A Nigeria 3rd Republic senator, Barrister Emma Nwaka, has opined that, due to their democratic credentials, members of that 3rd Republic National Assembly should not be consigned to the dustbin of history, saying they instead deserve the nation’s gratitude.

Underscoring his position, he stated that the president-elect of that Third Republic, late Moshood Abiola, and his vice, Babagana Kingibe, having been honoured, equity demands that the Senate President, Senator Ameh Ebute, and his deputy, late Senator Albert Legogie, along with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Agunwa Anaekwe, and his deputy, Hon. Musa Kwankwaso, should be recognised, “bearing in mind that they resisted the plans by the military to use the legislature to legitimise the annulment of the June 12th, 1993 presidential election.”

Nwaka, who stated this in a statement dated June 10, 2025, hailed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for choosing the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly to address the nation on June 12, 2025, suggesting he seizes the moment to appreciate the 3rd Republic National Assembly for refusing to endorse the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election.

He said, “The President’s decision to address the nation from the National Assembly speaks volumes about the President’s recognition that the parliament is the fulcrum of democracy, and the executive arm of government cannot spend a dime from the public coffers without the approval of the parliament.”

This President’s choice of forum is not surprising, given that he started his political journey as a senator.

In the same vein, Nwaka, as an indigene of Abia State, posited that it is only the legislature that is invested with the right to overrule even the highest court of the land through new legislation.

Senator Nwaka, who served with President Tinubu in the said 3rd Republic Senate, spoke with pride that his senate class produced the current President (Tinubu), noting that the President was among those arrested and detained by the DSS for daring to reconvene the scrapped National Assembly.

According to Senator Nwaka, while he was on his way to Lagos to attend the meeting of the proscribed National Assembly, aimed at reconvening the Assembly, he was arrested at Ikeja Airport by personnel of the Department of State Security (DSS).

“I was detained at the DSS Shangisha office and later moved to their Awolowo Road Lagos Head Office, from where I was released, and then-Senator Tinubu was among the then-senators who were arrested and remanded in prison custody for their efforts to reconvene the National Assembly.”