By Ifeanyi Maduako
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a very lucky man in so many ways. Till date, he remains the only president to have presided over the affairs of Ñigeria for the longest time, both as military Head of State and as a civilian president for a cumulative 11 years.
Even at that, Obasanjo was said to have nursed the ambition of extension in office when his two terms of eight years tenure as a civilian president terminated in 2007.
However, Obasanjo was not that fortunate as he had a principled National Assembly to contend with at the time. He needed the approval of both Chambers of the National Assembly to get a third term.
Unfortunately for him, the Senate led by Senator Ken Nnamani threw away the entire constitutional amendment with a view to stopping the contentious third term clause being smuggled into the constitutional amendment.
When the amendment failed in the Senate, the House of Representatives had no option, but to equally throw it away as every amendment needs the concurrence of both chambers to sail through. That was how the purported third term had a stillbirth.
Nigeria is close to 26 years old in this Fourth Republic civilian dispensation. If the country is practicing democracy, it is supposed to have grown up as an adult.
When the National Assembly was led by Senator Ken Nnamani and Ghali Umar Na’Abba, democracy was still fledgling and nascent.
It was still at the teething age. Therefore, at 26, democracy in Nigeria ought to have grown up as a father because a man born in 1999 can be a father now.
As democracy is supposed to grow, all the components and arms of government- the executive, legislature, and the judiciary – are expected to grow with it.
Unfortunately, these arms of democratic government are retarding in growth rather than having rapid growth.
None of the arms of democratic government is better than it was in 1999. The legislature in particular is worse than a rubber stamp.
Today, we have a legislature that recites the president’s personal campaign anthem in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly whenever the president visits.
This was not the case in the previous sessions of the National Assembly. When the National Assembly pledges total allegiance to the president by singing- “on your mandate we shall stand-” how can that Assembly assert its own independence and authority to checkmate the excesses of the executive?
Granted that the three arms of government have the imperative to work symbiotically for the good of the country, that doesn’t mean that the legislature should turn itself into houseboys. Talking about houseboys complex, when a man who comes from the part of the country with the proverbial houseboys complex and mentality as head of the National Assembly, the complex will still be in him to lick the shoes of the executive in order to preserve his exalted position.
This reminds me of the speculation that the Senate rejected Nasir el-Rufai’s ministerial appointment. There’s no iota of truth in that assertion. The presidency rejected him after raising his hope of being a minister just to diminish him for his past seeming arrogance.
The Senate led by Senator Akpabio couldn’t have rejected him if the presidency wanted him. How dare he! The Senate can never raise a whimper over any correspondence from the presidency let alone opposing or rejecting the presidency’s request. The day they try it, the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives is gone.
The recent passage of the state of emergency declaration in Rivers State by the Senate lends credence to their rubber stamp proclivity.
Against constitutional provision that requires a head count in such a sensitive declaration, the Senate adopted a voice vote unconstitutional method to approve the emergency declaration in Rivers State. Regardless of the tepid opposition from a section of the country, the Tax Reform bill will sail through as long as the current leadership of the National Assembly is concerned.
In conclusion, the current National Assembly members will and can pass and approve a third term constitutional amendment from the executive if the need arises.
Our prayer is that God will not allow the executive to harbour such ambition. With the Akpabio-led National Assembly, Obasanjo would have gotten a term in office.
• Maduako writes from Owerri, Imo State