Bukola Saraki, a former Senate President, says the eighth national assembly was repeatedly “harassed and obstructed by the executive”.
He spoke on Saturday, at the 2025 Reunion Gala of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) in Houston, Texas.
“The legislature is an institution created to make laws, oversee the executive, and represent the people,” Saraki said.
“A legislative leader must have character. He must be bold to speak truth to power. For me, the confidence to act in this manner came from these three sources.“Why would I be a Senate President and could not lead the Senate to ask questions on what the loans the executive branch is seeking approval is meant to be spent for?”
He added that if he had acceded to all of ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s requests, he would have been hailed as a loyalist and ally.
Saraki alleged that all efforts to pass impactful legislation were frustrated by the executive.
“I decided to amend the Public Procurement Act to require government agencies to buy only Nigerian goods and services—unless unavailable locally—to boost local production and employment,” he said.
“We were not successful because the bill got caught in the politics leading to the 2019 elections and thus, did not get the required attention from the House of Representatives.“
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 I went through.
Saraki said Nigeria’s leadership problem stems from elected officials arriving office without clear plans or vision.
He added that such leaders often end up running the government on impulse or relying on “government scammers” who pitch the same recycled ideas to every administration.
Hs tenure was marred by recurring legal battles perceived in certain quarters as politically motivated.
