Tobias Sylvester
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has asked Nigerians to criticize the National Assembly if it behaves as ‘rubber stamp’ for the executive arm of government.
Lawan said this while responding to questions from some journalists in Abuja on Monday, December 16, 2019.
Mr Lawan asked Nigerians to judge the lawmakers by their actions – what they do and what they don’t.
“I will like to appeal…judge us by what we do, judge us by our actions. We have undertaken so many actions so far and the press has been on this journey with us. Please judge us on what we do and what we don’t,” he said.
Mr Lawan said the National Assembly would do everything possible to ensure that “they legislate on what will make life better for Nigerians.”
“…and we have shown this so far. I think we have not done anything to show that even if a request against Nigerians will be passed.
“So that settles the issue of rubber-stamp. When we do rubber-stamp, you can say this is rubber-stamp,” he said even as he urged Nigerians to “please encourage us when we also do what is right,” he said.
An organisation acts as a rubber stamp when it approves the decisions of others without proper consideration. In a democracy, the legislature is expected to check the executive while maintaining its independence.
