BARELY a few hours after the Senate began its recess on Thursday, the Acting CHAIRMAN of the SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, SENATOR OLUREMI TINUBU, representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, had an evaluation session with YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION. The interview provided insight into developments in the Senate -especially the overwhelming support from women when she was attacked by Sen. Dino Melaye.
How has the 8th Senate fared?
The 8th Senate did not have a very good start. We have been through ups and downs. It is not something I can really say and give proper assessment of. For me, I can speak about the work I have done and also about what I do at the constituency.
But for the Senate itself, there has been a lot of rumbling in one way or the other and some aggrieved parties. And because of that we did, a lot of motions and you know with motions, we passed a lot of resolutions.
We did not pass the budget so quickly and this government is new. It was quite difficult to really pass resolutions for ministries that have not been funded.
So, we had many motions and resolutions passed. And then we did a couple of bills. I put some bills which had gone through First Reading. And I have not particularly done Second Reading on them because I was trying to look for the appropriate environment to do that.
How about committee work?
We were given committees. I was given about five committees. I was assigned to the Committee on Women Affairs as Chairman; Committee on Environment as Vice Chairman; Air Force, Tertiary Education, and also Employment, Labour and Productivity. Those are the committees. Later, when it came to constitution amendment, I was also made a member.
Along the line, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment, Sen. Olaka, who is from PDP from Rivers State, went for re-run. You know what has been going on with the politics in Rivers State. So, I ended up chairing two committees which, for any Senator, is very challenging. But through the grace of God, I was able to do as much as I can.
Just only on Wednesday, we were able to pass the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria Bill 2016 which is really giving them the autonomy to be able to operate as an institute with a lot of laws backing them-which they did not have in the past. I have been acting as chairmen of two committees in the Senate. So, it’s quite a very challenging task but I was able to pull through.
Does it mean that the Committee on Environment is not a new terrain for you?
It is not new. I have been Acting Chairman of that committee for many months since the issue of re-run started in Rivers State.
But on Thursday, you were made the substantive chairman of the Committee on Environment. Was it a favour?
No, no. It is not a favour. I was quite comfortable with being the chairman of the Committee on Women Affairs because that is my territory and my terrain.
But like this evening (Thursday) when we were going, it was like something shocking. I was thinking that the election of Rivers State is only just a few days away. I would have thought we would have waited and see what happens because I was just still acting as the chairman of the Committee on Environment.
As it is now, the Committee on Women Affairs has been reassigned to someone else. Nobody has the opportunity to really say much it.
Being the chairman of the Committee on Environment is not something that is new. I have been acting all along for many months. I was able to do public hearing and a lot of assignments that are required of the chairman.
Was the chairmanship of the Committee on Environment a product of reconciliation process in the Senate as the public is being made to believe?
Not really, not particularly.
What is your reaction to the outpouring of Nigerian women to the altercations between you and Sen. Dino Melaye?
I have been overwhelmed. To me, I want to really appreciate Nigerian women for rising up to the occasion. When you say women, I am part of them. I am a woman to start with. And this is a terrain that is quite familiar to me. I have worked with them in many capacities even when my husband was the governor of Lagos State.
Throughout the course of this incident, I have been deeply comforted and encouraged by the support of women from all parts of the country and all walks of life.
Women have strongly expressed their views on this matter because they recognised that an important issue was at stake. These women sought to affirm what must stand as an unbreakable principle in our social and political life: That there is no room for gender discrimination in our institutions of public governance and in our political behaviour. These women reacted because they understood that such a blatant and unfair attack against one woman is an attack upon all.
Nigerian women have taken a stand that the voice of a Nigerian woman is as important as the voice of any other.
For the nation to progress, the voice of women must be given equal respect and value instead of being denigrated. In standing up for this principle, I applaud these women as well as those men who also came out to affirm that gender discrimination has no place in our public life. .
If I didn’t serve very well in Lagos, women won’t rise up. They have seen me help many. With as much grace that God has given me, I have really been compassionate to social causes; I do run a lot of social courses. I have been doing my bit. And they know that I have really supported women causes. Is it the widows? Is it giving scholarship to children? Is it empowering women and the less privileged? I have been doing a lot of other things and I am still doing up till now.
I am just doing my work; it is not for popularity. My family has always been a very compassionate one. We have done the best we can to keep alleviating the sufferings of our people. To the women, I have always respected my kind, my fellow women. I cannot disrespect women, they are my constituents. That is who I am.
It is quite overwhelming for me for the way I have seen them rise up. Over the years, I have met with a lot of women groups either through a lot of social functions. What they did in the past couple of days, it is something I cannot really explain to you. It is something I had thought, do I really deserve this.? I didn’t know how it happened. I was overwhelmed, I thank Nigerian women.
Why were you surprised?
I decided not to even talk to the press on the issue. I believe whatever is said in the executive session is not supposed to be divulged to the public. So, I tried not to go to Lagos over the weekend; I avoided every social event and I stayed back. But when I got the reactions, I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know how it was leaked to the public.
I tried to avoid a lot of public confrontations on the floor of the Senate. Except things are very crucial, very dear, that is when I rise to speak. I thought this intimidation has been going on for a long time and I just thought it was the time to speak out, for which it is good, because it was a closed session, no press was there.
Like I told the Senate President that I only got up to speak because he said they would suspend people. Why will anybody bring up issue of suspension? Even in the 7th Senate, I have been known to speak my mind and also criticise the Senate if they were not doing what they were supposed to do for the people. I have done that over the years.
And looking at the people who constitute the Committee on Ethics and Privileges, I felt this is not going to favour anyone. So, I just rose up and said: “Why are you threatening?” That was how it went on and on.
To me, what the women did, I am touched, and I am also humbled by it. That was why I didn’t know how to react. As said, I was just standing in the Senate. Even in the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks only decided to sit in the bus. But this intimidation has been going on in the past. We see our wives, our women being battered and a lot of harmful things being done to women by men who are angry.
I was thinking it would be an avenue for me to able to work with women in these areas since I am chairing the Committee on Women Affairs. I was looking forward to that. We have started raising motions calling attention to the Day of the African Child; International Widows Day; Children’s Day. You know we just started building up the committee because I told the Clerk that even if it is just one talent given to us, we can work with it. I have been working with women causes for a long time. I said let us innovate, let us bring things to the table. And that was what I was thinking I would be able to do.
I am looking at ways we are going to look at the conditions of women in the prison and the Labour Act which passed Second Reading in the 7th Senate. I brought it up again thinking that women should not be restricted to certain jobs. So, we are taking it step by step and looking at ways to attend to gender issues or gender mainstreaming and how we can empower Nigerian women. I was really looking forward to that, putting myself to it.
I have always been quite private and people have different perceptions of me. But people don’t know where I am coming from. I came from a very hard place especially during the time we went on self-exile, it was very, very tough for me. It is not a time I even talk about. . So I tried to keep my life private as much as it is. And when people say things that are not, I don’t even refute them.
And women have been my best supporters over the years. They campaigned for me. So, I owe them so much but I didn’t know that they would go through this much. I was overwhelmed, I was humbled by their solidarity, and I was touched. I want to use this opportunity to say from the bottom of my heart, I am very grateful.
What informed your four-hour meeting with the President of the Senate?
It wasn’t four hours but the press will say whatever they want to say. I don’t think I can sit with somebody for four hours. That is too cumbersome. I had a private meeting with him for less than an hour. And I had the opportunity to tell him why I didn’t shake his hand after my inauguration as a Senator. I told him the reason. I said you deprived us from having a swearing-in ceremony. I said that was why I was angry. I said I was angry and that was it. And I have talked to him afterwards. That was the first time I would sit with him in a meeting. I have never had the opportunity.
Was Sen. Melaye part of the meeting?
No, he wasn’t part of the meeting. Even when the Senate President said I should see him after the plenary, I went to his office, I met Dino Melaye and another person. I said, ‘what do you want me to do? He said I should give him few minutes. So I sat in his waiting room and after 15 minutes I went in to see him.
