Andy Ezeani
Tuesday,February 10, 2026
The 10th Senate under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio hardly disappoints.
From its inception on June 13 2023, the upper legislative arm of the National Assembly wasted no time in defining its profile in aloofness to whatever the common interest of Nigerians may be.
Almost three years down the road, the Red Chamber, so-called, faithfully stands on its established protocol.
If Nigerians expected a senate that will stand up for them at any critical juncture, especially in matters of citizens welfare, rights and protection, the 10th Senate left no one in doubt from the onset about its unreadiness to be that bulwark.
What bothers the majority of Nigerians is often not what bothers the senate, personified by its leadership.
It is surely for a reason that Nigerians have predominantly seen the 10th senate as a mere contrivance, a gimmick mounted for the pursuit of a purpose located beyond the hollow rituals in the legislative chambers.
In various other legislatures in other climes, the views and interest of constituents of legislators directly determine their votes on the floor of the parliament. That is hardly the case in Nigeria.
Many in the 10th senate appear always to be teleguided from locations different from the constituencies they purportedly represent.
It is worth noting that two years and eight months into its tenure, the most identifiable landmark of the 10th senate remains Natashagate – the unnecessary, avoidable, and misguided expression of maschismo inside the Red Chamber.
Natashagate personified the wayward spirit that has prevailed at the 10th Senate since its inception.Featuring a besotted Senate president and an alluring but tough and focused Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the rest of the senators were left helplessly watching the drama.
Nigerians were still looking askance at their upper legislative house, caught in the grips of indiscretion, when President Bola Tinubu arbitrarily declared a State of Emergency in River State on March 18 2025. He alluded to a non-existent threat to the national economy arising from a personality squabble he could easily have resolved if he so wished.
The declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State was a constitutional overreach by the president. There was neither a breakdown of law and order in the state nor a threat to social and economic order to justify his action. There was nothing in Rivers State political bickering that the police could not handle.
Much more importantly, the approval of the National Assembly was required to declare a State of Emergency in the country.
Naturally, attention turned to the National Assembly. Again, the Senate did not disappoint. With the leadership of the lower chamber in tow, the Senate leadership simply decorated the constitutional breach by Tinubu with a procedural breach of his own and moved on.
The provision for voting in such a major constitutional issue on the floor of the legislature is for every legislator to clearly vote and be on record for his decision. The leadership of the National Assembly did not do that. They resorted to a Kangaroo closure of sorts.
They took a voice vote on the setioys matter of State of Emergency in a state, and proceeded to declare as result an outcome that was glaringly contrary to what the public saw and heard. Thus was the declaration of the State of Emergency in Rivers State approved by the National Assembly, two days after the President formally made the declaration.
Almost one year later, the 10th Senate under Senator Akpabio is on the march, again. Its record of doing mostly that which runs counter to what Nigerians truly want or expect is intact.
The image of the Senate President announcing a decision of the Senate on the Electoral Bill which ran counter to what the majority of the Senators appeared to have voted for, and then struggling to explain that what he did before the public was not what he did, could not be more absurd. It was gross.
The brazen attempt to sabotage the provision on electronic transmission of election result in the Electoral Bill leaves no one in doubt about where the problems of elections are located in Nigeria.
Those who are suggesting that the Election Management Body should be left to decide how to transmit election results are neither honest nor noble in their intent. That is a line of argument by those who look forward to undermining and exploiting the Election Management Body.
To go that route is to remain with the extant scenario that renders the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guideline subject to conflicting judicial interpretations. The courts have said in various instances that the INEC guideline is not a recognised law of the land. So, why does anyone, except someone with an ulterior motive, want the confusion to subsist?
INEC has, over the past 20 years, consistently advocated for electronic transmission of results to be backed by law. The Commission has established a strong collaborative mechanism with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications service providers.Through such collaborations, the necessary platforms and infrastructure have been strengthened to facilitate transmission of election results all over the country.
Curiously, at every critical turn in the efforts to amend the Electoral Act and enhance the electoral process through backing electronic transmission of results with the law, to drastically reduce human influence on election processes, politicians suddenly become experts in tele-density and network configurations, arguing on how villages have poor telecommunication network. Nobody is deceived.
The emergency plenary session of the Senate on the Electoral Bill, summoned by the Senate President should ordinarily not be necessary if the Senate leadership is on the side of history and the popular will. Senators have publicly declared their stand,anyway.
The common perception of the 10th Senate is that of a dancer responding faithfully to some drum beaters tucked away somewhere. Since the dancer cannot help itself as it were, the drum beaters owe it a duty to the country to stop beating the contentious drum. That will save the country avoidable crisis, which is building up over the issue of electronic transmission of election result. Nigerians demand to breathe.
The reality that a tribe of politicians exist who can only thrive in a system that is susceptible to manipulation and subversion of the will of the populace makes elections appear to be a rogue enterprise. This reign of roguery needs to end. Majority of the senators have already cast their vote on the matter
Hopefully, the emergency plenary called by the Senate President will not translate to a similar kangaroo closure that saw voice voting and a strange result during the senate session on declatation of State of Emergency in Rivers State.
It is at once disgusting and interesting watching the discomfort and maneuver of politicians who are uncomfortable with credible elections.
