Osinbajo vs Saraki: Who blinks first?

It was 32nd President of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who asserted that: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way”.

The row between the Senate and the Executive vividly captures the above quote.

Nigeria is a land of endless drama. A week hardly passes by without one controversy or the other not dominating headline. From herdsmen/farmers clashes, to kidnapping, budget padding, President Buhari’s indefinite medical leave, high profile sex scandal, militancy, restructuring/secession agitations, quit notice, the list is endless.

The Executive-Legislature face-off regarding the confirmation of nominees assumed a worrisome dimension on Tuesday, as the Senate upon resumption from its two-week break, literally declared war on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo by suspending consideration of all further requests from the Acting President for the confirmation of nominees.

Disagreements between the two arms of government have become a permanent feature in the ongoing dispensation where, incidentally, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government also controls the National Assembly.

Although the party is made up of members from the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria’s Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and New Peoples Democratic Party (N-PDP), the Number One to Three Citizens of the country come from three different groups: President Muhammadu Buhari, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Senate President Bukola Saraki – Numbers One, Two and Three Citizens, respectively – hail from the CPC, ACN and N-PDP blocs, respectively.

The renewed hostility is about 2019. It’s exactly 63 days since President Buhari left for London for medical treatment. And as uncertainty clouds his health status, both political gladiators – Saraki and Osinbajo – are acting the scripts of the cabal within the Presidency.

The New PDP bloc of APC has become the political bride of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) blocs in the ruling party. Like a charming girl in adulthood whose hand every suitor seeks for marriage, every faction within the party wants to curry favour of the N-PDP group.

The Saraki-led chamber has taken advantage of its current position to act as a double-edge sword to all the factions.

In May, Saraki (N-PDP) overruled a correspondence from President Buhari (CPC Camp) that Osinbajo (ACN bloc) would only “coordinate the affairs of government as vice president,” insisting that Osinbajo must take full control of governance as Acting President.

Sadly, the Acting President is yet to assert his authority despite enormous powers given to him by virtue of Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

Why has he refused to swear in the two ministerial nominees from Kogi and Gombe States to fill the existing vacancies in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), two months after Senate confirmation? Why is the Acting President shy of exercising his powers fully?

Prior to their confirmation, there were clamour from certain quarters to the upper legislative chamber to conclude the exercise as soon as possible but after their clearance on May 3, the narrative changed to other issues. We seemed to have forgotten that the continued ministerial vacancies in FEC in respect of Kogi and Gombe slots violate the provisions of Sections 14(2c, 3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Agreed that the Eighth Senate has had an image problem, accepted that not all lawmakers in the Senate are truly ‘Distinguished’ but that does not take away the power of confirmation from the upper legislative chamber as stipulated in extant laws.

Since the Acting President insisted that the Senate lacked powers to confirm nominees, why send nominations to the apex legislative body for clearance in the first instance? Does this not amount to speaking from both sides of the mouth?

In my column two weeks ago titled: “Dino: Going, going, going?” dated June 25, 2017, I harped on the need for guarded utterances on the part of political leaders.

For instance, if Osinbajo had kept mute on the rejection of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had simply said, ‘No comment’ or that both arms are working to resolve the issues between them, the controversy wouldn’t have raged on and caused them to fall out of favour with the legislature or the Acting President,  respectively.

Sadly, the impasse between the Executive and Legislature may have overshadowed discourse about Nigeria’s exit from economic recession as earlier assured by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Speaking in April after emerging from closed door session with Senate President Bukola Saraki, the apex bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had assured that the country would exit recession in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017.

Also, the disagreement may impact negatively the consideration of the 2017 virement request when submitted by the Executive.

Like the saying goes: “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”. Nigerians are bearing the brunt of the Senate/Executive cold war, even as the goodwill for the present administration has waned.

 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja