Opinions

Ajimobi and issue of quality representation

RECENTLY, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the Oyo State governor, Mr. Morounkola Thomas, disclosed that his principal, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, would be running for the Senate in the 2019 general election. Ajimobi is on the last lap of his historic two-term helmsmanship of the Pacesetter State where a chief executive has never been re-elected to office. The Senate bid must have been a hard decision for the governor who had earlier declined running for elective office on completion of his two-term tenure. Those in the know, however, disclosed that there had been pressure on the governor to rescind his earlier decision and offer himself for further service in the interest of the state and in fact the west. The Awo School of Thought, for instance, it was learnt, was uncomfortable with the idea of Ajimobi slipping into retirement at a time the West could draw from his immense wealth of experience.

While Thomas’ disclosure put paid to speculations over Ajimobi’s post-2019 moves, the governor’s Senate bid promises to reenact the peak period during the Second Republic when great Awoists such as Senators Jonathan Odebiyi, Abraham Adesanya, Ayo Fasanmi, Cornelius Adebayo, Kunle Oyero, Sikiru Shita-Bey and Lere Adesina among others gave the West exponential representation that was the envy of other sections of the country. The period marked the apogee of legislative excellence which has not been replicated in over 39 years. However, the west has not been able to sustain the sophistication of the second republic. One way or the other, it seems as if the region has taken for granted the issue of quality representation at the National Assembly particularly the Senate. Considering the long wait the region has to endure to be president again, diligent representation in the Senate is weaponry the west should begin to explore to assert itself in the national scheme of things. It is, for this reason, Ajimobi’s Senate move is seen as a welcome development which should be embraced by all and sundry. In fact, the west can go the whole hug to adopt a strategy that gets all its former governors to the upper chamber.

It is worthy to note that having ex-governors in the Senate is also a trend in the United States on whose model we fashioned our Constitution and presidentialism. Gubernatorial senators as they are called have been credited for cohesion and bipartisanship which have helped the US Senate “to generate consensus, find the middle” and help it resist extraneous interference either from the executive or the political parties. They coordinate a “Governor’s Caucus” in the Senate where they work on a specific policy issue. John Hoeven, who served 10 years as governor of North Dakota before becoming Senator in 2010, believed that former governors have a common experience that helps fellow senators to work together. It is therefore not far-fetched the reason the present 8th Assembly of the Nigerian Senate presided over by Senator Bukola Saraki has achieved stability and sustain the principle of separation of power with the increased number of former governors in the Senate.

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It should be understood that the Senate is uniquely powerful. Sovereignty in a federal structure is said to lie in the legislature. Apart from the enormous power over financial and budgetary matters which it exercises alongside the House of Representatives, it holds exclusively the power to confirm major presidential appointments, treaties with other nations the president enters into. Impeachment trial also occurs there. The power of its two-thirds majority with which it can override the President’s veto makes the Senate a government unto itself. Considering the enormous expressed and implied powers the Senate wields, the South-West should see the need to encourage its best, particularly ex-governors, to go to the upper chamber of the National Assembly. When Ajimobi gets to the Senate in 2019, he will be the first former governor from the South-West to do so. Other geopolitical zones have seen the wisdom in this and their representatives have successfully dictated the trend in the Senate to the disadvantage of west senators. The North has pursued national issues in a calculated and systematic manner employing its legislators as its arrowhead who keep to the script.

Without prejudice, it could be asserted that many of senators representing the state and the region in recent times have no business being in the Senate. It is unarguable that a good number of them have been unmistakably inconsequential, invisible and unable to assert themselves or acquire compelling voices. The sordid specter has had untoward implication for the state and the region. While it has been difficult to attract meaningful projects to the state and the region since 2007, the few ongoing projects such as the Lagos-Ibadan express road and the Oyo-Ogbomoso-Ilorin road dualisation which are quite critical to Oyo State have suffered neglect due to inability of legislators from the geopolitical zone to negotiate and secure appropriate budgetary allocations for the projects.

Ministers from the region have been victims of the caprices of overzealous senators from other parts of the country and made to eat the humble pie on the floor of the Senate. The other time, some senators retorted and asked Babatunde Fasola, the minister of works, power, and housing to resign when he profusely protested the cut of the vote for works on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has been summoned more often by the Senate than ministers from other regions. Senators from the zone failed to show the right leadership when the National Assembly debated and passed bills for the implementation of certain aspects of restructuring which the west holds dear. It is obvious that our senators have not been able to protect our interest.