On this column last week, I pointed out that following the release of the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections, there would be intrigues and politically-motivated motions in the Senate.
And rightly so, this was the scenario that played out at the resumption of plenary by the upper legislative chamber last week.
When the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, argued that this was the best ever relationship between the Senate and the Executive, he never envisaged what would befall his principal few days later.
From all political divides, federal lawmakers tacitly passed a vote of no confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari, especially in the handling of the unending farmers-herdsmen clashes in various parts of the country.
There are so many missteps as far as the President’s handling of the crisis is concerned. These include the endorsement of the President for second term by seven governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the visit of Benue State leaders to the Villa rather than the other way round, refusal of the President to declare Fulani herdsmen as a terrorist organisation, inability to hurriedly deploy the army to the area like in the case of the South East.
READ ALSO: Nigerian youths form NNYM to redirect #ENDSARS protest
I also share in the argument of commentators who believe the setting up of a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to resolve the matter is not only diversionary but abdication of responsibilities as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has become like Emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.
As it stands, the Senate has taken over the shine off the Executive arm of government as far as handling of the issue is concerned. For instance, members of the Ad-hoc Committee on Security Infrastructure cut short their recess and paid an on-the-spot assessment visit to the state. Also, a National Security Summit to address the insecurity challenges in various parts of the country is set to hold in the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, we have come to a point in the nation’s democratic experience where the National Assembly has taken over the roles of the Executive, which in turn trades in buck-passing. From the 14 economic recovery bills, proposed National Security Summit, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Agency Bill meant to address the country’s suspension from Egmont Group, investigation of the recall of the dismissed chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the Federal Civil Service, the National Assembly has assumed the role of the Executive.
Of the more than 30 interventions by lawmakers in the three legislative days last week, Shehu Sani, chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, made the most brilliant submission I have ever listened to in recent times in plenary.
The outspoken senator stated this on Tuesday on the floor of the Senate while debating a report of the Ad-hoc Committee on Security Infrastructure.
The Kaduna Central senator accused members of the Ahmad Lawan-led panel of playing to the gallery rather than confront President Buhari on the killings across the country because they want to be re-elected in 2019. While stressing that this is not the time to be diplomatic or politically correct, he wondered why the committee referred to the Federal Government, instead of calling out President Buhari, who is the Commander-in-Chief.
“This is not the time for diplomacy and courtesy. This is the time to provide leadership for a nation that is in a national emergency and national distrust. There is something that I like with the presidency. When it comes to the issue of directing attacks to the National Assembly, they do not in any way curtail, reduce or suppress any of the missiles. But when it comes to our turn to point the finger where the problem is, you will see some form of cowardice, escapism and people who try to water-down issues.
“In the report that was presented to us, ‘Federal Government’ was mentioned about seven times. The security of this country is under the direct control of the President. Why are you shying away from calling on the President to wake up and stand up to the challenge of protecting this country?
“Things are not going right in this country and we are failing. People are dying in their thousands, kidnappings, bloodshed in their thousands from Zamfara to Kaduna to Taraba to Benue to Plateau to Nasarawa State. We are all here shifting blames and trying to evade the truth. We can’t solve this problem. Nigerian political class and politicians are more interested in the 2019 general election than the lives of our people.
“From the executive, legislature and state governors, people are more interested in the INEC timetable. We can’t solve this problem if we see everything through the ethnoreligious lens. There must be a clear distinction between armed herdsmen who must be confronted frontally and Fulani cattle rearers, but we are not doing that.
“We have reached a point that people have lost hope in the government. We are here trying to massage egos; we do not want to confront the President because people want to come back to the 9th Senate. They do not want to lose their tickets while people are being killed in this country”.
At the end of the debate, lawmakers gave the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris 14-day ultimatum to arrest the perpetrators of the recent killings in Benue State.
