decide whether it is capable of implementing law or not.
Mark who is Chairman of the occasion, described legislators as the weakest links in Nigeria’s democracy, because they are the easiest to attack by the people.
“They are at the mercy of their state governors, they are at the mercy of executives, they are at the mercy of their political parties parties, they are at the mercy of the judiciary, and they are at the mercy of the electorate,” Mark said.
He appealed to Nigerians to support the legislative arm of government, and demanded that legislators should be allowed to serve more than one tenure.
Author of the book, Senator Bob, said godfatherism is problem to the nation’s democracy.
Senator Bob regretted that due to the undue influence of the godfather, people ended up electing wrong people to represent sent them in government.
He added that the burden of defending democracy rests on the legislators and the legislature.
“The legislature bears a very heavy burden; the burden of representation where millions of votes matter, the burden of oversight and burden of budgetary control.
“These are constitutional duties discharged under intense conditions. It is the ensuring measure of any democracy where citizens are free to express themselves,” he added.
