senate Archives -

A lesson from Adedayo’s sack.

Cmoni / June 23, 2019

Last week the Senate President sensationally sacked a media aide less than 48 hours after his appointment was announced. Lawan came under immense pressure by APC loyalists including the newly baptised ‘First Lady’. I ‘ve been reading his column in the Tribune for some years now and there is no doubt that Festus Adedayo is good with the pen. I initially sympathised with him, not just for that but also from an ‘esprit de corps’ perspective since we share a common academic background in Political Communication. Now having said that there is a need to differentiate between criticism and insults. I must admit that I mostly skimmed through his scathing attacks on President Buhari primarily because I usually get an adequate dosage of that from the social media and other columnists like Femi Aribisala. Politics is a game and just like in games emotions are rarely contained, but if indiscipline by players and even spectators are punished then it should also apply in politics. Media practitioners represent the fourth estate of the realm whose primary objective is to present the citizens with factual information that will guide them in making decisions. We are not mere spectators, we are like the linesmen who interpret not just for the referee but also for the spectators. I recollect a recent chat with an editor who cautioned me about an offensive phrase in an article I submitted for publication. I had been caustic in my description of a group and he promptly told me that such words cannot pass his gate. Indeed the paragraph looked better when my piece was published. APC has millions of loyalists and their media machinery is ruthless. No political party comes a close second in utilising the power of social media as much as the party has done since the beginning of our current democratic experiment. This didn’t start with Adedayo. In June last year, renowned columnist and the chairman of Vanguard editorial board was forced to issue a humiliating apology after he described the Yorubas as “sophisticated morons”, an ethnic aspersion that was made viral by the South West wing of the APC youths. In the same month, a lady who worked with the Presidency was hounded by APC media soldiers for using uncharitable words to describe Vice President Osinbajo on twitter. She was queried and dismissed afterwards. In the heat of the moment, she boasted that she needn’t lift a finger to work to continue living in affluence for the rest of her life. However shortly after, she ‘nicodemusly’ got another job but somehow her traducers managed to reach her new hirer whose company thrived on government patronage and probably dropped the usual ‘if you want to retain our patronage’ line. Again she was sacked. The young lady who must have learnt her lesson can even be overlooked for her naivety and youthful exuberance but Festus is neither young nor naive. He is a professional who should know better. It is laughable that he claimed he was still considering the job when we know that he had already popped champagne with friends to celebrate his appointment. He also said that Obasanjo received the worst lashing from his acidic pen. Well, having now read some of his toxic writings against Buhari I can say that he may have criticised Obasanjo’s government but he INSULTED Buhari’s personae. Moreover, the Yoruba culture and training couldn’t have allowed him to label Obasanjo a fido dido, demented or having a body double. These words definitely go beyond criticism. They are acerbic phrases that shouldn’t be read from a copy and paste blogger let alone a career journalist. To put it plainly Adedayo sounded like a hateful bigot! Some would argue that journalists are humans and are susceptible to emotional outbursts like every other person. I agree. People are entitled to their opinion regardless of how far fetched or stupid it may sound to you. And frankly, I have read all sorts from respected journalists, especially on social media. One recently wished Abacha’s fate on Buhari for removing the CJN and another suggested that Obasanjo was a mole who should be tied to the stake and shot for calling Buhari a failure. All these are tolerable since we are in a democracy which of course guarantees freedom of speech even though that freedom actually ends where the other’s rights begin. The bigger issue, however, has to do with honour, morality and integrity. It is a poor reflection of our journalism that the prospect of owning a property in Abuja is often too enticing — as Reuben Abati will tell you — that the ultimate ambition of many is to be appointed the media aide of a politician or some corporate executive. So Mr Adedayo didn’t mind being interviewed for a job by a man he recently described as a myrmidon of the Fuhrer. How can you possibly join a cause you don’t believe in? A man who hates the vulture shouldn’t covet the soup claiming to enjoy the spices. If the Senate President appointed him out of ignorance or the need to placate his PDP backers, Festus obviously accepted out of greed and hypocritical opportunism. His likes are dangerous, despicable and totally bereft of the requisite values to move the nation forward. It was the Apostle Paul who said that “the tongue has the power of life and death”. Mr Adedayo will surely not die for being sacked but the dent of this experience will remain for a long time, and hopefully a teachable moment for us to always guard our emotions in political discourse.

Blog, Monishots

Why Saraki Is Scheming For 2023.

Cmoni / August 1, 2018

When General Muhammadu Buhari made a pact with politicians from diverse backgrounds with little similarity in ideology – if they had any – to emerge the APC flag bearer and subsequently the president, he cannot possibly claim that he didn’t anticipate a bumpy ride. Likewise, when Bukola Saraki and his henchmen sabotaged their party and successfully carried out a ‘coup’ to assume the Senate leadership in cahoots with the opposition they surely would have expected many battles in the fore. I had posited then in my thesis that for Saraki, winning a battle does not in any way translate to winning the war as it was clear to the discerning that tougher battles lay ahead. That it was an action that also resulted in the emergence of the PDP’s Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President made it more humiliating for the APC and left the intrigues ahead to one’s imagination. Saraki can rightly be described as well ‘connected’ and battle-tested; his rise in politics started with his appointment as Obasanjo’s aide on budget matters. From thereon he only looked forward and propitiously employed a combination of sagacity and ruthlessness to rise rapidly. However, many of his political battles were fought when he had immunity as a governor. As the Senate president, a higher position in the larger picture so to say, that privilege is no longer available and his fate unlike before is not entirely in his hands. All the same, credit must go to the medical doctor turned politician for surviving like the proverbial cat with nine lives. Basking in the support of colleagues that cut across party lines, he has managed a vice-hold grip on the Senate whilst surviving the onslaught of a protracted CCT trial and more recently some police investigations. It is even more impressive when you consider that while many have come to regard our NASS as the bulwark of the corrupt, populated by ex-governors and ministers with questionable records, Saraki still commands huge followership in his home state. He will likely be re-elected to the red chamber even in a free and fair contest. But the Senate President has been in the political scene long enough to know that a Nigerian President is an all-powerful demi-god. Having watched Obasanjo remove Senate Presidents and Governors, he knows the arsenal at the disposal of any occupant of Aso Rock. Even men like Anyim, Na’Abba, Nnamani, and Orji Uzor Kalu who successfully contained Obasanjo’s often fractious belligerence are yet to fully recover from the overwhelming political trauma that executive pressure can bring to bear on a perceived foe. That President Buhari, a stubborn soldier, is not disposed to the do or die tactics of his fellow jackboot, Obasanjo, is obviously a political strategy ingeniously conceived. I believe the Senate President knows too well that but for this disposition of the president, he would have been long gone. His supporters may disagree but he knows this and his traducers know too. Now let us briefly examine why Buhari has accommodated the Senate President. After the national assembly leadership elections, the division among the various parties that made up the APC became evident. President Buhari’s CPC took charge of the executive and Bola Tinubu’s ACN maintained a similar grip on the party leadership while Saraki and his nPDP group pocketed the legislature. In most organizations, it is often beneficial for the man at the helm not to take sides in any battle of attrition between his subordinates and in his bestselling “48 Laws Of Power”, American author Robert Greene put it thus: Do not commit to anyone. It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others-playing people against one another, making them pursue you. ~ Law 20 When Buhari refused to meddle in that tussle for the NASS leadership, many including yours truly didn’t fully comprehend that the taciturn general was only employing this golden rule. If he had intervened then, perhaps Bola Tinubu and his men would have become too powerful for him by having control of the party and the legislature. He maintained mature neutrality while not losing sight of the need to have both groups sucking up to him. A sort of balance -if you like- that ensured he remained the lord and master. However, as the battle for 2019 intensified the need to pander to the whims of the party power brokers became more critical for the President’s re-election bid because it is only on the party platform that his loyalists can deliver. Obasanjo successfully deployed this tactic against Atiku when he replaced Audu Ogbeh with Ahmadu Ali to take control of the party and checkmate the Vice President’s influence with the lawmakers. Moreover, given our politicians’ penchant for cross-carpeting to contest elections, it would be futile trying to stop those who had already lost out in the local congresses. President Buhari still enjoys cult followership, especially in his Northern base. A cursory look at his record haul of votes even when the PDP was still writing election results in Ota farms clearly accentuates his popularity in the region. That is not likely to change now he is in power despite the challenges facing the country, at least not significantly. His appointments into INEC and the security agencies equally indicate that the man will not gamble away a hard-fought presidency. So as the political fireworks escalate towards February 2019, the fallback option to the PDP may offer some hope for the political lightweights to have a shot at retaining their positions in 2019 but the gladiators are actually battling for relevance in readiness for a post-Buhari Nigeria in 2023.

Blog, Essays, Monishots

Saraki will do well to ignore the lousy IGP.

Cmoni / May 17, 2018

Sometimes by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war ~ Donald J Trump I am not a fan of the police, few Nigerians are so I can comfortably say I belong to the majority here. I am also not a fan of this particular IGP, not just because he pales out abysmally in comparison with recent predecessors he is also controversially lousy. Perhaps with the exception of Suleiman Abba who was removed by former President Jonathan for stupidly switching loyalty to then President-Elect Buhari, there is little chance of placing IGP Idris side by side with any other IGP in the past decade. If I am asked to name one Buhari appointee that should be shown the door, it will be a tough decision between him and the beret-wearing Mr. “Spended Money”. I am also not a fan of our Senators, again, few Nigerians are, neither am I a supporter of the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki. As a matter of fact, I have previously written to criticise the way he usurped the Senate leadership by sabotaging his party and wrongly predicted his downfall. However, I must admit that I have come to respect and admire him a lot. He has an uncommon combination of the ruthlessness and elan required to navigate the murky waters of politics more especially our type of politics. And to those who say he is presiding over a house filled with sleazy brigands, I can only remind them that besides David Mark no other Senate President has lasted longer in that house that has continually recycled similar characters since the Fourth Republic. So love or hate him, one cannot but agree that Bukola has filled his late father’s shoes and will likely surpass Oloye’s achievements. But Saraki may now be overplaying his card, he cannot afford to lose sight of the big bounty which is the 2019 general elections because a lot is at stake for his political future and specifically the next four years. Here are some of the reasons why he should tread carefully. The politics that played out in his emergence as the Senate President left his party which won the presidency and the national assembly in a quandary of which they are yet to recover from. Long after his contemporary in the House of Representatives had settled the divergent political interests within the APC, Saraki was still embroiled in bitter disputes with his party leadership and by extension the executive. The corollary of this was the protracted false asset declaration by the CCT which not only hampered the primary duty of legislation but pitted the Senate against the Executive in a war of attrition which was always destined to in the usual way, a victory for the piper. That he survived the onslaught was partly due to the non-partisan support from colleagues and a politically brokered deal that left the matter pending at the Supreme Court. That reprieve is temporary and he knows so. Unlike in 2015 when his support cut across party lines Oloye Junior now has a swelling list of adversaries within the Red Chambers. The first is Senator Ali Ndume, former Senate leader and one of Saraki’s fierce loyalists. Till date, I still fail to understand why Saraki didn’t manage the Magu affair better considering that the Presidency wanted the man. I mean there are certain battles you to stoop to conquer. By suspending Ndume whose travail started when he rightly pressed for the confirmation of Magu his kinsman, Saraki may have sent a clear message that he was in charge but he also created a formidable foe in a veteran lawmaker who has the backing of his state and perhaps the entire North East, a region with an unflinching loyalty to President Buhari. Today Ndume is not only back, he is almost certain to return in 2019 and Magu remains the Acting Chairman of the EFCC. Having led several investigations into Saraki’s affair in the past it is no secret that Magu has the Senate President’s dossier on his palm and will be more than willing to unleash same whenever required by his bosses. In a previous piece, I did say that any discerning political observer will expect the battle for political power to get fiercer as we inch towards the 2019 general elections and there will be no better stage than the National Assembly as the pro and anti-Buhari legislators lock horns. That stage was set when Senator Abdullahi Adamu led a walk out on his colleagues as amendments to the Electoral Act which effected a change in the election schedule were passed. Adamu was subsequently removed as the Chairman of the Northern Senators forum and accused of embezzling 70m. I can imagine the ex-governor whom the Senate President often refers to as an ‘elder statesman’ will be more incensed at the meager and insulting amount than at losing his position. Whatsmore his file is also sitting at Magu’s table and he will be eager to do the EFCC a favour against the Senate President in future. And finally, the former Kwara state governor appears to have met the toughest challenge to his grip on the Senate in Omo Agege. The Delta Central Senator has been one of the most vocal pro-Buhari Senators since he dumped the Labour Party for APC, and promptly joined the Abdullahi led group of nine to make critical comments on the Senate’s handling of the electoral act amendment. Saraki reacted swiftly, using his henchman Dino Melaye to accuse Omo-Agege of disparaging the Senate. Not even an open apology by the Omo-Agege could save him from Saraki’s big stick as he was suspended on the recommendation of the ethics committee. But the Ughelli born lawmaker would not go down quietly like Ndume. In a Gestapo style operation, he allegedly led thugs to snatch the mace while Saraki was attending a function in faraway America. And after a brief visit to the police, Omo Agege regained his freedom

Blog, Essays

To make democracy safe in Nigeria by The Guardian

Cmoni / May 3, 2018

The Guardian interrogates the recent invasion of the Senate by hoodlums to cart away the mace in this editorial published on May 3, 2018. ..Read on ———————————————————————————————————————————— The invasion by hoodlums of the Senate chambers and the unlawful removal of the mace, while the house was in session, was a serious affront on the upper house, the whole legislative arm of government, and, in the widest implication, a threat to the entire democratic structure, process and purpose. It is a condemnable act. It is unacceptable. But beyond mere condemnation, the three-arm constituted government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must identify the perpetrators of this outrageous act, detect their motive(s) and after due process, visit on the culprits the severest punishment allowed in law. For never again must this happen. This country must be made safe for democracy. There are indeed good reasons to view this act with the utmost seriousness. Firstly, the legislature is one of three institutions of a democratic system of government. To render it unsafe and unable – even for a moment – to function cannot but destabilize that institution in particular and the system in general. Secondly, in a nation governed by the rule of law, the legislature is the sole institution granted powers to make those laws. The extant constitution says that ‘the National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Federation or any part thereof…’ If the legislative arm of government is, in any way conceivable, intimidated, or rendered unsafe to perform its function, it is a direct threat to the rule of law, a toleration of lawlessness, an invitation to anarchy. This must not be; Nigeria has, at this time, enough acts of lawlessness to deal with. The forcible removal of the mace from the house in session is an attack on the democratic process. The mace, it needs to be said, is the symbol of the authority of the House to do just what the constitution charges and empowers it to do as provided in the relevant sections of the Constitution. In the American democracy from where Nigeria has borrowed its present system of government, the presence of the mace, how and where it is positioned in the chamber signify various meanings. The point here is that symbolically, a house session without the mace lacks authority and by implication decisions taken are invalid. The theft of the mace from the house is a willful act to disempower the house and render it ineffective. That constitutes an attack upon the stability of the polity. The ease with which hoodlums enter the grounds of the National assembly, the Senate chambers, and take away the mace indicate clearly that the security system is either terribly weak, or that it was compromised. Can this happen to the Congress of the United States, or the Parliament of the United Kingdom? As a possibility yes, but as a probability, no. Even as the urgent need to comprehensively review the security architecture of the National Assembly (NA) is already being discussed by the House leadership with the security agencies, the time has come to widen the perspective beyond the immediate insecurity of the National Assembly, to include clear and present nationwide insecurity. The time has come to decentralise the policing structure of Nigeria. The U.S. Congress is covered by the United States Capitol Police (USCP), a multi-unit structure that is answerable to the legislative branch of the U.S. government through the Capitol Police Board. The USCP units include containment and emergency response team, dignitary protection, threat assessment, intelligence gathering and analysis, and bomb squad. With a structure like this, can the Congress suffer what the Nigerian Senate went through recently? Possibly yes, but most probably no. Having copied so many aspects of the American system of democratic governance, it makes sense that Nigeria should adopt this protection method too. The policing system in Nigeria is archaic and most unsuitable to the challenges of modern times. For the umpteenth time, we should say, along with most voices of wisdom on this matter, that policing in this country must be localised if it is to be effective. To effectively and efficiently keep law and order in the polity, state and community (local government, university etc.) police must be created. Not only is the National Assembly at risk from hoodlums and other criminals, it is no exaggeration that in these times, nowhere and no one is safe in this country and the blame for this, ironically, falls substantially –but not completely- upon the legislature. It has failed in its constitutionally assigned duty to ‘make laws for the peace, order, and good government’ of this republic. The legislature has been too self-seeking, and derailed from its constitutional focus. It has been too devoted to serving narrow, parochial interests to pursue the highest good of the greatest number of the electorate. We seek exceptional acts of patriotism in the legislature but they are hard put to find it. If as they say, chicken eventually come home to roost, the invasion of the hallowed chambers of the Senate is only a new dimension to the widening insecurity in the land. Hapless citizens are killed each day across the country and government response is mere statements of regret. Perhaps because the electorate does not identify with the travail of the legislators, it is no wonder then that there is no spontaneous public protest against the invasion of the Senate. The primary purpose – and the constitutional duty – of this democratically elected government is to ensure the security and welfare of the people. To make Nigeria safe for democracy and democracy safe in Nigeria, the three arms of government must do their respective and collective duties.

Blog, Essays

Hoisting APGA’s Flag At The Senate by Ifeanyi Afuba

Cmoni / January 29, 2018

Nelson Mandela, the African hero of the twentieth century, taught us that strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation. And we begin to get a sense of how the All Progressives Grand Alliance and one of its star brands, Victor Umeh, finally achieved a breakthrough in the knotty senatorial turf. In the most clinical fashion of a long distance champion, Senator Victor Chukwunonyelum Umeh breasted the Senate tape on Saturday, January 13, 2008, bringing to an end a cocktail of contrived confusion that stood in the way of implementing the Court of Appeal judgment of December 7, 2015. Thus, the successful conduct of the re-run election and the subsequent swearing-in of Ohamadike have immense significance for Nigeria’s democracy. However, a critical study of the APGA story will reveal that it is the most brutalized but not the most humiliated political party of the fourth republic. Its very registration as a political party was a tug of war. It had taken a Supreme Court judgment in 2002 to force the withheld official recognition. Posterity will credit the collective of APGA faithful for steadfastness in the face of many aggressions. But if individuals are to be recognized for standing up to the assaults, the honour goes first to Senator Victor Umeh. From 2004 to 2014, no single individual impacted on the fortunes of the All Progressives Grand Alliance as Senator Victor Umeh. The story of Anambra’s journey of transformation is in part, the story of APGA’s travails and triumphs. APGA launched the movement that ushered in Anambra’s process of recovery from neglect and misrule in 2006. Events took a critical turn in 2004, when the party was subverted from within, from the highest rung of its leadership. This came in the sudden declaration that APGA was no longer interested in the prosecution of its 2003 Anambra governorship petition, then going on at the tribunal. The severity of the internal conspiracy compelled a more deliberate search for a new leadership that could be ‘predicted’ and trusted. And it was in this delicate circumstance that Senator Umeh, hitherto national treasurer of the party, came to the fore as acting national chairman in 2004. Ignoring the issues of his indictment, the suspended national chairman, Chekwas Okorie, pronounced that he could not be removed because his name was written in the party’s constitution. The disengagement generated eleven suits, nearly all instituted by the sanctioned politician. With reality dawning, Okorie returned the APGA certificate in his possession but sought revenge with his bid to register a new party, United Peoples Grand Alliance (UPGA). The spoiler game was clear enough. The phonetic and syntactic similarities between APGA and UPGA were sure to have devastating consequences for APGA in a society still contending with low literacy levels. An alert APGA leadership swung into action, detailing grounds which ought to render Okorie’s application defective. INEC under Attahiru Jega, a man widely respected for his pedigree, sustained the objections for their merit. Okorie settled for the name, United Progressive Party in the end. There were more rivers and deserts to cross. About a year to the end of his tenure in 2014, a former governor was seized by his own pet idea of playing adventures with APGA. Members of APGA were at a loss as the ex governor tried to install a new national chairman in place of the man reckoned as an achiever, whose tenure had not ended. Umeh stood his ground and snatched victory from the lion’s jaw. Consequently, he was able to influence the nomination of Willie Obiano as the APGA governorship candidate in the 2013 election and also driving the re – election of Governor Obiano for second term. We now see why the outcome of the January 13, 2018 senatorial poll is so significant for APGA. If Umeh, the veteran of APGA battles, cannot make it to the Senate, what hope lies for others? With the prospect of free and fair elections brightening under Buhari’s presidency, the quest to launch APGA to the centre stage of Nigeria’s government and politics has become feasible with the congruent leadership of Umeh and Governor Willie Obiano. With APGA’s flag flying at the Senate, notice is served to those ever in a hurry to define our political colouration as a two party system not to beat the gun. In 2019, the PDP will, for the first time, contest national elections without being in control in Abuja. That level playing ground guarantees that other political parties can no longer appropriate APGA’s victories as happened in the governorship cases of Ugochukwu Agballa, Enugu State, in 2003; Martin Agbaso, Imo State, 2007; and Alex Otti, Abia State 2015. APGA now has its first senator from Anambra State; A senator who will not defect to another party! Source: AbsRadioTv

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Senate threatens to arrest IGP Idris

Cmoni / November 2, 2017

The Senate has threatened to issue arrest warrant against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, for failing to appear before its ad-hoc committee investigating allegations of abuse of office against him.

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On deodorants and insecticides.

Cmoni / January 28, 2017

For me this matter is simple, his SGF wants to be ‘chopping’ while stopping our lawmakers from doing the same. He should know that the Nigerian way is ‘chop I chop’, that is how our democracy works and any attempt to stop it will be stiffly opposed.

Blog, Essays

The Senate and Saraki’s excess baggage

Cmoni / July 10, 2016

They say to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. Any critical observer will agree that Saraki was never adequately prepared for this onslaught. He may have made one or two deals with powerful men who have the President’s ears but sometimes other exigencies can render such men and even the President helpless to intervene.