12042019 - I N S E C U R I T Y: Buhari launches offensive; orders ruthless action

36 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019
Ndume v Lawan: The
danger ahead
WHAT would it take
P r e s i d e n t
Muhammadu Buhari to get the
politics of the National
Assembly right? Four years
ago, he had a problem which,
like a stubborn fly, has
refused to go away. After his
election victory speech in
2015 when he was for all and
for none, things went
haywire, leading to the
emergence of a National
Assembly leadership that
would haunt him for the rest
of his tenure.
His wars with the legislature
- from inflated budgets to
outright refusal to confirm a
number of high profile
appointees and God knows
what not - were probably next
to his ill-health in the
pecking order of his
woes. Most people blamed
Buhari. If he had taken the
lead early on and given a
clear indication who he was
comfortable to work with,
instead of barricading
himself in Aso Rock after the
election, his party and,
perhaps, his government,
might have been spared the
misery of a tumultuous
executive-legislative
relationship that made Tom
and Jerry look like best of
friends.
Anointing crisis
To avoid that this time, it
appears that at Buhari’s
behest, the APC has made its
preference clear: Ahmed
Lawan for Senate president,
and Femi Gbajabiamila as
speaker for the House of
Reps. Buhari did not issue a
statement or call a press
conference to announce his
preference. He apparently
gave his party the hint and
left chairman Adams
Oshiomhole to do the rest.
If delay or indifference was
the source of his problem the
last time, it does not look like
speed or enthusiasm will
make any difference now. Not
only have significant numbers
of legislators made it clear
that it is not the business of
the president or the executive
to choose their leaders for
them, politicians within the
ranks of the ruling APC have
also told Oshiomhole to find
a job and Buhari to mind his
business.
Buhari, an introvert by
nature and practice, must be
wondering how he got himself
into this mess: Steer clear
he’s damned, get involved
he’s damned. Interestingly,
Ali Ndume who is probably
the biggest threat to APC’s
official candidate, Lawan,
said he had personally
informed Buhari of his
decision to contest and
received the president’s
consent. Two private
meetings with Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo on the matter
have, so far, been unable to
persuade Ndume to drop his
ambition.
Ndume has maintained that
he is opposed to anyone
“imposing” a candidate on
the Senate. Which sounds
sensible until you remember
that in 2011 Ndume was not
the preferred candidate of
Southern Borno senatorial
It’s difficult to
hold the National
Assembly to
account when its
leadership, which
sets out and
provides direction
for legislative
business, has
been subverted by
the opposition
district. A returnee member of
the Peoples Democratic Party
at the time, he was, in fact,
imposed on the district over
Garba Sanda who was forced
to step down for him. But in
politics where one week could
be a lifetime, eight years are
like eons past.
Politics of bloodletting
You would think that after
the bloodletting of the last four
years, the ruling party would
have learnt its lessons and
members would desperately
avoid anything that could
make it a laughing stock so
soon. But politicians, being
politicians, they have only
one motivation: power and
how to keep or advance it at
any cost and for as long as
possible.
Ndume’s case is
complicated by two things.
The first is the nagging sense
of injustice which goes back
to his roots in Southern
Borno, generally regarded
and treated as the political
backwaters of the state. If a
Gwoza, Shani or Biu cannot
be governor in Borno but
manages, against all odds, to
make it to the Senate, why
should the candidate be
prevented from pursuing his
ambition to the end?
The second complication is
Ndume’s sense of
entitlement. Having occupied
a leadership position in the
Senate before Lawan, he feels
the prize should naturally
come to him. Why should he
sacrifice his rank for Lawan’s
ambition or the party’s
vanity? He fancies himself as
the truly “independent”
candidate, a worn-out mask
for self-interest.
Beyond Ndume, however,
there is what may be
described as the latent spite
factor - the resentment of APC
national leader, Bola Ahmed
Tinubu - who for some
strange reason is regarded as
good party talisman at the
time of election but resented
and despised as bad omen
when it is time to share the
spoils.
A lot has been said about
what the so-called Tinubu
agenda might be: that he’s
lining things up for a bid for
the presidency in 2023; that
he is planting his men
everywhere - including the
National Assembly - to
expand and consolidate his
power base against the next
general elections; that he is
driven by an obsession for
control and power grab and
nothing else.
Quite harsh
and mostly
far-fetched, to
be honest.
Does anyone
seriously
believe that
Tinubu is
s i n g l e -
handedly
pressing the
candidacy of
Lawan and
Gbajabiamila
without the
consent and
approval of
B u h a r i ?
Seriously?
Answer to
prayer
It’s shaping
up like an
answer to the
prayer of the
P D P .
Nigerians
rejected the
party at the
polls in 2015,
but Bukola
Saraki and
Speaker
Y a k u b u
Dogara, both
elected on the
ticket of the
APC, opened
the backdoor
for PDP and
consummated
a marriage of
convenience
w h o s e
illegitimate
children have
haunted the country for four
years.
And I’m not talking here
about insinuations that Saraki
is prepping Danjuma Goje or
whoever he thinks can smear
pepper in Buhari’s eye to
take over the leadership of
the National Assembly.
I’m saying that I’m shocked
beyond words that once
bitten, the APC is not even
remotely shy to see that the
precarious numerical
advantage it has in the
Senate, for example - 65-41 -
would again be exploited
ruthlessly by the PDP.
It may appear that this is not
our business: that the results
of the last general elections
show that some regions are
overrated and those who have
delivered the numbers should
not only get preferential
share of the pie but also the
legislature as a whole should
be left alone to choose its
leaders.
That sounds great, except
that after four years of
weaponised hybrid
leadership in the National
Assembly, we have seen that
it only produces stalemate,
blackmail and a permanently
divided house fighting over
more allowances and benefits
for its members.
It’s difficult to hold the
National Assembly to account
when its leadership, which
sets out and provides
direction for legislative
business, has been subverted
by the opposition. We cannot
and will not have another
four years of the minority tail
wagging the majority dog
after voters made their
preference clear at the polls.
Way out
PDP is waiting to pounce
again - and it will if APC
refuses to look in the flea
market just to purchase
common sense. If other
contestants refuse to step
down for the party’s
preferred candidates - and
they have a right to refuse -
then the party should ask the
pre-designated zones to
present candidates.
There’s no guarantee that
desperate, wounded
moneybags will not find their
way to the zones, but that’s a
lesser evil compared with the
chaos that awaits the party if
matters continue this way,
and eventually end up on the
floor of the National
Assembly.
Since indifference is
proving to be as deadly as
meddling, a viable way to
manage the chaos would be
to let the candidates test their
strength at the zones. The
irony of these matters is that
we may never see the real
demons in the candidates -
and that includes even the
most carefully pre-selected
ones - until they have been
tested with power.