“What remains today is the shell of a legislature, a once-respected institution now reduced to a choir of praise singers and a playground for the APC’s political jesters”.
BY MECHE OSWALD
Today’s Senate is no longer a sanctuary of reason. It is now a theatre of clowns auditioning for executive approval, a chamber where echoes replace intellect and sycophancy is the order of the day.
What we see in the unfolding drama is a mirror, a glaring reflection of the decrepitude that defines governance under the APC’s leadership. It is the most damning indictment of the Tinubu era: a sharp, relentless decline in legislative integrity, vision, and national purpose.
Since the departure of Dr Bukola Saraki, the Red Chamber has collapsed into a bastion of incompetence, led by men who do not legislate but perform, who do not serve but subordinate, who do not think but bow.
In a disgraceful spectacle, senators now rise at the arrival of the President to chant, “Tinubu, on your mandate we shall stand.”
A legislative arm singing praises to the executive. What greater mockery of democracy exists?
The APC’s stranglehold on the Senate has reduced it to a rubber-stamp institution, a conveyor belt for whatever bill the Villa desires, while anything that benefits the poor is delayed, diluted, or destroyed.
Before this descent into legislative darkness, there was a Dr Bukola Saraki, a man who carried the Constitution in his chest and courage in his bones.
Saraki stood before the Constitution and refused to kneel before the Commander-in-Chief.
He entered the Red Chamber as something unprecedented in Nigeria’s political history. He was not the product of godfathers, not the champion of a religious movement, not the puppet of any power bloc.
Saraki was elected purely by his colleagues for his ideas, his message, his conviction, and the unmistakable clarity of his moral compass.
In just 48 months, he became Nigeria’s admired Number 3 citizen, a leader whose message and personality were inseparable. He became a mirror in which millions saw their deepest hopes: tolerance, justice, cooperation, equality, and courage.
When terrorists bombed Nyanya motor park and the nation bled, Saraki was the first leader on the ground, not to deliver empty speeches, but to donate his own blood so that strangers might live.
When the Buhari administration stumbled into authoritarian impulses, Saraki stood boldly in opposition, not out of partisanship, but out of principle.
Imagine, a devout Muslim and Fulani man publicly condemning the atrocities of Fulani killer herdsmen ravaging Benue State. Only a man of conscience and conviction could do that.
His years as Senate President were fierce, marked by economic crises, executive witch-hunting, framed allegations, and relentless political persecution.
Yet through that storm, Saraki remained Saraki.
Bruised but unbroken, challenged but undefeated, human, yes, but humane always.
He left office with grey hair and a glowing record, proof that he fought, he led, and he served with dignity.
Saraki’s story is one the nation still struggles to fully acknowledge. He was often exhausted and frustrated by executive sabotage, but he was never discouraged.
Yes, Nigerians voted for a political party but they did not vote for a dysfunctional government. Saraki fought to keep the country functional, and in doing so, he carried the baton farther than anyone expected.
He left the Senate more honourable than he entered it, a rarity in Nigerian politics.
And history will remember this; Saraki delivered scandal-free leadership in a nation drowning in scandals. He made difficult decisions that invited fierce criticism, yet he never lost his moral compass.
At the beginning, who Saraki was mattered. At the end, it mattered even more. He was, and remains, an honourable man.
When Saraki walked out of the National Assembly for the last time, purpose walked out with him. Integrity walked out. Courage walked out. National interest walked out. Service to humanity walked out.
What remains today is the shell of a legislature, a once-respected institution now reduced to a choir of praise singers and a playground for the APC’s political jesters.
Nigeria lost a defender of justice, truth, and democratic dignity. And the absence is loud. Painfully loud!
