The rift between the Executive and the Legislature should be blamed for the lackluster performance by President Muhammadu Buhari during his first term in office, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has said.
Lawan said President Buhari could not perform optimally in his first tenure because of the belligerent relationship between the Executive and Legislature.
The Buhari administration found it hard to have a smooth ride in its first tenure inspite of ruling All Progressives Congress control of the National Assembly between 2015 and 2019.
Both chambers of the National Assembly led by then Senate President Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, were on a collision course with the Presidency.
Saraki and Dogara defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party before the end of Buhari’s first term.
Lawan, who spoke at the Progressives Youth Conference in Abuja on Monday, said due to this situation, the APC lost four years that would have been used to convince Nigerians that they were right in voting out the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said, “For four years [2015 to 2019], our government could not perform optimally because of the then crisis between the parliament – the national assembly – and the executive arm of government.”
“So, APC had already lost four very important years. And, that was supposed to be the year that we should have convinced Nigerians that they took the right decision by voting out a PDP administration in 2015.
“What are our options? We are one party in different arms of government. Our policies are supposed to be the same. Our programmes and projects are supposed to be the same, whether you’re in the legislature or the executive.
“So long as you are APC, that is your programme and project, that is your government and you are bound to make it succeed.”
The Senate president urged the ruling party to brace for challenges after the end of Buhari’s second tenure.