Senate: Six months of fireworks, controversies

 THE Eighth Senate of the was inaugu­rated on the 9th of June, 2015, under controversial circumstances. Like the Speaker of the House of Representa­tives, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, emerged against the wish of the leadership of the ruling All Progres­sives Congress (APC). His controver­sial emergence has not been without severe consequences.

In the days leading to the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, the lead­ership of the APC had agreed that the Senate president would emerge from the North-east. The party subsequently went ahead to openly endorse the can­didacy of Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North). There were hues and cries in some circles that some geopolitical zones were being marginalized, while others were unduly favoured by power­ful forces in the party.

For instance, the entire South-south and South-east were ignored in the power sharing formula. Only geopo­litical zones considered to have given the APC block votes were considered for juicy positions. Unperturbed and reluctant to throw in the towel, Saraki who did not get the backing of his par­ty, formed an unholy alliance with his erstwhile party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the end, he emerged as Senate President, while the PDP pro­duced its deputy, Senator Ike Ekwer­emadu.

Since then, the Upper Legislative Chamber has not known peace. Appar­ently unwilling to be cowed by a party that did not support his aspiration to be­come the Senate president, Saraki again rejected a list of principal officers of the Senate submitted to him by APC. Rath­er, he went ahead and rewarded his key loyalists, appointing them as principal officers of the Red Chamber.

The two dominant groups which emerged in the days leading to the con­troversial election that produced Saraki and Ekweremadu, again came alive. The Unity Forum, loyal to Lawan was headed by former chairman of PDP, Barnabas Gemade (APC, Benue). The other group, Like Minds Senators was headed by Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West).

Five lawmakers and members of the Unity Forum, not ready to let go, insti­tuted suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The Senators are Abu Ibrahim, Kabiru Marafa, Ajayi Borofice, Olug­benga Ashafa and Suleiman Hunkuyi. In the suit, they sought to remove the Sen­ate President, Dr. Saraki and his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, from office over allegation of forgery of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 used for the inau­guration of the 8th Senate. Although the Senate appears to enjoy some relative peace, the case is still pending in court.

Barely few days after his emergence, his wife, Mrs Toyin Saraki was hur­riedly invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over her alleged role in a multi-billion naira fraud, perpetuated when she held sway as First Lady of Kwara state. The interrogation drama lasted for days and fizzled out. While Saraki was yet to re­cover from the shock of the EFCC al­leged witch-hunt, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) opened his book and accused him of false declaration of as­sets when he held sway as governor of Kwara state. That legal battle still rages on and its end appears not to be in sight.

Soon after it returned from its long break, which elicited negative reac­tions from a cross section of Nigerians, the Senate wanted to test its might and popularity. Its committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, headed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East), invited the former chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde on the 14th of August, over a petition written against him by one George Uboh. In the petition, Uboh alleged that over N2 tril­lion recovered from seized assets could not be accounted for by Lamorde.

Lamorde was subsequently invited by the committee, but he blatantly shunned it. Critics and observers, who had keen­ly followed the pattern, described the probe as Saraki’s attempt to rubbish the anti-graft agency for daring to probe his wife, Toyin. Several more attempts to compel Lamorde to appear and answer to the weighty allegations against him failed. Rather, the embattled ex EFCC boss sent his controversial lawyer, Fes­tus Keyamu.

Again, the committee made another attempt in mid November to compel Lamorde to appear before it. Like the previous show of arrogance, he shunned the panel. Consequently, the commit­tee threatened to order his arrest if he failed to appear before it on November 24, 2015. Keyamo, who stood in for his client, told committee members that his absence was due to his medical trip abroad. The committee members dis­agreed and accused him of disrespect­ing the Senate and threatened to enforce his appearance.

Specifically, the Chairman of the committee, Samuel Anyanwu, insisted that Lamorde must appear before them to defend the allegation leveled against him by the petitioner. “This is not a law court; we invited him as a person not as EFCC boss. The petition has been writ­ten to us against him and thrice we have written to him, inviting him to come and defend himself,” he had said.

Similarly, Melaye, quoted section 89 of the 1999 Constitution which empow­ers the Senate to grill Lamorde. “The 8th Senate is a very responsible one and would make sure by all legal means possible, protect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No Nige­rian is above the law. We have invited the former chairman of EFCC on sev­eral occasions.

“First was on the 26th of August, 2015. We have sent several others since then, inviting him. To my dismay, he is not here again this afternoon and this is not a court of law where a lawyer can go and defend his client. By convention and practice, once you get the summons of the National Assembly, it is impera­tive, mandatory and obligatory that you must appear. This is contained in Sec­tion 89 of the constitution. He said the Senate would have invoked its constitu­tional powers by summoning Lamorde but for the fact that he was represented by Festus Keyamo, a respected lawyer,” he had said.

For now, Lamorde’s probe has been rested. Another trying moment for the 8th Senate was the persecution or what some analysts would call, persecution of Saraki by the CCB. The Senate presi­dent who was accused by the tribunal for under-declaring his assets, had been invited to answer to the allegations. Rather, CCB and Saraki were involved in a game of wit. The media was awash with the drama that subsequently fol­lowed.

Prior to his current charge by the CCB, Senator Saraki had been a subject of in­vestigations by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Police, following allega­tions of a loans scam preferred against him. The loans were allegedly secured by Saraki between 2004 and 2009 when he was the governor of Kwara State. Saraki had sued the Inspector-General of Police. In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/231/, he sought to restrain the SFU from investigating an allegation of N9 billion fraud, leveled against him. He subsequently filed a fresh suit seeking to stop the police from prosecuting him, which reportedly, is still pending.

While the drama lasted, normal legis­lative activities were distorted. On sev­eral occasions, the Senate was shut down and more than half of the lawmakers ac­companied him to the venue of the trial. The incident did not go down well with many lawmakers. They were accused of putting personal interests ahead of that of the nation. They were also accused of trying to woo Saraki in order to get juicy committees when constituted. Although the Deputy Senate President, Ekwer­emadu had the constitutional powers to preside in the absence of Saraki, he was not allowed to. This again raised some questions that have not been answered.

Another litmus test for the 8th Sen­ate was the screening of ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 30th of September. Unlike previous ministerial screenings, this particular one elicited an unprecedented interest from Nigeri­ans. The screening became an issue of gossip in major beer parlours, news­paper stands, motor parks and public places. Everyday, Nigerians were glued to their television sets, while the screen­ing lasted.

The confirmation hearing also brought to the public domain, the lingering ri­valry between lawmakers of the two major political parties, the APC and the PDP. Petitions upon petitions were writ­ten against almost half of the ministerial nominees. While petitions against other nominees were eventually withdrawn, the case was different for the former governor of Rivers state, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. For several weeks, his screening was deferred and the National Assembly became Mecca of some sort.

In the end, the committee report which had investigated the series of petitions written against him, indicated him. Lawmakers of the opposition PDP took a firm stand and kicked against his confirmation. Conversely, APC Sena­tors kicked. In the end, the minority had their say, while the majority had their way. Amaechi was confirmed, while PDP lawmakers boycotted the exercise.

On Wednesday, 2 December, 2015 would have been likened to every oth­er day in the Senate, but a bill which seeks to to jail social media users, read for the second time on the floor of the Red Chamber altered everything. It was one of the first businesses of the day and the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Bala Ibn Na’ Allah (APC, Kebbi), dressed in his native ‘babariga’, shocked the world when he explained the contents of a bill he sponsored. It seeks for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith (SB.143).

The bill is considered anti-people for a number of reasons. It seeks a two-year jail term, with an option of N2 million fine for Nigerians who post “abusive statements” on the social media or write a frivolous petition against any public officers. According to the bill, it will be unlawful to submit any petition, state­ment intended to report the conduct of any person for the purpose of an investi­gation, inquiry without a duly sworn af­fidavit, confirming the content to be true and in accordance with the Oaths Act.

Similarly, any petition or complaints not accompanied by a sworn affidavit will be incompetent and cannot be used by any government institution, agency or bodies established by any law for the time being enforced in Nigeria. Any person who unlawfully uses, publishes or causes to be published any petition, complaint not supported by a duly sworn affidavit is liable to as much as two-year imprisonment and as high as N4 million in fines.

In the same vein, where an individual through a text message, tweets, What­sApp or through any social media, post any abusive statement knowing same to be false with intent to set the public against any person or group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law will be guilty of an offence and liable to 2-years imprisonment or a fine of N2 million.

Senator Na’Allah, sponsor of the bill said in his explanations that did not go down well with Nigerians: “Our past has portrayed us as a society where by the mere expedience of writing frivo­lous petition against public officials you can have their right abused by taking certain measures that practically took away their right of presumption of in­nocence only to be found later that the petition, as strong as it appears, on pa­per lacks merit.

“As a Nation with strong desire to move forward this negative trend must be reversed, if only the desired objec­tives of the present government is to be met. The Bill seeks to provide punish­ment for frivolous petitions by making sure that only credible and verifiable pe­titions are presented to the public. The utility of the Bill is to equally save the time for good governance and resources that go into investigating frivolous peti­tions.

“Distinguished Senators, the ques­tion to ask is whether having passed the Freedom of Information Act which gives unfettered access by the public information from government offices they would be right for this government to continue to waste valuable time and resources in investigating frivolous pe­titions from the same public and I am sure you would find no difficulty in say­ing no to the ugly situation.”

Less than 24 hours after the Bill scaled through second reading, the Sen­ate again added more pains to injury last Thursday. The Senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki, openly affirmed that the Red Chamber will not be blackmailed to jettison what he described as a Bill that would benefit Nigeria and Nigeri­ans. His position was supported by his ‘right hand’ man, Senator Dino Melaye ( APC, Kogi West).

Melaye had stated: “If there are no measures put in place, this particular SaharaReporters and others have the capacity to drag democracy into crisis because they have become very reclk­less. They make laborious statements that have no content of fact at all and because of the Nigeria’s perception it is very important that we check their ac­tivities.

“While I celebrate the social media as major actors, this Senate should not be blackmailed or cowed because of the social media. You will read time innu­merable, SaharaReporters casting asper­sion on the integrity of the Senate. The Senate is a sacred hallowed chamber. The bill moved yesterday on frivolous petitions have been misconstrued by this same people and this Senate should not keep quiet because this can have a negative effect on the Nation. This Sa­haraReporters have commercialized their consciences and moneytised their operations and are now tools being used against perceived political enemies.

“SaharaReporters operate from New York and this Senate must write the US government to draw their attention to the clandestine operations of SaharaRe­porters.”

In his remarks, the Leader of the Senate Ali Ndume reiterated that the activities of some social media opera­tors were `getting out of hand’. “It is not only SaharaReporters; you have the privilege where people just wake up be­cause of the advancement in ICT and start writing whatever without being held responsible. “We are a law making body and we have a responsibility to make laws that hold people responsible for actions that they take. People should not just publicize anything without be­ing held responsible,” he had said.

This controversial bill is considered as one of the low points of the 8th Sen­ate. Nigerians are particularly perturbed because they believe that those sponsor­ing the controversial bill have benefitted immensely from the largesse of social media. Following the outcries from Nigerians, the Senate might make a U-turn, but much water has already gone under the bridge and no amount of relief can restore the already battered relation­ship between the Senate and Nigerians.

Other key activities took place dur­ing the period under review. Motions were passed. Standing committees were inaugurated, while aggrieved lawmak­ers kicked. Probe committees were also constituted to look at activities of previ­ous governments. There is however one troubling trend. Many of the motions passed so far by the Senate have not been implemented by President Buhari-led federal government.

Within the same period of six months, only two Bills were passed by the 8th Senate. The first bill passed by the Sen­ate was the supplementary budget, an executive bill by President Muhamma­du Buhari. It was passed on December 1, 2015.

The second bill tagged “Electronic Transactions Bill (SB.15)” sponsored by Senator Hope Uzodimma (PDP, Imo West) was passed on Thursday, Decem­ber 17, 2015. Many bills have however been introduced by Senators and are in different stages. Some have been re­ferred to appropriate committees, while others are yet to be considered.

On a lighter note, the blitz and glitz in the Red Chamber is gradually van­ishing. Senators are broke. The beehive of activities that hitherto adorned every corridor of the National Assembly has drastically reduced. Lawmakers who have manufactured all manner of ex­cuses to evade their constituents and visitors who frequent their offices on a daily basis.

In all, the last six months have been a mix of good and bad, high and low points. Pockets might be dry, with Sena­tors complaining of financial hardship, but the 8th Senate appears to be on the right track.