Bukola Saraki, a former senate president, says the eighth national assembly was repeatedly “harassed and obstructed by the executive”.
He spoke on Saturday, at the 2025 Reunion Gala of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) in Houston, Texas.
The former governor of Kwara was president of the senate from 2015 to 2019.
Saraki said repeated attacks on him were ignored by citizens, a scenario that weakened his successors in the national assembly.
“The legislature is an institution created to make laws, oversee the executive, and represent the people,” Saraki said in his speech shared with TheCable by Yusuf Olaniyonu, his spokesperson.
“A legislative leader must have character. He must be bold to speak truth to power. For me, the confidence to act in this manner came from these three sources.
“Why would I be a Senate President and could not lead the Senate to ask questions on what the loans the executive branch is seeking approval is meant to be spent for?”
He added that if he had acceded to all of ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s requests, he would have been hailed as a loyalist and ally.
Saraki alleged that all efforts to pass impactful legislation were frustrated by the executive.
“We were not successful because the bill got caught in the politics leading to the 2019 elections and thus, did not get the required attention from the House of Representatives,” he said.
“The legislature under my leadership was silenced, harassed, assaulted, bullied, and blackmailed, and the executive deliberately frustrated the passage of good laws, initiatives, and recommendations that would have been highly beneficial to our society.
“Now, years after we left office, subsequent leadership of the National Assembly would rather be a rubber stamp and play dumb because they do not want to go through the harrowing experience that Saraki went through.
“I could have agreed with everything the Presidency under Buhari wanted and cut deals with them all the way. I would have been a good ally.
“Thus, when I read posts on social media or stories in the traditional media criticizing the current National Assembly and praising our tenure, I just shrug my shoulders and feel unconcerned.
“This is a big failure of followership, and it is an enabler for the continuous failure of leadership.
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“These sad developments are indications that our institutions are weak. Instead of building institutions, we are building strong men and women.”
Saraki said Nigeria’s leadership problem stems from elected officials arriving office without clear plans or vision.
He added that such leaders often end up running the government on impulse or relying on “government scammers” who pitch the same recycled ideas to every administration.
In 2015, Saraki defied the All Progressives Congress (APC) hierarchy to become senate president, with backing from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — triggering a strained relationship with the Buhari-led executive.
His tenure was marred by recurring legal battles perceived in certain quarters as politically motivated.
Tensions heightened after he defected to the PDP, prompting a failed APC-led effort to unseat him.