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As the permutation of who will become the next President of Nigerian Senate in June 2027 hots up, the present occupant, Senator Godswill Akpabio, is not leaving anything to chances. He wants to stay put. In fairness, Akpabio is not the first Senate President to have emerged through Aso Rock’s backing. Since the return to civil rule in 1999, Evan(s) Enwerem, Pius Anyim, Adolphus Wabara, Ahmed Lawan, and now, Godswill Akpabio, who were elected at different sessions, all enjoyed open support from the presidency. But perhaps, because of David Mark’s pedigree and antecedents, he was the only Senate President that was elected through a unanimous support of Aso Rock power brokers and majority of his colleagues. He was not an imposition. The then presidents Yar’Adua and Jonathan were fine democrats who allowed institutions to thrive without emasculation. Evidently, the stability and maturity witnessed under David Mark’s watch was the launch pad for his record-breaking two terms in office.
Under the senate presidency of Chuba Okadigbo, Ken Nnamani, and Bukola Saraki, who were overwhelmingly elected without external influences, Nigerians had a feel of what an independent legislature should resemble. The nation saw real checks and balances. Though Okadigbo’s tenure was short-lived, it was colourful and elevating until the Aso Rock storm-troopers allegedly moved in to Apo Legislative Quarters with Ghana-Must-Go bags filled with cash, and suborned his ouster. In a similar vein, Ken Nnamani was unanimously elected when president Obasanjo blackmailed Adolphus Wabara into resignation on account of bribery-for-budget scandal. Obasanjo wanted Ike Ekweremadu as a replacement but his colleagues settled for Nnamani.
The greatest legacy of Nnamani was the outstanding courage in throwing spanner in the works of Obasanjo’s well-oiled third term agenda. For Saraki, his election was akin to a revolution. Saraki was a rebel with a cause. He took exception to the endorsement of Ahmed Lawan for the senate presidency by his party, APC. Consequently, Saraki aligned with the opposition PDP, conceded the deputy senate presidency slot, which led to his election alongside Ekweremadu. And notwithstanding the hounding by the powers-that-be, they held their shoulders high and staved off undue interference in legislative matters. The Senate under Saraki stood down multi-billion-dollar loan requests by Buhari’s government. And in a tit-for-tat melee, former president Buhari withheld his assent to a number of bills passed by the 8th Senate.
What can we say about the present Senate under Akpabio? Akpabio may go down in history with an unenviable reputation. Akpabio is too partisan, highhanded, and loquacious. His utterances are usually bereft of emotional intelligence. His jokes and boasts appear insensitive to the prevailing mood of the nation. Recently, he bragged that his home-state will deliver the highest votes in the South-South region to Tinubu. He is now competing with Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State, whose godfather, Adams Oshiomhole, is having a running battle with him. History has a way of repeating itself. The late National Chairman of PDP, Vincent Ogbulafor, while in office, talked without modesty to the effect that PDP would rule Nigeria for 60 years.
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Akpabio operates like someone oblivious of the fact that he is primus inter pares. He talks to his colleagues who disagreed with him condescendingly. It is no longer the perception we had about Akpabio when he was the minority leader in his first term in the Senate. This is definitely not Akpabio that blew his trumpet as an uncommon transformer in Akwa Ibom State. Was it all about infrastructure, then? What about the promotion of tenets of democracy? Is this the kind of democracy that he cherishes to bequeath for the younger generation who is supposed to look up to him? Indeed, the reversal in his public persona is shocking. The thinking that he will always have his way is shortsighted and ahistorical. Or, is he under the illusion of this quote from Bill Gates: “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
Strangely, under Akpabio, capital projects in the 2024 and 2025 approved budgets recorded almost zero implementation, the first of such abysmal showing since the country’s 27-year unbroken democracy. The subsidy regime in the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was removed and prices of virtually everything went to the roof top. The citizens bear the pains daily with the hope that the freed-up resources would be deployed to address human security concerns. More loans are approved and collected in a freewheel manner yet budgets are scarcely funded. The worrisome part is that the oversight functions which could have opened the books to the citizens have been reduced to mere ticking of boxes. The law makers are dying in silence for the fear of suspension, persecution, and or losing their return tickets. In saner climes, where parliaments are the real watchdogs, right questions should have been in the public domain as to how and who allegedly diverted the princely sum of N800 billion meant to cushion the effects of PMS subsidy removal.
But Akpabio’s Senate leadership is more interested in self-perpetuation. The latest antic is the incendiary proviso inserted in the amended Senate Rules. Obviously, he seems afraid of his shadows. He wants to muzzled out any strong opposition to his re-emergence. And he is hell-bent on continuing with the pattern of a seemingly conquered senate by June next year. By amending the rule to shut out ranking senators who have not spent eight consecutive years in the Senate, including the present 10th Senate, is a joke taken too far. It is a poisoned chalice and a tinder box for instability. The intrigues underlying the comeback plan of Akpabio should not be like the biblical framing of mischief by a law (Psalm 94:20). Far from it! Even Akpabio’s first name, ‘Godswill’ recognizes that God rules in the affairs of men and only His purpose will come to pass. Akpabio should therefore, make haste slowly. That proviso is undemocratic. It is unfair. It is self-serving. The Senate Standing Rules should not deny Nigerians the beauty of democracy.
