Up till now governance has been kept in abeyance as the leadership of the National Assembly engages the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Executive arm of government in a war of supremacy.
It is no longer news that the Bukola Saraki-led Senate is sharply working at cross purposes with the Muhammadu Buhari-led Executive. And the Nigerian masses have been paying direly for the needless face-off.
Saraki’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has since put to difficulty the working relationship between the National Assembly and the Executive arm. It bears re-stating that Saraki’s emergence as the Senate president ruffled some feathers in the APC and at the Presidency.
The Senate President is standing trial over his alleged false declaration of assets when he was governor some years back. However, the allegation has been seen by Saraki’s loyalists as direct fallout of the manner of his emergence as the number three citizen against the wishes of some powerful elements in his party.
And because Saraki enjoys the support of almost all the opposition members in the Senate and a sizeable number of the APC lawmakers, the ruling party has found it very difficult to break his back.
Since the trial began, Saraki has always gone to court accompanied by a huge number of senators and each day the trial comes up, the Senate shuts its doors and no proceeding takes place.
It was in the light of this that analysts see danger in the ruling last Monday, by Justice Danladi Umar of the CCT that Saraki’s trial would henceforth be conducted daily.
Umar said: “Let me state it here for both the prosecution and the defence that the trial of the defendant shall proceed on a day-to-day basis till the conclusion of this matter and it will begin from 10am to 6pm.”
What this means, according to critics, is that the Senate is now shut down as the senators who should have remained in the chamber to carry on with job of legislation for which they were elected to do, are the same lawmakers who had vowed to “swim and sink” with Saraki.
The implication is that the controversial budget, which the President sent back to the National Assembly to re-touch, will gather more dust as nobody will be available to deliberate on the matter.
It then means that the much-expected relief by the over-traumatised and long-suffering masses of Nigeria is not in sight.
By last week, it was hoped that by the time the budget is passed, there would be a breather; it appears Nigerians would have to tighten their belts the more.
Apart from the budget, it also means that other functions of the National Assembly would be put on hold. There would be no law-making; the Senate’s committees may not have the time to scrutinise bills and the conduct of government officials. There would also not be passage of private members’ bills.
However, analysts say that the development could be an ambush to halt the Senate’s unusual speed at the amendment of the ACT establishing CCT and CCB.
“You see, Aneke the bird says, since men have learnt to shoot without missing, it has also learnt to fly without perching. The Senate is breaking a record of trying to conclude an amendment to an Act within two weeks. The step could be targeted toward rendering the CCT in its current form impotent and incapable of going ahead with the Saraki trial; nobody knows. It is possible that Justice Umar has seen their body language and tries to beat them in their game. I think the thinking is that since Saraki’s loyalists always follow him to court, with the new arrangement, they can no longer eat their cake and have it,” Samson Ojo, a public affairs commentator, said.
Femi Adekunle, an activist, told BusinessDay that the APC may have concluded plans to sacrifice Saraki and could go to any length to achieve that.
“I think what informed the court’s new schedule may not be unconnected with the move by the Senate to amend the CCT Act. And the speed they are going about it may have given a signal that they are targeting to achieve something. So, the only way to check them is to equally speed up the trial. It means that all those Saraki’s loyalists would now choose between staying back in the chamber, doing the job for which they were elected and going to court everyday with Saraki. It is an interesting drama and it is equally interesting to know how it will all end,” Adekunle said.
“My concern in all of these is that it is the ordinary man on the street that will suffer. Now if the budget is not passed, it means hunger will linger; petrol scarcity will continue and the country will be the worse for it. I wished these politicians realized the danger they are plunging this country into, just for selfish reasons,” he added.
An analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the APC leadership and the Buhari government are not helping the country.
“I don’t really know what this government came to achieve in the country. Is it all about taking over power? There is no aspect of our national life we can say something positive has happened. Again, Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade appears one-sided. It lacks transparency, and I think that’s why Saraki’s loyalists are not happy. What we are seeing is a situation where government leaves Mr. A who is corrupt and be pursuing Mr. B for same offence. It does not make sense. Again, it appears that anybody that is being accused of corruption, once you cross over to the APC, you are no longer corrupt. It is wrong.
“In Nigeria, it appears that ‘big men’ are not tried for crime let alone being sent to prison. Bode George and the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who were jailed were pardoned. It is not different now. In all of these, it is the poor masses that bear the brunt,” the analyst said.
The Senate last week, in what appeared to be the most accelerated amendment of Acts, passed for second reading, a bill seeking to amend the Act establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The Bill, sponsored by Peter Nwaoboshi, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senator from PDP Delta North, passed the first reading Tuesday last week when it was first introduced. Two days later, it passed the second reading and is ready for third reading within one week.
Nwoboshi had argued that the procedural codes that were being employed by the bureau’s tribunal were not provided for in the nation’s Constitution.
According to him, “It is clear that the Act does not contemplate criminal trial so the usage of Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Code should not be used as a procedural template in the Tribunal.
Zebulon Agomuo
