Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory in the Senate, has delivered a pointed critique of the National Assembly, accusing it of abandoning its constitutional role as a check on executive power and functioning instead as a cooperative extension of the presidency.
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Speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday, Kingibe argued that the legislature had increasingly operated as a “cooperating arm” of the Executive rather than an independent institution capable of holding it to account. She said many actions commonly attributed solely to the presidency could not have succeeded without the National Assembly’s acquiescence.
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“I don’t think the Senate is performing its constitutional role effectively as a check on executive power,” she said, adding that lawmakers must share responsibility for decisions too often blamed exclusively on the presidency.
The FCT senator also waded into the controversy surrounding the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Kogi Central lawmaker, explicitly distancing herself from the committee report that recommended the disciplinary action.
Kingibe said that while she attended a meeting of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, she departed early to participate in a tax reform retreat she considered more pressing for her constituents. She maintained that she neither saw nor reviewed the report before it was submitted — and expressed surprise upon subsequently discovering that a photocopy of her signature had appeared on the document.
“I couldn’t have endorsed the committee report because I didn’t see it,” she said.
While stopping short of alleging outright forgery, Kingibe said she raised the matter with senior Senate officials, including the Deputy Senate President, after being unable to obtain access to the report. She criticised what she described as an entrenched practice of signing committee documents without proper scrutiny, warning that such procedures erode transparency and accountability within the legislature.
On the broader question of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension, Kingibe argued the matter was mishandled and dragged on far longer than necessary. She noted that similar disputes in the past had typically been resolved through apologies, with senators acknowledging procedural breaches and moving on without protracted disciplinary proceedings.
“The truth of the matter is there are many things that I feel should not be the way they are,” she said.
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