Buhari and the roforofo in NASS

ON Wednesday, the Senate witnessed some commotion as a number of the Red Chamber occupants (Senators) walked out of the chamber in protest against the passage of the 2010 Electoral Act amendment bill. The chamber was about to ratify the Conference Committee report on the amendment bill which the Senate had passed early last year but was passed by the House of Representatives last month.

By procedure and rules, the two chambers are to harmonise the bills and present a tidy copy to the President for assent. Most of the time, when bills go for conference, the lawmakers adopt a give and take approach. Some of the versions of the Senate are adopted while the House also got some of its version to sail through. The conference committee report is usually not open to further debate in order not to further delay the process.

But on Wednesday, it was obvious an agenda was brewing on the Senate floor. As soon as the Chairman of Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif read the conference committee report, a flurry of “Points of Order” rented the air.  Both parties to the divide were sure aware of the brewing confusion and were prepared for the battle at hand.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was presiding was also aware of the issues at hand. The Presidency was unhappy with him. That arm of government is also unhappy with the order of elections it believed was engineered by Saraki and his right hand man, Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

Earlier in the year, reports of some meetings held at the Presidential Villa and Apo Quarters were in the news. Those meetings were said to have debated the idea of having Saraki out of the seat of Nigeria’s number three man.  It was said that Dogara’s name got added to the black book after the House of Representatives passed the order of elections in the Electoral Act amendment bill, which placed the presidential election last on the order.

With Saraki well aware that some Senators were being engineered against him, the outcome of the Wednesday’s sitting couldn’t have been less predictable. He knew attempts would be made to frustrate the passage of the Conference Committee report. After taking the motions for adoption of the report, the flurry of “Points of Order” attempted to derail the process. He ruled all of them “Out of Order,” and that included his own loyalists who were showing solidarity.

Senators Ovie Omo-Agege, Kabiru Gaya and Abdullahi Adamu were the President’s men-in chief. They believed that the conference committee report should not pass because of alleged “violations” of the process.

They also claimed that the amendment was “targeted” at President Muhammadu Buhari.

Saraki’s men were also agitated, they sought furiously to take the floor. But Saraki, being the presiding officer maintained his cool. He followed the established tradition of not subjecting conference committee reports to fresh debates and passed the bill. That bill was also passed in the House of Representatives the following day. And it means the National Assembly has ratified the contentious Order of Elections schedule and that the ball is now in the President’s court.

Legislators do fight and haggle among themselves. Sometimes, a section of the lawmakers do so on behalf of a President or the executive. Sometimes, they battle their own leaders for “ways and means.” This time, it is clearly stated that the fight in the Senate is to protect the President, who is being “targeted” by the amendments to the Electoral Act.

I wonder why a President Buhari would allow his supporters jump into such a fray, knowing that engaging in roforofo fight on the floor of a parliament in Nigeria must go with elements of back stabbing, corruption, deceit and money sharing.

The lawmakers of yore perfected such conditions and profited in the rot as they equally thrived in the deceit that goes with it. They acted the examples of what the Yoruba call Agba lowo Meri as they formed caucuses that appeared diametrically opposed. One group made cuts from the protagonists, others make their deals with the antagonists. It was a market of some sorts.

In a regime that claims to be in pursuit of corruption, you will think the leaders will not encourage such. But except sanity prevails, that is what the roforofo in the National Assembly guarantees.

To me, the situation should not be that complicated this time. The National Assembly has the powers to make laws, the executive is empowered to implement the laws. The judiciary is sits pretty by with its power of judicial review as it interprets the laws.

Rather than engineer insurrection on the floors of the Senate and House of Representatives, Buhari’s men should advise him to stick to his powers as President; assent to the law, if he is satisfied or veto it, if he feels it is offensive.

He can lobby the lawmakers to rethink the law and if they don’t and are able to muster the two thirds majority required to override his veto, so be it.

The claim that the amendment is targeted at Buhari appears ludicrous at best. The claim out there is that the legislature wants to rid the election process of bandwagon effect a presidential election can bring to the scene and then separate the elections.  Why should a popular candidate be worried about that?

If Buhari’s supporters claim that most of the current lawmakers came to office on the wings of the President’s popularity, why are they worried that the same lawmakers are turning their back on the acclaimed Buhari magic and seeking to carry their destiny in their own hands?

Rather than engage in roforofo that will encourage undue money rain, Buhari’s men should seek to enhance the process and the law.