Emerging dictatorship in the Senate

This dictatorship which in my view is increasingly becoming brutal would, if not checked, drag not just the Senate as an institution but the entire contraption called democracy in the mud. This is dangerous to Nigeria and must be resisted both within and outside of the red chamber.At the beginning of the defection when some […]

This dictatorship which in my view is increasingly becoming brutal would, if not checked, drag not just the Senate as an institution but the entire contraption called democracy in the mud. This is dangerous to Nigeria and must be resisted both within and outside of the red chamber.
At the beginning of the defection when some members of the House of Representatives of the PDP stock chose to shift alliance and moved to the opposition party, it was smoothly accomplished and announced by the House leadership. Soon after that some members of the opposition i.e. APC moved from the party to the Labor Party. At least Bamidele Opeyemi from Ekiti did move. Then two others from Adamawa and two from Nasarawa moved from the platform that brought them to the parliament, it was no issue until on Tuesday this week when another batch of five APC legislators in the House crossed over to the PDP it still was not any issue.
For more than two weeks now, about 11 Senators did indicate their intention to shift tent away from the PDP to the APC but the dictatorship in Senate has gone wild and bluntly told the world that he was not reading their letter of defection on the floor of the Senate for reasons that are undoubtedly trivial and escapist but hidden under that clause of ‘case before a court of competent jurisdiction’.
The thing to note is that in the near seven years that David Mark held forte as the boss in the Senate, several senators elected under the banners of other parties did cross over to the PDP and, in each of these cases, it was a smooth and joyous moments for the Senate president and his party. What therefore makes it differently and unacceptable to heed to the free decisions of some others to change camp away from the PDP if they so desire?
Different rules for different folks, you would say. I am of the view that such a militaristic approach to simple democratic issues are unbecoming of those who by virtue of the positions that they occupy in the political landscape. The refusal of the Senate President to accept the will of people freely voted into the Senate to freely associate is a reminder of the difficulties that those who ever dictated could hardly fit into a free and plural society.
I have listened to Senator Mark on a number of occasions referring to himself as a born again democrat. This is far from the truth if his action on the defecting senators is to be put as a yardstick. This is called impunity even in military English and therefore cannot be acceptable as a minimum under civil dispensation.
Presiding officers in any legislature are mere first among equals and must not arrogate to themselves some infallibility that could truncate a fledging system. If in the last nearly seven years, Mark has supervised over the affairs of the Senate with minimal rancor, I am afraid that the new strategy of brute and arrogance may as well be the waterloo.
Nigerians of goodwill must speak on this matter regardless of their political persuasion. Injustice done to one is injustice done to all. It may not be our turn today but certainly if we don’t challenge the wrong it may be our turn tomorrow and by the time it comes our way, it may be too late because all others might have been consumed.
‘The man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny’. The behavior of the Senate president to those who wish to leave his cabal is certainly tyrannical and must be resisted by all. There is no justification for this apparent double standard. It is normal for senators to cross over to the PDP from any other political party but impossible to leave the PDP to any other party. This is cruel and inconsistent with the rules of democratic ethos and freedom of association as a cardinal objective of democracy.
Where is democracy when even senators cannot have a common ground and level playing field? I think this PDP desperation is being taken too far by Senator Mark and allowing him get away with this is equally proportional to political ‘murder’. It will not augur well for the Senate, the nation and its people. This hide and seek strategy is condemnable and should be resisted by all means otherwise Nigeria would have succeeded in creating monsters in the garment of politics.
The Senate prides itself as a distinguished chamber while the senators are commonly referred to as distinguished. These are no cheap phrases. They are earned. With the emerging attitude of Mark and the tyranny of the majority, the attitude of the leadership of the chamber may as well plunge the nation into unnecessary political upheavals just because the presiding officer is an old soldier who refused to shade off that toga of rigidity.
What is good for the goose is certainly good for the gander. Senators must be allowed to exercise freely their right to associate. If others chose not to associate with their former political platforms and shifted allegiance to the PDP, why would those who want a new tent out of the PDP be brutally denied that constitutionally guaranteed freedom? It looks Precambrian.
Unless if the Senate desires to rubbish itself into irrelevance and popular despise, it must force its presiding officer to see reason and act the democracy which he claims he is a convert. Nigeria is greater than any one of us and so it must be if we desire to build a nation of democracy and tranquility.
I am ashamed of my friend Senator Ita Enang who has of late assumed a fanatical stance of political issues – a completely different person from the fine legislator in the green chamber just a few years ago. Power in a plural democracy is not retained through primordial violence. It is sought for and maintained through consensus. No one can declare the seats of those defecting vacant. It is a recipe for instability and I am happy that the script in the Senate was watered down by those who authored it.
God save Nigeria.