Senate Rule Amendment, laughable,disrespectful to Rep Members and Cannot Hold Water -Senator Kawu

By Andrew Oota

Senator Abdulrahman Suleiman Kawu representing Kano South on the platform of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has expressed concerns that proponents of the amendment of the standing rules of the Senate that bars fresh senators from being elected Senate President and Deputy Senate President was a deliberate move to undermine the members of the House of Representatives who were elected into the Senate.

Senator Kawu also pointed out that such amendment sets a dangerous precedence in the Nigeria’s democratic journey and perfectly sets the stage for a potential collusion between the Senate and the House of Representatives in the days ahead .

Responding to questions from some journalists in his office at the National Assembly yesterday , Senator Kawu maintained that those who birth such idea were clearly oblivious of the fact that such amendment will consume them in the fullness of time , particularly where there would be the need for the two chambers of the National Assembly to go into a joint session on any issue of national importance particularly the money bill and any other matter of interest to the executive .

According to him ,” we have excluded members of the House of Representatives from the ranking arrangement in the Senate with the way the amendments was done ,we are practicing bi-camera legislature and from the arrangement we had on ground it was such that for you to be ranking member of the Senate ,you must spend one or more terms in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. There was no exclusion of the House of Representatives members , but now it is a game of number.

” The new rule had created a dichotomy between the red and the green chamber.  It is making the members of the House feel inferior to there colleagues in the Senate. The House is made of 360 members while the Senate has 109 and with the latest development, definitely they have called for anarchy”

He continued ”
As somebody who has the experience of the House of Representatives, I can tell you , it is not a healthy situation because at the end of the day, it is the executive arm of government that suffers. 

“The House of Representatives that I know for almost 20 years will surely strike and the Senate will be at the receiving end.

“I don’t know where you were in 2007,but
I don’t think it should be an issue if a first time senator decides to contest the presiding officers’ positions. It happened in 2007 when Senator George Akume contested the Senate Presidency as a first time member in the Senate against David Mark, he went to court and court allowed them to contest.

“For the senators to start thinking that way they need to understand what National Assembly is all about. Today if there is anything in the House they can suspend the rules and come up with another rule, they will suspend it and do what they like. You can not just wake up and make a law for your own benefit
In 2015, when Akpabio had no legislative experience he became minority leader. Recently Dave Umahi became deputy majority Leader without legislative experience”

“We copied this democracy from America and we need to ask ourselves how they are doing it. You cannot make a sister chamber to be inferior and think that you are not stoking danger.
Technically people don’t think this way.

“But if there is constitutional amendment Senate has its own version and the reps have their own. We will constituted a conference committee.

The conference committee cannot alter any thing, it is either to accept Senate version or Reps version. If for any reason Senate disagrees with the House or House disagrees with Senate it must be resolved by votes. If for any reason they refuse to adopt out position definitely there will be a joint session though it is the Senate President who will preside over the joint session, they are 360 while the senate members are 109. This is the silent question they need to ask before they arrived at the decision.

Somebody like Aminu Waziri Tambuwal you are referring to him as non ranking when he spent about 12 years in the House of Representatives, a former speaker and now you are calling him a non ranking senator in this chamber.

People need to understand the implication of this kind of legislation. We ignored it because we know it will consume those behind it.

For instance when we are doing the amendment of our rules we do it with simple majority not two third, therefore any day we do it once we form a quorum and there is an amendment the particular clause can be amended.

If for any reason today we decide to remove our presiding officers, we can remove them appoint speaker or Senate President Protempo, while we are sitting we will suspend that clause, elect a new senate President who may not be ranking.

We will suspend it. That one is the issue of technicalities. That legislation can not hold water, it cannot stand. I was laughing when I laughed that they were thinking this way”