After the docking of the country's number three citizen
and President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, for
allegedly doctoring his asset declaration last
September, the sight of his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu in
the dock would not be a surprise for a nation now
beholden to the new sheriff in town.
President Muhammadu Buhari's almost single-minded
focus on clearing the system of corruption is, however,
this time, about to be fully tested for its political or
apolitical intentions in the high-profile case that is a
direct offshoot from last year's Senate leadership
contest.
In docking two presiding officers over issues arising
from the internal affairs of the Senate, the presidency
has inevitably put in motion a potential clash between
the two institutions.
Saraki and Ekweremadu are being docked for allegedly
forging the 2015 Senate Standing Rules, the
operational manual of the Senate. The two men
alongside the immediate past clerk of the National
Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, and his deputy, Mr. Ben Efeturi, are alleged to have altered the rule book.
At what time the alleged alteration occurred has not
been disclosed, and the role of the two presiding
officers have also not been formally disclosed.
The case arose from the victory of Senator Saraki in
the June 9 Senate leadership election.
He was elected after 57 of the 108 senators-elect
present in the Senate chambers elected him in the
absence of 51 others who were at the International
Conference Centre, ICC, also in Abuja, waiting in vain
for a reconciliation meeting of the APC senators-elect
supposedly called by President Buhari.
The meeting did not hold and while the 51 senators
waited, a few APC senators who boycotted the meeting
teamed up with the PDP senators to elect Saraki.
Senator Ekweremadu of the PDP on his part defeated
Senator Ali Ndume of the APC to resurface as the
Deputy President of the Senate.
The substance of the case against the four men is that
the Senate Rule Book was altered in Sections 2(iv),
3(3)E, I, ii, iii, G and H, 5 and 7.
One of the consequences of the changes is that voting
for the election of presiding officers was changed from
open balloting to secret ballot. Whether happenstance
or crooked, the change was to the advantage of
Senator Saraki, who was running against the choice of
his party leadership, Senator Ahmad Lawan for the post
of Senate President.
By allowing secret voting, the consequence was that
those APC senators-elect who were willing to join the
rebellion against the choice of Lawan would not be
known and hence be to the advantage of Saraki.
Following the June 9 leadership contest, Senator
Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna North had on behalf of
the Senate Unity Forum, SUF petitioned the police
alleging that the 2015 Standing Order had been forged.
Remarkably, his petition did not mention Senator Saraki
or Senator Ekweremadu.
So despite repeated media attention on the two men,
the police investigative team led by DIG Dan'Azumi
Doma did not once interface with Saraki or
Ekweremadu but restricted itself to submissions from
mainly rivals of Senator Saraki in the SUF camp.
Maikasuwa and Efeturi were, however, quizzed.
Maikasuwa, who conducted the election that led to the
emergence of Saraki, is quoted in the police report on
the case as affirming "that he did not refer to any
Senate Standing Order/Rules but used the normal
procedures for the opening of a new parliament."
Efeturi, one of the National Assembly's most
experienced legislative hands with experience drawing
from the Second Republic, however, claimed that the
production of the 2015 Standing Rules was in line with
convention. Mr. Efeturi, who has since 1999 been in
one way or the other involved in the production of the
different Standing Orders of the different Senates, said
the same procedure used in producing the 2015
Standing Order was what was used in the production of
the standing rules in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
The police report on Efeturi, read in part: "He
emphasised that in the parliament, amendment of
Standing Orders is by practice and not necessarily by
procedure. He further stated that the ruling of the
Senate President on the June 24, 2015, that the Senate
Standing Orders of the Senate 2015 is authentic is
final, relevant and cannot be challenged. He attached a
copy of the debates of the Senate on Wednesday, June
24 24 where the Senate President ruled that the
Senate Standing Order 2015 was the authentic
Standing Orders of the 8th Senate."
The 13-page report which was written in July 2015,
however, disagreed with Efeturi and submitted that the
alteration was criminal. The police, however, shied
away from pursuing a criminal prosecution as it threw
the ball into the court of the Attorney General to
determine whether what was done was within the
internal affairs of the Senate.
When the issue was raised in the Senate last June, the
president of the Senate who was not in the preceding
leadership, ruled that the 2015 Standing Order as
circulated was genuine. Ordinarily by the rules and
convention of the Senate, that dictates that the ruling
of the President of the Senate shall not be challenged
unless through a substantive motion that should have
been the end of the matter.
On the other hand, Senator Hunkuyi should have come
by substantive motion to declare the Standing Order
illegal, but he rather went to the police.
Indeed, when the issue came up as a civil matter last
year at an Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by
Justice G. O Kolawole, the jurist had settled the issue
as an internal affair of the Senate.
In his ruling, he said: "My view is that in relation to the
instant suit, the allegation which relates to alleged
forgery of the Rules of the National Assembly is not an
ordinary allegation in which the Court can approach
with a pedantic mind set. It is so because, the issues
as relating to the Senate Rules or Standing Orders are
firstly, a purely domestic legislative matter, where
allegation of forgery is made, it is for the Court to
reflect deeply whether it is not an allegation which the
Senate Committees on Rules and of its Ethics, can
validly investigate and to take steps within its own
internal proceedings to nullify any of its Standing
Orders found to be irregular and to also sanction any of
its members that may be found culpable."
The Senate through a statement last Sunday also
affirmed that its standing order was not forged,
teasingly affirming that if the rules were forged, then
that would mean that all the actions it carried out for
the executive including appointments using the
standing rule were also void.
The Senate statement issued by its spokesman Senator
Aliyu Abdullahi saw the action of the executive as a
threat and possibly a coup against the Senate and a
violation of the doctrine of separation of powers.
The political hue to the development is tied to claims
that all four persons to be arraigned tomorrow for one
reason or the other are in the bad books of the
political class presently in control of the country.
Saraki, who is presently undergoing trial for alleged
acts of corruption, has claimed that he is being
targeted because he contested the office of Senate
President. Ekweremadu, who belongs to the PDP, is
allegedly being targeted for fouling the victory of the
APC by emerging as deputy president of the Senate.
Maikasuwa, the immediate past clerk of the National
Assembly according to some, was an accomplice to
the emergence of Saraki as he conducted the election
despite the absence of some senators who were
gathered at the ICC. Even more, it is alleged that a
high-ranking senator close to a prominent APC leader
had visited him in his residence as early as 3.00 a.m.
on June 9, 2015, and warned him not to go ahead with
the election. Mr. Efeturi, the deputy clerk of the
National Assembly, is reportedly on the hook for
allegedly being the facilitator. It is also claimed that
Mr. Efeturi who ordinarily should have stepped in as
Clerk of the National Assembly with the retirement of
Maikasuwa was denied the opportunity by high
influence forces on account of this.
Meanwhile, there had been insinuations that the four
men could be slapped with difficult bail conditions
when they are arraigned tomorrow.
It is suggested in
some quarters that the aim would be to keep them
away from circulation for the purpose of forcing the
election of a new set of presiding officers. However,
the prospect of that was immediately checked last
Thursday when the Senate proceeded on holidays till
July 12 supposedly for the Ramadan Break.
The relations between the two arms of government has
nosedived to the lowest point since the advent of the
Buhari administration with the significant PDP caucus
vowing to stop cooperation with the APC-led
administration.
Reflective of that, the Senate has vowed not to let go
the mistakes of the executive branch.
Last week it put
a hold to further consideration of the president's
nominees for ambassadorial position on the fact that it
did not reflect federal character.
Many such legislative proposals are bound to suffer
similar fate, putting to practice the axiom that when
two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
Which
in the case at point is the Nigerian economy, security
situation, power and all that is presently at deficit for a
nation state.
And into this dangerous mix is the
activities of some wrong-headed militants in the Niger
Delta.
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