As a parliamentary reporter at the national level, one of the major events one looks forward to is the inauguration of a new legislature. In Nigeria, it is a quadrennial session where the Clerk to the National Assembly literally climbs down from his exalted office to superintend over the inaugural sessions in both legislative chambers of the National Assembly.
Like a judge in a law court or headmaster, he wields so much power that he can order a recalcitrant senator-elect or member-elect to be removed from the chamber before he/she takes the oath of office.
The epoch-making event offers parliamentary reporters a front row seat to witness the live transformation of senators and members-elect to distinguished senators/honourable members as the case may be.
Having covered the inauguration of the Eighth Senate in 2015 and observed previous sessions as a political reporter, I can say with all certainty that this year’s exercise is the most expensive in the nation’s political history.
In the build up to the D-Day, contenders adopted unconventional means in soliciting votes from their colleagues.
Unlike previous contests where aspirants lobbied majorly lawmakers or the leadership of their political parties to zone the seats of Presiding Officers to their area, campaign for leadership seats in the National Assembly took the form of a general election.
For instance, besides sponsored protests, some streets of the nation’s capital were replete with campaign posters and banners to drum up support for aspirants, even as contenders visited headquarters of media organisations in Abuja and Lagos.
In the Senate, the two main contenders: Ahmad Lawan and Ali Ndume opened Facebook pages to create more awareness, just as they held several live press conferences on national televisions and placed advertisements in both print and online media platforms.
Having spent eleven excruciating hours to get accreditation tag for the event in the weekend leading up to the inauguration, I arrived the National Assembly Complex quite early for the exercise. This was to avoid a repeat of 2015 where I was among the many journalists initially locked out by overzealous security men acting on ‘orders from above’. We would later discover that they were trying to stop the 2015 inauguration from holding as PDP lawmakers-elect then had arrived early, while their APC colleagues were at the International Conference Centre (ICC) for an APC meeting.
On the day of inauguration of the Ninth Senate, I had a bag full of plantain chips. Experience had taught me that covering such an energy sapping event without adequate meal is a recipe for disaster. Also, I really don’t fancy the idea of taking home-made meals to work place and the inauguration was no exception. With the help of a colleague in The Guardian, Azimazi Momoh-Jimoh, who picked me up at my junction, we drove to Iya Ife – a local eatery at the National Assembly Complex – where I helped myself to a hot bowl of beans and ‘assorted’ as early as 7:45am. This would later become a life-saver as it was the only meal I ate for that day, while the snacks became handy as lunch for my colleagues and me.
Knowing full well that the event was aired live on national televisions, I was duty bound to break stories as they happened on the floor of the hallowed chamber. And with instructions from my Bureau Chief, Onyinye Nwachukwu, that nothing must go wrong, I couldn’t have disappointed her.
However, I was faced with the usual challenge of security operatives who jam telecommunications networks during plenary. It appeared the security guards acquired a sophisticated jamming device because unlike in the past where one would take a few steps out of the Senate Press Centre and received network, that of the inauguration was particularly different. We walked between 200 to 300 meters from the Media Centre searching for network to send breaking stories. I lost count of the number of times I shuttled between the centre and coming out to search for network. Although it took two days for me to recover from the stress of the event, it was worth the stress as I was glad to be part of the epoch-making exercise.
High and low points
For me, the high point of the inauguration was when the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori stood firm and insisted on using the contentious 2015 Senate Rulebook, which favoured open secret ballot.
Here was a man under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and his international passport seized on issues partly related to the conduct of the election. Despite the threat of bloodshed by an APC senator-elect if the 2011 Rulebook which prescribed open balloting was not used, he insisted on the 2015 Senate Standing Orders, ignoring protests by APC lawmakers.
The CNA also said he was yet to be served any court order, in response to protests by APC lawmakers-elect that he (Omolori) would be charged for contempt of court.
Sani-Omolori knew he was going against the anointed candidates of President Muhammadu Buhari and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) for using the 2015 Rulebook, nevertheless he courageously decided to maintain the independence of the Legislature. Kudos to him.
Imagine if the Clerk had succumbed to pressure and used the 2011 Senate Standing Order for the election and the adopted candidates, Lawan and Gbaja won with the same margin when the open secret ballot was used. The news making the rounds would have been that lawmakers-elect were coerced into voting for them and this would have caused a legitimacy challenge.
I am still yet to understand why pro-Lawan senators were scared of secret voting even when it was obvious to most pundits that their candidate would win overwhelmingly. As noted by a senior colleague, “The Pro-Lawan group did not want to leave any stone unturned.” He added: “Being politicians they knew how tricky they can be. They realised that a politician could endorse you at dawn and be with the enemy camp at dusk”.
However, there are two low points at the event. The first was when the immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu accepted the poisoned chalice of his nomination for the position of DSP. Having served as Nigeria’s longest serving Presiding Officer for 12 years, Ekweremadu’s ambition clouded his sense of judgment as the constitutional lawyer failed to read the handwriting on the wall. Truth is: most of his colleagues in the PDP Senate Caucus no longer feel at ease with him. They view him not only as a usurper but a self-serving politician.
The Ikeoha of Igbo land was thrashed, walloped, pounced, humiliated by a controversial lawmaker and alleged mace snatcher, Ovie Omo-Agege. Lawmakers rather opted for Omo-Agege who allegedly desecrated the chamber than Ekweremadu who to them had become the ‘Mugabe’ of the National Assembly.
This brings me to my second lowest point. Given the fact that political leaders are ordinarily expected to be role models to all, especially the younger generation, I am yet to come to terms with the parameters with which the decision was taken by the governing APC that chants the mantra of change, integrity and incorruptibility tolerate a mace thief as Deputy President of the Senate.
Although in local parlance, it is believed that when you leave the pot with a thief, the meat is safe. But in a political excursion such as ours, should it be one by which the nation will be viewed from now and far into the future of the nation’s political development? This is one action no political scientist can explain. Omo-Agege’s emergence as Deputy President of the Senate will remain a bitter pill on the tongue of all true democrats and believers in the sanctity of the Legislature and the need to ensure that it is not brazenly assaulted in the manner that this ‘mace thief’ once did.
Few hours later, photograph surfaced of the newly-elected Deputy President of the Senate kneeling down before President Muhammadu Buhari. Could this be a subtle evidence of the subjugation of the Ninth Assembly by the Executive? Time will tell.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
