A long drawn battle appears imminent between the Presidency and National Assembly over arraignment of Senator Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu over alleged forgery of Senate Rules, Editor, Politics/Features, EMEKA ALEX DURU, writes.
By last Wednesday, it had become apparent that the Presidency and both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) were headed for a showdown. It is not that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led executive arm of government has had any pronounced cosy relationship with the leadership of the legislature since its inauguration on June 8, last year.
But going by the drumbeats of war that have been resonating from foot soldiers of feuding camps, there are fears of the imminent impasse that may drag the nation into constitutional crisis.
Drawing the battle line
What seemed to have signalled the emerging face-off began to take shape when judicial officers summoned the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, to appear before the Federal High Court on June 27, over alleged forgery of Senate Rules to pave way for their emergence as principal officers of the upper law-making house.
The summons was pasted by way of substituted service. It was also the first time the two men were formally being notified of their prosecution. The situation did not entirely come to perceptive minds as a surprise. In fact, before the eventual turn of events, speculations were high that the Presidency, working in concert with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), would resort to full-blown judicial process to take out the duo from their controversial offices.
Saraki, incidentally, is of the APC, while Ekweremadu belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Root of the impasse
Their problem with the government began to build shortly after their election. Before the inauguration of both chambers of NASS, APC had, in a manner that was not elaborately explained to even some key members, settled for Ahmed Lawan as Senate President and George Akume as Deputy Senate President. It also positioned Femi Gbajabiamila as House of Representatives Speaker, while Ali Monguno was to be his deputy.
The decision, however, did not go down well with the Saraki group in the Senate and the Yakubu Dogara elements in the House of Representatives.
The aggrieved elements who clearly had been schemed out of APC consideration went into alliance with their PDP colleagues, thus giving rise to Saraki/Ekweremadu victory in the Senate and Dogara’s emergence in the House.
APC has been livid with the outcome of that exercise, which its principal members promptly dismissed as a coup. Raising its banner of supremacy, the party promptly vowed to get even with Saraki, Dogara and their backers.
Former National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed (now Minister of Information), spoke the mind of the APC when he declared the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as totally unacceptable, describing it as the highest level of indiscipline and treachery by the affected officers.
“There can be no higher level of treachery, disloyalty and insincerity within any party,” he fumed, adding that the party would use all legal means available to it to reverse the exercise. Mohammed vowed that APC would not accord the current NASS leadership any recognition.
For Saraki, who went ahead to fill the remaining key offices in the Senate with his loyalists, it has been a long drawn battle between him and the leadership of his party, and by extension the presidency, ever since.
Enter CCT saga
The first salvo against the Senate president was his entanglement in asset declaration saga with the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), in which many readily see the hands of the presidency and APC on the matter.
Saraki’s ordeal began to unfold on September 11, 2015, when he was charged to the CCT by the CCB over allegations of false declaration of his assets, contrary to constitutional requirements.
Part of the accusation was that he deliberately manipulated the assets declaration form he filed prior to his assumption of office as Senate president, by making anticipatory declaration of assets.
He was equally accused of failing to declare some assets he acquired while in office as governor, from 2003 to 2011.
At the initial stage of the trial, some APC politicians literally trooped to town, enthusing that the Senate president had eventually been boxed into a corner.
In Lagos, the party’s spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, had particularly boasted that there would be no escape route for the embattled lawmaker, taunting him to vacate the seat he coveted.
While Igbokwe echoed the voice of those after Saraki, fellow APC chieftain and senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, mocked them to perish the thought, stressing that Saraki, must remain in office for four years.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Peter Nwaoboshi, had earlier spoken in this direction, warning APC that if Saraki is forced out, his party, PDP, would produce the next Senate president.
He said: “Should the incumbent, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, be forced to vacate the office, we have perfected necessary arrangements to take over the upper chamber.
“In any case, in my party, the PDP, we have resolved in our meeting to support him (Saraki). So, there is no basis for him to resign.”
The solidarity from PDP and Saraki’s loyalists in APC afforded him the needed breather. In his encounter with journalists to mark one year of the eighth NASS, he described the CCT trial as a distraction, vowing however that he would not be deterred. The trial is still on, taking twists and turns that even those that had earlier been upbeat on its course can no longer predict.
Senate Rules forgery resurrects
It is against this backdrop that NASS members saw in the recourse to the Senate Rules forgery case an extension of the on-going battle at the CCT. The case, remarkably, had been talked about in lukewarm manner since the inauguration of the eighth NASS. But with the uncertain developments in the CCT trial, it has gained renewed attention.
Also to be arraigned with Saraki and Ekweremadu are a former Clerk of NASS, Salisu Maikasuwa, and the Deputy Clerk, Benedict Efeturi.
All the accused have denied any wrong doing on the matter. Saraki, for example, says he knows nothing about how the rules adopted in the inauguration of the eighth Senate were formulated, alleging that the case of forgery was just another phase in the orchestrated persecution he has faced since he emerged as Senate president.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, noted that he was not a part of the leadership of the seventh Senate that made the rules in question, and that prior to his unanimous election as Senate president on June 9, 2015, he was merely a senator-elect like all his colleagues, and therefore was not in a position to influence the rules that were to be used in the conduct of the election.
Ekweremadu and PDP are also insisting on his innocence. The party’s NASS Caucus had, last week, argued: “Ekweremadu ceased to be a senator from June 4, 2015 when the seventh Senate adjourned sine die, until he was inaugurated alongside other members of the eighth Senate on June 8, 2015.
“We wonder how the production of the Senate Order issued for the inauguration was his business.”
Toeing the same line of argument, the Senate insisted that the “Senate Rules 2015 was not forged” and that “it is the authentic rule of the Senate.”
United against Buhari
Apparently concerned with the reality of NASS leadership being put in the dock, members of both chambers threw party differences aside and joined forces to fight the impending assault on the legislature.
In this regard, the senators, in an unusual unanimous adoption of a motion from Melaye, warned that the chamber might be compelled to withdraw its support for the Buhari administration if it continued to interfere in its domestic affairs.
They recalled that the judiciary had, through several rulings in a recent case on the same issue, warned the executive arm against criminalising or interfering in the running of the internal affairs of the Senate.
They also remarked that the legislature is subject to provisions of the constitution to regulate its procedures as stated in Section 60 of the Constitution.
The House of Representatives, in a similar move, charged the Presidency to always abide by provisions of the constitution and not do anything that would jeopardise the nation’s democracy. The House resolution was upon a motion sponsored by Tajudeen Ayo Yusuf (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu, Kogi State).
The resolution noted that the move to arraign Saraki and Ekweremadu was an attempt to dabble into matters that are wholly internal affairs of the Senate, adding that the exercise is a deliberate and concerted attack on NASS to render it useless in the eyes of the general public.
“If this ugly trend continues unabated, it will be detrimental to good governance and highly damaging to our democracy,” the House warned.
Equally angered by the unfolding development, PDP senators threatened withdrawing its support for the Buhari administration, noting that the government’s actions towards their members since taking over power had become enough for them to have a rethink.
Imminent showdown
In what appears a signal to uncertain days ahead, the Senate summoned the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, before it to justify with evidence the basis for the case against Saraki and Ekweremadu and “why it does not constitute gross misconduct, incompetence, contempt of court and abuse of office”. It also tasked President Buhari to call the AGF to order.
This is where many have fear of imminent showdown and possible constitutional crisis.
At the commencement of his presidency, Buhari had pledged neutrality on matters concerning the legislature. Even while APC kicked against the election of NASS leadership, he initially appeared not concerned with developments in that arm of government. With time, however, it became obvious from his body language that he merely had scant regard for the lawmakers.
There were, for instance, allegations of his shunning scheduled meetings with Saraki. Also, on occasions when he had made allusions to the activities of the lawmakers at home and abroad, it had always been in unflattering terms, often making insinuations of corruption against them. It is against this background that analysts suspect that the AGF may have acted at the promptings of the President. In that case, asking the same President to call him to order may amount to sailing against the tide.
Sources told TheNiche that the lawmakers were not unmindful of the possibility of the President calling their bluff, due to his trademark cocky disposition. They are, thus, said to be mapping out strategies to get him toe the line of democracy. Part of the move in this regard is to put on hold the confirmation of ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the Senate.
The Senate also directed the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, to appear before its committee on foreign affairs to explain the processes leading to the selection of nominees before it would commence screening.
Though senators who spoke on the issue claimed not understanding the criteria for selection of the ambassadorial nominees, TheNiche learnt that halting the screening and asking the affected officials to see the committee was a way of signalling to the President that the honeymoon was over.
“You can understand why they are taking the action. The name of the game is reciprocity. It is a two-way traffic. But when one actor gives the impression that the action must emanate from him and end with him, there is nothing wrong in telling him that it is not so. The lawmakers had closed their eyes on some of the unconstitutional actions of the President, just to give peace a chance; but he seems to be taking them for granted. There is, therefore, nothing wrong in them asserting their constitutional rights over some of his actions, henceforth. I fully support them,” volunteered a former APC House of Representatives member, who pleaded anonymity.
A senior lecturer in History, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Ikenna Odife, also weighed the implications of the delay in confirming the ambassadorial nominees.
“It will mean our missions abroad operating without substantive diplomatic heads. It will also mean our continued exclusion from diplomatic engagements at summit levels. With that also comes our losing out in interactions with the outside world on many issues of development,” he remarked.
Lagos lawyer, Ibikunle Ibidun, also warned that the threat by the PDP senators should not be treated with levity, adding that it portends constitutional crisis.
He said: “APC senators in support of Buhari do not make up the two-third majority needed to pass bills in the chamber. What it means is that if PDP senators are allowed to carry out their threat, no action from the President will receive any approval from the chamber. That means, none of the government’s proposals will see the light of day. In that case, it is the country, the masses that voted for the APC-led government, that will suffer.”
By the close of last week, it was not certain if the gladiators in the unfolding showdown were aware of this imminent danger.
