AKUME, APC AND THE IMPERATIVE OF HISTORY

By Terhemba Shija.

It is unclear why his party is dilly-dallying. With barely three weeks to the proclamation and inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, the newly-emerged majority ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), appears to be either unable or unwilling to categorically zone its principal offices in the National Assembly. However, for Senator George Akume, it would appear, history is beckoning on him to take charge as President of the 8th Senate. The amiable Senator is currently the Minority Leader of the 7thSenate, and has been in that position for four years. It is quite obvious that he must have been doing excellently in that office as the APC has become a majority party under his stewardship.

Legislative practices all over the world operate a tradition that respects seniority and length of service. Whether written or not, ranking senators and representatives and especially leaders of political parties in the legislature are always given the right of first refusal in the race for principal offices and headship of standing committees. The powers of leaders (majority or minority) of political parties in parliament do not cease merely because another election has been held, let alone the right of a victorious minority leader whose party has also taken over as the ruling party in the house.

The United States and the United Kingdom with long-established traditions of liberal democracy have shining examples where leaders of political parties in parliament are given the right of first refusal anytime elections were held and political parties swapped positions in the parliament. In 1994, for instance, Rep Newt Gingrich as Minority Leader of the US Congress spontaneously moved up to take the speakership position when the Republicans defeated Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party in his mid-term congressional elections. Nancy Pelosi on her part kept oscillating from minority leadership to Speakership and then Minority leadership from 1993 to date. Similar examples abound in the British parliament where victorious Minority Leaders automatically become Prime Ministers while those demoted from the Prime Ministerial positions as a result of their Parties’ poor showing at the polls still lead in the capacity of Minority Leader.

So where is the complication? Why is it so difficult for the APC to announce to the nation their obvious heir-apparent for the senate presidency in readiness for the handover? Why do we hear that the senate presidency is up for grabs through a process of survival of the fittest, when in fact, it appears very obvious that with the election of the president and his vice from two geo-political zones, the rest of the principal legislative positions can be settled through consensus? Why is it so difficult to zone the position of Senate President, being the number three, even as the President and the Vice-Presidential positions are zoned?

The sensitivity of the Senate President as chairman of the Legislature as well as a possible acting president of Nigeria in case of any eventuality confers on it a sacred respect that must be acknowledged with awe by all citizens as they do to the President and his vice. It is, however, the prerogative of the in-coming ruling party to demonstrate leadership by proving that they really understood the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of our country as well as the sensitivities involved in sharing public offices as dictated by the Federal Character clause in the 1999 Constitution.

Be that as it may, Akume appears to be on the right side of history in this quest for the Senate Presidency. He hails from the North Central where, he, along with his colleagues, worked assiduously and dislodged the PDP that had taken roots in all the six states of the region for sixteen years. Akume particularly showed his political strength for the umpteenth time in Benue state where he deftly challenged the PDP machinery in the governorship and presidential elections. The North-Central region won all the five governorship slots in the region, won 14 out of 18 senate seats and pulled a surprising second position in the presidential election of Muhammadu Buhari, thus coming next to the North-West in percentage rating.

It would certainly be unfair for anyone to undermine the dogged determination of this cluster of Northern minority ethnic groups who massively voted for the APC to ensure Buhari’s victory and reinforce the much-needed unity of a nation. Thanks to Akume and his indomitable colleagues like Senators Bukola Saraki, Abdullahi Adamu and Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Gov. Tanko Al-Makura and others. With the President-elect and his Vice-President elect coming from the majority ethnic groups, it only looks natural that Senator Akume best suits the bill to create the necessary power balance and through him assuage the aspirations of the minority ethnic groups in the North.

When the 8th Senate convenes on June 8, 2015, Akume would be the longest serving APC senator in the North-Central geo-political zone. He also would have put in sixteen years of unbroken and unblemished service to his people in the high echelon of public service, having also been governor of Benue state for eight years from 1999 to 2007. During his four years at service as minority leader of the Senate, he demonstrated strength of character, courage and maturity in all his official duties. He was neither controversial nor sycophantic. His humble, humane, friendly and generous disposition endeared him to virtually every senator. He is a detribalized Nigerian, a committed patriot and a firm believer in the rule of law and indivisibility of our country.

Perhaps what most Nigerians might not know is that Akume is, in fact, a nephew of the foremost nationalist and minorities’ rights activist, the late Senator J.S. Tarka. With his proud blood ties with the legendary Tarka, Akume has all through his political career also made sacrifices and exhibited statesmanship in all that he does to his compatriots irrespective of their states of origin. His uncle, Tarka, had in 1964 nominated one Mallam Ibrahim Imam, a Moslem candidate from Borno State and fielded him as a candidate for the Northern regional parliament in a predominantly Christian constituency in Benue and came out victorious. But more significantly, Tarka as a legislator in the Second Republic is fondly remembered for his display of personal sacrifice and loyalty to his friends and country. At the inauguration of the 1979 National Assembly, he stepped down for the late Senator Olusola Saraki in the race for Senate Majority Leadership, when the position was zoned to the Middle Belt of Nigeria. His reason was to pave way for the emergence of a Yoruba principal officer in the Senate in the Shagari administration which had left out the Yorubas and aligned with the Igbos in the famous NPN/NPP Accord. Through his personal sacrifice, Tarka may have lost the position of Senate Leader to his friend, but Nigeria gained as Saraki’s victory then further strengthened the unity of Nigeria.

Thirty-six years on, and Tarka’s nephew is at the threshold getting ready to tread the same paths his uncle trod: the road to leadership that was strewn with thorns and hardships. Will Akume now be made to reap the seeds of sacrifice Tarka had sown? It will be interesting to watch how Nigerians would treat Akume, even as he himself has already worked his way to the top.

From comments in newspapers and the social media, though, one major factor which appears to concern some commentators about the candidature of Akume as Senate President is that he hails from Benue State where David Mark also comes from. That is certainly a valid point but may not be sacrosanct when other factors are aggregated in search for national leadership. For that reason, coincidences such as this occur, but Nigerians readily overlook. For instance, the last time the Presidency of Nigeria came to the North, it was won by the late President Yar’Adua from Katsina State. President-elect Muhammadu Buhari also happens to be from Katsina State but I am not sure many Nigerians are prepared to interrogate that co-incidence. Another of such coincidences took place in Enugu State where the last Senate President, Ken Nnamani hails from. This is the same state that has produced Ike Ekweremadu to take over the seat of Deputy Senate President that was meant for the five South Eastern States since Nnamani left eight years ago.

It is obvious from this brief account that most of the indices that should govern the emergence of the next president of the senate resonate around Akume, the current Senate Minority Leader. The North-Central geo-political zone where he hails from has also performed well to ensure the APC victory in the last general elections and should be eligible for compensation with a high office that it truly deserves. The APC should respond to the natural turn of events as occasioned by the just-concluded elections in which only senators from four of the six geo-political zones have constituted the majority side of the senate. The APC should lead Nigerians to respect legislative tradition and honour their erstwhile Senate minority leader, Akume, who, it is obvious, has paid his dues to both his party, his colleagues and country and deserves to take the exalted seat of president of the senate in the 8th senate.

Dr. Shija is of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi

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