Leadership (Abuja)
Abba Mahmood
25 October 2007
column
The major political issue today is the on-going impasse in the House of Representatives occasioned by the Speaker, Mrs Patricia Etteh's scandalous award of N628 million contract for the renovation of her house and that of her deputy, Mallam Babangida Nguroje without due process.
She has so far, refused to vacate her seat for another person to preside over the debate on the Idoko Panel that investigated her award of the contract.
The total sum of the contract, N628 million, is about $5 million. People are wondering what is the real worth of the houses that the renovation will cost this much. The sum is enough to build over 200 three bedroom flats at the cost of N3 million each. The amount is also the cost of a donor agency's water supply scheme for 33 villages in three countries according to a columnist recently. It is simply ridiculous and has attracted the most attention since the death of the third term.
As a result of the Ettehgate, one House member, Dr. Aminu Safana, exhausted himself so much and collapsed in the House chamber last week and did not survive. One opinion said he died in defence of democracy while others said he died in defence of a discredited leadership. Whatever the circumstance, may God forgive him. Another consequence of the House crisis is the fact that President Yar'Adua had to defer the presentation of the 2008 budget to the National Assembly. The integrity of the House and Nigerian women is obviously at stake.
Be that as it may, there is no reason the current House leadership under Mrs Etteh should continue to hold the country to ransom. She keeps adjourning House sittings in the hope that some divine intervention will save her from disgrace if she continues to buy time. This is a scientific era and no miracle can save an insensitive, immature, irresponsible and inept leadership.
Meanwhile, President Yar'Adua must know that the entire nation is his constituency. He owes it a duty to bring to an end this hostage situation. It is obvious that governance is suffering in the circumstance and, in Nigeria, there is nothing called establishment as is the case in other countries, who can intervene in times of crisis like this. There is a limit to how the president can remain indifferent to what is happening. I saw what SGF Kingibe released the other day and I thought he was just being a typical diplomat forgetting that no amount of diplomacy or rhetoric can be a substitute for reality. And the reality is that government is allowing the country to drift aimlessly which is very dangerous.
The three arms of government collectively constitute the machinery of government. The crisis in the House of Representatives is not a simple legislative one. It is not a south west issue. It is not even a PDP issue. This is a national issue requiring serious attention at the highest level. It should not be allowed to continue to degenerate. How President Yar'Adua resolves this will have profound impact on his subsequent actions. He must be decisive.
Another major issue in the political landscape is the on-going electoral tribunal cases across the country. It is very clear that the judiciary is earning a lot of respect across the country and beyond over the manner it is handling the cases so far. There are a lot of disputed legislative and gubernatorial seats that are being upturned now. People in Nigeria and beyond are also watching with keen interest what is happening at the Presidential Election Tribunal where Justice James Ogebe has recently summoned even foreign observers to come and testify.
The most celebrated judgement so far was the one given by the Kebbi State Gubernatorial Election Tribunal. Why it attracted undue attention is the fact that soon after he was sworn in as Governor of the State, Alhaji Saidu Usman Dakin Gari married President Yar'Adua's daughter, Zainab, with much fanfare and wide publicity. But the tribunal went ahead and nullified his election and ordered a fresh one to be conducted.
This clearly brings two things into focus: one is the fact that Mallam Umaru Yar'Adua has truly maintained strict neutrality and has not been interfering in the judicial process surrounding the last election. Secondly, the judiciary has also shown clear independence and ensured strict observance of the rule of law by nullifying the election of a son-inlaw of the No. 1 citizen of this country. The judiciary really wants to reduce Dakingari to an ordinary party member which would not have been imagined if it were last year especially if, as now, it was affecting the ruling PDP.
It is very obvious that the judiciary is now alive to its responsibility of being the last hope of the down trodden. By what is happening, it is now very clear that for every oppressed, there is hope. If the National Assembly members were to wake up from their current catatonic stupor, the country would have been much better. Perhaps, the on-going crisis may end up giving birth to a more vigorous and more vibrant House of Representatives and, by extension, a reinvigorated National Assembly. Every patriot hopes and prays so.
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