The outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Thursday reflected on his four-year tenure as the head of the nation’s legislature and urged his colleagues to be wary of the transient nature of power.
He also reviewed the relationship between the executive and the legislature as well as his travails and concluded that he had no regrets in an apparent response to criticisms of the National Assembly by the executive, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari. Explaining why power is transient, Saraki said, “This I know: whatever the capacity, we should always do our best to serve the interest of the people. We should also have it at the back of our minds that power is transient.”
He also took exceptions to the allegations that he and the outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, were not patriotic in the handling of affairs of the National Assembly in the last four years. He maintained that the frictions between the executive and the legislature would not end with the Eighth National Assembly for as long as the former held the belief that it could always interfere with the affairs of the parliament, especially on the issue of budget.
Saraki, who described his last day in office as victory for democracy, commended his colleagues for their show of support and solidarity during his travails and trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He said, “That I am here today, that you are here today, is a victory for democracy. It is a testament to what people can do when they come together for the greater good.
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