The day began like one in which everything had been divinely programmed to fall in pleasant places for the All Progressives Congress( APC), the party in power at the centre. It was June 9, 2015, the day chosen for the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. In line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, President Muhammadu Buhari had issued a proclamation letter mandating the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa to conduct the inauguration ceremonies slated for 10.00 am on that fateful day.
The APC looked forward to the day with some excitement. Why not? Weeks before then, it had won majority of the seats in both chambers of the National Assembly and was confident that it would clinch the leadership positions with relative ease. Some leaders of the APC, gloating in the historic victory of their party at the polls, had lined up Senator Ahmad Lawan and Senator George Akume as their prefered candidates for the positions of Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively. It was a choice designed to consolidate power.
Although these same party leaders were aware of the crack within the party, they felt that the ambitions of Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ali Ndume for the same leadership positions would be easily taken care of when the push got to the shove. In order to make sure that the recalcitrant duo and their band of rebels were effectively caged and prevented from thwarting the will of the party elders, an emergency meeting was scheduled for 9.00 am on the inauguration day at the International Conference Centre.
Every legislator elected on the platform of the APC was expected at the meeting, a last ditch effort to mobilise support for the party’s preferred candidates. In the calculation of the mainstream APC, their arch rivals in the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) had been decimated and vanquished, having lost the general elections.
It would appear that these APC chieftains thought very little of the PDP legislators and presumed them no more relevant than spectators in the parliament. Even when the former ruling party rose from a crucial meeting the previous night and endorsed the candidature of Saraki for the election, the APC dismissed it with a wave of the hand.
When the APC proceeded to summon a special meeting of its members on the day of the inauguration of the parliament, they did so with confidence. They believed that as the ruling party at the centre and in majority in parliament, the inauguration could not go on until they were comfortably seated in the chambers.
In addition, their meeting was to be addressed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and neither the APC lawmakers nor the PDP lawmakers could dare try anything funny until their meeting was over. It was this arrogance of power that set the stage for the most hilarious political drama in our recent history.
The political strategists at the APC never expected what later played out in the two chambers of the National Assembly. Indeed, it was APC’s under-rating of their political opponents (PDP) that produced Saraki as the Senate President without the rigors of voting and counting of ballots.
While the APC was still struggling to recover from the initial confusion of losing the coveted seat to Saraki, it got a double-barelled punch in the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, candidate of the PDP as the Deputy Senate President, this time from the valid votes of a cross section of parliamentarians in the red chambers. The election of these two presiding officers was interpreted in various circles as victory for the PDP, a party that was thought to have been knocked out of the unfolding political equation.
Fight Back
One month after that incident, the APC lies sprawled in disarray and unable to come to terms with the reality. What transpired on June 9, 2015 appears to to have been extracted from a drama piece written by a master playwright. It may have been scripted like a comedy in which funny things would happen to expose the flaws inherent in some characters, but the APC is not finding any of the scenes in this drama funny.
The play has been laced with so much intrigues and suspense moments that the APC leaders are beginning to understand that they have not only been outsmarted but have literarily been caught in their own snare. While still reeling in the shock, some APC members lived in denial of the situation and treated Saraki and Ekweremadu like unwanted babies that must be flushed from the home.
A few others saw it differently and cautioned that these “unwanted babies” were actually products of a constitutional system that would be difficult to reverse. Out of frustration, the Senate Unity Forum, a faction of the APC loyal to Lawan, launched a ferocious attack on the process that led to the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu.
The group caused to be written, a petition to the Inspector General of Police alleging that the Senate Rules used during the election of the presiding officers of the Senate were forged. The letter to the IGP, Solomon Arase was signed by the Secretary of the Senate Unity Forum, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi ( APC/ Kaduna North) in which the group alleged that some principal officers of the 7th Senate changed the Senate Standing Orders 2011 and created a new Senate Standing Order 2015. The letter read: “We write to bring to your attention, the existence of the fraudulent introduction of a 2015 Senate Standing Rules, as amended.
We wish to attach the original and authentic Standing Order for 2011 that was used by the 7th Senate, Annexure A. “We again annex hereto, a purported amended Standing Orders 2015, which was used by the Clerk to the National Assembly (along with the Clerk of the Senate) in inaugurating the 8th Senate on June 9, 2015, Annexure B. The so called new Standing Orders purports to allow for secret instead of the open ballot system that has been prevalent in all Senate elections as permitted by the extant rules. “This infraction, among others arise from the fraudulent production of the Rules without an approved consideration by the 7th Senate.
At no time was the Standing Orders of the Senate amended during the entire life of the 7th Senate neither has the 8th Senate sat for long enough to produce the rules now being circulated and in use. “We therefore appeal that you use your good offices to investigate and bring to justice all persons who may have been responsible for this fraud which has led to the undue political crises and abnormalities in the politics.”
Police Investigation
Armed with this letter, the Police commenced its preliminary investigation by visiting the National Assembly to confer with both the bureaucracy and the political leadership. They were at the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly where they met with Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa for about 25 minutes.
There were reports that the detectives had wanted to meet with Ekweremadu but he was not available. However, the most curious thing about this visit was the media hype that preceded it. Some media organisations had heralded the visit of the police with banner headlines of a purported police invitation that was extended to Ekweremadu, a story that portrayed the Deputy Senate President as the principal suspect in the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rules. As if this initial picture was not damning enough, some media organisations reported that Ekweremadu was actually quizzed by the police detectives during the visit, reports which the police later refuted.
Rescue Mission
It was the PDP that first came to Ekweremadu’s rescue. The party addressed a media conference during which it fingered the leadership of the APC as the masterminds of the petition and accused them of trying to unseat Ekweremadu who, according to the PDP, emerged Deputy Speaker in a legitimate and fair contest.
The PDP Governors Forum followed in the same direction when it condemned the purported invitation of Ekweremadu by the police. The governors blamed the saga on the APC, describing the move as a calculated attempt to humiliate Ekweremadu and hound him out of office.
Self Defence
So far, Ekweremadu has refrained from making personal comments on the saga. Instead, he has been speaking through his aides and political associates and they have described the disingenuous move to manipulate the police against him as an act of intimidation which would not be tolerated.
They said that no amount of intimidation from the APC would compel him ( Ekweremadu) to abdicate his seat and constitutional responsibilities. In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, the embattled Deputy Senate President vowed that the 8th Senate would do everything within the ambit of the law to protect the independence of the Legislature.
The statement reads: “TheDeputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has received numerous calls and messages from well meaning Nigerians, elder statesmen, Governors, Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives across party lines, concerned members of the international community, youth and women organisations, royal fathers, and Civil Society Organisatons, among others, who have continued to express utter dismay and concern over the unfolding drama in which his life and liberty are being threatened by desperate politicians.
“Senator Ekweremadu wishes to assure all Nigerians and concerned members of the international community that everything is under control and that all democratic steps are being taken to preserve the nation’s democracy and protect the independence of the legislature.
The Deputy President of the Senate further wishes to assure Nigerians that necessary steps are being taken by the security agencies to beef up security around him. “He appreciates the nation’s security agencies for their professional handling of the situation so far, and acknowledges with a deep sense of gratitude the numerous youths across the country who have volunteered to provide additional security around him.
“In all these, however, let it be known that no amount of intimidation or harassment will deter Senator Ekweremadu from carrying out the constitutionally prescribed duties, which on June 9, 2015, PDP and APC Senators willingly elected him in the full glare of the world to perform.”
Ohuabunwa’s Caution
Meanwhile, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP), Abia North, has also joined the fray, urging his colleagues in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to be cautious in addressing the alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules 2015. Ohuabunwa also urged the Police to exercise restraints in the manner it wades into matters concerning the internal workings of the Senate in order not to violate the autonomy of the legislature.
“I think the Police should be careful in handling this matter because I know that the law is clear that all activities that take place at the National Assembly or on the floor of the Senate or in any of the chambers of the parliament cannot be used as evidence against any Senator.
This is why when you speak or when you see people fight on the floor, the police is not involved. If any thing happened, the police have a division at the National Assembly, there is the bureaucracy, the National Assembly management headed by the Clerk to the National Assembly. They can direct their inquiries to these places,” Ohuabunwa said. He argued that since copies of the Senate Standing Rules 2015 was handed over to Senators at the commencement of the inauguration of Senate, it was wrong to accuse any Senator of having played a role in producing that rule book.
“The whole issue is unfortunate. Some of us do not really understand what is happening. But some of these things might be politics. Don’t also forget that since the emergence of the Deputy Senate President, the ruling party has been very uncomfortable. It is quite unfortunate because there is nothing untoward in the eyes of those behind the petition that the Senate and Senators cannot resolve.
“If you are talking of the rule, it is the rule of the Senate as at today because we have been inaugurated. So if there are amendments, you raise the amendment on the floor and it will be debated.There is nothing sacrosanct that says that 2011 rule must be used for 2015. “It should also be noted that at the end of the 7th National Assembly, the bureaucracy takes over.
It is the bureaucracy that swears in the presiding officers. Until you are sworn in, you have no powers. Whatever that may have happened should be a responsibility of the bureaucracy. Ekweremadu should be able to answer questions on what happens after his inauguration, he should not answer question on issues that took place when he was not even a senator at the expiration of the 7th Assembly,” Ohuabunwa said.
He said that the controversy could be resolved amicably if the aggrieved senators would understand that the bureaucracy had the prerogative to make the preliminary rules before the inauguration of a new parliament while the rule book becomes a working document which the newly sworn in legislators have the power to amend when and where necessary. Ohuabunwa said: “Somebody is faulting the emergence of Ekweremadu based on the rule book, it means that every other Senator that was inaugurated using the same rule should be involved.
If you are faulting the rule, it was based on the same rule that all of us were inaugurated. It was the same rule that brought in the Senate President. So if you are faulting it, it means that all of us have not even been inaugurated. And if you have not been inaugurated, you are not even supposed to speak as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Way Out
Although it is becoming apparent that this alleged forgery may have its roots in the political rivalry between the two dominant parties, the police authorities should go ahead and do the needful. The public expects a dispassionate investigation of the allegation to unravel the truth and lay this controversy to rest.
However, it is obvious that the APC has been beaten in its own game and this explains the current tension and rancour within its ranks. The party in power lost it when it retreated from the battle field on a crucial day to hold meetings and presumably perfect it’s strategies to defeat its enemies.
Unfortunately, it forgot that it was dealing with a party that has been in power for sixteen consecutive years. At the end, the APC fell into an ambush laid by the PDP and it’s “militant arm”, the New PDP which has been co- habiting with the APC in a marriage of convenience.
With what has happened, it is apparent that the NPDP elements in the APC are more at home with their kits and kin in the PDP than in their new found apartment where they are perceived as squatters. Ekweremadu and Saraki were in the same party for at least eight years before the crisis that rocked the PDP in the build up to the last general elections.
It will be difficult, if not impossible to oust this leadership or separate this team that has constituted itself into a counter force to repel the attacks from a common enemy. The PDP has shown that it would not surrender its acolytes to be sacrificed at the altar of party supremacy. For Saraki, Ekweremadu and the PDP, it is a tripartite battle to remain afloat in a sea of troubles.
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