The past six weeks have had the Nigerian Senate being the center of public discourse. It started with the Senator Akpabio Vs Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uguaghan drama during a plenary session. Like wild fire during the hamattan, the altercation seems to have spiraled out of control. There have been accusations and counter accusations. The senate directed the Ethics and Privileges Committee to investigate the case of gross misconduct by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Their verdict was a six-month suspension of Senator Akpoti Uduaghan, barring her from the National assembly, suspending her salaries and that of her aides and removing her security. According to the senate leadership, “Let it be unequivocally stated that Senator Uduaghan was suspended solely for her persistent act of misconduct and disregard for the Senate Standing Order.
Senator Akpoti Uduaghan had made several allegations bordering on sexual harassment against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio to the media both locally and internationally. She took her case to the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) some weeks back. The Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Kafilat Ogbara, was equally at IPU and pushed that the claims made by Akpoti-Uduaghan at the United Nations event that she was suspended for raising allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio was untrue.
Kafilat Ogbara as the House Committee Chairperson on Women and Social Development was representing the National Assembly to present a response to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s speech at the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the status of women was in her words, “In response to the call by the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Right Honorable Tulia Ackson to hear both sides of the matter, I have received a letter from the Nigerian Senate in my capacity as Chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development of our parliament in Nigeria and the parliamentarian representing Nigeria at this conference,” she stated.
Nigerians and the world eagerly await the intervention of the IPU on this issue. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had gone to some foreign cable news media to tell her story before coming back to the country. In the meantime, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions hearing on a fresh petition submitted by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio ended in chaos as Senator Nwebonyi and Oby Ezekwesili exchanged words.
The Senator Nwebonyi had since the Senators Akpabio Vs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan seems like a spokesperson of the Senate President given his media rounds making some allegations against Senator Natasha. It was therefore not surprising that the Committee sitting ended in chaos given the verbal exchanges between him and Oby Ezekwesili. The trigger seems to have been his being shouted at, to ‘shut up’ after he seemingly interrupted the process. They then went on with invectives at each other to the utter outrage of the whole country. The Senator ‘assured’ a highly accomplished Oby Ezekwesili that, “you can never be a senator”.
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The Senator Natasha Vs Senator Akpabio issue has so engulfed the political space that it is the most written about national issue in the last six weeks. It has even been linked to the chaotic ‘recall attempts’ of a senator Natasha that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the processes flawed and therefore not valid. An Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Binta Nyako had on Friday barred parties in the suit filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and three others from granting press interviews on issues relating to the case.
No matter the merits of the cases by both parties, the Roundtable conversation feels that the Nigerian 10th senate has not lived up to expectations. The Nigerian people would be better served that the senate shines through as the representatives of the people, as the second tripod of the democracy we practice that must have the people and service to them as the focal point of their tenure in the national assembly. Make no mistakes about it, politics especially with legislators is not a walk in the park, there must be arguments, debates, lobbying, points of disagreement etc., but the grass which symbolically is the people must not be allowed to suffer whle the ‘elephants’ in the parliament ‘fight’.
Nigeria has been going through socio-economic problems over the years. More than 134million Nigerians live in multi-dimensional poverty, more than 20millions Nigerian children are out of school in what is seen as a global highest in a seemingly ‘peaceful’ country. There is high unemployment, high maternal and child mortality, high insecurity, low productivity and other high indices of poverty and underdevelopment.
On the other hand, Nigerian legislators are some of the most highly paid parliamentarians in the entire globe. They reek of luxury, power and influence. However, their influence is not always about the people they represent. It is always almost about themselves, their ego and their comfort. There is often zero allegiance to the voters who are the mandate givers in cases of real elections.
The question is, given the below average performances of most government parastatals, ministries and agencies that are supposed to deliver service to the people, where is the legislative oversight functions? We understand some of the perfunctory committee ‘sittings over public petitions’ , but what has changed? How effectively functional is the legislative oversight functions? Why do we often hear of ‘juicy committees’? What are the implications of tagging some committees ‘juicy’?
Most legislators are so self –centered that they only remember their constituencies during elections only. Once they access power, they run to cities and forget the constituents. Ironically, most of them feed fat on so-called ‘constituency projects’ that really defy any valid explanations. This often turns out to be political smokescreens. When Nigerian politicians fully understand the meaning of their legislative duties, development would be accelerated in the country. They would understand their core duties, be more committed to the people who voted them in, be more accountable and take joy in serving the people rather than the present grandstanding and ego-trips that create chaos and are very distractive.
The issue remains that most politicians who vie for seats in Nigeria do so not as a result of any sense of service but to acquire power for its own sake and for personal reasons. Most have no vision, no agenda or commitment to the general good. The fact that a Senator Elisha Abbo notorious for assaulting a woman in a sex toy shop suddenly jumps out to narrate his experience with a senator Akpabio few weeks after the Senator Akpabio Vs Senator Natasha issue gained national attention is almost laughable.
While it is his right to speak what he wants us to believe is his own truth, it is apposite to remind him that as a Senator representing Adamawa North in the Senate, his scandalous behaviour then adds to the litany of toxic masculinity and official abuse of power by politicians in Nigeria. His appearance at the Ethics and privileges Committee then regarding his case was scandalous too as it ended in chaos too.
A senator Elisha Abbo might or might not be speaking the truth of his encounter with the Senate President before he was sacked by the courts but the Roundtable sees his sudden media engagements as merely playing politics. How has he atoned for the scandal that brought him notoriety? What legacies did he live for his senatorial district? What was the equity and fairness bills he pushed as a senator? What will a senator Elisha Abbo be remembered for?
Taking advantage of political situations to leverage public approval or sympathy cannot earn anyone garlands. It amounts to speaking from both sides of the mouth for one who has a history of gender injustice to suddenly want to leverage on the present issue at the senate to launder an image immersed in a scandal he has not shown serious remorse for rather than mere politicking.
Again on the senate floor, as the senate seemingly debated on the need for late Prof. Humphrey Nwosu to be honoured post-humously, it was interesting to watch a senator like Adams Oshiomole, who rode on the back of Nigerian workers to national prominence and political gains and visibility argue that a Prof. Nwosu, who as a worker, gave the country the freest, fairest and most credible election ever did not deserve to be honoured, because, in his words, “Don’t accept a job you cannot do and someone must have the courage to do something” all in reference to the late NEC chairman.
For an Oshiomole, a Prof. Nwosu was a coward. Being a senator, the Roundtable conversation wants an Oshiomole to understand what an award means. It is not a canonization of any human. It is rather recognition of a certain level of diligence, excellence, commitment, sometimes patriotism and a level of integrity. Politics must not dilute the meaning of diligence, integrity and a sense of patriotism lest our children begin to seek heroes from other lands. Going round media houses trying to justify his dishonouring a man who though fallible and imperfect gave the country the best election ever, told his story before he died and acknowledged globally as a man of integrity is just a tad too disappointing.
Being a national legislator is not just about your constituency, it is a national service that seeks to work for the progress and unity of the country. Legislators must like Ceasar’s wife be, ‘above reproach’ especially in their discharge of their legislative duties in or out of the chambers. Discipline and decorum and a sense of history, equity and justice must be keys. There must be no descent to comic distractions. It is a serious business of national importance.
