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“No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other’s consent” – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
For millions of Nigerians who have already drawn an opinion that the upper legislative chamber led by the Yobe State-born Senate President, Mr. Ahmed Lawan is a rubber-stamped legislature, what recently happened has jolted all of us.
Ahmed Lawan has never hidden his undying messianic admiration and loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari. A friend who is a Senator from the South West said if Lawan was to be making love to his wife and suddenly gets a call from President Buhari, he would suspend the lovemaking to answer his political godfather. Such is how Senator Lawan holds the President.
Even long before he got railroaded into office by his colleagues, Ahmed Lawan had personally told this writer that he will be a good loyalist of the President just as he dismissed my fear that his disposition which is akin to enslavement to the whims and caprices of the President would weaken the national legislature.
On the day he got his pyrrhic victory, Senator Lawan read out his manifesto of one hundred percent loyalty to President Buhari. He said the Senate is yet to receive any formal request from the President for confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
Lawan made the disclosure when a delegation of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption paid a courtesy visit to his office at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Senator Lawan said the Senate is willing to approve all requests that come from President Buhari because they are in the best interest of the people.
He, however, stressed that the request to confirm Magu was yet to make it to the floor of the hallowed chambers.
Chairman of the Presidential Committee and leader of the delegation, Prof. Itse Sagay, in his address, craved the cooperation of the upper chamber in ensuring the confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, as well as the consideration of several Anti-corruption Bills introduced under the Eight National Assembly.
Sagay also informed the Senate leadership present at the meeting that the Committee had severally received complaints that members of the National Assembly, particularly Chairmen of Committees, solicit monetary compensation for undertaking oversight functions.
On the confirmation of Magu, Lawan said, “there’s no request before this Ninth Senate for the confirmation of the Chairman of the EFCC.
Even a few years after the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was indicted for alleged misdemeanours, the Senate went ahead to confirm another substantive Chairman without any proper screening.
These tendencies to be a rubber stamp the executive arm of government has inflicted cruel harm to the economy of Nigeria because the senators hurriedly approved frivolous loans requests by the President, which essentially can’t be accounted for.
True to his loud acclamation of absolute loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, which has almost made the head of the executive arm of government think and behave like an absolute monarch, Lawan welcomed hook, line and sinker, all the requests made to the legislature by President Buhari for all kinds of loans.
On November 10, 2021, it was reported that Nigerian Senate had approved $16 billion and €1 billion loans request by President Buhari.
The Senate also approved grant components of $125 million, which Buhari had requested the facilities in an addendum to the 2018-2020 borrowing plan in September.
The World Bank, African Development Bank, and the French Development Agency (AFD) are among the funding agencies.
Buhari had said the loans would stimulate the economy and create jobs.
Clifford Ordia, chairman of the Senate committee on local and foreign debts, said the projects for which funds are requested in the 2018-2020 borrowing plan are ongoing.
Ordia said projects will result in a rebirth of commercial and engineering activities and the consequent tax revenues payable to the government as a result of these productive activities will increase.
Reuters.com also reported on Thursday, March 5, 2020, that Nigeria’s upper house of parliament approved foreign borrowings of $22.7 billion request by President Buhari.
Nigeria has been borrowing abroad to fund projects after a 2016 recession caused largely by low global oil prices hurt its spending plans, but debt service costs have been rising.
The country also plans to sell a $3.3 billion Eurobond this year to refinance an existing maturity and part-fund its 2020 budget of N10.59 trillion ($35 billion), which is a 17% rise over last year’s.
“Let me emphasize here that we are going to follow very strictly how these loans are applied,” Senate President Ahmed Lawan said. “The loans will have a positive influence on the GDP of this country.”
Africa’s largest economy has struggled to shake off the effects of the contraction that ended in 2017 and has been grappling with low growth since. It grew 2.27% in 2019 from 1.91% the previous year, supported by a favourable oil price.
Buhari asked parliament in November to approve the borrowings, which are tied to infrastructure and other projects after a similar request was rejected three years ago.
During Buhari’s first term, the executive was embroiled in a power tussle with the legislature that slowed government, including confirmation of appointments. Buhari won a second term in February and some of his party loyalists in parliament were re-elected.
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said the government was concerned about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on world oil prices, which are now trading below Nigeria’s budget assumption. This could trigger a midterm budget review, she said.
After over three years of accepting practically every request by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate became courageous maybe for fear of the unknown and the need to preserve their political seats in next year’s election, overruled President Buhari on his request to amend a section of the newly signed electoral bill which will make appointees of the President have the advantage to win slots to contest elections under the All Progressives Congress.
The Senate had thrown out the request of President Muhammadu Buhari for amendment of section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, which prevents appointed political office holders from contesting for election from party primary level without resigning.
The request was rejected after the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC Kebbi North) made the lead debate for the second reading of the bill. The Senators kicked against it and voted no when put to voice votes by the Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
President Buhari wrote the Senate seeking an amendment of section 84(2) subsection 12 in the 2021 Electoral Act. Specifically, President Buhari asked the National Assembly to amend section 84 (2) Subsection 12 which states that no political appointee shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of any candidate for an election.
In the letter, he said the amendment is necessary as the clause constitutes a fundamental defect and leads to the disenfranchisement of political officeholders.
In his view, the section disenfranchises serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the national election.
President Buhari stressed that the provision introduced qualification and disqualification criteria that ultra vires the Constitution by way of importing blanket restrictions to serving political officeholders.
The Federal High Court in Abuja in a ruling on Monday, March 7 stopped President Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, from tampering with the newly signed amended Electoral Act 2022.
Ruling on an ex-parte application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Justice Inyang Ekwo agreed with the counsel to the party, James Onoja, that the Electoral Act has become a valid law and cannot be tampered with without following due process of law. The Senate shoved aside that judicial intervention and went straightaway to jettison the prayer of President Muhammadu Buhari to delete the offensive provision which stops ministers from gaining advantage during party primary to win slots as flag bearers of the ruling party.
To the question of whether this decision means the Senate has found her mojo, I will answer in the negative. The Ahmad Lawan-led Senate did not pass the suggested amendments to the electoral Act as made by President Muhammadu Buhari not from altruism but from self-serving perspectives. The national legislature sadly is still a rubber-stamped legislature.
Onwubiko is head of the Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) and was federal commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission Of Nigeria.
