Opeyemi Bamidele: N’assembly working on law to hold future presidential inaugurations at its arcade

Opeyemi Bamidele, the senate leader, says the national assembly is working on a law to ensure that future presidents are sworn in at its arcade.

Bamidele spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during an interactive session with journalists about the June 12 Democracy Day.

The senate leader also said that a bill will soon be introduced to mandate the president to deliver a “state of the nation” address before a joint sitting of the national assembly every June 12.

The national assembly had invited President Bola Tinubu to address a joint session of the senate and the house of representatives on Thursday to mark the 2025 Democracy Day.

Democracy Day is marked annually in honour of the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, widely regarded as the freest and fairest in the country’s history.

“It is our desire to institutionalise the state of the nation address,” Bamidele said.

“We will bring a bill to address it to ensure that it is institutionalised. People should look forward to it.

“President Tinubu is working with the national assembly in that regard. We are initiating a bill very soon to institutionalise the state of the nation address.

“June 12 will be a better time for the president to come address the nation through the national assembly.

“There is no better day than June 12 for the president to address the nation because of its historical significance. It is a joint sitting of the national assembly. Nigerians should look forward to this legislative initiative.

“We are also hoping to change our political setting to the extent that the swearing-in of the next president and commander-in-chief of the federal republic of Nigeria will, by the grace of God, be held in the arcade of the national assembly.”