■ Pro-Senate members move against pro-Buhari group, may suspend 10 soon

FRED ITUA, Abuja ([email protected])

Across the globe in modern democracies, face-off between the executive and legislative arms of government is not uncommon. Thus, it is not peculiar to Nigeria. In sane democracies across the world, the legislative and executive arms come into friction from time to time. But at the end of the day, the actors always find a common ground.

But, the dynamics of what is currently playing out in the National Assembly appears to be an exception. Since the turbulent emergence of the current leadership of the Senate, vis-a-vis, the National Assembly, Nigeria’s democracy has been through incessant fire. As soon as one problem fades, a new one pops up. It is becoming a norm.

The origin of election sequence face-off
For the records, the inclusion of election sequence in the Electoral Amendment Bill, 2018, didn’t originate from the Senate. When the upper legislative chamber passed its version of the bill in July, 2017, it didn’t include sequencing.
The House of Representatives ‘smuggled’ in the clause when it considered the same bill. In line with the practice in the National Assembly, a conference committee was set up by the leadership of the two chambers to harmonise the differences. In the end, the Red and Green chambers, agreed and opted for the inclusion of Clause 25 in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. As soon as the Senate adopted its version of the bill, hell went loose.
Under the controversial sequence, the elections will start from that of the National Assembly, followed by governorship and State Assembly elections before the presidential election, as against earlier sequence rolled out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last year.
The INEC sequence had put presidential and National Assembly elections first before that of governorship and state assembly elections.
Questionably, the Senate has become the epicenter of the war. As soon as the Senate passed it into law, some dissatisfied senators, addressed a press conference, where they rejected the sequencing. Senators Abdullahi Adamu, Ovie Omo-Agege, Abu Ibrahim, Benjamin Uwajumogu, Ali Wakil (now late), Abdullahi Gumel, Binta Masi, Yahaya Abdullahi, Andrew Uchendu and Umaru Kurfi, claimed that the sequencing was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari’s rejection of the bill
In a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, President Buhari revealed that he vetoed the amendment bill on the 3rd of March. He listed three reasons why he was opposed to the new election arrangements.
Buhari, in the letter read on the floor of the Senate, said: “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 3rd March 2018, to decline Presidential Assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly.
“The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution.
“The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process.
“The amendment to Section 152(3)-(5) of the Principal Act may raise constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections. Please accept Distinguished Senators, the assurances of my highest consideration.”
The position of the president has since been punctured. In a memo sent to the Senate President by the legal department of the National Assembly, it faulted all the three points raised by Buhari for rejecting the bill.
The legal department, in the memo, gave the National Assembly a clear go ahead if it wishes to override the veto of the president.
As expected, camps emerged in the Senate. While senators loyal to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, revived the Like Minds Forum of those opposed to the planned override, a new group named Parliamentary Support Group (Senate) emerged to support President Buhari. The new group has Senators Adamu and Omo-Agege as chairman and secretary respectively.
The new twist
A fortnight ago, the Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) met with its caucus in the Senate in a bid to halt the planned override of the Presidential Veto of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2018.
The appeal to APC lawmakers didn’t assuage aggrieved members. Some senators in the camp of Saraki have confirmed that 67 lawmakers  have already endorsed what is called a pro-Senate REGISTER seeking the override the veto.
The register, which is kept by a senator from the North East, is said to have swelled to 67 from the initial 63 as at last week. The senators also claimed that the number of lawmakers might rise beyond 80 if the more than 20 others said to be sitting on the fence sign up.
The pro-Buhari senators are also said to be unrelenting in their push. The strategy is working well for them. The group has also sent some members to infiltrate the ranks of the pro-Senate camp to give them a false sense of hope.
A source told Sunday Sun: “A meeting of the pro-Senate group held in Lagos after the wedding party of the daughter of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. The meeting afforded the pro-Saraki senators the opportunity to review the register and it was affirmed that 67 senators have so far signed.”
It was learnt that at least three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) joined the senators at the Lagos meeting and that it was adopted that the interpretation of the law is that the two-thirds majority of those present in each chamber would be required and not two-third majority of all members of the Senate.
Looming suspension
Baring any last minute change, 10 senators who are openly opposed to the planned over-ride, maybe suspended. They are Abdullahi Adamu, Ovie Omo-Agege, Abu Ibrahim, Benjamin Uwajumogu, Ali Wakil (now late), Abdullahi Gumel, Binta Masi, Yahaya Abdullahi, Andrew Uchendu and Umaru Kurfi.
The Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, headed by Samuel Anyanwu, has already commenced work on the project. The lawmakers, are however, not leaving anything to chance. Poised to thwart their suspension, they have approached a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Adamu is not relenting. In a lengthy press statement he personally signed, he said the “only crime that is considered heinous by the leadership of the Senate” is his caution to his colleagues to respect the person and office of President Buhari.
“I stood up on the floor of the Senate in a raucous plenary session to caution against the increasing show of disrespect to the person and the office of the President of the Federal Republic,” adding that “I feared that this was becoming a pattern.
“I thought this was against the culture of the legislature and we needed to pull back in order to maintain mutual respect between the executive and the legislature. The national assembly is the second arm of this administration. We cannot undermine the executive without undermining the government of which we are a part.
“I did not think this was a crime, but it turned out I was wrong. To show their displeasure with my stand, my colleagues acted in a manner as to impugn my integrity. First, there was the tendentious story put out in a press statement from the Senate to the effect that I had been unceremoniously removed as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum and that Senator Wamakko had replaced me.
“I did not bother to respond to the concocted lies because the forum has a system of changing its leadership. Its affairs are not conducted in press statements emanating from strange and unauthorised persons.”
Despite the exchange of unfriendly fires, Anyanwu-led Ethics Committee will likely submit its report when the Senate resumes from its brief Easter break in April. If the ‘culprits’ are found ‘guilty’, the key protagonists of the offensive against the over-ride will be suspended for at least six months.
The final battle
On Tuesday, March, 28th, the Senate commenced moves to officially over-ride the veto of President Buhari on the Electoral Amendment Bill, 2018. The upper legislative chamber re-introduced the bill on the floor. The bill tagged SB 645, is being sponsored by Senator Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North).
Nazif is the chairman of the Senate committee on Electoral Matters. A similar bill was reintroduced on the floor of the House of Representatives a fortnight ago.
How the planned over-ride will play out
The reintroduced bill has already passed the first reading. In the coming weeks, it will be read for the second time. Depending on the decision of the leadership of the Senate, the bill will go through another public hearing. Once it is returned and read for the third time, through a two-thirds majority of members present, the bill will be passed into law. At this stage, the assent of President Buhari will no longer be required.
The legal implication
If the National Assembly goes ahead and over-rides President Buhari’s veto, series of legal battles will be triggered. The argument that the judiciary can’t interfere in an ongoing legislative process will no longer hold water. While those in the minority opposed to the over-ride will not have their way in the parliament, they may find succour in the judiciary.
If the judiciary, through a constitutional court invalidates the amendment, the exercise and the law passed will stand null and void. For now, it is a waiting game as the melodrama unfolds.