The relationship between the Presidency and the National Assembly (NASS), has for some time now, been a sort of cat-and-mouse game. The sour relationship dates back to June 2015 when members of the lower and upper houses of NASS went against the laid-down guidelines of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) for the filling of leadership positions in the two houses of the apex legislative body.
Almost two years on, things have never been what they ought to be. While the House of Representatives may have devised a careful method to coast along with the executive, the Senate has always had a running battle with the executive, even though the APC has a slim majority in the upper house. The frosty relationship between the executive and the Senate was more demonstrated by the subsisting court case instituted against Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, which has continued since he came into office.
Another case that would have involved the Senate President and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, was dramatically stepped down at the last minute. The case had to do with an alleged forgery of the Senate standing rules which paved the way for the emergence of Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively. In the first instance, Saraki was not the person who was originally pencilled down by the APC as Senate President, while in the case of Ekweremadu, he belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which at that time paraded no fewer than 48 members in the 108-member strong Senate. The election that threw up the duo of Saraki and Ekweremadu is one nightmare that the APC is still trying hard to contend with.
The party hierarchy was dazed. The Nigeria Police Force had to wade in to investigate the veracity of the allegation levelled against both Saraki and Ekweremadu. At a point, it appeared that the police had been able to establish a prima facie case, but at the end of the day, nothing happened. This raised suspicion that official manipulation of the investigation might have occurred. Whatever the case is, it is on record that after all the noise- making, the issue, perhaps, has been consigned to the dustbin of history, never to raise its head again. That is the way we are in Nigeria.
While some of these cases have not been given enough attention probably due to political exigencies, one particular case which has to do with the confirmation of a substantive head for the anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has continued to dominate national discourse. At the last count, the Senate had twice turned down Ibrahim Magu, the President’s nominee for the position and current acting head of the EFCC. What is obvious is that while the President believes Magu is the most suitable candidate for the job, some influential members of the Senate, including the Senate President, do not buy this line of argument because of certain vested interests in who becomes the anti-graft czar.
Today, one of the Senators and former majority leader of the upper house, Ali Ndume, has become a scapegoat of the rivalry between the executive and the legislative arm of government. Ndume’s problem started when he spoke his mind to news hunters who besieged him when he visited Aso Rock Villa shortly after Magu was first rejected by the Senate last December. He had publicly declared that the issue of Magu was not yet foreclosed contrary to what the Senate had told the public through its spokesperson. That created some sort of misunderstanding among some of the Senators who publicly condemned Ndume for going against the thinking of the entire Senate.
Soon after, a palace coup was hatched in the Senate. That coup saw Ndume removed as majority leader, paving the way for Senator Ahmad Lawan, who had originally been pencilled down as Senate President before Saraki and his band of coup plotters overturned the apple cart and changed the political configuration of the Senate to the consternation of the APC party hierarchy. In other words, that “original sin” by Saraki and his acolytes is still smouldering and haunting the leadership of the Senate.
The opportunity to hang Ndume finally came a few weeks ago when he (Ndume) brought the attention of the Senate to certain newspaper reports alleging some wrongdoing against Saraki and his Rottweiler, Dino Melaye. It would appear that Ndume was genuinely concerned about the image of the upper chamber in the eyes of the public and so he needed to bring the matter to the Senate’s attention so as to tackle the issue once and for all as well as restore the integrity of the Senate which had suffered some bashing in recent times.
Soon after he laid his report at plenary, the house referred the matter to the ethics and privileges committee with a mandate to investigate the allegations. By the time the committee submitted its report last week, it did not only exonerate both Saraki and Melaye, it went ahead to recommend suspension for Ndume. It was the mitigation by Mathew Uroghide, a Senator representing Edo State on the platform of the PDP that saved Ndume by half of the prescribed 181 sitting-days suspension. It is an irony that it was an opposition Senator that deemed it fit to plead for leniency on behalf of Ndume while his co-travellers in the APC wanted him to serve the maximum punishment for trying to “protect the integrity of the Senate”.
It is obvious that what is playing out in the Senate is the politics of 2019 and Ndume as sacrificial lamb on the chessboard. Now, he has been bruised, battered and his ego deflated. Kashim Shettima, the Governor of Borno State, Ndume’s home state, has since led a high-powered delegation to the leadership of the Senate to appeal to them to temper justice with mercy and reinstate him because, according to Shettima, Ndume’s absence from the Senate will seriously hamper the post-Boko Haram reconstruction work going on in the state.
As it is, Ndume has no option than to tag along. In any case, going to court to challenge the legality or lack of it, of his suspension does not arise. Nobody is sure if the case could be disposed off within the six months the suspension is supposed to last. Even it is disposed off within that time, the Senate might decide to appeal the judgment and that will mean that he cannot get back to the chamber until the final determination of the case. And that could take a long time. So, since he has been humbled, the only option left for him is to lick his wounds and move on. As they say, in politics, nothing is permanent.
Tag: sacrificial lamb
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Ndume as sacrificial lamb
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Igbo youths to Buhari: don’t use Ekweremmadu as sacrificial lamb
With no end in sight in the leadership crisis that has engulfed the Senate, the youth wing of Ohaneze Ndigbo (OYC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to use the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu, as the sacrificial lamb.
The group said Buhari should avoid using Ekweremmadu to settle any perceived scores with the embattled Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
The group said its warning was in reaction to media reports that President Buhari had in his recent meeting with Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora, allegedly insisted on Ekweremadu’s removal as condition for his reconciliation with Saraki.
In its statement, the OYC warned the President to thread with caution, saying that any attempt to remove Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President is an affront to democracy.
“Removal of Ekweremadu amounts to political genocide against Ndigbo and an affront on the democracy of the country, which we are not ready to take for the nascent democracy to survive.”
The statement, signed OYC National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, also asked Buhari to place the peace and unity of the country above his political views.
Isiguzoro wondered what the President wants to achieve by excluding an entire geopolitical zone from the power equation of the country, stressing that the entire race has been excluded from almost all the appointments.
The statement read in part: “Buhari should not over-display his penchant hatred for Ndigbo by insisting that the only position God gave us through the instrumentality of progressive minds at the senate is snatched away.
“Buhari wants to close the only window granted us by providence. He appointed all his service chiefs and other key public officers without considering anybody from the South East. When we cried foul, his apologists told us to wait for ministerial list.
Buhari has presented his long- awaited ministerial list with only two slots for a zone with five states, and it is already obvious to us that the Buhari-led administration is tribalistic and bent on punishing Ndigbo for our political decision in the last election. But he should beware of the grave consequences of his actions.”
The OYC went further to advise President Buhari to stop interfering with the internal affairs of the National Assembly, urging him to instead concentrate on issues that would engender unity and national cohesion.
“The recent succession threat by the Yoruba leaders is as a result of the failure of the Federal Government to address some fundamental questions in Nigeria, including obvious injustices as can be deduced by the deliberate exclusion of Ndigbo by Buhari.”
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Abba as sacrificial lamb
Last Tuesday’s sudden removal of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba, came as a shock. It was like a thunderbolt from the blue. Perhaps, except for those who delivered the killer-punch, nobody expected it. All of a sudden, the journey ended for Abba via an announcement on the twitter handle of Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. At the time the news broke at about 1:24p.m, Abba was busy working in his office.
I was in my office on that day putting finishing touches to a crucial assignment when I got a call from Abuja. Sola, the person on the other end, brushed aside protocol or banters and simply said: “Egbon won ti yo Abba,” meaning, Sir, they have removed Abba.” I was momentarily startled, but I quickly put myself together and asked: What happened? Sola replied: “Well, the news is all over the place and Solomon Arase, the Deputy Inspector General in charge of Intelligence, has been named as acting IG with immediate effect.” At that point, I could not proceed any further. I just hung up. Time was 2:30pm.
Barely an hour later, specifically at about 3:30pm, I put a call through to Abba. We exchanged greetings and I said: “What is this news that I have just heard?” Abba replied: “Well, I am in my office and nobody has told me anything.” What this means is that though he was the subject of the news or the man at the centre of the news or even the news itself, he had only heard the news of his removal, perhaps, through some whispers or gossips around him. That was probably why upon my inquiry, he did not ask me what I had heard and simply said he was still at his desk working.
By the time I finished talking with Abba, I became more confused. It never crossed my mind that the news may not be true after all. Of course, I knew it could be true judging from the clout of the person who broke the news to me. But here was the man, the subject of the news, still in the dark over the whole episode. I remember the procedure that eventually culminated in his appointment as IG about nine months ago. Some two or three days to the expiration of the tenure of his predecessor, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, on July 31, 2014, he was invited to the Villa and briefed. From then on, things started happening until the announcement of his appointment was finally made public and the handing over and taking over was done on Friday, August 1, 2014. That appointment followed a normal pattern.
Regrettably, the removal of Abba from the exalted office of the IG, just nine months after he assumed office, has been carried out in a manner reminiscent of the days of yore under the jackboots when good reason was jettisoned for kangaroo ways of life. Abba was removed via a message on twitter, followed by a terse statement while the victim was kept in the dark. He was neither queried, nor invited for debriefing or even given any letter to that effect. His masters or traducers, simply went on air and shuffled him into the ever-lengthening casualty list of discredited and disgraced government appointees.
By 11:30pm on that Tuesday when I put another call to Abba, he was just having his dinner at home amidst several people who had thronged his residence to sympathise with him. When I asked him whether he had been served a letter at last, he told me that up till that time, there has been no official communication with him to the effect that he had been removed. To me, that looks like “man’s inhumanity to man.” It is tantamount to a sort of mental torture as his mind will be wandering all over the place trying to hazard a guess on what could have happened.
The office of the IG is a very important and sensitive office that should be treated as such. At least, courtesy demands that the decision of the president, whether good or bad, should be communicated to the occupant of that office whether he has fallen out of favour or not. The IG’s office is not a motor park and the IG is not a motor tout who could be dumped and abandoned by the roadside at anytime. The right procedure and protocol should be applied. I mean you don’t treat people shabbily for whatever reason. It is high time this form of jackboot mentality in governance is consigned to the dustbin. Whatever must have happened, the way and manner we react to pressing issues go a long way to depict the type of persons we are.
During the Aminu Tambuwal saga at the National Assembly, last year, I was blunt with Abba when I told him that he should always be guided by the law in whatever he does as IG. That he should not stick out his neck for anybody because when the chips are down, the same people he is trying to protect will not hesitate to sacrifice him. It was as if I had a premonition of what could happen much later. Now, the chips are down and Abba has been made a sacrificial lamb. Therefore, he may have to carry or bear the scar of that inglorious encounter with Tambuwal like an albatross, all alone. Such is life. Today, it is Abba’s turn, who knows the next victim?
But why are our police officers always treated so shabbily? Unlike the army, over the years, the police have not been able to insulate themselves from politics or political interference. Many of the officers either get involved in politics because of greed or because they are constantly dragged into it by power-seeking politicians. Some police officers also believe that their survival in their chosen career is solely dependent on the amount of political influence they can wield or throw around. Some of them also join cult groups and all the rest of them to keep their jobs or attain rapid promotion. This is because many of their superiors, godfathers or those who determine their fate, are high-ranking, bonafide members of these secret cults. In that case, since the politicians now determine their fate, they have no option than to genuflect before them for personal aggrandizement. But trust politicians, they are masters in the act of using and dumping people.
Right from Abba’s first day in office, his detractors had been going about peddling all sorts of falsehood at the Presidency, all designed to put spanners in the wheel of progress. I once asked him about this and he told me that it has assumed a permanent feature of life in the police for people to concoct stories and peddle them around. Even if you had to be picked among some potential IGs, those who are not so lucky instantly turn themselves into the opposition to your tenure. It must be pointed out that by doing this, it is the police force that is being systematically decimated and ridiculed, not the occupant of the office. There is no doubt that this trend will continue as the struggle for power in the police is something that is very intense and almost everybody is involved. Even in police stations, policemen struggle to be posted to ‘juicy’ beats. It is an overwhelming anomaly.
Abba meant well for the police. He was interested in building a new image entirely for the organisation. His major focus was re-orientation through attitudinal change but all that has now become history. Soon, a whole generation of police officers may be wiped out again, the second within one year. This will surely impact negatively on the morale of the members and accentuate their desire for corrupt enrichment in order to secure their future.
Now, an acting IGP has been appointed in the person of Solomon Ehigiator Arase. I have my reservations!
‘Regrettably, the removal of Abba from the exalted office of the IG, just nine months after he assumed office, has been carried out in a manner reminiscent of the days of yore under the jackboots when good reason was jettisoned for kangaroo ways of life’
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Gulak, the sacrificial lamb?
On Tuesday, last week, President Goodluck Jonathan took everyone by surprise. Unceremoniously, he terminated the appointment of his ever-active Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Rueben Abati confirmed the termination of Gulak’s appointment. The statement, however, left much to imagination as there was no reason given for the termination.
Many people were surprised with Gulak’s sack because he had exploited every available opportunity while on the job to lash out at perceived enemies of the administration and defended the actions or inactions of the Presidency.
While other Presidential aides may shy away from speaking up on sensitive national issues, Gulak was always a reporter’s delight as he picks any phone calls either in the day or night, to address any issue. He has also never failed to reply any text messages from journalists.
Providing reason for Gulak’s sack last week, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu said he was sacked for his arrogance and alleged irrational disposition.
According to him, two weeks ago Gulak had gone to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital to inaugurate the Goodluck Support Group (GSG) with a faction of the PDP in the state without informing the governor, Godswill Akpabio.
Raising objections, Akpabio was said to have insisted on punishment for Gulak for undermining him and allegedly working with those opposed to his administration.
While on the job, Gulak, among other declarations, had claimed that he was ready to die for Jonathan to ensure he wins the 2015 Presidential election. As at today, Jonathan has not officially declared his ambition for re-election.
Replying former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who raised weighty allegations against Jonathan in a letter last year, Gulak said: “President Jonathan’s foot soldiers are ready to support him. We are all ready to take the bullet on his behalf and are ready to tell those who want to bring down his government that enough is enough.”
While he was insisting last month that there was no alternative to Jonathan in 2015 Presidential election, Gulak had said: “Nigerians have seen there is no alternative to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. We have gone round the country; even Nigerians in the Diaspora are unanimous on the fact that Nigeria is safer in President Jonathan’s hands.”
While receiving Men and Women of Action Campaign Team (MWACT) in Abuja in March this year, Gulak had declared that opponents of the ongoing National Conference are enemies of Nigeria.
Before the conference started in March, he had claimed that the conference was not programmed to promote Jonathan’s Presidential ambition.
Replying Kano State Governor, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, who, in January, claimed that Jonathan was leading Nigeria towards disaster because he lacked courage and the competence to do the right thing, Gulak had said: “That is a statement of a man that is drowning politically. He is mentally imbalanced. He needs a psychiatric help. It is only a man that is not balanced mentally that can be describing the President in that manner. Nigerians know what is being done by the President.”
When the Governor of his state, Adamawa, Murtala Nyako alleged that Jonathan signed a document with some PDP governors agreeing to serve for a single term, Gulak had, early this year, replied saying: “Nyako is a lost sheep. He does not know where he is at the moment. His statement is nothing but a ranting of a man who is dead politically.”
Nyako, through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmad Sajoh, had declared that Gulak had no political life.
Sajoh said: “Gulak never had a political life. It’s a pity that it is a person like him that is speaking on behalf of the President. This man lacks values; he is without honour.”
Gulak, in December also described the governors who defected from the
PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as “prodigal sons” who will soon return to the PDP fold to beg for forgiveness.
When the APC accused Jonathan of ‘desecrating’ his office through his written response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter late last year, Gulak did not spare any word in replying the party.
In November last year, Gulak referred Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu to as a serial liar over allegation that the Presidency was plotting to bribe 400 Northerners towards 2015 election.
Gulak, in June last year, did not hesitate to declare that any Niger Deltan who will go against Jonathan’s second term bid was not a true son of the South-South.
These are some of his responses and attacks on perceived enemies since
he assumed duty in November, 2011. There is no doubt that Gulak has, indeed stepped on many powerful toes.
But with all the defences he had put up for the administration, many observers believed that the best action the President should have taken was to warn him and redeploy him to another position.
And if he must go, this set of Nigerians believed that Gulak should have, at least, been given a soft-landing like the exit of some ministers and Presidential aides who were said to have “resigned to pursue their political aspirations.”
There were still others who felt that Gulak should have been sacked a long time ago as they believed that he was not good for the administration, even as they maintained that he will always bring problem to the administration.
To them, Jonathan’s greatest problems were those who surrounded him.