Nigeria’s democracy came under an embarrassing spotlight on Thursday as senators of the 10th National Assembly moved to reserve the most powerful positions in the next Senate for themselves and their allies, weeks before voters decide who returns to the legislature.
In a country where elections are supposed to determine who holds public office, the lawmakers appeared to have taken political succession into their own hands, declaring the Senate presidency, deputy presidency and other principal offices of the 11th Senate effectively occupied before the next Assembly has even been elected.
The drama unfolded during plenary when senators rallied behind Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, vowing to return them unopposed if they win re-election in the January 16, 2027 National Assembly poll.
The endorsement also covered Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Chief Whip Tahir Monguno, Deputy Whip Peter Nwaebonyi, Minority Leader Abba Moro, Deputy Minority Leader Oyewumi Olalere and Minority Whip Tony Nwoye.
The declaration has raised a fundamental question about the place of democratic choice in Nigeria’s legislature: why are lawmakers already allocating leadership positions in a Senate whose membership has not been determined by voters?
The January 16 election is still ahead. No one yet knows the full composition of the 11th Senate, which constituencies will return their representatives or which political calculations will shape the next Assembly.
Yet, through a voice vote, the current senators endorsed a leadership arrangement for a future legislature whose members have not been elected.
It was a spectacle that risked reducing the democratic process to political theatre, with lawmakers appearing to confuse their present positions with an entitlement to determine the future of the Senate.
The development followed a complaint by Akpabio that political opponents were misrepresenting his comments during Tuesday’s debate on a bill seeking to decriminalise attempted suicide.
The Senate President alleged that the controversy surrounding his remarks was being exploited by politicians interested in the Senate presidency ahead of the 2027 elections.
“I know the position of president is gone. The position of vice president is gone. The only one that is left now is the position of Senate president that everybody wants to contest and have started mobilising,” Akpabio said.
His remarks prompted Monguno to rise in support of his continued leadership, assuring him that returning senators would back his ambition.
“Insha Allah, by the grace of God, majority of us are going to make it back to the Senate, and this seat of the President of the Senate is hereby declared no vacancy, including that of the Deputy President of the Senate and, in fact, those of the entire principal officers who secured party tickets for the January 2027 election,” Monguno said.
Senator Cyril Fasuyi, representing Ekiti North, seconded the motion, which Akpabio put to a voice vote and received an affirmative response from senators present.
But winning an election and securing a legislative leadership position are two separate battles. Even senators who return to the chamber cannot automatically dictate who becomes Senate President or occupies other principal offices.
The leadership of the incoming Senate will be determined by the senators-elect under the applicable legislative procedures. The current Assembly cannot make its preferred succession arrangement binding on its successor simply by passing a motion.
The distinction appears to have been lost in Thursday’s political drama, in which the lawmakers not only expressed confidence in their return but also appeared eager to settle the leadership contest before the electorate had spoken.
The episode raises troubling questions about how public office is perceived in Nigeria. Are legislative leadership positions responsibilities to be earned through democratic processes, or seats to be reserved by political insiders before the next election?
For a democracy struggling with public distrust, economic hardship and growing frustration with political elites, the optics are damaging. Voters are expected to queue at polling units, cast ballots and wait for the results, while some of the people seeking their mandates are already discussing how power should be distributed after the election.
Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, said he was not present in the chamber when the resolution was adopted.
“I was not in the chamber when the said resolution was taken,” he said after plenary.
The resolution does not guarantee the re-election of any senator or confer an automatic right to a leadership position in the 11th Senate. Nevertheless, its adoption has created the impression that the current leadership is attempting to get ahead of a process that should be left to voters and the incoming lawmakers.
Ultimately, Nigerians will decide who represents them in the January election. Those elected will then participate in determining the leadership of the next Senate.
Until that happens, any attempt to present the next Senate’s leadership positions as already settled risks making a mockery of the democratic principles the National Assembly is expected to uphold.
A democracy cannot credibly ask citizens to respect the ballot while its elected representatives behave as though the outcome and distribution of power are already settled.