THE National Assembly has a gift for manufacturing
absurdités ;its team-lead, the Senate, takes the cake in throwing up
legislative horrors every now and
again. And so the nation’s consciousness
of democratic governance, suffered another shocking assault recently, when thugs invaded the
Senate and made away with the mace. The Senate was in session, and had indeed
in the chambers, Ghanaian legislators, who were observing our own process,
presumably, for information and experience. In the event, they got full lessons
on exactly ‘’how not to do it’’. A surprise prèsence in the Senate on that
fateful day also, was Senator Ovie Omo Agege. His presence was an element of
surprise, because, earlier on, he had
been controversially suspended by the Senate.
Needless to say, popular accounts, particularly, accounts from Senate
sources, now insist that the invaders were brought in by Senator Omo Agege.
Senator Omo Agege has of course denied the allegation. Patriots will be
concerned that we get to the bottom of this matter. However, while it is proper
to condemn the invasion, we must be left wondering why a similar serial abuse
of people’s elementary rights, even in
the Senate,manages to pass unnoticed. Senate Chamber Senator Omo Agege had been
controversially suspended for ninety legislative days,
for among things, taking the Senate to court over a disciplinary matter.
As the invasion of the Senate is an observable physical event, it was easy for
it to create spectacle and produce shock amongst a broad spectrum of Nigerians.
However, Senator Omo Agege’s violation in the hands of the Senate has been more
insidious. No chairs were thrown; there was no sense of public alarm; nor has
there been any elite disquiet that a
political temple was collapsing. But the
controversial ninety legislative day suspension of Omo Agege, contained a
silent attack on an ethnic nation in despair; an ethnic urhobo nation,
resource-filled, which sometimes ranks itself as the fifth largest in the
country, which now seemed threatened
with the loss of its representational
leverage. In his own account of the suspension, Senator President Bukola
Saraki has said that Senator Omo Agege was sanctioned because he had taken the
Senate to court over it’s attempt to sanction the legislator . Saraki went
further to explain that the sanctity of the Senate was paramount and that
members must be careful enough not to impugn it. Senator Omo Agege’s original
sin, is that he made comments on the floor of the House on the Senate’s
amendment of the sequence of the General Elections. Senator Omo Agege had
observed that the intervention of the Senate on the matter, could give the impression that it was
anti-Buhari. This observation was seized upon by the mandarins in the Senate as
being offensive and therefore punishable. A rushed apology from Senator Omo
Agege was deemed inadequate. The ninety legislative day suspension was made to
look like an act of benevolence.
According to Saraki, if the full weight of sanctions had been applied, Omo
Agege would have been shut out for 180 days. Now, Saraki’s elaborate narration
also contains some other interesting matters. Notably, he says the
Parliamentary support Group, a pro-Buhari advocacy group , to which Omo Agege
subscribes, has been banned not only because it dishonors the Senate, but
because its members want to give the impression that they support Buhari more
than the rest of the herd! This twisted logic leaves everyone baffled.
Only Bukola Saraki himself can unravel
the conflicting emotions of jealousy,
sibling rivalry and corporate malice contained in this unpersuasive
justification for Omo Agege’s suspension. Many will be surprised at Saraki’s
empty invocation of honour for the Senate, given how routinely some lawmakers
have oscillated between the dock at courts
of law and the hallowed chambers. Often, it has seemed that criminality can
open windows for a career in lawmaking. What seems to be emerging in the
Nigerian Senate is an imperial syndrome, already much decried in African
politics. By this token, decision making devolves in the hands of a few. These
members of the magic circle determine, what is a crime what is not,; it
determines levies and prescribes punishment. Their will is law. In Nigeria, we
have spoken copiously about the existence of a cabal. It is thought to be
located somewhere in the Presidency. Now we know we have been looking in the wrong direction. It is in the
Senate and it seeks to control all it surveys. Even areas In which it lacks
competence. The Senate lacks the competence to suspend any Senator as it has
done in the instance of Senator Omo Agege. A Senator can vacate his seat only by reason of death or a
recall by its constituents. Just why the Senate has continued to insist on the
perversity of illegally hounding out lawmakers is difficult to understand. On the 29th of March 2017, Senator Ndume was
suspended for six months for demanding an investigation into media reports that
Saraki imported a bullet proof Range Rover using fake documents. Senate decided
that it was inappropriate to raise the matter on the floor of the House.
The Senator sought relief from our
courts which determined in his favour. The current state of the law is that a
lawmaker cannot be suspended or removed by a legislative House. It is
unconstitutional so to do. It is often said that the reputation of the Senate
is in tatters. It is difficult to disagree. Much of its activities have been
driven by the epiphany of its
leadership. Before its arrival, its leadership was impaired in its womb by the
smear of treachery. The events of July 9 2015, when it took its first breadth
have driven its policies till date. Those who talk glibly today about honour
and sanctity, saw nothing wrong in colluding with the adversary to snatch away
political leadership. The political hermaphrodite in the Senate’s leadership
today was not born free. It is the product of a disloyal cohabitation and
rankles for ever. It is something of a
miracle that in spite of the interim outlook of the Bukola Senate Presidency,
he has remained in the saddle till this day. Perhaps what this circumstance
recommends is for Saraki to deploy the advantage of his divine-given grace, as
well as the munificence of his political life in expanding happiness and doing
political good to others. However the Senate seems to have been used as a blunt
instrument for dealing hammer blows on opponents. How can the subscription by
Senators to a pressure group be considered offensive? How does the airing of
contrary views by a Senator be said to bring dishonour to the Senate. The
tension produced by this level of intolerance in the Senate will continue to
produce convulsions. The victims of the prevailing highhandedness are also
Nigerians; they have people who will ask
questions and who must demand answers. It is important that we establish a
regime of fairness, whether it is at the executive level or in the legislature
or wherever else. The violence on the floor of the Senate is primitive and
dishonors us all. But the rising convention of high-handedness in the
leadership of the Senate also mocks our claims to democracy and good order.
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