Ameh Ebute, a former Senate President, has advocated for the nation’s state legislative and executive branches of government to be abolished.
He bemoaned that the country’s arm of government at that level was falling short of expectations.
Ebute gave a speech in Abuja during the 2022 National Legislative Conference.
He said, “The impunities and the criminal breaches of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution are being committed by the chief state executives and to which the state legislators close their eyes.
“The United States, whose presidential system we copied from in 1979, has no state Assembly or state Congress. The states only have state senates.
“I advocate for the complete abolition of the state legislatures and the offices of the state chief executives to have only two tiers of government in Nigeria namely federal and local governments.”
Ebute criticized the National Assembly’s legislative turnover as well, claiming that the development would harm the democracy of the country.
He charged that the country’s frequent changes in the composition of the legislature were the fault of party leaders and state governors.
Ebute said, “The legislative turnover in Nigeria becomes inimical to the development of the entire political system and governmental policies and a serious hindrance to the institution-building of the Nigerian legislatures at all levels.
“By this method, the party officials in collaboration with the chief executives, for one reason or another, deny the re-contesting legislators who were vocal and offered constructive criticism of government policies, and nomination to return to the legislatures.
“This is not so in America, whose presidential system of government we copied in 1979. In America, their Constitution provides for staggered elections to the Congress whereby one-third or half of the legislators go for re-election at the end of the legislative period, leaving the seats of the remaining legislators to wait for another election period.
“By this method, legislators who had acquired experience are preserved in Congress and those who succeed in their re-election bids return to meet their colleagues in the Congress thereby paving a smooth way for the consolidation and concretisation of the legislature as an institution.”
To stop the unhealthy tendency, he demanded that the constitution be changed.
Ebute said, “The absurdity of the legislative turnover in Nigeria calls for amendment of these sections of the 1999 Constitution dealing with the elections of senators and members of the House of Representatives as well as the state assemblies.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, also spoke at the event and warned that the country’s democracy was under grave danger because to turnover, noting how much the legislative branch of government had contributed to the development of democracy in the nation.
Gbajabiamila encouraged Nigerians to make sure that federal MPs running for re-election in 2023 were supported by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.
He said, “The legislative arm is very important for the growth of democracy, the turnover is not good, and it is not a concept we should promote in the country. The turnover is unnecessary and will not augur well for the country.”
