Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has recounted how the National Assembly uncovered alleged fraud in Nigeria’s fuel subsidy regime, saying the episode demonstrated why an independent legislature remains essential to democratic governance.
Speaking at the June 12, 2026 edition of The Platform, a public lecture organised by The Covenant Nation, Saraki said lawmakers must possess both the authority and capacity to scrutinise government actions and expose wrongdoing.
Using the fuel subsidy regime as an example, the former Senate President recalled how investigations by the National Assembly revealed alleged irregularities involving payments for petroleum shipments that never arrived in Nigeria.
“I remember in the 7th Senate when I was moving a motion on fuel subsidy regime and how there was corruption,” Saraki said.
He explained that marketers allegedly submitted shipping documents for fuel imports and received payments despite questions over the existence and location of some of the vessels involved.
“In those days what used to happen was we used to import petroleum products, and they would bring in vessels with documents to say ‘Vessel MV’, and those vessels were nowhere in Nigeria, and they would stamp the documents and pay them,” he said.
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According to Saraki, his investigation went beyond official records as he personally sought information from international vessel registries.
“But as somebody who had the ability to reach out, I went as far as going to the register, and I could see that the vessel that was supposed to be in Lagos port was somewhere in Colombia,” he said.
“So I told NNPC to see the vessel they paid for and see where it is. This is the capacity of what I mean by legislatures also having the capacity.”
Saraki argued that such oversight would not be possible if lawmakers merely approved executive proposals without independent scrutiny.
He maintained that legislatures exist to provide accountability and prevent abuse of public resources, warning that unchecked power poses a threat to democracy.
According to him, Nigeria’s constitutional structure deliberately created separate arms of government to challenge one another and ensure checks and balances.
The former Kwara State governor added that the lesson from both the June 12 struggle and past governance failures is that democratic institutions must remain strong enough to question authority and defend the public interest.