Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has debunked the public perception of the 9th National Assembly as a rubber stamp of the executive.
Lawan said this at the Distinguished Parliamentarians Lecture in Abuja.
He spoke at a lecture he tagged, The Legislature, Legislative Mandate and The People- The Reality and The Public Perception, organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies NILDS.
According to him, Nigeria has three arms of government that are constitutionally equal but the people are heavily represented at the legislature than the other arms.
He said that for the peace and development of the nation, the three arms of government must work together as the failure and success of one arm of government will be attributed to all.
According to him, the legislature, being the first arm of government constitutionally, the closest and as well the most accessible by the people, easily lends itself to public scrutiny and sometimes take the blame even for government decisions that fall outside its legislative competence.
He explained that the three arms of government have a responsibility to each other and an obligation to Nigerians thus must have a cordial relationship based on mutual respect for constitutional rights and mandate to succeed.
