The brouhaha at the National Assembly.
The battle for the control of the National Assembly leadership has been won and lost. It was a fierce battle that was waged immediately after the conclusion of the elections.
For the benefit of all I hereby summarize my perception of the intrigues and the main characters in this titanic war.
The first major character in this battle was the Jagaban Ahmed Bola Tinubu. The man wants to control the body, soul and spirit of APC. Tinubu was the main man that installed President Muhamadu Buhari ( PMB) during the APC primaries. Together with his APC apparatchiks in the South West,he not only gave PMB block votes, but also he and his governors funded PMB's primaries. This is not to down play the role played by other formers governors such as Amaechi, Wammako ,other Northerners and also the personality of the president in winning the primaries. After the conclusion of the successful primaries and having played a vital role, the man wanted to control everything that happens in APC. Of course PMB showed appreciation to him and asked him to nominate a candidate for the Vice Presidential slot which was reserved for the South West and in his characteristic selfish manner he nominated himself. This was resisted as the APC apparatchiks insisted on having a Christian as the running mate, he again selfishly nominated his wife who is a christian, this again was resisted until he reluctantly presented his boy Osinbajo.
The man again gathered his arsenals and successfully delivered the South West at the general election despite the spirited efforts made by GEJ, Afenifere and others, using cash and impunity. Jagaban still delivered 4 governors and the majority of members of the National Assembly and the respective houses of Assembly.
With this block vote, he came to the centre to place his candidates to control the Executive and legislature at the centre. He started with presenting the articulate and amiable Akume from Benue, when this could not jell and may affect his candidate for speakership Gbajabiamila as they were both Christians, the man dropped Akume and adopted Lawan from Yobe state. He paired him with Akume and tried to drag PMB who refused and maintained his neutrality. This insistence of Jagaban to control APC in preparation for 2019, has angered a lot people, especially the who is who in APC. The plot to checkmate Jagaban and curtailing his larger than life attitude was what played out yesterday at both chambers of the National Assembly.
The arrow head of the disintegration of the Jagaban's political empire was Dr Bukola Saraki and the popular Aminu Tambuwal, the former speaker of House of Representatives and now the governor of Sokoto state. While in the case of Dr Saraki who matched Jagaban money for money, intrigues for intrigues, that is in addition to having qualitative former governors in his arsenal I.e the G5 governors. In the House of Representatives, the Tambuwal group banked on his popularity with members and Yakubu Dogara the new speaker was equally popular with his colleagues, besides that the core Northerners who are the overwhelmingly majority in the House of Representatives wanted to placate the Christian minority in the north who supported PMB during the presidential election.
It should be pointed out here that the struggle for control of the soul of the National Assembly unfortunately has nothing to do with getting us out of the woods of the economic mess we have found ourselves in. It's sadly all about the build up to the 2019 general election. Tinubu wants to be president in 2019, ditto for Dr Bukola Saraki and Tambuwal. The move from these groups is not about how much food is put on the table of the hungry Nigerians, but how do we get the most prized position in Nigeria- the presidency. Any effort therefore even if it is geared towards enhancing the socio- economic development of this country which doesn't add value to their ambition will be frustrated. That was why the two groups that emerged from the contest wanted at all cost to actualize their ambition even if it means sinking the ship of APC that brought them to power.
Another intriguing dimension to this crude power game is the consolidation of the hitherto weakened PDP to life. What happened at the centre is in line with the Hausa adage which says" an kashe majiji ama ba a yanka Kai ba( the snake has been killed, but it's poisonous head has not been cut off)." Take it or leave it, PDP is effectively in control of the National Assembly. Of the 59 APC senators, the Saraki group had only 20, it therefore relied on the 49 PDP legislators to win the senate. While we can't say with certainty how many senators were in support, but since Saraki got 57 senators that were present, it can safely be deduced that even if all the 51 APC supporters that were absent voted for Lawan, it couldn't have made the difference as PDP effectively installed Dr Saraki. The oddities didn't stop there, Senator Ekeremadu of the PDP was returned as Deputy senate president. Please note also that Dr Saraki is from the break way PDP.
There are two dimensions to this power play
The first one is jettisoning party supremacy which is not healthy for our democracy and it's further confirmation that there is no difference between half a dozen and six pence. With this show of shame exhibited by APC, can anybody tell me if there is any difference between APC and PDP? I feel sad when some of these rebellious senators talk glibly about imposition. How were they elected? Was it not from party primaries. What is wrong about your party asking you to conduct a primary and have a consensus before the real election? Can Saraki and his fellow travelers morally face Nigerians and claim that they have the mandate of their party to lead the senate? The APC leadership at the centre handed over the party machinery in kwara to him and it was resisted by the original owners. If that was not imposition, I want Saraki to tell us what was it? I remember that the APC primaries at all levels were exceptionally democratic by Nigerian standards,compared to PDP were everywhere was imposition, including the president as the candidates that were likely contestants were frustrated out the party. The disease of PDP is beginning to creep into APC- arrogance of power which more often than not doesn't translate to goodies for the electorate. Notwithstanding what happened, I'm glad Jagaban has been cut to size. I had however expected the APC chieftains to use Party machinery to teach him a lesson for the sake stability of the party to avoid rancour and acrimony that bedeviled the PDP which played key role in dismantling the party.
The second leg of what happened is closely tied to the first. Since the APC is following the pattern of PDP in the use of power, we likely not to see any qualitative change in the National Assembly. It's going to be business as usual. NASS will continue to consume about 25% of our recurrent budget, budgets will continue to be padded by NASS and in return they are either awarded some of the juicy contracts or where the contracts are awarded they receive their over inflated cut. Oversight functions will continue with NASS members conniving with MDAS to corruptly enrich themselves and nothing happens in terms of the performance of the economy.
In conclusion I must pay glowing tribute to PMB for acting as a true democrat by not interfering in the politics of selection of NASS leadership as that would have undermined his moral leadership and it goes to confirm that he can be relied on when says something, he sticks to it. I now concur with Atiku Abubakar's description of PMB being a leader and not a politician. But given the Nigerian mix of politics is this his Mandela character going to see him through in the achievements of policies and programmes given the treacherous, corruptive, unprincipled nature of our politics. Only time will tell.
The part two of this post is to going to address the template before the National Assembly.
FENNY J FWA
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
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