From Fred Itua, Abuja

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There is a popular adage that “when two elephants fight, the grass suffers.” The above phrase succinctly captures the bitter rivalry between the Senate and the executive, as Nigerians have been at the receiving end since the ego war began between the two arms of government.
In any democracy, the government stands on a tripod; that is the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Although these three arms are independent, they are however expected to work together, in the interest of democracy.
President Muhammadu Buhari has, since he assumed office, appointed over 50 persons into different positions, but only four of his appointees appear to have incurred the wrath of the National Assembly, especially the Senate.
The decision to suspend the consideration of 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), may be the latest in the series of face-off between the two arms, as the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has since set a committee, led by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to mediate between the two arms.
Trouble started with the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President, despite strong opposition from his party, the APC and the presidency.
Few months after Saraki’s emergence, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, through the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), released the first salvo by accusing Saraki of false declaration of assets when he held sway as governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
Saraki was still at the CCT , when the same AGF, dragged him and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, over claims that they forged the Senate Standing Rules of 2015.
Worried that the executive was interfering in its internal dealings, the Senate summoned the AGF in early 2016, to explain why the two presiding officers were charged. For more than one week, Mr Malami refused to respond to honour the invitation. Instead, he repeatedly maintained that the Senate lacked the powers to summon him. While the drama lasted, President Buhari allegedly stood aloof and refused to douse the growing tension by intervening.
When Malami eventually appeared before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, headed by Senator David Umaru, he told the lawmakers that he had no apology for dragging Saraki and Ekweremadu to court. He also refused to respond to series of questions asked by lawmakers. Some pundits then, had even argued that Malami only responded to the summon in order to further humiliate the Senate.
At the heat of the face-off, the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, repeatedly ridiculed the Senate, by calling on Saraki and Ekweremadu to resign. Lawal also openly kicked against the release of funds for the execution of constituency projects of lawmakers, while the controversy lasted.
As soon as the face-off between Malami and Senate abated, the SGF kick started his own drama. He was repeatedly summoned by the various committees of the Senate to respond to certain allegations against him. Lawal, like Malami, refused to honour the series of invitations. Like Malami, he argued that the Senate lacked the powers to summon him.
While all these played out, almost every resolution passed by the Senate, suffered rejection. Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), allegedly, refused to implement the Upper Legislative Chamber’s resolutions. Again, President Buhari did not intervene and political observers saw this as a deliberate attempt to weaken the National Assembly, especially the Senate.
The SGF, who is seen as the coordinator of all MDAs, was summoned by the Senate ad-hoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, headed by Senator Shehu Sani to respond to allegations that he diverted funds earmarked for North-East intervention. Again, like in the past, the SGF, did not honour the committee’s invitation.
In its interim report, the committee indicted the SGF and called on President Buhari to relieve him of his position. Adopting the recommendations of the committee, the Senate also called on anti-graft agencies to prosecute Lawal. President Buhari and anti-corruption agencies, declined to take any action. Instead, the presidency allegedly wrote a lengthy letter, absolving the SGF of any wrongdoing.
Just before it embarked on its Christmas break, the Senate, relying on a 3rd of October, 2016 report sent to it by the Department of State Services (DSS), rejected the nomination of Mr Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Senate also called on President Buhari to send a fresh name to it for confirmation.
In a daring and rare move, President Buhari, on the 24th of January, 2017, wrote to the Senate. In his letter  he faulted the interim report of the Senate and accused lawmakers of bias. He insisted that the SGF and his company, Roller Vision Limited, were not given any chance to defend themselves during the public hearing on mounting humanitarian crisis in the North-East.
The President also claimed that only three, out of the nine adhoc committee members signed the interim report. President Buhari maintained that based on the loopholes in the report, he could not in good conscience, act on the resolution or sack Mr. Lawal. He said he could not also hand him over to any anti-graft agency for prosecution.
In another letter written on the same day, President Buhari also claimed in the letter that Magu in his response to the allegations raised in the DSS report adequately addressed them. He said based on Magu’s response, he had to re-forward his name to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive chairman of the EFCC.
Within the same period in January, the Senate unanimously rejected the Federal Government’s ban on the importation of vehicles through the land borders in the country. Lawmakers had described the policy as “anti-people” and one “meant to further impoverish Nigerians.”
The Senate Committee on Customs and Excise was mandated in January to investigate the circumstances that led to the sudden decision of the Federal Government on the issue. The committee is however yet to submit the report of its findings.
Sponsor of the motion, Senator Barau Jibrin from Kano state, had explained that the ban would lead to the loss of about 500,000 jobs by the people engaged in the business of vehicle importation and handling services in the border areas and around the country.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, had specifically urged President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to the cries of Nigerians and rescind the decision.
Ekweremadu had noted: “From the contributions made, it is obvious that the policy is unpopular. We are representatives of the people and the people have spoken through us that they do not want this policy. I think those in government should listen to them.”
Twenty four hours after the directive was issued, the leadership of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), ignored the Senate and went ahead to implement the ban on land importation of vehicles into the country.
The Comptroller-General of NCS, Col. Hameed Ali, on January 11, 2017, directed men of the Compliance Team and Federal Operations Unit to go ahead with the implementation of the ban across all the land borders in the country.
Speaking through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), of the Service, Mr Joseph Attah, Ali said that apart from being a statutory function of Customs to implement government fiscal policies, as Nigerians, the advantages and opportunities inherent in the policy was a motivation to ensure compliance.
”Regrettably, despite Nigeria’s bigger and more equipped port facilities, statistics have shown that more than 90 percent of vehicles imported to neighbouring countries are normally on transit to Nigeria market. Though duty rates chargeable for motor vehicles at both land borders and seaports remain the same, importers of these vehicles exploit the informality of land border trade since they are not usually manifested for Nigeria ports to either smuggle through the porous border or compromise some customs officers and that of other agencies to short change the nation,” the Service had stressed in the statement.
In early March, the Senate, again, told NCS not to go ahead with the implementation of collection of duties on old and new vehicles in the country. Senators, while arriving at the decision to halt the implementation of the policy, noted that the directive contravened the law and would not be allowed to stand. They had told Ali to maintain status ante, pending when he would appear before the relevant committees.
“This is a very straightforward motion and our responsibility here is to ensure that we oversight agencies and ensure that they comply with the law. It is very clear that this circular does not meet the requirement of the law. The Customs Committee should quickly look into this matter and come out with a way forward,” President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki had noted, while presiding over the day’s legislative business.
Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who spoke extensively on the issue, had called on his colleagues to resist the new directive by NCS.
He said the directive was illegal and that it lacks common sense. The Deputy Senate President added that the policy was retrogressive, saying that punishments cannot be melted out over an action taken years ago.
The NCS boss, Ali, 24 hours after the Senate passed the resolution, said the Service would go ahead with the implementation of duties on old vehicles. He said the Customs would provide adequate information to explain the objective to the National Assembly, adding that the need to compel all vehicle owners to pay duty was to boost revenue and enhance national security through the Vehicles Identification Number (VIN) project.
Though the controversial policy by Ali-led NCS has been suspended in principles, he however succeeded in calling the Senate’s bluff by not appearing before it in service uniform to respond to certain issues raised by lawmakers.
In the heat of the face-off between the Senate and Customs boss, lawmakers again, rejected Magu and refused to confirm him as the substantive chairman of EFCC. Like in December, 2016, when it first rejected him, it based its reason on another damning report from the DSS on Magu.
The refusal by President Buhari to relieve Magu of his acting position, was the last straw, which proverbially, broke the camel’s back.
In its first major daring move, since it was inaugurated on the 9th of June, 2015, the Senate pointedly told the executive that it would not consider the names of RECs. It insisted that until President Buhari acts on its resolution which rejected the nomination of Magu as chairman of EFCC, the 27 nominees’ names would be stood down for two weeks, in the first instance.
Sensing that it may not be business as usual, President Buhari, last Wednesday, hurriedly set up a committee, headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to reach out to the leadership of the National Assembly on how to resolve the protracted face-off between it and the executive. Cabinet members of President Buhari, who are former lawmakers, are all members of the committee.
From the Red Chamber, a solution may also be in sight. The Senate on its part has said that the peace initiative by President Buhari regarding the brewing feud between the executive and legislative arms of government was a good development.
In a chat with National Assembly Correspondents, spokesman of the Senate, Abdullahi Sabi, declared that the Senate would cooperate with the committee set up by President Buhari.
He said: “The Executive Peace Initiative is a Welcome Development. We have heard about the initiative by President Muhammadu Buhari in setting up a Presidential Committee on Executive-Legislature Relations to be headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“This initiative is a welcome development. It is a good step in the right direction. The Senate, in particular, and the National Assembly, in general, is ready to co-operate with the group and work with them to resolve all grey areas standing on the way of the smooth working relationship needed to deepen our fledgling democracy and ensure good governance for the benefits of Nigerians.”
He also explained that Senate’s actions were always motivated by the need to entrench democracy and promote good governance. Abdullahi however lamented that it was unfortunate that such actions had been misinterpreted by some persons.