It is no longer news that there is sharp disagreement between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the purchase by the executive of 12 Super Tucano fighter jets at a cost of $496 million from the United States.
The lawmakers, while opposing the purchase of the jets without prior approval by the National Assembly last week threatened to invoke Section 143 of the 1999 Constitution towards commencing impeachment process against President Muhammadu Buhari.
While reasons have been proffered for the action of the executive arm of government, many Nigerians are eager to know how the episode will end.
Senator Mathew Urhoghide (Edo South) last week Wednesday set the ball rolling by moving the motion for the activation of Section 143.
He had stated: “We must put it on record that this is a violation of procedure as stated in the 1999 constitution… The objective of the expenditure is very well established but the procedure is wrong.
“There are serious consequences for violation of our constitution. As a consequence, the only thing we can draw from this is that we call on you, Mr. President, (Saraki) to invoke Section 143 of the Constitution. Because, what it means is that this matter is not to be investigated. It is clear that this offence has been committed by Mr. President (Buhari).
“I want this Senate to resolve that what the President (Buhari) did is procedurally wrong and a violation of our constitution. It must be condemned and, of course, the consequences of section 143 of our constitution should be invoked.” he said
Urging the Senate to follow Section 143 of the Constitution to deal with the alleged infraction on the Constitution, Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo) said the Presidency’s admittance that the money had already been spent was a vindication of his motion that pointed out something was amiss in the purchase of the fighter jets.
The matter also generated similar opposition when it came up in the House of Representatives.
But some lawmakers believed that President Muhammadu Buhari acted in the best interest of the country.
Senator Abu Ibrahim said: “Mr. President took the action based on national interest; that is why he authorised this payment. As far as I’m concerned, this is the first time that money drawn from excess crude account is brought to the National Assembly for approval.
“Since they began to operate this account, I have never seen any expenditure that was brought here for approval. $17.7 billion was withdrawn by former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the excess crude account to pay the Paris Club and fund two projects without the National Assembly’s approval.
“Obasanjo left $943 billion in the excess crude account but former President Goodluck Jonathan frittered away the money with no recourse to the National Assembly. The Excess Crude account increased from $5.16 billion in 2005 to over $20 billion in 2008 and decreased to less than $4 billion by Jonathan in 2010. It never came to National Assembly for approval.
“$2 billion was used by the previous PDP administration to fight Boko Haram in 2014. $5 billion was taken for power generation when they were sourcing for Niger Delta Power Holding, the same process was not taken by Yar’ adua. It was later taken to the National Assembly and it was approved.
“This is a PDP conspiracy. I will like the PDP to tell us which of their governors has taken the money released from excess crude account to the state assembly for approval. If this is a PDP conspiracy to tarnish the image of Muhammadu Buhari, they will not be able to do it because we are coming out with figures.
Insisting that what President Buhari did was in order, he said “The payment was government to government without pecuniary interest whatsoever. It was for the security of this country which all of us support. The request should not have come to us in the first instance because the governors approved it.
“Only 53 per cent of the money which goes to the Federal Government should come to us for approval because we do not legislate for states and local governments. The PDP has interest in it and and wanted to be holier than thou in the way and manner they are going about it. But the same PDP has not sanctioned its governors who have not taken the excess crude account money to their state for approval.” he said
Also speaking on the urgency of the military jets’ purchase, Jigawa State Governor Abubakar Badaru last Thursday in Abuja said “We forget easily. If you recall, we have been battling with approval from America to buy these equipment since 2014. We were begging America to sell these equipment to us.
“We tried Dubai (United Arab Emirates), they could not allow us, we tried a factory in Brazil, we couldn’t get it. The Americans still could not sell to Nigeria.
“Then, luckily, President Donald Trump said it was okay to buy. So we had to quickly buy before they change their mind.
“Because there is also deadline and this is a state to state transaction, no middleman, and we are all here concerned about security and they (lawmakers) are raising questions on way and manner you protect people. This is an emergency situation.” he said
While the Senate is expected to get advice from its Judiciary and Legal Matters Committee tomo-rrow on whether or not to activate Section 143 of the Constitution, it is hoped that the matter would not be allowed to unnecessarily overheat the polity.
Irrespective of what the law says on paper, the National Assembly should determine if the interest of the nation was actually served by the President’s action.
Extra efforts should also be made to set aside politics from the matter and look at it purely as steps aimed at adequately securing the nation, especially the North East part of the country.
Ending herdsmen/
farmers clashes
It was cheering news last Thursday that the government was taking steps to end herdsmen/farmers clashes in the country.
The killings from the clashes have been rising in the country by the day especially in the North Central state of Benue State.
The atrocities being committed have been put severally at the doorstep of trouble makers who disguised at herdsmen from other African countries.
Towards stopping these trouble makers from outside Nigeria from entering the country, Nigeria last Thursday threatened to disregarded the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and persons.
It had insisted that such foreigners will begin to show travel documents before they are allowed into the country.
The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday also took steps to stop free movement of local herdsmen in the country, starting with the five mostly affected states.
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, said “Today we look at three categories of herdsmen in Nigeria. We look at the foreign herdsmen that come in due to the treaty and we continue to say that the treaty is not being properly implemented. For any herdsman to come into Nigeria from outside, there should be a kind of certification, there must be a letter, even though you are not coming in with a Visa, you have to travel with ECOWAS documentation. Animals that are coming into the country are required to be quarantined, but this is not being done.
“Secondly, we have the nomadic herdsmen, who during the dry season, travel from up north to the middle belt down to the South. This creates conflicts . Also foreign herdsmen coming all through the way from neighboring countries and traveling through the farm lands also cause conflicts.
“Then of course, we have the migrant herdsmen who migrate for a very long time and settle with the villagers and even inter marry with them. These are the three categories we have in Nigeria. In all , we agree that movement is not either profitable to the herdsmen because they value the milk from the cow even more than the cow itself.
“So, the movement is not healthy for the cows as it dries up the meat and give less than two liters of milk per cow per day.
“Today, there was a meeting of ECOWAS countries on the subject and we also agreed that these movements by the nomadic herdsmen have to stop and occasionally by those who have settled and integrated from other parts of the country like the middle belt, they sometimes go into conflicts with farmers because of movement of their cows.
“So, in all we agreed that there is a more profitable and modern way of raising these cows which is by ranching. So, we have agreed that the five states that are involved are going to give lands. Niger and Kaduna, outside the five states, have given lands and Plateau is also giving land. Ranching in being practiced in Mambila, in Taraba states and they have success stories with regards to that,” he said
While well-meaning Nigerians want the killings in the country to end, it will be a good news if the measures being considered by the government will urgently yield the desired results.
It would be a great plus for the government if it can succeed in keeping the local herdsmen in ranches.
This is because past attempts to restrict their movements and give them better education, medical and other facilities have failed.
