By Emmanuel  Aziken

Abuja – SENATOR David Mark’s despair was obvious on that historic Tuesday, May 16, 2006 when the bill to alter the 1999 Constitution was killed at the second reading by the Ken Nnamani Senate.

For a battle tested former army general, it was also a day when he, through a remarkable act of courage, clearly identified himself as the unofficial leader of the pro-third term group. With the battle obviously lost, the third term plot of President Olusegun Obasanjo in disarray, Mark stood up to give his concession speech. In the speech not more than two minutes, he upbraided those who, according to him, supported third term in the night (when the goodies flowed) but shied away from it in the day.

Three years after and with the Senate firmly in his control, Mark could well be on his way to delivering the much canvassed amendments to the 1999 constitution, though without the noxious tenure extension provisions.

2010 could indeed be the historic year for the Senate to imprint its name in gold? Public criticisms of docility and irrelevance could finally be upturned in the new year if the Senate achieves its two major promises of constitutional and electoral reforms.

“The last Senate session wrote history by stopping third term and I think that it is our turn to make history by giving Nigerians a well deserved electoral reform and a reviewed constitution,” Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, had told Sunday Vanguard last week.

The promise of constitutional reforms embedding changes in the nation’s electoral process has been the ambition of the two preceding Senates of the fourth republic. Senators were also generally agreed that the two issues would be the main legislative agenda of the Senate on resumption this year. “The main legislative agenda will be to effect necessary amendments in the constitution to reflect the views and aspirations of Nigerians and also to fine tune the electoral act in order to address some of the lapses that Nigerians have complained about,” Senate spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze, told Sunday Vanguard in a telephone interview late last year.

The immediate past Senate went farther than that preceding it to the extent of presenting a bill on the alteration of the constitution. However, its efforts were derailed by the contentious issue of a third term for executive office holders. Remarkably, principal agitators for and against third term in the last Senate are present in the Mark Senate. Mark; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and the PDP principal officers who were in the last Senate were arrow heads of the scheme. Senators Uche Chukwumerije and Olurunimbe Mamora are the two most prominent opponents who scaled through to return to the Senate.

Chukwumerije could not be reached on his opinion on the proposed amendments to the constitution though it is generally taken for granted that he, like many other senators, are in support so long as a third term clause is not included. While senators are generally agreed on the desirability of altering the provisions of the 1999 constitution, consensus on the specific areas to be altered is clearly not obvious. Even matters relating to the amendment of the Electoral Act remain a matter of dispute among senators. While nearly all senators say that the electoral process should be redefined to allow fair and clean elections, such assumptions are sometimes received with caution. Senators who believe that they can benefit from a weak electoral system are clearly not going to spoil the fun.

That much was evident when the issue of the reappointment of Prof. Maurice Iwu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rocked the Senate at the middle of last year. Despite his historic role in superintending over what has generally been described as the worst election in Nigerian history, Iwu continues to nurture a formidable support base in the Senate which would readily push through a second term for him should he be re-nominated for a second term.

In apparent sympathy for Iwu, the Senate, last year, threw out a bill presented by President Yar‘Adua to create a Political Party Registration and Regulatory Commission. The bill was rejected in the view of some observers because it was seen as a threat to the omnibus powers of Iwu’s INEC.

Many senators have their own agenda with some including Eze and Smart Adeyemi bent on creating new states to satisfy their senatorial constituencies. Indeed, a nebulous group of senators, consisting of the two senators, among others, has even threatened that without the creation of new states, nothing else would be achieved in the ongoing review of the constitution.

Such assertions come against recent admonitions of caution from some Senators and notably, Ekweremadu, who is the chairman of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Review. Ekweremadu has publicly played down the likelihood of the creation of new states during the ongoing process. He has cited rigorous and vague requirements which he told journalists last year all but make the review of the constitution an impracticability. However, some senators, faced with pressures from their constituents and sometimes by their own desires for ascendancy, are bent on it.

Ekweremadu’s fears nonetheless, the Senate is also faced with the serious problem of reaching a consensus with the House of Representatives. Without a consensus, all the efforts of the Senate would be in futility. Presently, the outlook for such, despite expressions of optimism, are said to be very bleak. Senators and House members, as demonstrated last November, even have a problem of sitting side by side to receive a presidential address.

The purported request by the President to present the 2010 budget proposals before a joint sitting of the two chambers was cancelled after the two chambers struggled over the venue. Besides, the Senate is also faced with the problem of drudgery and lethargy among some of its members. That problem is expected to be compounded further in the new year as senators begin to muscle themselves for re-election. Already, senators are taking positions in their constituencies and, with such divided attention, prospects of any meaningful legislative enterprise could well be seriously imperiled.

Expectation of Senators in 2010
Senator Manzo Anthony (PDP, Taraba North): I hope that we will honestly move faster to pass a lot of bills that will have meanings to Nigerians and I hope that the level of cooperation between the two chambers will be even better because without that we really may not be able to achieve much.

Senator Joy Emodi (PDP, Anambra North): I think the focus should be to push through the constitution review and the review of the electoral act and a few other important bills because I cant see us giving all at a time. And again, I think it would be important for us to review our rules so that wherever we stop the next Senate after us would continue from where we stopped. We should really be able to look at our rules to give room to the coming Senate to continue from where so ever we stop at the constitution review or any other Senate activity so that we will not see it as starting with us and ending with us. I want a Senate that will not see its assignment as not being personal, an assignment that is people oriented, more patriotic and working for the people of Nigeria and if you are doing that, then you are not personalizing your activities. Yes, open the frontiers look at the rules to make it possible for the coming Senate to continue from where we stop and that way we would be cutting down on cost for the next Senate.

Senator Sylvester Anyanwu (PDP, Imo North):  I know that Nigerians are expecting us to do more especially with the electoral and constitutional reforms. Every session of the Senate has to make its mark or write its own history. The last Senate session wrote history by stopping third term and I think that it is our turn to make history by giving Nigerians a well deserved electoral reform and a reviewed constitution. I think that we are poised to do so and we are going to work hard within the remaining months to make sure that this country moves forward because democracy cannot be compared with any other system of government.

Senator Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu North):  We will continue to make good laws for the good governance of the country, we will focus our oversight responsibilities to ensure openness and accountability in governance, to enthrone best governance practices by holding the executive accountable in the new year. The main legislative agenda will be to effect necessary amendments in the constitution to reflect the views and aspirations of Nigerians and also to fine tune the electoral act in order to address some of the lapses that Nigerians have complained about.