Ahmed Lawan & Saraki
Even as the Senate resumes legislative duties on July 28, it is still enmeshed in leadership crisis. BAYO AKINLOYE reports that the upper chamber started off on a poor footing, reeling from a power struggle within the All Progressives Congress
Evan Enwerem was the first President of
the Nigerian Senate in the Fourth Republic. His tenure in 1999 was
embroiled in allegations of corruption. He was alleged to have falsified
his name, causing a controversy as to whether Enwerem’s real name was
Evan or Evans. After series of stirring debates, he was removed from
office on November 18, 1999. The ouster was allegedly spearheaded by
allies of Chuba Okadigbo, who had a keen interest in the position and
was later elected as Enwerem’s successor.
Okadigbo was later charged with corruption and his impeachment took place on August 8, 2000.
Some moments of respite prevailed, when Pius Anyim succeeded him and held the office of the Senate President till May 2003.
Adolphus Wabara came in and like his two
impeached predecessors, he was soon swallowed in the quicksand of
controversy. By 2005, allegations were made that he and others took a
$400,000-bribe from the then Minister of Education, Fabian Osuji. Wabara
resigned as Senate President, while Ken Nnamani was elected to succeed
him. Nnamani presided over the senate from 2005 to 2007.
It was a tumultuous Senate until a former
military governor. Senator David Mark, took over the reins of
leadership in the chamber on June 6, 2007. His two-term tenure as Senate
President was considered to be largely stable and successful. Mark was
in the saddle till June 9, 2015, when Bukola Saraki took charge.
Prior to Saraki’s emergence, all previous
Senate presidents were members of the Peoples Democratic Party. Before
the 2015 elections, Saraki had defected from the PDP to the All
Progressives Congress and his emergence as Senate President was fraught
with drama, which left the Senate inchoate.
On June 6, this year, the APC announced
Senator Ahmed Lawan and Senator George Akume as sole candidates for the
position of President and Deputy Senate President of the eighth Senate
respectively, following a shadow election conducted by the National
Working Committee of the party.
The National Secretary of the APC, Mala
Buni, who served as returning officer, announced that 33 senators were
accredited to vote after which Lawan got 32 votes. One vote was declared
invalid. A similar procedure was adopted in the election of Akume, who
also got 32 out of the 33 votes. But Saraki, who was also interested in
the senate presidency, had boycotted the shadow election along with his
loyalists.
That was the handwriting on the wall.
The party’s hierarchy, sensing a
potential crisis, tried to maintain a common front by making frantic
efforts to ensure that its senators-elect toe the party line. Part of
such efforts was a meeting purportedly called by President Muhammadu
Buhari on the day federal lawmakers were to be inaugurated and for the
National Assembly members to elect their leaders.
The meeting ended abruptly as news
filtered in that Saraki had become the new President of the Senate,
while a PDP senator, Ike Ekweremadu, was elected the deputy senate
president for the third time in a row.
The APC issued a statement rejecting
Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President,
respectively. It also threatened to sanction Saraki and his loyalists.
Even a group of senators under the aegis of Senate Unity Forum, led by
Barnabas Gemade and Kabiru Marafa, threatened to take legal action
against Saraki, claiming that the election of the former Kwara State
governor did not follow due constitutional procedure.
Gemade noted that, “Since it takes
two-third of members to impeach the Senate President, two-third of the
members should also, have been in attendance before he (Saraki) was
elected. The Clerk of the National Assembly (Salisu Maikasuwa), knowing
full well that the quorum for election of the Senate President was not
met, went ahead to conduct an election that shut the door against about
51 other senators. This will remain unacceptable until what would meet
democratic parameters is done.”
On June 10, Marafa, who raised a point of order protesting how Saraki became the Senate President, called for an investigation.
“The news was that the Senate was
inaugurated with 57 senators while 51 senators-elect were absent. I want
to put it on record that after the swearing in, I was handed down
Senate standing orders as amended. I want to say that as an active
member of the 7th Senate, I cannot recall where and when the Senate
orders were amended or tabled for any amendment or corrections. I think
it is worthy of notice that this act was perpetrated and the Senate
should call for a full investigation of what happened and where this
document emanated,” he said.
Disagreeing with the SUF, Shehu Sani, an
APC senator, stated that the election which produced Saraki as President
of the Senate was constitutional and followed due process. But his
point of order was overruled, leading to Lawan and 28 other senators of
the ruling party storming out of the chamber.
From that time point onward, the Senate has remained unsettled and shaky, calling for one adjournment after the other.
The ruling party had in a letter to
Saraki named Lawan as its choice for the Majority Leader; Sola Adeyeye
as the Chief Whip; George Akume as Deputy Majority Leader; and Abu
Ibrahim as Deputy Chief Whip.
In
what many regarded as unmistakable defiance, Saraki refused to announce
the party’s candidates for the upper chamber’s principal positions.
Rather, he read letters from zonal caucuses of the APC in which the
North-East caucus of the party nominated Senator Ali Ndume as the
Majority Leader, the North-West selected Bala Na’Allah as the Deputy
Majority Leader and the South-South caucus adopted Francis Alimikhena as
the Deputy Chief.
The APC had in a statement insisted on
its position and rejected the principal officers announced by Saraki but
it was learnt that the party’s National Working Committee was undecided
on whether or not to punish Saraki. While some members believed that
the party should handle the issue with care, others insisted that the
Senate President should be punished.
Thus, the division among members of the
National Working Committee had prevented them from taking a definite
decision on the alleged anti-party activities of Saraki. Those who
advocated a soft approach were of the view that if the issue was not
handled with care, the PDP would cash in on the crisis and woo Saraki
and his supporters. But those who called for a punitive measure insisted
that the party would set a bad precedence if Saraki and his group were
not punished.
Joining the fray, the PDP dismissed as empty boast, any threat by the APC to sanction the leadership of the Senate.
In a statement signed by its National
Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, the opposition party stated, “The
crass inexperience so far displayed by the APC is a pointer that it is
not adequately equipped to handle the affairs of government at the
centre. The APC is merely suffering from the consequences of the greed,
lust for power and inordinate ambitions of their leaders. They should
note that Nigerians have since moved ahead with the new leaders in the
National Assembly and stop wasting their energy on propaganda and
blackmails to heat up the polity.”
But the Head of the Department of
Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Jonah
Onuoha differed with the PDP.
He said, “It is obvious that the 1999
Senate scenario is already playing out. There is no way one can repose
confidence in someone who is mismanaging a crisis. Integrity is very
important. I haven’t seen that in the current Senate. Saraki must go; he
‘sneaked’ in through the back door to assume the leadership of the
Senate. It is a bad signal to the international community that impunity
is still in place. The APC must ensure that Saraki dances to the tune of
his party, otherwise he should be forced out.”
Every attempt made by the APC to resolve
the crisis only worsened the situation as the Saraki and Lawan camps
refused to shift grounds. But President Buhari, who stated that he was
ready to work with the Senate leadership – which he accepted as a fait
accompli – is said to be unhappy with the Saraki crisis.
Sources close to the two camps had told SUNDAY PUNCH
in June that President Buhari and senior party officials were still
miffed that Saraki and other party members defied the party and formed
an alliance with the PDP.
During that month, Saraki had paid a
well-publicised visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. His aim,
according to reports, was to seek the former president’s intervention in
the crisis. Saraki wanted Obasanjo to pacify the APC leaders on his
behalf. But SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the former president’s intervention had failed to yield the results desired by Saraki and his camp.
Obasanjo had reportedly told Buhari to
work with Saraki and let the party deal with all the disciplinary
issues. However, the President was said to have been non-committal.
Some senior party leaders however expressed doubts about the viability of Obasanjo’s intervention. They told SUNDAY PUNCH in different interviews that Saraki is an ally of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar whom Obasanjo is not very fond of.
One of them said, “It is not a secret
that Atiku is solidly behind Saraki. How the Senate President think
Obasanjo will back any move by Atiku is what we don’t understand. Atiku
was the first person that Saraki visited when he emerged as senate
president. The ex-president will definitely not turn Saraki back but
deep in his heart, he knows which camp he belongs to.”
Buhari had reportedly shunned all moves by Saraki to meet him before the senate president’s visit to Obasanjo.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to
the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Buhari was not
avoiding Saraki. Rather, he said, it was the Senate President who had
yet to visit Buhari. When asked specifically when Saraki would be
meeting with the President, Shehu said it was left for the Saraki to
decide.
Last week, Buhari and Saraki were seen
praying together in Abuja in commemoration of the end of Ramadan. Many
said Buhari’s body language during the prayer signified his displeasure.
A former member of the Senate, Olabiyi
Durojaiye, noted that some powerful forces longing to scuttle the
programmes of the APC were responsible for the crisis in the party.
Durojaiye said, ‘‘I think the way out is
to recognise that there are some powerful elements who do not want the
programme of change designed by the APC to succeed. So, we should look
at the bigger picture and the tremendous goodwill the APC party and
government are enjoying nationally and internationally. This is a
personal opinion subject to the majority view of the party. The sum
total of all I have said is that we should work out a formula that will
not lead to any extreme either way.
“For example: Can the party leaders and
elders decide to caution the Senate President but allow him to retain
his position while we insist on all true lovers of progress for Nigeria
to persuade the Deputy Senate President to voluntarily resign his
position while retaining his seat as an ordinary member of the Senate?’’
The leadership crisis however came to a
head when Marafa’s observation that the Senate Standing Orders 2011 (as
amended) had been altered, became a matter of police investigation.
Senators loyal to Lawan had petitioned
the security agency over some alterations to the legislative document.
According to them, there are no records of amendments of the 2011 Orders
in the Hansard of the Seventh Senate. Lawan’s loyalists had argued
further that the new Senate Rule was discovered to be different from the
one ratified by the Sixth Senate in 2010, which was used by the Seventh
Senate as Senate Standing Orders 2011.
Marafa said, “We are convinced that there
is a general conspiracy in this country to sabotage the APC government,
particularly the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. The
Senate standing rule that was reviewed overnight is another pointer to
the fact that the inauguration of the Senate on June 9 and the election
of Saraki/Ekweremadu was part of the planned conspiracy. That is a
criminal conspiracy. Our standing rules were changed. Who changed them?
Why were they changed? For what purpose and who ordered the change? Who
brought ballot boxes inside the chamber on June 9?
“Those who brought in the ballot boxes
were obviously privy to the grand conspiracy. The rule of division was
adopted in 2011 when David Mark contested election. People’s names were
being called and each person would stand up and say who they want to
vote for. But on June 9, boxes were brought into the chamber. Who
brought them? Who changed our rule? President Buhari should prosecute
the perpetrators of the criminal act because that was corruption.”
Speaking for senators loyal to Saraki,
Rafiu Ibrahim, denied allegations of conspiracy against Buhari’s
administration with the election of Ekweremadu.
Rafiu said, “We (Pro- Saraki group)
campaigned across the party lines because some APC senators already had
their candidate. However, when members of the Senate Unity Forum were
not around in the chamber to vote, the PDP seized the opportunity to
contest and Ekweremadu, being a two-term senate president, used his
goodwill among the senators to score 54 votes across the APC and the
PDP. There was no case of conspiracy; there was no form of pact. In
fact, members of the Senate Unity Forum should be held responsible for
the emergence of Ekweremadu as deputy senate president.
“If they had not absconded on the day of
inauguration, an APC senator would have emerged just like what happened
in the House of Representatives. It is not correct to say that the
election of Ekweremadu was part of a design to make President Buhari’s
administration to fail. Rather, the Saraki leadership in the Senate
would ensure the success of President Buhari’s programmes and policies
and he had started work on it already.”
Ekweremadu had reportedly, while
responding to the question raised by Marafa, on the issue on June 10,
said that the 2011 Rule book had “died” with the Seventh Senate.
But the Police are now trying to unearth
the ‘dead’ rule book. According to the police, its investigation into
the alleged forgery of the document will soon be made public.
Between June 23 and July 21, efforts made
at reconciling the major APC contenders in the Senate by the National
Executive Committee, the APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the
Progressives Governors’ Forum and other prominent APC chieftains had
failed.
The Head of Department, Political Science, University of Lagos, Professor Solomon Akinboye, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the ongoing crisis is a major problem for the country. He said it had “turned governance to a ridiculous show.”
“With the way things are, acknowledging
that the crisis is unfortunate, drastic steps need to be taken to avoid a
lasting damage in the upper chamber. Nigeria has come of age; we should
expect civility from our leaders. It is obvious there is no
institutional loyalty. What we have today is the kind of loyalty that
leads to self-aggrandisement –national interest is hardly considered.
Therefore, I do not see the current senate president holding on to his
position for long. Senate leadership crisis dates back to 1999. The
drama will likely continue with Saraki till a real truce is reached,”
Prof. Akinboye said.
However, Dr. Idowu Johnson of the
Political Science Department of the University of Ibadan, stated that
the current crisis is not a problem of the Senate but that of the
control for power in the APC.
“Once the crisis is settled, the APC
senators will definitely support him with full confidence. The issue of
sanctions cannot achieve anything because the crisis is a political
game. We cannot for now say the crisis will create a shaky foundation
for the eighth Senate until the end of the year. We will see how the
ruling party will manage its problem. The implication of opposing camps
within the APC is an indication that majority of the senators are there
to serve their own personal interest,” Johnson said.
