Former Chief Whip of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the House of Representatives, Honourable Babatunde Oduyoye, speaks with MOSES ALAO on the executive/legislative face-off and the panacea to crisis. Excerpts:
THE Presidency recently set up a committee headed by the vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, saddled with the responsibility of reconciling the National Assembly with the Presidency; do you see that effort succeeding in ending the executive versus legislature feud?
Well, it might succeed and it might not. It is not the responsibility of the Presidency per se to fashion out the reconciliation; it behoves on the All Progressives Congress (APC), the political party that went round the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to canvass for people’s votes with the mantra of change to take the bull by the horn and do the needful.
We must not forget what happened on June 8, 2015, during the election of the National Assembly leadership; the election of the senate president and that of the speaker of the House of Representatives. We all know what happened and we still remember that the APC could not put its house in order before the election of these vital presiding officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly. So, what is happening now is not new for those who are good students of history.
What I am saying in essence is that if a party wins an election, we have what we call party caucuses where the caucus of the House of Reps and the Senate come up with the national caucus of the party at the national assembly and mix with the Presidency to fashion direct strategies and find ways of implementing government policies. But where are we now? What was the manifesto on which the APC campaigned? How are they going to implement it? Look, from the election of the presiding officers, we knew there would be problems; so, unless the APC can put its house in order, the reconciliation efforts by the Presidency might not yield fruits.
The issue of the National Assembly inviting members of the executive and the latter failing to appear has always been a major cause of face-off between the two arms. But some people are suggesting that there are undercurrents to the ongoing feud between the Senate and Presidency. What do you think?
From 1999 till date, the clearest case of an attempt by the legislature to establish its independence was under Rt. Honourable Ghali Umar Na’Abba as Speaker of the House of Representatives, where as a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made it abundantly clear that the president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, contravened some sections of the Nigerian constitution. Though a school of thought saw Na’Abba’s posture as an ethnic thing; others saw it as youthful exuberance, a young man fighting an old man. Others adduced arrogance as the reason for that position but I make bold to say that what Na’Abba did then is what has helped the legislature to develop till date.
So you don’t think the Senate has been overbearing in the current situation, seeking a sort of supremacy and self-assertion?
It is not. I make bold to say that Nigerians should read the Constitution and we should adhere to the principles of separation of powers. Irrespective of those who occupy a particular chamber of the National Assembly and irrespective of whoever is the president of Nigeria and the background of the president, the constitution is clear on the functions and powers of each arm and separation of power. The legislature has powers to summon officers serving either as civil servant or public officers to appear before it and if such officer fails to appear, the constitution has empowered the legislature to issue a bench warrant instructing the Inspector-General of Police to make sure that such persons appear before the legislature. However, if the Presidency cannot put the executive arm in order, who are we to blame the legislature? What rarely comes to mind is the issue of the confirmation of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu; the DSS, the Attorney-General and other arms under the executive arm of government must have fully briefed the president and they should not have embarrassed the president such that the legislative arm of government, that is the Senate, would have to rely on the report of the DSS to refuse to confirm Magu. I don’t know what is responsible; I don’t want to impute or suggest that it is the health status of the president; neither do I want to say that it is the background of the president as a military dictator who happens to come back as a democratically elected president, which is similar to what we experienced under Obasanjo.
Are you saying that the crisis might continue because of the president’s military orientation?
As I said earlier, I do not want to conclude that the relationship of the Presidency and the Senate has not been smooth because of the president’s background. But we can see the tendencies of people in Khaki who are used to Supreme Military Council, who are used to decrees, who are used to making pronouncements and enforcing them, because I remember I watched an interview of the president, where he said something about Kanu and other detainees. When asked why the executive arm had not obeyed the court’s decision to grant bails to some detainees; the president had querie why those people should be released from detention and that was in spite of the fact that the constitution is clear on how one would be detained and who is entitled to bail. The moment the president came out to say that, I had fears that unless a military dictator purges himself of dictatorial tendencies that is inherent in a military dictatorship; it will be hard to adjust to the dictates of a democracy. But we cannot write the president off just yet; it took Obasanjo almost three or four years to adjust. So, I don’t think Buhari has done badly, because he is still in his first term.
What is your recommendation towards achieving peace between the two arms?
Irrespective of who the presiding officer of the National Assembly is, irrespective of the characters and people that constitute or populate either of the chambers of National Assembly, the constitution is clear and irrespective of party differences of factionalisation within the political party, the legislature is a given some special powers and they must be respected. The core functions of lawmakers are representation, to make laws and to perform oversight functions and to perform other functions ascribed by the constitution, so in carrying out this functions, as contained in the constitution, the executive arm of government must respect the legislature; that is the only way peace can reign.