Since its inauguration on June 13, 2023, the 10th Senate has been criticised by many as a rubberstamp legislature and an appendage of the presidency.

Pundits have argued that the current crop of senators primarily act to fulfill formalities, passively approving decisions made by the executive or other powerful entities rather than actively participating in lawmaking, true representation and genuine oversight.

Analysts have expressed worry that there is lack of genuine independence and critical review, with the legislature simply endorsing pre-determined outcomes.

Observers have also argued that one-third of senators in the 10th Senate are ?silent? who contribute nothing significant to good governance or the future of the country.

Some Nigerians have expressed disappointment that over 40 senators rarely attend plenary, committee sittings or contribute to debates on the floor of the Senate.

There are arguments in some quarters that the ?ayes? and ?nays? system of reaching decisions has made some senators unproductive as they only wait to answer ?ayes?, especially in endorsing presidential requests, bills and other demands without dissent.

Observers say most of the senators in the 10th Senate hardly attend plenary held from Tuesday to Thursday weekly. There are also concerns that even when they navigate their way into the chambers for plenary sittings, they turn out to be ?benchwarmers? despite the amount of money they collect in allowances, salaries and other benefits.

Also, the leadership of the Senate has been accused of unnecessarily showering praises on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during plenary, a development some analysts have presented as one of the reasons for the ?growing number of sealed lips? and ?truancy syndrome? in the Senate.

Many Nigerians have expressed deep frustration with the 10th Senate over its handling of legislative affairs, saying the lawmakers have failed to provide the necessary checks on the executive to protect Nigerians.

The 10th Senate has specifically been accused of failure to compel the executive to address the avalanche of challenges confronting Nigerians, including high cost of living, poverty, hunger, high unemployment rate and insecurity, among others.

Weekend Trust, however, reports that on June 12, 2025, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged his fellow lawmakers to disregard critics accusing the 10th National Assembly of being a rubberstamp when the National Assembly hosted President Tinubu on the occasion of Democracy Day celebration.

?We should ignore the critics who tag us rubberstamp. They don?t know why we are here,? Akpabio said.

Pundits also say the role of the legislature is critical to democratic governance, especially in a presidential system of government where the doctrine of separation of powers is practiced.

Weekend Trust reports that the Senate is required to hold plenary sittings for at least 181 days in a year. This refers to the minimum number of days the Senate as a whole must sit. Also, senators are expected to participate actively in debates during plenary to strengthen the wheels of governance.

Analysts have argued that it was on this premise that Justice Binta Nyako, in a recent judgement, faulted the Senate for suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) for six months, describing it as excessive.

The judge pointed out that since the Senate is only required to sit for 181 days in a legislative year, suspending a lawmaker for roughly that same length of time effectively silences the voice of an entire constituency.

Consequently, analysts have argued that the senators who neither attend plenary nor contribute to debates on the floor of the Senate have technically silenced their constituencies.

Some Nigerians have expressed displeasure that after failing to attend plenary or contribute to debates and other legislative processes and engagements, lawmakers still collect jumbo pay without sanctions.

Recall that in August last year, Senator Sumaila Kawu (Kano South), disclosed that he earned over N21 million monthly as a total take-home package.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Kawau said the official pay of N1 million fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) dropped to around N600,000 after deductions, but there were other allowances that take their total pay to N21 million per month.

?The amount of salary received per month is less than N1 million. If there are cuts, it comes back to about N600,000. In the Senate, each senator is given N21 million every month as the cost of running his office,? he said.

He spoke 24 hours after Mohammed Shehu, the chairman of the RMAFC, empowered by law to fix salaries and allowances of political officeholders, claimed that each of the 109 senators in the upper chamber received a total of N1.06 million in salary and allowances per month.

He, however, said he didn?t know how much went to the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President and other principal officers of the upper chamber of the Nigerian parliament.

Putting ex-govs in Senate on the scale

Weekend Trust reports that there are 13 former governors who are currently serving in the 10th Senate. They are Senate President Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Adams Oshiomhole (Edo).

Others are Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Gbenga Daniel (Ogun) and Simon Lalong (Plateau).

Of the 13 former governors in the Senate, observers said that Akpabio, Aliero, Dickson, Oshiomhole, Kalu, Lalong, Daniel, and Goje participate actively during debates.

There are reports that Yari, Dankwambo, Bello, Tambuwal and Wamakko rarely attend plenary or participate actively in debates when they make themselves available. However, reports that they have sponsored a few number of bills according to records at the National Assembly.

Similarly, Senators Sahabi Yau (Zamfara North), Eze Kenneth Emeka (APC, Ebonyi Central), Okechukwu Ezea (LP, Enugu North), Anthony Siyako Yaro (PDP, Gombe South), Mustapha Khabeeb (PDP, Jigawa South), Rufai Hanga (NNPP, Kano Central), Binos Dauda Yaroe (PDP, Adamawa South), Benson Friday Konbowei (PDP, Bayelsa Central), Eteng Jonah Williams (APC, Cross River Central) and Adegbonmire Ayodele (APC, Ondo Central) have been observed to be relative silent.

Also, Senators Amos Yohanna (PDP, Adamawa North), Samaila Kaila (PDP, Bauchi North), Ani Okorie (APC, Ebonyi South), Kelvin Chizoba (LP, Enugu East), Jiya Ndalikali (PDP, Niger South), Onyesoh Allwell (PDP, Rivers East), Haruna Manu (PDP, Taraba Central), Napoleon Bali (PDP, Plateau South), Fadeyi Olubiyi (Osun Central) and Shuaibu Isa Lau (PDP, Taraba North) are in the category of silent and absentee lawmakers.

Others are Fasuyi Cyril Oluwole (APC, Ekiti North), Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West), Onyewuchi Francis (Imo East), Ahmed Madori (Jigawa North East), Lawal Adamu Usman (Kaduna Central), Musa Garba (APC, Kebbi South), Sadiq Suleiman Umar (Kwara North), Olajide Ipinsagba (Ondo North), Yunus Akintunde (APC, Oyo Central), Abdulfatai Buhari (APC, Oyo North), Mpigi Barinda (Rivers East), Babangida Husseini Uba (Jigawa North West), Bassey Etim (Akwa Ibom North East), Ahmad Babba Kaita (PDP, Katsina North), Emmanuel Udende (APC, Benue North East), Godiya Akwashiki (SDP, Nasarawa North), Ikra Aliyu Bilbis (Zamfara Central) and Oyewumi Kamorudeen Olarere (Osun West).

Party affiliation

Weekend Trust reports that the Senate currently has 107 instead of 109 senators.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to conduct by-elections to replace Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South), who died earlier this year, and Senator Monday Okpebholo (Edo Central), who vacated his seat after winning the 2024 Edo State governorship election.

The distribution of the existing 107 senators shows that the APC is taking a lead with 70 senators ? just two seats shy of the 72 required to achieve a two-thirds majority.

The PDP now has 28 senators while the Labour Party (LP) has five. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has two seats, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) hold one seat each.

But observers say that of the 107 senators who debate issues on the floor of the Senate, there are many first time and old timers who neither contribute nor attend plenary.

Weekend Trust reports that Senate plenary sessions are often transmitted live, but most seats are often empty as senators occupying them fail to show up.

Dwindling representation

Weekend Trust has learnt that the issue of senators playing truancy or absconding from plenary has a long standing history.

On November 13, 2018, the Senate adjourned plenary for one week due to lack of quorum. The Red Chamber needed 37 senators to carry out legislative activities at plenary, but the total number of the lawmakers who turned up was 20, who, according to Order 10.3 of the Senate rules could not sit for the day?s legislative business.

Senator Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT) moved a motion for the adjournment. The motion was seconded by then Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu. Then Senate President Bukola Saraki said, ?This is in line with Order 10.3. If we do not have quorum we need to adjourn.?

Again, on November 23 of the same year, there was no quorum, but the Senate went ahead with plenary with just 17 members, thus, violating its rule. Senate?s standing order stipulated that one-third of its members were required to form a quorum.

Also, on March 9, 2011, the Senate postponed the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to March 15 after failing to form a quorum. Then Deputy Senate President Ekweremadu, who presided over the debate, said the Senate would not be blackmailed into passing the bill without forming a quorum.

Even though the Senate passed three other bills without quorum, the senators refused to consider the PIB on the excuse of poor attendance and lack of time to consider the report.

On March 19, 2025, the Senate and House of Representatives could not debate and approve President Tinubu?s declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State for lack of quorum and communication of gazetted proclamation to lawmakers. The approval was, however, done at a later date.

Analysts weigh in

Weighing in on the matter, a professor of Political Sociology at the University of Abuja, Abubakar Kari, told Weekend Trust that the trend is a bad omen and threat to democracy.

Kari expressed worry that instead of prioritising the reasons for their election into the parliament ? which are for lawmaking, representation and oversight functions ? some of the senators have abandoned their constitutional roles and entangled in unhealthy practices, including intimidation of agencies they oversight, cutting deals, among others.

The university don said it was unfortunate that ?the National Assembly has become a refuge for benchwarmers and people who are more interested in hefty pay.?

?First and foremost, it is important to note that the major functions of the legislature are lawmaking, representation and oversight, but you hardly see these people. They usually claim that attending plenary is just one of the major things they do. But the problem is that they hardly do any representation. In fact, they avoid their constituencies.

?Some of them simply open offices, put some aides there and you hardly see them. These are more or less absentee legislators; they just turn the whole thing into convenience. And nobody sanctions them. In fact, there has never been an attempt to sanction anybody.

?Secondly, they still collect their pay, whether they attend or not; they collect hefty pay. The main attraction is the pay. They also cut all sorts of deals, particularly during oversights.?

Kari also expressed worry that the Senate in particular had become a refugee camp for former governors who have turned it to a retirement hall.

?The major motivation is not to legislate, it is to find a convenient refuge to do other things. It is really bad. In a cycle of four years you find that nothing is heard of some of them; they don?t even move any motion; they don?t contribute to debates.

?Only few of them care to sponsor any bill; so something has to be done about our legislature. They are not performing and they don?t even intend to perform. They have an entirely different reason for going there. They don?t do representation; the oversight they do is negative.

?It is very bad for democracy and even worse for the people they are representing because they are not representing well. They are only representing their interests. Even when they turn up, they simply warm the bench. So it is as good as they didn?t attend. Many of them don?t attend committee meetings.? he said.

Also, a political analyst, Aminu Yakudima, told Weekend Trust in a telephone interview that first term senators who are failing in their responsibilities should not be given return tickets.

He also said people who are not serious or ready to deliver on their mandates should be edged out, stressing that the legislature is the cornerstone to building a vibrant democracy in any country.

Yakudima said, ?I am one of the advocates of a unicameral legislature. We are practising bicameral legislature ? which comprises the lower and upper chambers ? and this is very expensive for the country.

?We are not dismissing the fact that the practice of democracy brings about the legislature. There is no democracy that will exist without the legislature, so the existence of the National Assembly is very imperative and a cornerstone to building democracy in any nation.

?But that doesn?t give licence to people who are not serious to seek for nomination, participate in an election, go to the National Assembly and fail. If they cannot make themselves available for the service they should quit. In fact, they shouldn?t be given return tickets.

?If a person is there as an elected senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the person should be responsible enough to attend all sittings and be punctual to all responsibilities and continue to be effective.

?If you are an absentee senator, it means you are not serious. I don?t think that person should be given another chance under whatever circumstance. He shouldn?t get any opportunity to return to the National Assembly.?

Another political analyst, Jackson Lekan Ojo said, ?The 10th Senate is like a department of the executive.?

He, however, said the current political atmosphere did not guarantee dissenting voices in the Senate, citing the case of Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), who was removed as the chief whip of the Senate over his posture on governance issues.

?When you want to counter what they are doing, they see you as an enemy of the president. Ali Ndume has suffered this. The national chairman of his party had to write to the Senate that they should remove him as chief whip. This is the first time I saw the chairman of a ruling party interfering in the activities of the Senate.

?So they are calm because by the time you want to say the right thing, you will be offending their principal. But this is wrong. This is not how it should be. We are not practising true democracy. Those people who don?t want to be sacrificed tend to be quiet. It is a bad omen for democracy. It is affecting their constituents,? he said.

But an elder statesman, Chief Chekwas Okorie said the fear of victimisation was not enough reason for senators to be benchwarmers. He also called for a mechanism that would make attendance register of senators open for public scrutiny.

In a telephone interview with Weekend Trust, Okorie, a former presidential candidate said, ?That excuse is out of cowardice. It is not an excuse that anybody will listen to.

?A senator or member of the House of Representatives who is afraid of speaking out because of fear of what somebody in the executive can do to him is not worthy to be in that particular place. Time has come when constituents should be asking their representatives questions.

?They cover their cowardice and negligence of their primary responsibilities under this broad ?ayes? and ?nays? answers. And that must stop because that is not how people that are practising the presidential system of government do in their places. ?There should be an electronic voting system that would show where any member voted on any issue,? he said.

Speaking further on the trend by which some senators don?t contribute to debates and other activities of the Red Chamber, including failure to attend plenary, Okorie said, ?It is unhealthy and a tragedy for our democracy.

?It is a shame that somebody will come and canvass for votes of his constituency and he will not represent the people that voted for him at the Senate. And there is no mechanism to actually monitor members so that their constituencies get quality representation.

?It is the administration of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, that has failed Nigerians. There must be accountability. That means that the National Assembly should make public attendance register of their senators because elections are coming; there is already a build up to 2027.

?Democracy is about a representative government. Every senator has a constituency. All House of Representatives have constituencies, the same for the state Houses of Assembly. And to worsen the whole situation, we now have this thing they call constituency projects, which the senators and the House of Representatives members don?t do. The people don?t even know what is allocated to their constituencies that will pass through their senators and House of Representatives members.

?Sometimes when these people bring anything to their constituencies, they do it as if it was a personal sacrifice to the people. Everything about our political leadership system is wrong.? (Weekend Trust, but headline rejigged)

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