Dino Melaye blasts Akpabio, Abbas over failure to hold Tinubu to account

Former lawmaker, who represented Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, has accused the 10th National Assembly of surrendering its independence and failing to hold the administration of President Bola Tinubu to account.

Melaye, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, made the allegation at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

He stated that the manner in which the Senate and the House of Representatives have handled constitutional amendments, electoral reforms, budget implementation, security issues and other critical matters raises serious questions about the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He described the 10th Assembly as a “department of the Villa,” saying the legislature had abandoned its core duty of checking executive excesses.

In a paper titled “The 10th Assembly: The Pathway to Tinubu’s ‘Lifetime Presidency’,” Melaye argued that a president does not need to abolish term limits to amass excessive power if institutions meant to restrain him fail to perform their duties.

“A lifetime presidency does not begin with the abolition of term limits. It begins when the institutions created to restrain a president stop restraining him.

“Nigeria’s constitution does not establish an elected monarchy. It establishes a presidential democracy deliberately divided among institutions so that no individual, however popular or politically powerful, exercises the authority of the Nigerian state without constitutional restraint,” he said.

According to him, while the President wields enormous executive powers, the legislature retains independent powers over lawmaking, appropriation and oversight, while the judiciary is responsible for interpreting the law.

Melaye admitted that the National Assembly had passed bills, conducted investigations and held public hearings.

​However, he questioned whether it had demonstrated sufficient independence when it mattered most, particularly when presidential power needed to be checked.

He pointed to the March 2025 declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, controversies surrounding the passage and gazetting of the 2025 tax laws, disagreements over the Electoral Act 2026, delayed budget implementation, rising Service-Wide Votes and the handling of constitutional amendments.