Senate President Godswill Akpabio has reaffirmed that no member of the National Assembly will be allowed to hold the legislature to ransom, stressing that discipline, order, and respect for institutional authority are the pillars of a strong democracy.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Eseme Eyiboh, titled “The Trials and Triumphs of a Resilient Nigeria’s 10th Senate,” Akpabio explained that the Senate’s decision to enforce its rules and uphold discipline was not an attempt to suppress dissent but a measure to safeguard the integrity of democratic institutions.
According to him, “The Senate belongs to that global fellowship of parliaments that recognise chaos as the heart of anarchy and order as the soul of democracy. Our insistence on internal discipline is not personal or punitive. It is an act of institutional self-preservation.”
The Senate President emphasized that the upper chamber’s resilience lies in its commitment to collective responsibility over personal ambition, adding that no individual lawmaker’s disruptive tendencies will be allowed to derail the institution.
“When the chamber asserts that it will not be held hostage by the disruptive instincts of any single member, it is affirming that collective responsibility is superior to individual grandstanding. Strong legislatures endure not by silencing dissent but by ensuring that dissent respects the bounds of procedure,” Akpabio stated.
He further explained that parliamentary discipline is a defining feature of every mature democracy, citing examples from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
“In the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, the authority of the Speaker is absolute and unchallenged. In Canada’s Parliament, even fierce partisanship is guided by decorum. In Australia, legislative integrity depends on the strict enforcement of rules rather than political emotion,” he said.
Akpabio noted that the 10th Senate has faced its share of internal challenges but has remained focused on duty rather than populism. “The question in every democracy is not whether there will be dissent but how it will be managed. The strength of a democratic institution lies in its ability to discipline itself,” he concluded.
