THE NEXT SENATE PRESIDENT OF THE 8TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND THE FUTURE OF NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY.

By Ishowo Lateef

The fall of the most giant political party in the black world came to its members
like a blow in the face. However, the reality of losing their firm grip on the polity is
now staring the party’s faithfuls in the face like a bright lonely star in the sky at
the thick of the night. The dream of the party ruling Nigeria for sixty years has
suddenly been shattered; but not without giving the country sixteen years of
nightmare and political solitude anyway. To paraphrase Tatalo Alamu, the principal
casualties may have to be counted for many years to come. State orphans abound
as the sixty year Reich has become the sixteen years of wreck.
The death of the PDP is like the fall of a super-power nation for the emergence of
another. The expected reincarnation of the party however largely depends on how
the supposedly political orphans are able to handle the political funeral of their
benefactor; come together to form a strong opposition and stage a comeback in
the next eight or sixteen years.
Personally, I will appreciate a situation where PDP is able to keep APC on its toes,
wrestle power with it and shortchange each other intermittently as the situation in
the states between the Democrats and the Republicans. This and only this can
improve governance and sustain the country’s fledgling democracy. But with the
ongoing exodus of PDP members defecting to APC, I am afraid we may be heading
towards another one party de-facto system as experienced under PDP government
in the last sixteen years.
Well, the elections have been won and lost and as expected, it has thrown up so
many challenges for the party that emerged victorious—APC. Chief among which is
the need to give the country a complete change of scene in the nation’s style of
governance; from infrastructural revamping to eradication of decades of corruption
in a decayed system.
This would be a herculean task for the new administration of Alh. Muhammadu
Buhari without a National Assembly headed by experienced Law makers with track
records of peace making. Nigerian democracy had witnessed enough violence in the
past that it is presently in dire need of peaceful environment to make way for the
hopes placed on the incoming government by millions of Nigerians. As Paul Collier
noted in his book “wars, guns and votes”, political violence is both a curse in itself
and an obstacle to accountable and legitimate government. It is a curse because
the process of violent struggle is hugely destructive. It is an obstacle because
where power rests on violence; it invites an arrogant assumption that government
is there to rule rather than to serve.
However, the nation is presently awashed with political intrigues among the
politicians of the six geo-political zones, maneuvering among themselves over who
becomes the Senate President of the eighth National Assembly. Having succeeded
in ousting a clueless government via the ballots, Nigerians are not ready to
welcome a National Assembly headed by another set of clueless, inactive or violent
leaders. Fortunately or unfortunately, the larger society has little or no role to play
in the process of selecting leaders of the National Assembly. The election will be
done within the chambers among the legislators.
However, there are many factors that are going to be considered in arriving at who
becomes the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in
the eight National Assembly. The most important factor is the zoning arrangement
within the ruling party—APC.
Nigeria being a plural nation and giving the act of balance of power among the
differing ethnic groups along the six geo-political zones; where the President, the
Vice-President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
etc come from matters a lot. Now that the president-elect is from the North-West
and the Vice-president from the South-West, the positions of the Senate President,
Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker,
SGF, Chief of Staff to the president, NSA, etc are to be distributed and zoned
among the remaining four geo-political zones of the federation.
North-Central seems to be the favourite of the APC’s movers and shakers, going
by the resolutions from the outcome of the meeting held by the leaders of the party
some days ago. The party is of course not out of tune as precedence had already
been set in the past. For instance, the late president Umar Musa Yar’adua was
from the North-West, his Vice, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was from the South-
Southern part of the country while the President of the Senate, David Mark came
from the North-Central. The outgoing administration of Goodluck Jonathan equally
comprises of the President from the South-South, Vice-President from the North-
West and Senate President from the North-Central.
Now that the searchlight is focused on the North-Central to produce the next
Senate President, there have emerged many contenders from the geo-political zone,
but Senators Bukola Saraki from Kwara State and Senator George Akume form
Benue State appear as the two strongest contenders for the post.
However, as soon as the duo indicated interest for the post, the political intrigues
and permutations have thrown up lots of sentiments among the supporters and
admires of the two distinguished ranked senators. One of the most pronounced
sentiments raised against Senator Bukola Saraki is the issue of ethnicity. Those
who are plotting the senator’s disqualification and their supporters erroneously
argued that he is a Yoruba man and it would be inappropriate for both offices of
the vice-presidency and senate presidency to be occupied by men from same tribe.
This argument has once again raises the question of imbalance federal structure
and the problem of geographical identity in our national life. When has Kwara
suddenly changed its status as a north-central state to a south-western? Haba!
So there is nothing politics cannot paint any choiced colour in our dear country?
Besides, once the APC has decided to zone the office to a particular zone, the tribe
or language of the benefactor does not matter any longer. Moreover, precedence
was set when Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who hails from same geo-political zone and
speaks same language as Nnamadi Sambo was allowed to emerge as Speaker of
the House of Representatives even when Sen. David Mark is from north-central.
And if we say Tambuwal’s emergence was as a result of the political chicanery
exhibited by the presidency to surreptitiously impose Hon. Mulikat Adeola on the
Green Chamber as Speaker; you will agree with me that precedence is precedence.
Again, are there no Yorubas in Abijan, Lome, Yaunde, etc? As there are Hausa-
Fulani in Chad, Mali, etc who are non-Nigerians? Does that change their status as
citizens of their country?
Still on the balance of power and rotation spirit, while Benue state has produced
three Senate Presidents in persons of Sen. Iyocha Ayu, Sen. Ame Ebute and Sen.
David Mark, Kwara State has not been fortunate to be considered for any of the
four highest offices in Nigeria under a democratic setting in Nigeria’s political
history.
Instead of using the ethnic/language card, it would be more appropriate to focus
on the attributes, intelligence and maturity or any other qualities of the two ranked
senators that will help stabilize the eighth National Assembly as experienced under
David Mark. Though Senator Mark is still very much interested in retaining the seat
even after spending eight years on the throne, his party becoming a minority may
not thrust this opportunity on his lap. As APC will fight tooth and nail to claim their
rightful position.
While admitting the fact that Senator George Akume possesses good qualities that
can be found in several others vying the post, it is important to choose the best
out of all the contenders for the best interest of the nation rather than sentiment
and politics of hatred.
Considering Sen. Saraki’s role in stabilizing the nation during his tenure as
Chairman of Governors’ Forum under Yar’adua’s administration, he deserves to be
tried for the position, so that he can use the same maturity applied then in
managing the affairs of the body to take the higher chamber of Nigeria’s legislature
to the next level.
Members of APC, including the party’s national leader, Sen. Bola Tinubu should
equally consider Sen. Bukola’s role in the party during its trying moments under
President Jonathan to compensate him for the post. He single handedly delivered
five governors for the party to give it a national look and strengthened its capacity
to win national elections.
His unquantifiable contributions to the seventh national assembly and exposure of
the suckers of the nation’s oil proceeds should equally serve as added advantage
to his emergence.
Lastly, APC became a strong party with national outlook after different political
parties played down all their differences and merged as one. However, while Buhari
emerged from the defunct CPC, Osinbajo from the defunct ACN and Hon.
Gbajabiamila has been tipped or anointed as the preferred candidate for the
position of Speakership in the lower house, what will be the benefit of the migrated
PDP members to the APC?
In this modern world, a well exposed and obviously charismatic individual with
wealth of experience like Dr. Bukola Saraki is needed to pilot our National Assembly
to its glorious status. It is not blindness but refusal to see that ails our civilization.
Quipped Novel Prize-winner, Jose Saramago, in his novel ‘Blindness”.
God bless Nigeria.