A member of the House of Representatives from Ajeromi/Ifelodun/Federal Constituency, Lagos State, Kalejaiye Adeboye, has said no political coalition can defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Kalejaiye, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said the opposition’s attempt to remove Tinubu from power would fail, insisting that the President remains the best option for the country.
He said, “Everybody is colluding and looking for how to remove him from office, but let them continue to try. They call it a coalition, but I call it collusion because when you continue to assemble people who have failed this country, what are you having if not collusion? One million of them in the opposition cannot unseat Tinubu.”
The lawmaker also dismissed claims that the 10th National Assembly was a rubber-stamp legislature, insisting that lawmakers were performed their constitutional duties of lawmaking, budget appropriation and oversight.
According to him, the legislature sometimes adopts consultation rather than confrontation in dealing with the executive arm in order to ensure stability in governance.
“You can call the lawmakers anything you like, but what must be primary in the minds of responsible lawmakers is for the country to run in peace and make progress. We are not there to destabilise the country, so it is absolutely inappropriate to call the present lawmakers a rubber stamp,” he emphasised.
He also rejected allegations that federal lawmakers receive excessive salaries, describing the claims as misconceptions.
According to him, most members of the National Assembly were already financially comfortable before joining politics and often spend a significant portion of their allowances attending to the needs of their constituents.
He said, “I do not think anybody comes to the National Assembly as a pauper. Many of us had feasible means of livelihood before coming into the parliament. Nigerians should do away with the notion that the National Assembly is a place where you make money.”
Kalejaiye also dismissed allegations that the Federal Government spent $90m on foreign lobbyists over genocide reports, saying the claims had not been empirically proven.
He maintained that lobbying itself was not unusual in governance, noting that lawmakers often lobbied colleagues to get motions and legislative proposals passed.
On the economic situation in the country, the lawmaker said hardship was a global phenomenon and not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that Tinubu’s administration was making efforts to stabilise the economy.
“I am convinced and can say it emphatically that Tinubu is the best thing that has ever happened to this country,” he said.
