By Fred Itua, Abuja

Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio’s ascension to the throne as President of the 10th Senate can be likened to a child trained by a community. Literally, though the child may have the mind of his own, he’s often compelled to dance to the whims and caprices of his benefactors. When he attempts to become his own man, he’s often reminded how he was rehabilited and trained by everyone.

Unlike Ahmad Lawan and previous Presidents of the Senate who had their elections on a platter, Akpabio laboured to secure the coveted seat. Many pundits have attributed his eventual victory to the active involvement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and other unseen forces who worked tirelessly to secure his victory.

Six months after his election, it still appears to be a long walk to freedom for many disappointed senators, stakeholders and Nigerians, who had expected a lot from the Senate President.

Akpabio’s election

Akpabio’s endorsement to emerge as President of the 10th Senate faced one of the fiercest oppositions in recent history. Senators, specifically members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were uncomfortable with his candidacy. Their argument was based primarily on Akpabio’s alleged involvement in the near collapse of Bukola Saraki-led 8th Senate. Akpabio who resigned his position as Minority Leader of the 8th Senate, joined the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2018.

A few days after, there was a failed palace coup, where operative of the Department of State Services (DSS), invaded the National Assembly and stopped lawmakers from accessing the two chambers. There were rumours that Akpabio had been penciled down to replace Saraki if the coup had succeeded.

Some lawmakers who were part of the 8th Senate and witnessed the invasion, refused to support Akpabio. The refusal by Abdulaziz Yari to step down for Akpabio further compounded his woes. Like a typical Nigerian politician, Akpabio didn’t forgive those who participated in his failed humiliation. Like an unforgiving Nigerian politician, Akpabio didn’t move on without extracting his pound of flesh.

Confirmation of ministerial nominees

Akpabio’s handling of President Tinubu’s ministerial nominees is still a controversy that may drag on for the next few years. Two of the ministerial nominees whose National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates were subjects of controversies, were screened for appointment by Akpabio’s Senate. They were Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a then second-term member of the House of Representatives from Ondo State, and Hannatu Musawa from Katsina State. Today, the two Nigerians are serving ministers.

The two nominees were enmeshed in controversies regarding their NYSC certificate and status. The Senate did not explain whether the questions raised on the duo’s NYSC statuses had been satisfactorily clarified or not.

Tunji-Ojo, current Minister of Interior, claimed to have participated in the scheme between November 2019 and November 2020, but NYSC officials said the lawmaker’s claim was strange given that he was a sitting member of the House of Representatives during the same period under review.

During the screening, a nominee was exposed. There were some discrepancies in the academic certificates of a nominee from Sokoto State, Bello Muhammad, which was sufficient for the Senate to have disqualified him, pending when he provided the SSCE certificate that qualified him to attend a university.

Nigerians who watched the screening wanted to know how the nominee gained admission into the university with only two credits. The senator representing Rivers East, Allwell Onyesoh had noted that Muhammad had only two credits in his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) result and asked the nominee to explain how he attended the university with only two credits.

In his response, Muhammad told the lawmakers that he had other SSCE results in which he “passed all” subjects, adding that he did not attach them to his credentials. He was confirmed without qualms despite the overwhelming posers on the credibility of his credentials.

Beside the aforementioned, many accuse the Senate President of not giving his colleagues enough opportunity to grill nominees. The lawmaker representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi, after Nasir El-Rufai’s presentations during his confirmation hearing, stood up and told the chamber that he had a petition written against the former governor over the issue of killings in Southern Kaduna.

Raising up a brown envelope, Karimi said: “Mr. President, I have a petition written against the nominee over the issue of insecurity in Southern Kaduna when he was governor. If I am permitted, I would like to read the petition.”

But Akpabio subtly gave El-Rufai a lifeline, and refused to take the petition, saying a number of petitions were submitted against some of the nominees.

He said: “This is not the place to consider petitions; we will sit with the petitions later and refer them to relevant authorities.”

For many observers and pundits, the screening of the ministerial nominees by the 10th Senate was the worst since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999.

No bill signed into law in six months

As a senator in the 8th National Assembly, Akpabio was among the lawmakers with the least number of bills sponsored on the floor of the Red Chamber. As President of the 10th Senate, President Tinubu is yet to sign a single bill into law passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly, six months after it was inaugurated. With barely two years left to carry out serious legislative business before politicking will set in, it is unclear how many serious legislations Akpabio’s Senate will pass.

In the 8th Senate, Saraki inaugurated the statutory committee on Constitution Review, headed by the Deputy President of the Senate then, Ike Ekweremadu less than six months after the inauguration of the Assembly.

Ahmad Lawan, President of the 9th Senate, inaugurated the Constitution Review Committee in January, six months after the Assembly came on board. Despite being a lawyer, there are no clear signs that Akpabio will inaugurate the Constitution Review Committee soon.

Expensive jokes

Comic reliefs are often necessary to douse very tensed situations. But when such becomes a reoccurring decimal, tongues begin to wag. On the last day of the ministerial screening, Akpabio announced that money had been paid to the accounts of senators to ensure they had fun on their yearly vacation.

Unaware that the screening was still being aired on national televisions, Akpabio made one of the costliest mistakes of his nascent Senate Presidency. The gaffe brought the Senate under fire, earning him attacks from within and outside the National Assembly.

“In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly,” he had said. Upon being informed by his colleagues that the live coverage of the event was still on, and realising the gravity of his remarks, he quickly announced its withdrawal saying, “I withdraw that statement. In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return.” He was lampooned and ridiculed by Nigerians for weeks.

Gagging of senators

The functions of lawmakers stand on a tripod- lawmaking, oversight and representation. While oversight is conducted behind the scene, lawmaking and representation are open exercises conducted in the full glare of the public. Sadly, the two most important elements are being eroded since Akpabio emerged as President of the Senate.

Sensitive issues that will embarrass the administration of President Tinubu are forbidden on the floor of the Senate. Despite Lawan’s loyalty to former President Muhammadu Buhari, there were many instances where lawmakers were allowed to speak freely and register their displeasure. For the current leadership of the Senate, it is a no-go area.

Lawmakers who have attempted to bring sensitive issues to the floor of the Senate have been stopped. For others who attempted, they were stopped half way into their motions whenever the hard knocks were getting unbearable.

Some lawmakers have also grumbled behind the scenes of being denied the opportunity to speak on the floor and have alleged that the President of the Senate doesn’t recognise them to speak. Contrary to the practice in other Parliaments across the globe, the Senate President doesn’t allow lawmakers to exhaustively debate an issue. He often interjects and rules on the matter.

‘Let the poor breathe’

Unable to avoid controversy, Akpabio caused another public outrage when he mouthed “let the poor breathe” refrain of President Tinubu.

Following a resolution of the Senate for the Federal Government to suspend a proposed electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Senate President had jokingly said: “The prayer is that, let the poor breathe, and Senator Mustapha has seconded that the poor should breathe. Those who are in support of the additional prayer that the poor should be allowed to breathe, say ‘ayes’ and those who are against say ‘nay.’ In response, the senators chorused “Aye”. The ayes have it! The poor must be allowed to breathe.”

Impeachment claims

Few months into his presidency, Akpabio was confronted with claims about alleged attempts of impeachment by angry senators. Their grouse was based on a number of misdeeds. The core ‘sin’ was

his ‘holiday allowance.’

Though some senators defended the allowance, they accused him of misleading the Nigerian public. Former Senator Clifford Abbo claimed that the Senate president and his allies were behind the rumoured plan to impeach him with the aim of sowing strife between President Tinubu and the northern leaders. He said: “As a Northern senator and an official of the Northern Senators Forum, I boldly affirm that this news is intentionally disseminated and propagated by the ‘camp’ of Senator Akpabio solely to pit President Bola Tinubu against the North.

“I call on Senator Akpabio to rein in his camp, as the seeds of discord and deep ethno-religious division they are sowing will not bode well for the country. If Akpabio and his camp wanted a united Senate, much like Ahmed Lawan, they would have known exactly what to do during Senate Standing Committees allocation and supplementary budget resources allocation.

“However, media handlers of Akpabio continued to treat the senate as a conquered territory where the winner walks away with the spoils of war. A classic case of the winner takes all.”

The former lawmaker said Akpabio was the reason behind his removal from office because he refused to support his bid to become the President of the Senate. Abbo alleged that four other senators including Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia North), who did not support the emergence of Akpabio as Senate President, had been targeted to be removed from office through the court.

The issue about the impeachment plot may have been rested, but it is not yet uhuru for Akpabio, whose constant misfiring may incur the wrath of lawmakers again in the near future.

Appointment of committees’ chairmen

The Senate President in what appeared as a vindictive move, took some decisions as he emerged as President of the Senate. His first target was his own constituency- former governors. He stripped them of every dignity  and relegated them to the background, especially those who didn’t support his bid.

During the consideration for principal officers, he ignored them and settled for new senators who supported his bid. Despite their repeated outcry, Akpabio maintained a stoic stance.

The alleged marginalisation of some ranking senators in the chairmanship and vice chairmanship of significant committees was another crucial concern that brought trouble the way of Akpabio.

Ranking senators were allegedly victims of this practice, while beneficiaries were allegedly perceived as loyalists and cronies of the Senate President. This selective justice created serious cracks in the ranks of senators.

Though he later compensated some aggrieved senators, former governors were still left in the cold to lick their wounds. They may fight back someday, but for now, Akpabio is enjoying the niceties of his coveted office.

Akpabio, Ndume, Nwoye’s clash

Ndume is one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the National Assembly. In the 10th Senate, he’s the Chief Whip. The fiery lawmaker who often speaks truth to power, has often challenged Akpabio’s style of trying to muscle lawmakers.

In one of their recent clashes, Ndume accused Akpabio of being insensitive, untrustworthy, and having a habit of making inappropriate jokes. This statement led to a dramatic clash in the senate between both men. On a particular incident during plenary, Ndume raised a point of order citing Senate Order 51, to address an error Senator Summaila Kawu made in a motion, which omitted the motion’s title. Ndume, emphasising the need for following rules and processes, noted the importance of correcting any errors found during proceedings. According to him, “nobody is too big to learn.”

However, Akpabio disagreed with Ndume’s plea, maintaining that decisions made on matters could not be changed afterwards. Senator Sunday Karimi made an effort to bolster Ndume’s position with an additional point of order, but Akpabio quickly ruled both Senators out of order. As a result of the tension, Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau used Order 16 to enforce the rules.

This prompted Akpabio to swiftly uphold a substantive motion for the reconsideration of earlier rulings. Unfazed, Ndume used Order 54, another point of order, to demand that the perceived error be corrected.

Akpabio ruled him to be out of order. An enraged Ndume stormed out of the chamber as a result. Amidst the commotion, senators called a closed-door meeting, and Ndume returned thereafter upon learning by phone call that the Senate had entered a closed-door session.

Akpabio had named Senators Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) as the minority leader and Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West) as minority whip. This was to replace the previous occupants ousted from the Senate by the courts. These appointments seemed not to have gone down well with some senators prompting an uproar which lasted for over 15 minutes as members of other parties in the minority caucus began to rise up to express their displeasure.

Senator Tony Nwoye, (LP, Anambra North) stood up furiously and began to shout “Are we your slaves? Why will the Senate President be picking leaders for us? You have done your worst. You have pushed us to the wall. Meaning what? It is unfair. It is not about me, it is about the institution of the state.”