The moment Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC Delta Central) allowed himself to be bullied or inveigled into apologizing on the floor of the Senate for his remark on the way a resolution changing the order of the general election scheduled for 2019 was confected, I knew that nothing less than his scalp would satisfy his colleagues in their feigned outrage.
Better to start at the beginning.
For reasons that have nothing to do with correcting a broken system and everything to do with the ambition of its scheming leadership, and the fecklessness of a fawning followership, the National Assembly set out to reverse the order in which the general election had been conducted over the years by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The election for president, usually held in the first stage of a three-stage process, would be held in the last stage; that way, said the sponsors of the amendment to the law, a victory for the incumbent in the first phase would confer no advantage, no bandwagon effect, on the victorious party in the subsequent phases.
The legislative effort was led by a faction of the APC beholden to Senate President Bukola Saraki, with significant support from the opposition PDP determined to crawl its way back to power by any means.
Omo-Agege, one of 10 senators belonging in the Buhari Support Group, stated that only 36 of 360 members of the House of Representatives were present on the day the report on the amendment to the Electoral Act was adopted, and the Senate did not have a quorum on the day it passed the bill.
As far as I know, he has not been challenged on the facts.
At a press conference, Omo-Agege and his fellow dissident senators went on to call the proposed Amendment exactly what it was: a plot against President Muhammadu Buhari, who had all but indicated that he would be seeking re-election.
His Senate colleagues brought out the knives. It was at this point that he allowed himself to be bullied or inveigled into apologizing for his stand. Apparently realizing later that appeasement was not the path to follow on a matter so consequential, he rescinded his apology and sought a court injunction to block suspension.
Following this, Omo-Agege was reported to the Senate Ethics and Privileges Committee, based on a motion by – yes, you guessed right — the ubiquitous Dino Melaiye (APC, Kogi West), who never saw an issue that couldn’t muddle. Whereupon the committee recommended that Omo-Agege be suspended for 181 parliamentary days, allegedly for conduct unbecoming.
Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Ibn N’Allah, pointed out that the change in election sequence did not emanate from the Senate but from the House of Representatives. Then he unwittingly revealed the cause of the hysteria that had gripped the Senate over Omo-Agege’s criticism of the handling of the Amendment.
It was all right for Omo -Agege to apologize, but the matter went far beyond that. “There are places you dare not talk about the president,” he said. Some senators come from such places. By stating that the amendment to the electoral law was aimed at Buhari, Omo-Agege had put the lives of those senators at risk,” Na’Allah added.
Whoever knew or even suspected that the stakes were so high?
Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara APC) entered this helpful contribution: “Inasmuch as I am against the suspension of any senator, I am equally against the formation of any other group in this chamber. The formation of the parliamentary support group is evil and it should not stand, it is counter-productive and against the president himself,” he said.
No tolerance for any dissident group within the Senate? Is this official Senate policy?
The path was now clear for the Senate President, who had stayed out of view and hearing throughout a matter that could not have gone that far without his approval, if not his orchestration. He stepped in daintily as his custom, innocent of all the hubbub.
“Distinguished Colleagues, a number of points have been raised. One borders on the issue of preserving the integrity of this institution.”
Integrity. You hear that?
“Second, is where we take actions that are not sincere. I think in this chamber if we want to talk about who has the right to say he is chairman of a Parliamentary Support Group for Mr. President both by action and by what we have done, I think that I have the right to lead that more than anyone else here.
Sincerity, too.
“Those of us that understand politics, understand that because of our own peculiar interest, sometimes some people decide to act like they are holier than thou or more committed – at the expense of others. This is not something that we should tolerate, and I believe that in an institution like this we must show discipline, but at the same time, we must also show compassion.”
Not forgetting Discipline with Compassion
“Distinguished Colleagues, there must be discipline. We must show that such groups must be suspended and the case in court must be withdrawn. I think by that we would have captured, no more of this kind of groups in the Senate.”
Pardon this overly long quote from ThisDay, April 13, 2018. A paraphrase would have done no justice to the distinguished Senate President.
Tempering discipline with compassion, Saraki then recommended that Omo-Agege’s suspension be reduced from 181 to 90 legislative days, subject to Omo-Agege withdrawing the case in court, and without prejudice to the Senate revisiting the matter.
From Saraki’s emphasis on discipline in this intervention, you would think that he was the most disciplined practitioner in the annals of politics.
The kind of discipline that led him to cede, for his personal benefit, the position of Deputy Senate President to the opposition PDP, in defiance of his own party, the ruling APC. The kind of discipline without which he could not have run Societe Generale Bank aground as its chief executive. The kind of discipline that assisted him greatly in retrieving the bank’s operating licence from the regulatory authorities and lending it to a financial institution to trade with for very valuable consideration.
The kind of discipline that said it was perfectly all right for a former state governor to draw a pension or salary while serving as a senator receiving an obscene compensation passage.
The kind of discipline that led him to organize, year after year, ceremonies at which more than 20 impoverished residents of Ilorin were trampled to death in the stampede for the modest gifts he was handing out.
To return to Omo-Agege:
By allowing himself to be bullied or inveigled into apologizing to the Senate for an opinion on a public issue he was perfectly entitled to hold and express, Omo-Agege denied himself a chance to go down as a profile in courage. For the most part, appeasement emboldens and empowers the other side, laying the ground for new and greater demands.
If the Senate can act with such clear disregard for the rights and privileges of one of its own, however disagreeable, those who look it to safeguard our liberties are deluded. No assembly in a democracy should claim or exercise that kind of power.