ELECTION OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDING OFFICERS

The principal officers should be elected in an atmosphere free of intimidation

In a presidential system of government, the legislature is the custodian of the treasury. That presupposes that members should be able to choose their presiding officers without interference either from within or without. As members-elect of the 10th National Assembly therefore convene in both the Senate and House of Representatives chambers on Tuesday, we are constrained to ask them to take their integrity and independence very seriously. Where a body that is constitutionally empowered to have its eyes in every sector of our national life decides to elect their principal officers either based on money collected from the highest bidders or the preference of the executive, it is democracy that is endangered. 

The offices for grab are that of the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. These principal officers in both Houses, according to Section 50 subsection (1A and B) of the 1999 Constitution, shall be elected by members “from among themselves”. In as much as we agree to the principle of zoning by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), we also believe that their leaders should be well guided by recent history. They should allow the federal lawmakers to elect their presiding officers in a manner that is free, fair, and devoid of intimidation, and coercion. 

 We understand that more than at any period in history, there is need for amity between the executive and the legislative arms. As a former Senator, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should understand that better. To that extent, we endorse negotiations and dialogue by the ruling party in a bid to arrive at consensus. But we reject all anti-democratic moves to force the hands of the lawmakers. The essence of what is glibly described as the “legislative power of the purse” is for the lawmakers to expand their democratic leverage on behalf of citizens by serving as watchdogs in the way and manner national resources are utilised. This function can only be properly undertaken by a transparent and accountable legislative institution that is not beholden to the executive.  

 On 8th May, the APC National Working Committee (APC) released their list of consensus candidates for the four parliamentary slots. Godswill Akpabio from the South-south geopolitical zone was pencilled for the office of Senate president while Barau Jibrin from the Northwest was proposed as his deputy. For the House of Representatives, the ruling party endorsed Tajudeen Abass from the Northwest as Speaker and Benjamin Kalu from the Southeast as deputy. In recent weeks, discussions about the National Assembly elections have centred on ethno-religious balancing in the country. But, for the first time, there is also heavy deployment of money by some of the candidates. This is a disturbing trend. 

However, we understand that the ruling party’s decisions on consensus candidates have not gone down well with everyone. The contention is not only about the zoning formula that cedes two of the principal officers to a geopolitical zone but also about the acceptability of the candidates. Contestants challenging the party’s positions for the Senate seats are Abdulaziz Yari (Northwest), Orji Uzor Kalu and Osita Izunaso (Southeast), and Sani Musa (Northcentral). At the Green Chamber, the ‘rebellious’ members include Idris Wase, Muktar Betara, Yusuf Gagdi and Aminu Jaji. If the APC fails to put its act together, the opposition parties could dictate the emergence of presiding officers in the two chambers, just as it happened in 2015. 

As we have noted in the past, our democracy has today lost its shape essentially because members of the political parties want to be democratic in a manner that advances only their personal interests and not that of society. The situation is not helped by the fact that political parties in Nigeria are mere election-winning machines whose members do not necessarily share the same values in a political system where rent seeking is the order of the day. That explains why it is difficult for the APC to agree on consensus in the choice of candidates for the National Assembly principal officers. We hope that does not necessitate the deployment of anti-democratic tactics on Tuesday.