President Bola Tinubu was at the National Assembly to celebrate this year’s Democracy Day on June 12. That day coincided with 26 years of unbroken democratic rule in the country and 32 years of the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election. Though that was not Tinubu’s maiden visit to the National Assembly, in any case, his office and residence are a stone’s throw from the assembly complex, so he can choose to stroll into the compound as he wishes, but a presidential visit to the parliament carries the weight of history.
Despite the confusion that initially trailed the celebration of the Day, it eventually turned out to be a well celebrated event, which helped to launch the seed of democratic growth on one hand, presented a scorecard of the administration, highlighted some legislative asides and provided clarity on the president’s take on the burgeoning political opposition. It’s good to just relive the key takeaways of that event.
A good one for democracy
While I’ve said that the president is no stranger to the legislative chambers, having been elected Senator in the aborted Third Republic, it was good to see him recognise the essence of the legislature by going in there to present what looks like a state of the nation address. Previous assemblies, starting from the 7th session, have tried to institutionalise the annual address in the chambers, different from the ritual of budget presentations, but they failed to get that done. So, it was a good one that Tinubu chose to honour the house of politics and the main symbol of democratic practice, the legislature, with the Democracy Day event. The Americans, whose fashion of democracy we copied, had perfected this process long ago by situating the Congress in the centre of their presidential inauguration rituals. They also ensured a blend between the parliament and the executive by making the vice president the ceremonial head of the Senate. With Tinubu appearing in the parliament to present the scorecard of his administration, a symbolic statement has been made that the legislature remains the house of the people, whom the president should give account from time to time. Senate President Godswill Akpabio attempted to rub it in by distilling a motion from the suggestion by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas when he put the question to affirm that the event should be held annually. It was a unanimous ‘Aye’ that had it.
National Assembly Prayers
One offside I saw at the start of the event in the House chamber was the recourse of the legislature to abandon the National Assembly prayer and adopt the popular side practice of praying the Muslim and Christian way at joint sessions. I think the National Assembly should stick to its own prayer, which is an adaptation from the second stanza of the National Anthem. It’s simple and comes with no complications. It would also not trouble the person praying either to recite a verse of one Holy book or the other as there is no reference to either of the Abrahamic religions or the traditional religion. Having listened to that prayer on several occasions when I covered proceedings of the chambers, I believe it is one thing the assembly could export to the other arms of government.
Speaker Abbas spoke well
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, who was customarily assigned the role of saying the vote of thanks and closing remarks on Democracy Day, made some valid points. His comments were a challenge to President Bola Tinubu to fix the nation’s power and the solid minerals sector. He added that the president’s journey into the highest position in the land is itself a story of triumph. Thus, the Jagaban must prioritise the long-overdue reform of the power sector. The speaker said: “You have demonstrated remarkable resolve in removing the fuel subsidy and allowing the Naira to float. Now, we require an equally decisive intervention in our power sector.” He then called for a shift from dependence on thermal and hydro sources to renewable energy like solar, wind, and nuclear, declaring: “If anyone can do this, Mr. President, IT IS YOU!”
Abbas equally advocated the transformation of the solid minerals sector, as he urged a review of the 2007 Mining Act to enable substantial participation of the subnationals in the sector and mitigate security risks. “These reforms will position solid minerals as a strategic pillar of our national economy,” he said. One cannot agree less with the speaker.
The two sectors he singled out have been sources of menace and heartaches for Nigerians over the years. The power sector is in a world of its own. Senate Committee Chairman on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe had told an interviewer sometime ago that the story of the sector can be captured in the biblical statement: “For all have sinned…” He also said that each government has always promised to fix power, but when they are confronted with the enormity of the challenges, they drop the ball and seek the easy way out or start making excuses. He added that the challenges can only be surmounted with the determination of the head of government. Now that Speaker Abbas has reminded President Tinubu about the urgency of the matter, I think it is time for the president to swing into action and make things happen in that sector. Some stakeholders said that the nation is owing the sector N4 trillion. But the world should not come to an end because of that. Countries can owe debts; we can find a creative way of paying without threatening the people’s existence. The Discos and Transmission sectors are not performing, while the generation segment is doing far better. “If we face the distribution segment at a time, meter everybody and enforce the rules, we would have solved a problem,” Abaribe had submitted. I agree with him.
Tinubu’s take on the opposition
President Tinubu spoke succinctly about his party and the allegation of a one-party state. It was a clear message; clearer than what we heard before, as he stated that he has never contemplated a one-party state in the country. He said: “At this point, I plead for your indulgence so that I may put a terrible rumour to bed. To those who ring the alarm that the APC is intent on a one-party state, I offer you a most personal promise. While your alarm may be because of your panic, it rings in error.
“At no time in the past, nor any instance in the present, and at no future juncture shall I view the notion of a one-party state as good for Nigeria. I have never attempted to alter any political party registration with INEC. Equally, my friends, we cannot blame anybody seeking to bail out of a sinking ship even without a life jacket. A one-party state is not in the offing. Nor should it ever be.”
He asked the opposition to learn to put their houses in order and stop conjuring up demons that do not exist. He spoke of his own political trajectory and declared that he was not in office to make the opposition happy politically. “In 2003, when the then-governing party tried to sweep the nation clean of political opposition through plot and manipulation, I was the last of the progressive governors standing in my region,” he said, adding that “political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by examining their internal processes and affairs rather than fearfully conjuring up demons that do not exist. For me, I would say try your best to put your house in order. I will not help you do so. It is, indeed, a pleasure to witness you in such disarray.”
The message to the opposition is crystal clear: Put your house in order or risk losing your members to the other side. The series of defections could also say a bit about the type of political leaders we are producing in this era. Gone were the days when Nigerians could confront gun-wielding soldiers with bare hands at barricades. The politicians of these days cannot even withstand the little smoke from a modern kitchen.
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The president’s ADC in the democratic chambers
Something looked odd to me as I watched the ADC stand firm at the back of his boss inside the chamber of the House of Representatives on Democracy Day. We were discussing the atrocities of the military system in the past, annulling elections and throwing a country into chaos. And here is a fully kitted officer and gentleman, standing firm behind the democratic structure. It could, on the one hand, tell us the security officer was simply protecting the symbol of nationhood and the commander-in-chief. In another view, it can paint a picture of an eagle hovering around its prey. Maybe at future events, the ADC could be made to take a sit not far away from his boss, such that the Sergeant-at-Arms, whose duty it is to provide security for the chamber, can be seen to be doing their constitutional duty. Remember, the chamber is guided by the law. Legislative immunity equally exists inside the chamber, and the president, standing in front of his own people, cannot be said to be in the arms way. Let’s allow democracy to take its full course.
The Missing National Honours
Some persons and groups have mentioned the different categories of honorees who were missing on the list unveiled by President Tinubu on Thursday.
People have talked about operators of Kudirat Radio, the clandestine station that troubled the military in those days, then there has been the mention of Lt. General Dan Suleiman, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Comrade Yinka Odumakin, Senator Babafemi Ojudu and a host of others. The list should be updated, please. As much as we are making it a tradition to award national honours to presiding officers of the National Assembly, I want to submit that such honours should not be without respect to party affiliations. Senator Adolphus Wabara was Senate President between 2003 and 2005, he is yet to be so honoured, just as Senator Bukola Saraki, who was President of the 8th Senate. I would like to add that we should include Clerks to the National Assembly (CNAs) past and present on such a list. The CNAs do a yeoman’s job getting the scattered bills passed by the respective chambers into a single bit and passing them on for presidential assent. Remember that the signatures of the CNAs appear on the authentication page of all Acts of the National Assembly, on the same page with the signature of the president. The CNAs also have the power to write rulings, such as what happened in February 2010 when the then Clerk, Prince Oluyemi Ogunyomi wrote the Doctrine of Necessity into a bill for presidential assent and made Dr. Goodluck Jonathan the acting president. The CNAs should not be left out of the honours list, please.
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