Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, has dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the Senate will become a rubber-stamp body to President Muhammadu Buhari if he emerges the President of the Ninth National Assembly.
Lawan, who spoke on Tuesday in Abuja while playing host to the leadership of the All Progressives Youth Forum, said the principle of separation of powers does not necessarily entail adversarial relationship among the three arms of government.
Rather, he said the principle demands healthy working relationship between the legislature and other arms, particularly the executive arm, which is headed by the President.
Lawan, who is a front runner in the race for the presidency of the Ninth Senate, observed the adversarial relationship between the Eighth Senate and the executive arm denied Nigerians of the needed development and progress.
According to him, the schism between the leadership of the two arms did not allow Nigerians to get the best from President Buhari and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in terms of delivery on the APC manifesto.
Lawan however pledged to mobilise his colleagues to ensure the success of the APC manifesto and the actualisation of President Buhari’s good intention for the country.
The senator representing Yobe North promised that if elected, the Senate under him, will support Buhari by preventing the distractions that characterised the relationship between the legislature and the executive in the Eight Senate.
“My campaign is based on a slogan of leading a Senate and National Assembly that will work for Nigeria.
“We are not going for the Senate presidency because of name but to make serious and positive difference in the governance of the country.
“We will work with Mr. President and his administration to fulfill all his campaign promises that he promised Nigerians in 2015 and 2019, which are the same.
“2023 will be a testy period for the APC. That is when the party will know whether it is solid enough or not. Today, APC is largely revolving around President Buhari. Take away the President and the present APC will be in trouble”.
Promising to lead an all- inclusive Senate will carry every senator along, regardless of party affiliation, the Senate Leader said he will extend a hand of fellowship to every senator across party lines, both returning and new ones.
Senator-elect, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, appealed to both returning and newly elected senators to give Lawan the needed support, assuring that the three senators elected to represent Ekiti State have aligned with Lawan’s aspiration.
Adeyeye, who has been elected to represent Ekiti South senatorial district, urged senators in the incoming dispensation to put the collective interest of the Senate above personal ambitions, stressing that in doing so, the overall interest of the nation will be served.
Some of the new and returning senators on hand to give Lawan their support included Opeyemi Bamidele, Ajibola Bashiru, Sabi Abdullahi, Jibrin Barau among others.
