We commend the 10th session of the Senate and House of Representatives for the smooth and rancour-free manner in which the elections of their principal officers were conducted. At the end, the losers congratulated the winners, thus immediately putting behind the fierce rivalries that foreshadowed the contests.

The 10th National Assembly is now fully empanelled, with Senator Godswill Akpabio (APC, Akwa Ibom) as the President of the Senate while Senator Barau Jibrin (APC Kano) emerged as the Deputy President of the Senate. In the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas (APC Kaduna) was elected Speaker while Benjamin Kalu (APC Abia) became the Deputy Speaker.

The Red and Green Chambers of the National Assembly concurring with the expressed wishes of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, there is a niggling sense of complete capture of government by the new administration, though Tinubu has always postured as the ideal democrat. Unless the National Assembly stays true to its constitutional calling, we might be in for a civilian dictatorship.

In view of this, all the pro-democracy, civil liberties, human rights and media organs of the country must be alert and keep the National Assembly alive to its independence, while working harmoniously with the Executive branch. The Legislative Branch, in addition to its core lawmaking mandate, must maintain the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances, which are coterminous with the presidential system of government.

They must take very seriously their mandate to monitor how the funds they appropriate to the Executive and Judiciary are spent to ensure due process, transparency and accountability. They must also do self-monitoring, ensuring that their own spending is open to public scrutiny. After all, they represent the people, not themselves.

We expect the 10th National Assembly to support the war against corruption, holding the anti-graft agencies to account and bringing anyone in the present or past regimes, irrespective of their stations or party affiliations, to account for the ways they handled public finance when necessary. There must be zero tolerance to the Muhammadu Buhari appointees’ habit of ignoring NASS summonses.

The 10th National Assembly must stand with the people, ensuring that our constitutional rights are upheld in every part of the country. We say this mindful of the ethnic profiling that took place in Lagos during the last elections, and the defiant threat by the Lagos State House of Assembly to confiscate the properties of non-indigenes.

Such brazen affronts on our constitutional rights must be confronted and nipped in the bud wherever they occur.

We wish the 10th Assembly a successful session.