Last week, Senate President Bukola Saraki led the Senate delegation to a dinner hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock. In this report, JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH examines the improved relationship between the Executive and Legislature and what the country stands to benefit from it.

It is no secret that the relationship between the executive and the legislature had not been ideal since the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate President on June 9 this year. Saraki was not the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) for the position but still went ahead to clinch the number one seat in the Senate, a move which placed him on a collision course with the presidency.

Saraki's emergence was compounded by the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) as Deputy Senate President. Many people in the APC regarded this as a slight on the presidency and which may jeopardize the change agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari. Since then it had been a cat and mouse relationship between the legislature and the presidency with mutual suspicion on both sides.

The senate president was later slammed with a 13 count charge by the code of conduct tribunal for allegedly wrongfully declaring his assets in 2003, 13 years later after leaving office as governor. Most people saw the allegations as a witch hunt and Saraki also blamed his trial as the handiwork of some cabals who are not happy he is the Senate President. ?Some Nigerians blamed the Code Of Conduct tribunal chairman Danladi Umar., for reading the body language of President Buhari wrongly and was probably trying to get into the good books of the President by summoning Saraki.

In a classic case of the hunter now becoming the hunted, the senate and House of Representatives both summoned ?the CCT chairman to appear before its committees on Ethics to answer questions bordering on corruption. While all this was going on the presidency maintained a grave silence on the issue. Saraki also made underground moves to reconcile with the presidency to no avail. His chance came during the screening of the ministerial nominees. Some Nigerians expected that the senate president would use the opportunity to get back at the presidency or negotiate his trial at the CCT.

However, Saraki delivered the goods as all the ministerial nominees were cleared, including former Rivers State governor and now minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi who faced strong opposition from the PDP senators. He was accused of being sympathetic to the PDP which is was considered as his backbone in the senate. By that singular act of confirming all the ministerial nominees, Saraki, many believe, proved that he was still a loyal party man who is ready to do the needful deliver it matters to the APC.

Since then, relationship between the executive and legislature began to show signs of improvement and Saraki became a regular visitor to the Presidential Villa. Prior to that, he was only seen in the Villa once. In view of the new found friendship, President Buhari last week hosted a presidential dinner in honour of senators at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Saraki led the delegation of lawmakers to Aso Rock with his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu who is visiting the Villa for the very first time since his emergence as the Deputy Senate President. At the dinner, President Buhari solicited the Senators' help to make his administration succeed. He told the lawmakers that the nation's roads were in dire need of attention by the federal government. The President also called for the immediate development of infrastructure such as rail and power.

Addressing the lawmakers, President Buhari who said the roads were dead noted that, while "those who drive between Lagos and Ibadan will have a lot of stories to tell you, those who drive from Kaduna to Jebba may have more stories to tell. He added that "the same thing is applicable to the East West roads".

He appealed to the Senate to join hands with the executive in making the problem of infrastructure such as rail, road and power a thing of the past. President Buhari also asked the senate committees to look at the various agreements the nation had entered into in the last six years and see where Nigeria is defaulting in terms of counterpart fundings. According to him, if the nation could get the railway working, lives and fuel would be saved.

On the free fall of crude oil price in the international market, the President lamented that it was affecting the economy negatively. As the senate received the supplementary budget last week, the president urged the lawmakers to treat the nation's budget with the same sense of urgency and the same way they treated the ministerial list. "We are enjoying the tremendous goodwill outside this country. Whatever we do, let us have it in mind that people have confidence in this government", he stated.

In his remarks, Senate President, Saraki thanked the president and pledged the senate's continuous support for the government. According to him, the challenges ahead are enormous. He added, however, that when God gives man a position, he will also equip him with the capacity to carry out the task. Saraki also promised that the senate under his watch would not be sentimental in treating national issues, even as he stressed that "Petrol does not know APC or PDP. We will always work hard in the interest of the country in everything we do".

Journalists were later excused as the president engaged the lawmakers in an interactive session behind closed-doors. With this development, it became clear that the storm that rocked the boat of governance between the executive and the legislature was indeed over. Analyst believe that this is a big plus the country because the synergy between the presidency and the legislature is very crucial to nation building.

The dinner hosted by President Buhari is seen as the right step in the right direction as the frosty relationship between the executive and the legislature was seen by many as unnecessarily overheating the polity. Political monitors posit that the relationship between the two arm of government must be cordial and they must be on the same page to make the change mantra a reality as both parties need each other to succeed.