The Coalition for Good Governance (CGG), an amalgamation of more than 80 civil society, self-determination, and public interest groups, has condemned the National Assembly over what it described as “a voyage of legislative rascality, recklessness, provocation, and lawlessness” in its handling of the proposed Central Gaming Bill.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Sunday, October 19, 2025, the group accused the legislature of attempting to undermine the Constitution and a subsisting Supreme Court judgment that nullified the National Lottery Act 2005.
Convener of the coalition, Comrade Nelson Ekujumi, said the group’s intervention was necessitated by concerns that the National Assembly was deviating from its constitutional mandate of lawmaking for good governance to what he termed “law-breaking and the abuse of legislative privilege.”
According to Ekujumi, the Supreme Court had, in a landmark judgment delivered on November 22, 2024, declared that the National Assembly lacked the powers to legislate on lottery and gaming matters for the entire country, restricting such authority to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) alone.
The apex court, he recalled, ruled that lottery and gaming did not fall under either the Exclusive or Concurrent Legislative Lists in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and therefore, could only be regulated by state Houses of Assembly.
Quoting from the judgment, the coalition noted:
“Lottery and gaming activities while generating revenue do not fall within the core category of economic activities envisaged by the Constitution under Section 16 (4)(b) and cannot be regulated by an Act of the National Assembly.”
The group stressed that by moving forward with the Central Gaming Bill despite the apex court’s decision, the National Assembly was not only violating the Constitution but also threatening national peace and democratic stability.
Ekujumi warned that the legislature lacked the authority to override or reverse a Supreme Court decision unless the Constitution itself was amended to accommodate such matters under the exclusive legislative list.
“The attempt by the Senate to consider and possibly pass the Central Gaming Bill after its illegal passage by the House of Representatives is an affront to the rule of law and an assault on legislative integrity, democracy, and national security,” he said.
The coalition issued two major demands:
- An immediate halt to what it termed “the illegal and unconstitutional voyage of legislative rascality” by the Senate.
- An unreserved apology from the House of Representatives to Nigerians for passing the bill, which the group described as “irresponsible and unconstitutional.”
Co-conveners of the coalition — Razaq Olokoba, Razaq Oladosu, Gbenga Soloki, Peter Oparah, and Shola Justice Omolola — jointly signed the statement, warning that the Senate must resist being “railroaded into this act of legislative recklessness.”
“The Senate has a golden opportunity to restore public confidence in the legislature by declining concurrence to the Central Gaming Bill,” the statement concluded.