By Okoi Obono-Obla
With due respect, what the Senate President, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio, said on 2 June 2026 on the floor of the Senate concerning the quest for the return of forty senators belonging to the APC is merely his personal opinion and carries no force of law. His statement is a blustery attempt to assuage senators who failed to win the primaries held on 18 May 2026.
The Senate has no constitutional power to push for the return of senators who lost their primaries. Any attempt to depart from the established rules would attract a floodgate of litigations and even the wrath of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which has the authority to reject the names of candidates from any political party that fails to conduct its primaries in strict compliance with the frameworks laid down in the constitutions of the political parties, the Electoral Act, and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The Senate President’s remarks amount to mere grandstanding. As an experienced lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986, he knows that the power to give tickets to aspirants lies exclusively with members of the APC—no more, no less. The Constitution of the APC, the Guidelines for the Conduct of Primaries, the Electoral Act 2026, and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, collectively determine who receives a ticket, and that decision was already made on 18 May 2026. So be it.
The Senate, as one of the two houses that make up the National Assembly of Nigeria, is constitutionally empowered to make laws for the peace, stability, and good governance of the country. It must therefore not be the one to subvert the very Electoral Act 2026 which it concurrently passed together with the House of Representatives. The Senate must do well to maintain its constitutional boundaries and limitations, and not stray into the province of the National Working Committee of the APC or constitute itself as the APC’s electoral arbiter.
Conclusion:The sanctity of the electoral process rests on strict adherence to the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and party guidelines. Any deviation undermines democracy and erodes public trust. The Senate must remain within its constitutional remit, safeguard the rule of law, and resist the temptation to usurp the functions of political parties or electoral bodies. Only by respecting these boundaries can Nigeria’s democracy continue to thrive.
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