A group of bipartisan lawmakers under the Save Nigeria Group has urged Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas to reconvene both chambers of the National Assembly for an immediate emergency session.
In a statement issued Friday and jointly signed by Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (NDC, Rivers), Hon. Abubakar Kusada (APC, Katsina) and Hon. Mansur Jega (ADC, Kebbi) on behalf of other concerned legislators, the lawmakers said the session must address chronic under-implementation of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Appropriation Acts, the constitutional controversy surrounding the State Police Constitutional Alteration Bill, allegations of off-budget expenditure, non-release of capital funds to security agencies, the worsening security situation, and measures to restore public confidence in the rule of law and democratic governance.
The lawmakers stressed they are neither an opposition platform nor agents of any political interest. They described themselves as legislators alarmed by the direction of Nigeria’s democracy and what they called a growing tendency of public institutions to subordinate the Constitution.
They warned that Nigeria’s democracy is under severe strain, citing an alarming disregard for the rule of law, persistent budget under-implementation, opaque public spending, economic hardship and an unacceptable security situation. “Democracy cannot survive where constitutional procedures are treated as inconveniences and legal safeguards are replaced by political improvisation,” the statement said.
The group highlighted two recent constitutional controversies. During the approval of the state of emergency in Rivers State in March 2025, the National Assembly relied on voice votes despite Section 305(6) of the Constitution requiring a two-thirds majority of all members of each chamber. More recently, they questioned the purported passage of the Executive State Police Constitutional Alteration Bill by the House of Representatives on 23 July 2026. The Speaker announced that 311 members had voted in support, exceeding the required threshold of 240. However, the lawmakers who were present stated that far fewer than 240 members were in the chamber at the time, alleging that the figure included votes transmitted via WhatsApp by absent members.
They insisted that Section 9(2) of the Constitution demands the affirmative votes of not less than two-thirds of all members of each chamber for any alteration. “The Constitution cannot be altered by presumption, improvisation or undisclosed voting arrangements,” the statement declared. “Democracy is endangered when a state of emergency can be approved through an unverifiable voice vote and the Constitution can purportedly be altered through WhatsApp messages. State Police may be desirable, but a desirable reform must still be established through a lawful process.”
On fiscal matters, the lawmakers lamented repeated budget extensions, rollovers and severe delays in capital implementation across the 2024–2026 fiscal cycles. They noted that in 2025 the federal government indicated only about 30 per cent of the capital budget would be funded, with the rest carried into 2026. Citing Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno’s public description of failure to implement an Appropriation Act as a potential “impeachable offence,” they agreed that deliberate or persistent non-implementation raises grave constitutional questions.
They demanded comprehensive budget implementation reports for 2024, 2025 and 2026; full disclosure of capital releases to every ministry, department and agency; reconciliation of revenues against authorised expenditure; explanations for the failure to release appropriated capital funds; a joint parliamentary investigation into chronic under-implementation; and appropriate constitutional action where deliberate non-implementation is established. “The Appropriation Act is law, and the federal government cannot choose which laws to obey,” they stated.
The group also raised alarm over reports of unrecorded public expenditure. They referenced an International Monetary Fund statement in July 2026 that public spending equivalent to approximately two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, estimated at about ₦8.83 trillion—had not been recorded in recent official budgets, contributing to a discrepancy between the declared fiscal deficit and actual financing needs. They called for an independent forensic audit of all reported off-budget expenditure, insisting that public funds cannot lawfully be spent outside Appropriation Acts or concealed from the National Assembly and the public.
On security, the lawmakers expressed deep concern that while Nigerians continue to face killings, kidnappings and displacement by terrorists, bandits and other violent groups, some security agencies had received little or no capital releases. They cited reports that nearly the entire budgetary provision for the Presidential Air Fleet approximately ₦20.27 billion was released, while only a small fraction of the Nigerian Army’s allocation for security equipment was made available. They demanded the immediate release of duly appropriated capital funds to the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force, intelligence institutions and other security agencies.
The lawmakers commended the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria for speaking candidly on insecurity, economic hardship, democratic decline and concerns about emerging one-party dominance, and the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria for urging caution and broader national consensus on State Police.
They concluded that the National Assembly is an independent arm of government constitutionally empowered to represent the people, defend the Constitution, appropriate public funds, conduct oversight and hold the Executive accountable not merely a body for passing executive bills and approving presidential requests.
While not opposed to State Police, economic reform or necessary public spending, they said they stand firmly against unconstitutional procedures, legislative shortcuts, unimplemented budgets, opaque expenditure and the continuing failure to protect Nigerian lives.
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