*Opposition party’s gambit to stop screening exposes underbelly

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

In what was supposed to be a rubbishing of the attempt to successfully screen Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, senators of the All Progressives Congress, APC, raised objections bothering o points of order but were ignored by Senate President David Mark.  Worse, whereas they made their point that Obanikoro had pending litigation against him, the Senate spokesperson, Eyinnaya Abaribe was quick to pour cold water on them, saying the privilege of being presumed innocent until proven guilty that some opposition senators enjoy cannot be denied a fellow senator. 

The popular saying that the minority will have their say and the majority will have their way played itself out on Wednesday at the Senate during the screening of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and other ministerial nominees. The exercise was also a reminder of the dictum that he who wants to go to the house of equity must go with clean hands.

The opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC, Senators may have lived in a fool’s paradise with the success they recorded during the first day of the screening where they appeared to have had their way concerning the qualification of Senator Obanikoro.  But they forgot to realize that they were dealing with a military tactician as the headship of the Red Chamber.

The Senate

And whether right or wrong, the nation for now is on a political battle involving two main political parties, the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which is the ruling party and the most important thing to each of them is how to out-maneouvre the other and emerge victorious on March 28 and who controls the spirit of the country called Nigeria. Within this period of political intrigues, the question is not whether an action taken is right or wrong; rather, it is which party will have more manipulative spirit to assume superiority.

Besides, politics as the saying goes, is a game of numbers and Lagos state is a very sensitive and important place in the political sphere.  So, anything that can yield victory to either of the main political parties is considered topmost irrespective of the process of achieving the victory – no gentleman in the jungle.

Until when the Senate President, David Mark, called-in Senator Obanikoro for his screening and confirmation, Senators of the opposition had ruled out the possibility that the latter would be attended to going by the alleged understanding with the leadership and the entire members of the Senate.  But trouble started when Mark told the Sergeant-at-arms to usher in Obanikoro who by the tradition of the Senate in a normal situation was only expected to come in and take a bow in obedience to espirit de corps.  But this was not to be.

Before Obanikoro, the Red Chamber had concluded the screening of Hauwa Lawan from Jigawa State, Kenneth Kobani from Rivers and Joel Ikenya from Taraba State. The opposition members vehemently resisted the appearance of Obanikoro, a nominee from Lagos State.  The  Senate President frustrated all attempts by Senators Bukola Saraki;  Olugbenga Ashafa;  Babajide Omoworare;  George Akume; Olubunmi Adetunmbi; and Ganiyu Solomon, among others,  to thwart Obanikoro’s clearance through a string of points of order they raised.

The aggrieved senators in their various constitutional and points of order raised from the Senate’s standing rules, to draw Mark’s attention to the fact that Obanikoro was not eligible to be appointed as a minister, failed. They argued that he had been implicated in some very sensitive issues that touched on serious national interest.  They specifically submitted that there were some legal suits hanging on the neck of Obanikoro including an originating summons of a Lagos High Court instituted by a PDP member, Kemi Lawal, which by tradition, restrains the Senate against confirming Obanikoro as minister.  Mark ruled all the opposition senators out of order amidst the rowdy session,  and insisted that the purported order of perpetual injunction restraining the red chamber from confirming the nominee had not been served on him.

Angered by Mark’s insistence that the screening and confirmation of the ministerial nominee must continue, all the opposition senators walked out of the chamber and addressed a press conference where they expressed their disappointment in the senate leadership’s handling of the issue.  Notwithstanding the fact that the senators had left the chamber,  the Senate President still went ahead by ruling on the overwhelming voice votes of the remaining PDP senators who approved the nomination and confirmation of Obanikoro and the other nominees as ministers.

Other nominees confirmed by the senate having been earlier screened last week included,  Senator Patricia Akwashiki (Nasarawa); Prof. Nicholas Akise Ada (Benue); Col. Augustine Akobundu (retd.) (Abia); and Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi).

The saying that when Bishops are together, they behave like kids also manifested in the plenary where the senators nearly threw caution and courtesy to the wind, ready to exchange punches.

When Senator Babajide Omoworare, APC, Osun East, was making his contributions on why Obanikoro who was the former Minister of State for Defence should not be screened, two of PDP’s ‘militant Senators, Ayogu Eze and Smart Adeyemi, kept interjecting and interrupting him but in solidarity with his party member, Senator Mudashiru Hussein told Adeyemi to shut up and stop interrupting; in retaliation, Adeyemi told Hussein to get lost. This infuriated Hussein who removed his cap and about to remove his ‘agbada’ to square it up with the former Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, president, before other Senators intervened.

Apart from that scene, there was another encounter as the APC Senators staged a walk-out to address the press. Senator Oluremi Tinubu nearly pounced at the son of Obanikoro for allegedly making uncomplimentary remarks against her at the lobby on her way to the media briefing, but Senator Obanikoro’s son denied making any remarks or uttering any word against the former Lagos State First Lady. Some of the APC Senators had wanted to man-handled the lad and even wanted him to be arrested.

At the news conference,  spokesperson of the APC senators,  Babafemi Ojudu, lamented that the senate president, vehemently resisted all attempts to stop Obanikoro’s clearance strictly in the national interest.

He said, “We found it incumbent on us to let Nigerians know what our opinions are on this matter but the Senate President would not listen”

Also the leader of the opposition in the red chamber, Senator George Akume, noted that the fact that the APC senators had in the past, supported the leadership of the senate to approve Obanikoro’s clearance as minister, was enough to respect their view in the current circumstances.

He said, “The Senate in its sitting today was rancorous and acrimonious which is most unfortunate and unusual with the Senate all because of one nominee who has been a senator before and had also been passed as a minister and ambassador.

“Senators from Lagos had never raised objection to his earlier nomination and confirmation in the past but something happened after he became minister of state for Defence. He is alleged to have participated in the massive rigging of the Ekiti governorship election in June last year.

“The alleged action is a breach of the constitution. In a civilised world his name should not have come up for screening in the first instance. Hence we are all opposed to him.”

Akume argued that Mark by his action, had altered the tradition of the senate which stated that any nominee rejected by at least two senators from his state of origin, should not be cleared by the red chamber.

He said, “The three senators from Lagos opposed the nomination of Obanikoro but the Senate President and his PDP colleagues decided to take the advantage of their numbers to override what is supposed to be basically a very straight forward issue.

“We wonder whether we want to grow democracy in this country or whether we want to destroy it. Rule of the senate forbids it not to act on any issue in court but the Senate leadership had ignored this. Nigerians are being deceived by the behaviour of the senate. They do not want to listen to us and this is highly unfortunate and we are very disappointed in the action of our leadership”.

But in a quick reaction, the senate leadership at a separate briefing by the spokesperson, Enyinnaya Abaribe, described the APC senators allegations against Obanikoro as unfounded.

He said, “In our law and the constitution of Nigeria, anything that is a mere allegation that is not a court decision is nothing but a mere allegation.

“Everyone in Nigeria is deemed to be innocent until proven guilty and even the Senators who addressed the Press conference and spoke about the qualification or otherwise of Obanikoro are enjoying this privilege because some of them have EFCC cases.

“They are still in the senate because of this privilege of being innocent until proven guilty and so they cannot go to a press conference and try to convict somebody when the person has not been convicted by a court of law.

“They cannot enjoy that privilege themselves and sit in this senate and then turn around and now to say that somebody else cannot enjoy that privilege.

“The laws of Nigeria are very clear; you are innocent until proven guilty, so that is what played out on the floor of the Senate.

“The senate, having known that this is the law of Nigeria, and this is the constitution of Nigeria that every Nigerian is entitled to this privilege, went ahead to do what it is supposed to by law do which is somebody that is on the floor of the Senate who has not been convicted.

“Until somebody is convicted by a court, then his employer will determine what to do with him; the Senate is not a court of law.”

Abaribe also argued that the senators formed quorum in the chamber when the fate of the nominees were determined.

It appears the two political parties are battle ready to slug it out, but how far the opposition will go is what is not certain as the PDP is still in the majority and control the leadership apparatus.