PMB’s begotten Nemesis

Some months ago, on this page, I had written that I had not expected Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to go to bed as president of Nigeria’s upper chamber, the day he executed a civilian coup in order to get there. This is because I never expected President Muhammadu Buhari to accept or tolerate the brazenly […]

Some months ago, on this page, I had written that I had not expected Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to go to bed as president of Nigeria’s upper chamber, the day he executed a civilian coup in order to get there. This is because I never expected President Muhammadu Buhari to accept or tolerate the brazenly corrupt manner he installed himself as our nation’s Third Citizen.

 In that September 24th 2016 edition of this column, I had hinged my expectation of what I thought President Buhari would do, on my belief in him as a no-nonsense leader, who would never allow Saraki to remain in office after the way he disobeyed him and outsmarted the party’s leadership, to emerge senate president on June 9th 2015. 

I was soon proved wrong when PMB not only refused to flex muscles in order to kick Saraki out, he also began to accommodate the senate president, soon afterwards, by allowing himself to be seen with him at official functions. Needless to say, two years after, Saraki is not only sitting pretty as Nigeria’s Third Citizen, he also sees himself as powerful enough to issue threats to the executive, in order to ensure he has his way in matters of National interest.

A few days ago, Saraki’s senate was reported as threatening the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to either sack the EFCC Chairman or face the consequences. It is common knowledge that the senate had twice rejected PMB’s attempt to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the substantive head of the anti-corruption agency. Also commonly known is the fact that many of the senators, including the senate president, have cases against them at the EFCC. It was therefore no surprise, to the rest of us, that members of the upper chamber did not want Magu to be confirmed. 

Yet we did expect their desperation to reach such a stage that they would even threaten the Vice President in order to have their way. According to newspaper reports of last Wednesday, the senate had passed four resolutions regarding nomination of presidential nominees, which they expected the Acting President to adhere to or face retribution. In the words of Bukola Saraki “These resolutions of the senate must be acted upon by the Acting President; otherwise we will take appropriate action.”

On reading this, I couldn’t help recalling Senator Saraki’s response to my question, at the last meeting of the Northern Media Forum, where he was a guest. I had asked the senate president, why it was so hard for them to confirm Ibrahim Magu when other Nigerians were quite impressed by his efforts. Saraki’s response was simply that it wasn’t the Senate that did not want Magu at the EFCC, rather it was the Executive branch that wanted him removed. ‘How did you think we were getting all those reports against Magu? They were coming from the Presidency.’ He alleged.

I was not at all convinced by this claim. But some of our members clearly were. I remember one young man asking me, after Saraki had left, that did I really think the Executive was being sincere? But I didn’t waste time arguing with him because I was rushing to leave. 

However, today it is obvious to everyone who is desperate to have Magu out of the EFCC. The senators have bared their fangs, and we now know who truly wants the anti-corruption war crippled.

Their threats of refusing to confirm any more presidential nominees, until their demands are heeded, will definitely cause a hindrance to the smooth running of this government. But no one should shoulder the blame for the thorn-in-the-flesh that the senate has become except President Buhari himself. If he had raised hell and refused to accept the result of that June 9th sham of an election, we wouldn’t be stuck with the corrupt and self-serving leadership that exists in the senate. 

Members of the lower chamber are following hard on the heels of their elders by proposing a bill that will grant full amnesty to looters of public funds. With these two chambers making laws for Nigerians, we do not need enemies to drag our country to eternal doom. 

So while we pray hard for President Buhari’s return to good health, we hope that next time he will reverse his stand about not interfering with the leadership of the National Assembly; and come down hard when someone tried the abracadabra that brought Saraki to power. For now he must take responsibility for the menace the senate has become to his administration. PMB has to agree that this was a problem he begot when he looked the other way after Saraki’s ascendency. Now that the senate leadership has become his administration’s Nemesis, its our hope that the president has learnt a thing or two.