Self Serving Senators and our Democracy

The tragedy of the Nigerian situation despite the much flaunted` change` of the present government is that there are many people in the national assembly whose level of patriotism is not deep as the breast pocket of my shirt. And the result is that instead of the members of the national assembly especially the senators to make laws for the good and progress of the nation, they are more enamoured with primitive accumulation of wealth and making laws to protect the interest of their political masters and parochial interest of self preservation. This perfidy and indifferent impunity marked with oozing corruption shall not last forever.

I am talking of the recent amendment of the law constituting the conduct of code bureau and the code of conduct tribunal. This is coming against the backdrop of the trial of the senate president at the code of conduct tribunal. By the passage of the amendment of the law setting up the agency, the national assembly has effectively taken control of the conduct of code tribunal and the code of conduct bureau. The wholesale adoption of the bill as passed by the House of Representatives by the senators is the clearest affirmation yet that there is nothing distinguished by the actions of some senators trying to take a pound of flesh from the executive arm of the government.

There are some absurd amendments of the law setting up the agency but this piece would not bore you with the details. The focus rather is that if the president eventually signs the bill into law, the control and supervision of the code of conduct bureau and the code of conduct tribunal shall be that of the national assembly thereby assaulting the principles of separation of powers. I watched the debate on the tube and shook my head at the kindergarten level of logic of some of the obviously pro Saraki senators. Even the wise counsels of some really distinguished patriotic senators were drown by those who were bent in rubbishing the image of the national assembly. The only consolation here is that the national assembly is not a home and that some of the tenancy of such senators shall end one day. The appeal of Senator Adamu Abdullahi fell on deaf ears. This was the appeal of Senator Abdullahi about the absurdity of the amendment: `My observation is simple. At this point in time, the bill is clearly provided for by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the functions therein. I am not comfortable with our making any legislation that will run contrary to the provisions of the constitution`. The truth of the matter is that any legislation built on a faulty foundation will not stand the test of time and so shall be the current amendment.

Even for the sake of amendment, if the senators are not happy with the control of the code of conduct tribunal by the executive arm of government, my little understanding is that since the tribunal is like a court, it should be under the control of the National Judicial Council. As for the code of conduct bureau, it naturally falls into the executive arm of government. The principles of separation of powers clearly state the functions of the legislature as that of law making and oversight functions of the executive arm of government. I am yet to find a place in the 1999 constitution which gives the power of implementation of policies to the legislative arm of government. Predictably, some famous legal and political minds have faulted the amendment of the national assembly and one lawyer has promised to test this biased amendment in the court of law.

Speaking in the same vein, a leading legal mind, Mr Yunuz Uztaz ,SAN, implored the senators to toe the path of reason and save themselves from ridicule. His advice: `The amendment of the code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act by the senate, transferring control of the CCB and CCT from the Presidency to the National Assembly was done in bad faith. We should be very careful in the way we usurp powers bearing in mind that it is not only the National Assembly and the Presidency that own this country. It belongs to all of us`.

The latest dispositions of our honourable members of the House of Representatives and distinguished senators have shown that they are only representing themselves and not the interest and welfare of the masses. It is another clear indication of corruption fighting back. The beauty of this development is that the amendment does not have retrospective effect. Furthermore, the presidency may not sign the amendment into law and it would take some time to return it to the national assembly for a veto. It is one of the darkest hours of our democracy where making of laws are targeted at specific individuals. Tomorrow, Nigerians will not be surprised if the laws setting up INEC, EFCC, the police and even the army are amended so that our almighty and all knowing senators shall be in control of these agencies. This is one of the tragedies of having the wrong people in the right political positions. The electorate, the owners of electoral sovereignty need to be on their guard and protect our democracy from these political charlatans and usurpers.

Since the inauguration of this eightieth assembly, it has been galloping from one crisis to another, some of which are self inflicted. It started with the alleged forging of the order paper that produced the senate leadership. Time was when the members of the national assembly flirted with the idea of making the senate president, the deputy senate president, the speaker and deputy speaker of House of Representatives position pensionable. Nigerians rose against that. There was also the move to give immunity to leadership of the national assembly so that they enjoy the same status with the president and the state governors. There was the N1.3billion approved by the senators for the purchase of 36 sports utility in this economic crunch. Our legislators are the highest paid in the world, according to the Economist magazine. It is also in Nigeria that legislators collect millions of naira under the veneer of constituency projects only for them to buy hair dryer machine and barbering clippers in the name of empowerment of the people. If you add the padding of the budget, you are assaulted with fat political cats who are more interested in getting a disproportionate wealth of the nation with little or no contribution to the progress and development of the nation. It is up the mass media and the civil society organisations to stand up against these parasitic legislators bent in sucking the nation dry. I rest my case.

Julius Oweh, a journalist, Asaba, Delta State. 08037768392