Recent developments at the National Assembly were complete departures from the change Nigerians, albeit those who truly voted for change, enthroned in the March and April general elections.
The scenario began on June 10 with the skewed emergence of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, an APC member, and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a PDP member who was ‘voted’ as his deputy.
In the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Speaker, while Yusuf Suleiman Lasun became his deputy.
Party faithful and those who voted for unblemished change during the March polls were held spellbound, stood in disbelief and consternation, as they watched the drama unfold, as senators schemed and threw overboard party supremacy and ignored the President’s advice, as some members unabashedly sold out the esteemed party to the opposition for a pot of porridge.
“What happened especially in the Senate on that day has never occurred in the practice of presidential democracy in the country, as a ruling party would surrender cheaply to the opposition to enable someone snatch the coveted leadership position in a fraudulent manner suggestive of a planned devilish agenda, a worried APC stalwart notes.
“The Constitution has been cited as superior to the party, as if we are lost to that fact, but does the Constitution say the party should be ignored on issues like this? The demonstration is just the beginning of a grand design to pave the way for APC’s failure in the eighth Republic.
“And the opposition, the PDP, notorious for its dirty eating, swallowed the meal of treachery and now basking in euphoria as a partaker of a fraudulent election in the National Assembly,” the
politician remarks, noting that even among thieves, there is honour.
The politician stated that it was part of the scheming of the opposition to destabilise APC for possible re-emergence in 2019 as the ruling party and will stop at nothing to achieve such, but will not have its way.
Again on June 23, the APC leadership reached out to the National Assembly, requesting it to consider certain party-member legislators for the remaining principal posts.
And again, the Senate President and his counterpart in the House of Representatives ignored the respective letters written to the houses by the National Chairman of their party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
“The defiance by both house leaders is in bad faith and an evil alliance to hijack the entire National Assembly for personal ambitions. Any leaders who defy the party and align with the
opposition are agents of retrogression,” notes Sam Okorie, an Abuja-based lawyer.
“If it is not for a hidden agenda, why would the members prefer opposition to their party, after all, all the legislators rode to the Assembly through their party, not as independent candidates,” he says.
It is instructive to also state that the colour of impunity which wrecked the PDP in the seventh republic has begun to manifest in the leadership of both chambers.
For instance, the letters sent to the National Assembly could have been read, contents debated objectively and holistically, while compromises could be reached, in the spirit of democracy, not
acrimony. Instead, the letters from the leadership of the party were shoved aside in a disdainful manner.
Following the ouster of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by the All Progressives Congress, and the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, the ruling party has been working assiduously to ensure that all the members in the geo-political zones are equally carried along, especially in power-sharing.
The party is aware that it ascended to power through the amalgamation of other parties to form a formidable alliance to remove PDP, and consequently has been applying meticulously, equality and a balancing-act in its course.
In a presidential system, it is a winner-takes-all affair, a system which the PDP strictly adhered to in all positions in the executive, legislature and the judiciary in all its 16 years of rule, except in minority posts at the National Assembly.
“It is astonishing to note that some members in APC believed they could outsmart the party in their overreaching ambition to become the President of the country at all cost.
“They could collude with the opposition and drown the party to stay afloat, they could sell the victory of their party, and even of the country, as long as their ambitions are achieved,” remarks Prof. Remi Ogundele, a political scientist at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.
“They neither love the party nor the country, and they are ever willing and ready to ditch the party if offered bigger porridge by the opposition.
“The legislature is the engine room of democracy. A homogeneous legislature devoid of hidden agenda can work seamlessly with the executive, propel it to perform successfully all for the welfare of the governed and the development of the country.
“It is needless to say that the Executive arm of government can only afford to ignore the legislature at its own peril and a cantankerous National Assembly can effortlessly derail democracy. A honest legislature must be part of the change agent as well a custodian of change,” Prof. Ogundele said.
So far, the rebellious APC members at the National Assembly have been moving in the opposite direction, perpetually at war with their party leadership, obviously for high-powered selfish reasons.
Embittered Nigerians who have been yearning, struggling, fighting and working for a positive change since 2003 are becoming disillusioned.
They want a halt to the disrespect of party supremacy as well as the treachery in the APC.
“We have been in the trenches for almost 10 years to liberate our country from these suckers and plunderers. We have made a lot of sacrifices to liberate our country from corruption and ineptitude. We want a clean break from the past and a decent society where the future of our children will be guaranteed,” says Malam Sulaiman Garba, a Kaduna-based college teacher.
“The party should get its acts together and deal decisively with disloyal members before it is too late. It is a good thing the acrimony is coming early; let the party sort out the grains from the chaffs.
“All the scheming is directed at the President to make him fail, and if the party derails today, its fair-weather members will move to the opposition camp.
“Any moment from now, they will be paid their outrageous allowance, including their wardrobe allowance, having sat for few days, whereas millions of Nigerians are still jobless, while many of those in government employment have not been paid for months,” Garba says.
“PDP members are aware that their party is a bad product which cannot be purchased even by its own members. So they are leaning on the success of others to move out of its abyss. The only way to destroy the success of APC is by conniving with wolves in the party,” a student leader, Miss Irene Komolafe notes.
“How will the legislators show us that change has finally arrived in the hallowed chambers when they still tow the old path of PDP in their thinking, planning and execution?
“Are members of the National Assembly as currently constituted for the masses by deferring the change we all fought for? Must we be responsible for their wardrobes and furnish their apartments with their outrageously huge salaries? What has actually changed in them?
“If this rot is not arrested now, this National Assembly may end up producing worse results than its predecessors as many of them have shown clearly their main interest is desperation for personal gains,” Miss Komolafe said.
Observers say that in as much as politics is all about wits, opportunities and daring strategic moves, its players much show decorum and decency, adding that those who play the game without decency, as witnessed in the last administration, are unfit to lead in the first place and will end up destroying themselves.
They say the emergence of the eighth National Assembly should not be a setback to democracy, and that by their actions, the legislators have cut their nose by pretending to build a legislative autonomy, but are doomed to fail.
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