Monday Column By Hameed M. Bello, PhD
hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk
The shenanigans and threats notwithstanding, a new president and his vice will take over from the outgoing ones today, Monday May 29, at least going by the physical realities on ground. Already, the Federal Government has declared a work-free day, a public holiday to give the national event the attention and magnitude it requires. Members of the international community are already in the country in solidarity, and the security forces have given word to rise to the occasion to contain troublemakers. So all is reasonably set.
On the side of the Legislature, the incoming leadership of the 10th National Assembly including the Senate and the House of Representatives will be inaugurated by the President-elect, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu on June 13, after he himself would have formally taken over as substantive president on May 29. Between May 29 and June 13, President Bola Tinubu will have a window of 16 days to play a role in who gets the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He may also decide not to play a role at all to allow for a truly Independent Legislature with little or no Executive interference or meddlesomeness. This is however very unlikely going by experience of the last regimes. Depending on how he plays this role, President Bola Tinubu will either have succeeded in starting on a good note or on a bad one in drawing up the chart for his relationship with the Legislature. His actions and inaction could bring about a cordial relationship, or an antagonistic one which may adversely undermine his delivery of good governance.
It could be recalled how in 2007, the Green Chamber lawmakers at the time perceived former President Olusegun Obasanjo, just out of office then, to have recommended and planted the former Speaker Patricia Olubunmi Etteh as presiding officer of the House. In a bid to justify her removal, the lawmakers then accused Etteh of allegedly awarding a N628 Million contract for the renovation of the official residences for the presiding officers without following due process. She was removed, but after achieving their ultimate goal, the lawmakers cleared her of wrongdoing. Ettheh’s successor, Dimeji Bankole stepped in as the reactionary voice of a House that did not want to be a rubber stamp or a weak parliament. They suspected that Etteh’s imposition was to undermine the independence of the Legislature engineered by Obasanjo who had a not-too-smooth relationship with the National Assembly during his time as president between May 1999 to May 2007.
Incoming President Bola Tinubu, as a smart politician, is not unmindful of the circumstances around the emergence of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal against the wish of the executive arm and the ruling party in the respective periods they served. History and antecedents have proved that party preference in respect of presiding officers of the National Assembly may be respected, but it is usually not sacrosanct that it will be implemented in both chambers. In order not to incur the wrath of the parliamentarians, the smart thing for the party to do is to exercise cautious discretion in advocating for, or recommending candidates as presiding officers of the National Assembly, and to restrain from holding on tenaciously to their preference especially in the face of glaring emotional resistance by many of the lawmakers who will ultimately be directly responsible for electing their leaders.
Power can be given in the absence of opposition and alternative choice. Political power is more likely taken, than it is given by relying on a strategy that wins. This includes making strategic compromises in the present time in order to gain power in the long run. But to expect power to be given to you on the platter of gold with a sense of entitlement is like to wait for Godot. Remember that play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters while awaiting the titular Godot, who never arrives? ‘Waiting for Godot’ is Beckett’s translation of his own original French-language play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only) as “a tragicomedy in two acts”.The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. The first performance, directed by Roger Blin, was on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylon, Paris. The English-language version debuted in London in 1955. In a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1998/99, ‘Waiting for Godot’ was voted the “most significant English-language play of the century. That digression is just by the way.
Many of the lawmakers in the House of Representatives are suspicious of the candidacy of Hon Abbas Tajudeen from the North West state of Kaduna. This is not necessarily because he is not qualified for the job. He is an excellent ranking lawmaker who has a good relationship with his colleagues. But just like Etteh, he is seen as a candidate imposed on the House by the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. The lawmakers believe that the National Working Committee of the APC was stampeded by Gbajabiamila to adopt Abbas as the candidate of the party. After realizing their missteps, the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, acting for the party, amended the earlier endorsement of Abbas to say that further consultations should continue because, essentially, the lawmakers are responsible for electing their leaders themselves. The reversal by the APC chairman may not be unconnected to the realization of a possible revolt and defiance of party preference, including solidarity across party lines.
Unless the APC threads softly, it may lose its fragile majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives if it insists on imposing leaders on the lawmakers. If that happens, President Tinubu may have a chaotic relationship with the Legislature. He knows the implication himself as a former Senator. The threat by returning and elected representatives that their loyalty cannot be guaranteed if the APC leadership insists on imposing presiding officers on them cannot be treated with kid gloves either. The protest to the party headquarters as a warning signal by the disgruntled lawmakers is a sign of what is coming.
Meanwhile, the incoming president has more than enough national emergencies to attend to, and does not deserve any spiritual or religious distractions from attention seekers.The new president has pending development issues to contend with in the areas of security, economy, social engineering, national healing and wealth creation among others and does not need to be bothered with the inanities from the Association of Witches on one hand, and a segment of the church represented by pastor Paul Enenche of the Dunamis Church on the other. Recall that Enenche was one of the key supporters who provided his church platform for the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi to make a public statement.
As reported, the Senior Pastor of the Dunamis International Gospel Center, Dr Paul Enenche had issued a stern warning to witches and wizards coming into the Federal Capital Territory for the May 29 presidential inauguration. This was in reaction to the White Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria which had earlier on May 1, said they were making efforts to storm the nation’s capital to cleanse and detoxify the environment for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu to operate in.
The Spokesperson of the Witches Association, Okhue Obo who stated this in a statement, assured the President-elect of a peaceful inauguration, warning those plotting to scuttle the event to desist from doing so. Perhaps a statement from the handlers of the President-elect dissociating him from this type of inanities could have sufficed. Maybe it was treated for what it is – a distraction.
Some members of the association reportedly stormed Abuja earlier in the week to carry out the proposed cleansing and detoxification.
Enenche, while speaking on Friday night during the just concluded Destiny Recovery Convention, dared the witches and wizards, saying “we are in charge here”, and instructed other clergymen to anoint strategic places in the city as a spiritual battle against other forces.
He said, “There are some agents of the devil that said they are coming to cleanse this city.
“Anybody who is from the devil, sent from the pit of hell that enters this city to plant any agenda of hell, if they are not cut off then we have no right to preach.
“Every witches and bitches, lizards and wizards, Hey! We are serving you notice to let you know we are in charge here and we are not about to change our minds.
“Pastors, we are going to take prophetic action in this city within the next 24 hours. Carry bottles of oil and go through the territory, anoint the ground and pour oil on this ground. Every agent of the devil who steps on this ground for a demonic agenda is a dead agent… if they trample on this earth and still survive, we are not serving the living God.”
Please save us these type of religious brickbats and transcendence. Nigerians are expectant of good governance from the incoming new government to make their lives more meaningful.
