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Senate President Ahmad Lawan

Nigeria’s insecurity: One impeachment not enough

by Leading Reporters July 31, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

Over 80 senators across political parties and a majority of House of Representatives members, have reportedly agreed to begin impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari, if the growing insecurity across the nation persisted beyond the next six weeks. It was a rather stern ultimatum given by the federal legislators on the eve of their departure to a 2-month vacation. Anyone who thinks the legislators are ready for a hard time with the executive needs to take a second look at their subsisting posture which portrays them as members of a rubber stamp legislature.

They actually showed the turf they are made up of when in line with their feeble outlook, they allowed as long as six weeks for the presidency to make amends not withstanding that they had had cause more than once to show ample frustration over the prosecution of the fight against insurgency and every form of insecurity in the land.

Senator Call To Impeach President Buhari

No empirical reason was given for how the ultimatum of six weeks was arrived at; making it appear that it was influenced by their desire to avoid a disruption to their vacation. With the rash of attacks which led to several killings in the last few weeks, one would have expected the representatives of the people to put off their vacation for now so as to squarely face the severe issue of widespread fear and anxiety in the nation. It was an error of judgment that the legislators kept to their schedule of incessant vacations at this crucial point.

Time there was when Nigerian legislators cut short their vacation to deal with what they often called “urgent matters of national importance” even though such matters were essentially always about their welfare. So, not many people are able to comprehend why our legislators faithfully go on vacation as if it is one of their critical functions. Besides, the same legislators do not only enjoy every public holiday, they usually go away for weeks before and after every holiday for which other public officers enjoy no more than the two days officially declared for it

The National Assembly has a constitutional right to follow the impeachment process it is threatening to invoke and we are not anxious to dispute their power but if the recent tough talks end up only as half-hearted sermons, the legislature would merely place the nation in jeopardy. To start with, it is difficult to understand why the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu was begging his colleagues to take advantage of their long holiday to stay away from what has become the highly unsafe Abuja. The plea no doubt unveils many posers.

First, was Elumelu encouraging legislators to abandon Nigerians who have no option but to stay in the location? Second, bearing in mind that there is hardly any safe place today, where precisely would legislators who buy the plea head to? On at least two occasions, in the last couple of weeks, the city of Owo in Ondo state has been attacked twice. In Niger state, the media reported no fewer than 12 villagers abducted last Tuesday by suspected gunmen in Shaddadi village in the Mariga Local Government Area of the state. Would legislators leave Abuja for any of these volatile areas or would those of them from Enugu state prefer to go home to nearby Ozalla town where the Actors Guild of Nigeria raised alarm the other day of the alleged kidnap of two veteran film stars who had gone missing after they left a movie location in the state?

If Elumelu’s plea to legislators is taken as a joke, from a leader not generally given to frivolity, many analysts would be on the same page with Idris Wase, Deputy Speaker who accused the minority leader of playing politics with the lives of citizens. However, Wase’s sharp reaction is a sign that at the appropriate time, disagreements may as usual displace the seeming consensus of legislators on the nation’s grave insecurity.

Indeed, many of them would stay away from voting as they did during the crucial issue of the bill on electronic transmission of election results. Some other lawmakers might choose to pay lip service to the so called impeachment proceedings by supporting it during debates and rejecting it during voting as they did while considering the numerous pro-women bills. Already, in spite of the claim by Senator Smart Adeyemi that the impeachment threat was bipartisan, at least one member of the House of Representatives from Imo state, Chike Okafor has vowed that lawmakers of the ruling All Progressive Congress APC will resist any attempt to impeach the president by those he described to be grandstanding just to be noticed by their constituents

This unpredictable disposition of some legislators to the subject was already visible within the National Assembly on the day of the threat. Senate President Ahmad Lawan, was not comfortable with the subject and objected to its discussion on the floor of the senate. About seven other senators, that reportedly included Opeyemi Bamidele and Gabriel Suswam were also said to have shared Lawan’s sentiment. It was perhaps the unpredictable environment created by their ambivalence that influenced the reaction of the presidency to the impeachment that those behind the threat were merely “performative, babyish and playing to the gallery.” The reaction can hardly be dismissed as every wrong the legislators wish to blame Buhari for, exposes their own unquantifiable contributory negligence. A National Assembly whose leadership stated unequivocally from the beginning that they would approve whatever the president presented to them cannot be seen at this point to be isolating the same president. If impeachment is an option, it cannot affect only one side.

There is much for which the nation can justifiably blame the legislature concerning the worsening insecurity in our clime. More often than not, this column has had to berate our legislature for the simple reason that its power to check the executive is hardly done with the interest of the nation in mind. Huge sums of monies were appropriated for the military to combat insecurity with no evidence that the funds were used for the purposes for which they were approved. How come the relevant committees of the National Assembly were never able to use oversight to identify lapses in military spending? The former service chiefs under the leadership of General Gabriel Olonisakin were accused by many of misappropriation of funds, yet it was only after the team left office that legislators started summoning their successors to appear to brief them on the state of affairs. Even the opportunity our lawmakers had to interrogate the team during their screening for their new appointments as ambassadors was frittered away in pursuit of shadows.

The legislature also distracted the president many times especially in its passage of convoluted budgets. It became so much that at the signing of this year’s budget,, Buhari was constrained to openly condemn what he described as “worrisome changes” to the budget by the National Assembly. The changes amounted to N378.9 billion covering 460 duplicated items inserted in the budget – a figure that has 144 items more than the 316 items inserted in last year’s budget. To make matters worse, many of the projects were surreptitiously placed under MDAs that have no bearing with them. For example, the sum of N67.8 million for the construction of “Gun Armouries” was found in the budget of the Ministry of Environment which is not a security organization. Interestingly, the blame game is never extended to the unwholesome initiatives of those that have a final say in the preparation of the budget

It is true that Nigerians have endured enormous pains in the last few years. It is also true that as the overall boss of the nation, the president ought to take much of the blame on the basis of vicarious liability. But considering that much of what has gone wrong in Nigeria is criminal, no one can be held to account for the crime committed by others. This is why the current threat of impeachment of the president is too narrow. Nigerians should clamour for the removal of all conniving public office holders.

July 31, 2022

July 31, 2022 0 comments

Is N100m for presidential nomination not prohibitive?

by Leading Reporters April 24, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

It is futile to argue with some Nigerians on any matter in which they have an interest or which they have cause to suspect might favour them even if tangentially. All that those in doubt of this conclusion need to do is to watch people on television marshaling points in support of any subject. They forcefully leave no stone unturned.

Those who do this are usually talented in public speaking or are senior lawyers especially those who have firm knowledge not only of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution but the exact sections, subsections and schedules of relevant provisions. For instance, when the issue of defector-governors arose, they argued in support of the defectors eloquently sermonizing on the difference between law and morality adding that what matters is law. Those of us who often drew attention to the spirit of the law in querying unwholesome political behaviours were shocked a few days ago to see the pro-technicality analysts taking sides with us to condemn the decision of government to pardon convicted former governors Dariye and Nyame. It was as if no one remembered that our Constitution provides for state pardon. So, is it all about winning an argument or publicity consciousness?

Against this backdrop, my immediate reaction to the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC to sell its nomination forms to presidential aspirants at the cost of One hundred million naira (N100m), was that it would not be difficult at all to find Nigerians who would instantly generate reasons to justify the apparent prohibitive cost. No surprises as the defences have since begun. To start with, there is already the argument that politics is capital intensive and that anyone who cannot raise the amount would not be strong enough to be President of the largest country in Africa. In fact, the argument that the funds can be raised with ease has already been proven. For example, two Abia state businessmen – Ukaegbu James and Nnanna Kalu have signified their intention to provide N200m to buy forms for two federal legislators, namely, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu. However, the public perception is that the two beneficiaries can afford to buy their own forms because as senators they are among the richest public office holders in the country

One candidate who is not likely to have any problem whatsoever in getting the form is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose supporters are now competing for who will be the first to raise the amount. As soon as the figure was announced, the Asiwaju Project Beyond 2023 reportedly raised the amount and announced that “we will be storming the secretariat soon to get the form for him.” On his part, the Director General of the Tinubu Support Organization (TSO) Aminu Suleiman said he had already signed a cheque for the amount rendering unnecessary, the previous pledge of N10m made by some youths under the aegis of the Tinubulate Nigeria Agenda (TINA). Senator Kabiru Gaya, Chairman of the Progressive Project (TPP), the umbrella organization of Osinbajo support groups had similarly vowed to purchase the nomination form for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. A pro-youth group, the North Central Coalition for Leadership (NCCL) had also planned to buy a form for another APC presidential aspirant, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. It is therefore obvious that the strategy which all the aspirants used in getting different groups to earnestly beg them to show interest in next year’s presidential contest, would be deployed again to make the same support groups to announce their readiness to buy forms for their preferred aspirants. Such donors or perceived fronts are aiming to be the next set of cabals in the corridors of power come 2023.

A second argument put forward in support of the rather high figure of N100m is that the calculation took into account the current realities in which everything has increased. Petroleum products especially kerosene and diesel, foodstuffs, government loans, bandits’ attacks, ASUU strikes, petroleum subsidy, poverty etc. have all gone up astronomically. The fear in some quarters however is that the exorbitant cost of nomination forms for elections can be counter-productive. If nothing else, it will shut out some aspirants with good ideas which are greatly needed for national development. Politicians are probably the only ones comfortable with heavy expenses on politics and elections. Indeed, those of them in the legislature had earlier ensured that they legalized huge election expenses. In the new Electoral Act, they jacked up spending ceilings from between 150 to 400 per cent. Yet, nothing was done to halt the old order where political parties always breached the rule requiring them to disclose their electoral expenditures to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This brands the advocacy for high cost of nomination forms as self-serving.

Party leaders in particular are quite comfortable with the high cost of nomination forms because it gives them opportunity to generate ample funds for running their political parties. Putting it aptly, the new publicity secretary of the ruling party, Felix Morka had argued that Nigeria was yet to get to the level where party members would faithfully pay membership dues for running the party. It would therefore mean that the costs of nomination forms across board are that high because this is the ideal time for collecting revenues from elusive members. The truth therefore is that party leaders are anxious to secure huge party finances to put an end to the practice of going cap in hand to beg elected office holders to come to their rescue on a monthly basis. The situation could be worse where a party loses an election and would therefore have no elected office holders in their party to look up to for assistance.

The debate on whether the huge cost of nomination forms is prohibitive or not is fruitless because for quite some time nothing has shown that an increase in finances affects our people positively. Even the revenue from nomination forms could be squandered because some party members believe that the struggle for party offices is usually influenced by the desire of party leaders to help themselves to such funds. The same is true of government finances. Only last week, the House of Representatives’ Adhoc Committee investigating the state of the nation’s refineries had to raise an alarm over suspected sharp practices on the subject. The Committee is bothered that after allegedly spending $3.7 billion on repairs, none of the refineries has been restored to any level of functionality. Yet, neither the Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Timipre Sylva nor the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari responded to calls by the Committee to throw light on the situation What the above narrative suggests is that instead of bickering over the cost of nomination forms, our civil society groups should rise up now to vote against non-performers. I

t is time to stop playing the victim and behaving as if citizens are hopeless and helpless the way Ekiti state pensioners projected themselves the other day. With an unpaid N37.8billion gratuities and pensions, Ekiti pensioners last Thursday began a prayer session seeking God’s face for swift intervention for the payment of their entitlements. If the pensioners come together to vote against the political party that placed them in their present predicament in the next governorship elections holding two months away, no state government would toy with them in the future. In other words, this is not a time to bother about the cost of nomination forms; it is also not the time for protests concerning poor governance, rather it is time to use the ballot to tell political leaders that they are elected to represent the people and not to turn them into objects instead of the subject of democracy. It is certainly not a time to beg leaders who previously failed to institute good governance to once more join the next race. Nigerians must take their nation’s destiny in their own hands.
April 24, 2022.

April 24, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Buhari and his National Assembly friends

by Leading Reporters February 20, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

Mutual distrust and suspicion between the Saraki-led 8th National Assembly and the Buhari-led Executive arm of government was an open secret.

However, the problem did not begin with delayed passage of annual budgets as some people tended to amplify; it was there from the very beginning because Bukola Saraki, the then Senate President and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives got into office against the arrangement of their party, the All Progressives Congress APC. If the 8th National Assembly was recalcitrant, the APC and the Presidency did much to hurt the leadership of the legislature. The case against Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the refusal of the Senate to clear certain presidential nominees for critical political offices and many other antagonistic acts were all perceived as part of the cat and rat game which characterized the era. It was obviously not the best environment for good governance and President Muhammadu Buhari never missed any opportunity to denounce the development. Indeed, it was not a conducive option for attaining national development which the different of arms of government must be collaboratively committed to.

The end of tenure of the 8th Assembly presented to a reelected President an opportunity to ensure that the rancour of the last 4 years did not recur. So, the reelected ruling APC stringently avoided the elements that prompted the unnecessary bitterness of the past. The leadership of the National Assembly had greater personal reasons to act as good party members. The new Senate President Ahmad Lawan and his colleague in the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, were the same two party members previously anointed for their jobs which were overturned. They were thus not positioned to exhibit any headstrong signs. It was therefore a good beginning for both arms of government. The lack of understanding of this background was what made some analysts to express apprehension over a likely rubberstamp legislature – an apprehension exacerbated by the publicized manifesto of the leadership of the legislature as a team prepared to support anything from the Presidency.

The current National Assembly has understandably been run like what may go down in history as the most cooperative relationship with the Presidency in Nigeria. But how genuine is this friendship between both arms? This question is relevant because while many see the National Assembly as malleable, others suspect the deliberate underdog position as a ploy to insulate its members from public scrutiny of hidden illicit gains. None of the two elements can help the country’s growth because a positive aspect of the separation of powers is the opportunity the design gives to all arms of government to function together in the interest of the people. In other words, wherever one arm goes wrong should be corrected by the other; none should by commission or omission facilitate the perpetuation of any wrong by the other. This may not be easy to attain as both parties may not wish to roughen the feathers of the other even where the silence hurts society.

The 2022 Budget and the Electoral Act Amendment Bill have however left gaps for criticisms of a supposed cooperative relationship between arms of government that is hardly beneficial to the public. At the signing of this year’s budget into law, President Muhammadu Buhari was constrained to deprecate what he called “worrisome changes” to the budget by the National Assembly. We disagree with those who misunderstood the President as envisaging a situation where the legislature would pass the budget without ensuring that it would facilitate good governance. What should bother anyone is the scope of the changes whose numerical strength could derail governance. As Buhari disclosed, as many as 6,576 new items (not previously discussed behind closed doors by the two arms) were suddenly inserted into the budget as if it was a very poorly written report by a junior staff which his supervisor had to virtually rewrite.

The President does not appear to be the only one who is worried, BudgIT, a foremost civic-tech organization engaged in the advocacy for fiscal transparency and public accountability in Nigeria has explicitly expressed greater worries on behalf of many. From BudgIT we are able to learn that there are 460 duplicated items amounting to N378.9billion in budget 2022. Worse still is that several projects were inexplicably assigned to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). For example, the National Agency for Great Green Wall, set up to prevent land degradation and desertification afflicting parts of the country is to get N1.3 billion for purchasing motorcycles, street lights and other projects which are outside its mandate. The Ministry of Environment, which is not a security agency reportedly has N67.8million to construct ‘Gun Armouries.’ This trend ought to worry any well-meaning Nigerian more so as this is not the first time of its occurrence in our budgets. Last year, as many as 316 duplicated projects were inserted into the 2021 Budget approved by the National Assembly.

The point must be made again that the ample time which our legislature spends on scrutinizing the budget is commendable because that is more likely to bring out the best of the budget. Interestingly, they do not appear to subject the request for loans by the executive to the same type of scrutiny. This is particularly curious because despite the very loud public disapproval of the numerous loans incurred by this government, none of the requests for loans is ever rejected and no changes are ever made either to the amount needed or the nature of its components. Yet, the National Assembly is made up of the same professionals of different academic and occupational backgrounds who always pick holes in budget estimates. Could it be that the Executive arm is never able to deploy the same expertise it puts into working on loans into the preparation of budgets or are presidential liaison officers not the same for budgets and loans?

The absence of a unity of direction between the Presidency and the National Assembly on the subject of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is even more complicated. The refusal of the President to assent to the bill because of its anti-democratic feature of disallowing our political parties from having options of primary election modes cannot be faulted. But it is obvious that some legislators may have felt bad because as friends who speedily approve executive requests, Buhari should have also reciprocated by accepting the wishes of his friends to reduce the powers of governors. But then by refraining from perpetuating what is wrong, the President taught his friends a huge lesson that it makes more sense for a leader to support his friends only when their viewpoint will not hurt the public. Whereas legislators who are lawyers are fully aware that a law which is targeted at a specified group is bad law, both themselves and their other colleagues who are not learned should hereafter realize that to blindly support a friend can be injurious to both a policy and many innocent persons involved in the process.

Accordingly, our legislators who are mandated to ensure that nominees to certain public offices are fit and proper persons should stop the ‘bow and go’ contrived scheme which allows nominees with poor baggage to assume offices. The power to screen a person for an office, as we have always argued in this column, cannot be logically extended to include the power to exempt some from screening. If the Presidency nominates people for offices, the constitution requires the senate to reject those who are unfit such as partisan politicians nominated to the electoral body because the contrary would amount to perpetuation of wrong and would in turn hurt the electoral process. As President Buhari is currently struggling to reduce both our numerous institutions and government’s inability to meet University teachers’ requirements, this is not the time for friends in the legislature to be making fresh laws to create more institutions. People must learn to support their friends in office to end well.

Tonnie Iredia
February 20, 2022.

February 20, 2022 0 comments

Headlines

Crisis Rocks Senate as Sacked Clerk Defies Order, Performs Duty at Plenary

by Leading Reporters February 15, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

El-Ladan was retired by the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) last week for alleged forgery of documents and age falsification.

Members of the Senate on Monday watched with shock and disbelief when the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, allowed the sacked Clerk of the red chamber, Ibrahim El-Ladan, to perform his official duties.

El-Ladan and two other permanent secretaries have been accused of forgery and age falsification, a situation that earned them sanctions from the NASC.

The commission had ordered El-Ladan and another officer, Adebayo Anthony Adebanjo, to proceed on retirement with immediate effect, while Michael Okpara should retire in six months.

Isabella Ugochi Iloba was appointed by the NASC as acting Clerk to the Senate to take over from El-Ladan.

The letter obtained by us on Tuesday and dated February 9, 2022, is with reference number NASC/PF/69/184.

It was titled: ‘Retirement from service’ and addressed to the Clerk to Senate, Dauda Ibrahim El-Ladan.

Part of the letter read: “The Commission at its 547th meeting held on Wednesday, 9th February, 2022, has approved your retirement from service with effect from 9th February, 2022.

“The Commission wishes to acknowledge your immense contribution to the growth and development of the National Assembly Service.

“As you proceed on retirement, please hand over your office and other government property in your possession to the Deputy Clerk, Senate (Legislative), Ilobah Isabella Ugochi.

“On behalf of the Commission, I pray that Almighty God will continue to grant you good health and success in your future endeavours.”

The letter was signed on behalf of the Executive Chairman of the NASC, Ahmed Kadi Amshi.

However, El-Ladan carried out his official assignment in the Senate Chambers on Tuesday unhindered.

Attempts to get the reaction of the NASC on the matter failed on Tuesday, as the Director of Information of the agency, Mrs Janet Mambula, did not answer repeated calls made to her phone.

She had not replied the text message sent to her as of the time of filing this report.

February 15, 2022 0 comments