A scandal-ridden Senate Presidency

We have come a long way since Senator Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki broke ranks with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and hoisted himself at the head of the Senate. While his fellow APC Senators were attending a meeting at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, in June 2015, Saraki corralled a handful of those […]

We have come a long way since Senator Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki broke ranks with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and hoisted himself at the head of the Senate. While his fellow APC Senators were attending a meeting at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, in June 2015, Saraki corralled a handful of those in the Senate Chamber as well as members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and got himself elected as the Senate President. To add insult to injury, Saraki saddled the Senate and his party with Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. It was a bitter experience for the APC which had pencilled down Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe) as its candidate for the coveted position. Later, the party would back down and ask Saraki to announce some names as principal officers of the Senate but showing no humility, he turned down the request. It was only after he was fingered in alleged false and under declaration of assets and was docked at the Code of Conduct Tribunal that Saraki soft pedalled from his winner takes all political game. During this time, President Muhammadu Buhari had practically demonstrated that such behaviour was unacceptable to him. He avoided Saraki like a plague and all the schemes by the Senate President to get close were rebuffed.

Since then Saraki has won concessions from the Presidency and APC and fully taken charge of the Senate for himself and driving it as he deemed fit. As part of the wider settlement, he has had his protégé, Bolaji Abdullahi, replace Alhaji Lai Mohammed as the National Publicity Secretary of the APC. Inside the Senate, his hitherto bitter critics like Kabiru Marafa and Suleiman Hunkuyi have been conferred the chairmanship of ‘juicy’ committees and they appear to have closed ranks with him.

Recently, Buhari and the Senate President have been seen getting close to each other and attending functions together but ultimately this may be to the detriment of the President. Buhari, a man of modest means, is rather stalked by someone who doesn’t know the extent of his wealth, a stupendously rich Bukola, single-mindedly obsessed with how to become President of Nigeria. We still don’t know the scope of the concessions Saraki has won from President Buhari during their many recent tete-a-tete sessions but, apparently, the executive has come out the loser. Saraki is increasingly using the Senate as a power centre to frustrate and neutralise the Presidency

Last year, the Senate President promised to share with the public the budget estimates of the National Assembly as a proof of transparency and the fight against corruption. Unfortunately, the Senate President has reversed himself on this and the National Assembly budget is as opaque as anything. However, nothing has shown Saraki’s disdain for the fight against corruption than his inspired rejection of the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. It is a well-known fact that Magu had investigated Saraki when he was the governor of Kwara State and had also invited his wife, Toyin Saraki for questioning in connection with alleged financial crimes. At the CCT trial of Saraki, EFCC has also provided witnesses for the prosecution and this hasn’t gone down well with the Senate President. Few people therefore expected Saraki, an interested party, to allow the confirmation of Magu as EFCC chairman. Saraki had already shown his hand in the replacement of Senator Ali Ndume as Senate leader simply because Ndume had stated that the rejection of Magu had not followed due process.

In the last two weeks, the Senate has got into an altercation with Colonel Hamid Ali (rtd), the Comptroller General of Customs. Rather than subjecting Ali to the hard questions regarding his stewardship, the Senate is bent on humiliating Ali by insisting that they would not even listen to him except he wore uniform.

The Senate President is now reported to have been motivated in all this Ali must wear uniform saga by his unhappiness with the singular action of the seizure of his Range Rover car by the Nigerian Customs Service. According to reports, Bukola Saraki, a man prone to scandals, was found to have under declared the price of the car, thus finding an alibi for under payment of Customs duty. If Saraki doesn’t want to pay the correct duty on his personal or official car, and the Customs seizes the vehicle, it follows that he and his gang will have special interest in harassing Hamid Ali and probably even frustrating him out of the job.

Clearly, Saraki has ceded the Senate to a gang made up of Senators Hamma Misau and Daniel Jonah Melaye, the ‘authentic graduate of ABU’ who are his handbags. It is very good that Melaye now has his hands full and the last time he tweeted documents, they were those of a court case he instituted against SaharaReporters instead of his “B.A Geography” certificate awarded by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. You’d think that Jonah Melaye is the smart guy he calls himself, but no, he made the same mistake made by Salisu Buhari 18 years ago. The London School of Economics like the University of Toronto accesses the records of its graduates at the touch of a button. So, only an Ijumu Senator can imagine that he can falsely claim an unearned degree from LSE. You ask yourself why Senators Barnabas Gemade, Adamu Aliero, David Umaru, Ganiyu Solomon, Ahmed Lawan, etc have remained quiet in the Senate and all you hear is the voice of Jonah Melaye. What is the Nigerian Senate turning into? Why should some of these respected Senators get under the wings of Bukola Saraki and allow him to use the Nigerian Senate to settle personal scores with other Nigerians?