Posted by Sam Akpe on
President of the Senate, Chief Kenechukwu Nnamani, recently boasted openly that since he took over, no bad report has been heard about the Senate.
President of the Senate, Chief Kenechukwu Nnamani, recently boasted openly that since he took over, no bad report has been heard about the Senate.
Nnamani could have been dead right except that on the same day he boasted about his impeccable record, he reconstituted the 54 Standing Committees of the Senate and created three, leading to his receiving cheers and jeers.
Earlier, he read an announcement to the effect that Tokunbo Afikuyomi had been sacked as deputy minority whip. No reasons were cited. The Minority Whip, Lawali Shuaibu, signed the statement. Olorunnimbe Mamora and Titus Olupitan raised their hands. Nnamani ignored them. The floor endorsed the announcement. That meant Afikuyomi has ceased to be a principal officer of the Senate. Few hours later, Afikuyomi released a statement to the effect that what happened was unnecessary as he had already informed his colleagues of his plans to withdraw from the office and concentrate on his gubernatorial campaign.
Twenty-four hours after Nnamani's boast, South-West senators sent him a letter. They stated point blank that they enjoyed the regime of Adolphus Wabara more than that of Nnamani. They said in the constitution of committees, Wabara allocated to them more juicy positions than Nnamani did. They questioned Nnamani's credentials as a moral crusader when at the same time he was promoting the very vices he preached against. Parts of the letter read, 'A cursory analysis shows that whereas in the just dissolved Senate Committees, the South-West held a total of nine chairman positions out of a 54 committee total. This included only two of what can be categorised as ‘A' grade committees, i.e. Health and Agriculture. Of 57 committees announced, the South-West was allotted eight committee chairmanship seats out of which total, the ‘A' grade committees have been dropped...The South-West senators hereby resolve not to attend or participate in any committee on the basis of the observations made above."
Analysis of committees' chairmanship positions showed that the South-East with 15 Peoples Democratic Party senators had 10 positions. The North-Central with 19 senators and only three in the opposition was allotted 11 while the North-East with six opposition party senators out of 18 was given eight. The North-West with 21 senators almost completely controlled by opposition party has eight while South-South with 18 PDP senators has 12. The South-West with eight positions has 18 senators, five of them from the Alliance for DemocracyAD.
Shortly after Nnamani read the letter, Shuaibu raised a Point of Order, citing Order 14, which deals with Privileges and Order 100, which deals with appointment of committees. He told the Senate that the appointment of committees and their leadership announced on Tuesday satisfied the conditions stated and that the Senate in plenary had endorsed the appointment through voice votes. Francis Arthur Nzeribe who cited Order 56 (3) that deals with rules of debate cut short Shuaibu's argument. The Order states, 'It shall be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific question upon which the Senate has come to a conclusion during the current session except upon a substantive motion for a rescission." Nzeribe's argument was sustained. That did not mark the end of the face-off. But the South-West senators, from past happenstances, analysts have said, are not likely to win the war against Nnamani.
Their reason? There is no senator who does not know that loyalty has a reward. Under Wabara's leadership, the South-West was his political base. The senators there accorded him all the support and he pampered them. When it was time for a change of baton, the South-West senators, especially the PDP members who attended caucus meetings that resulted in the emergence of Nnamani, were passive. Except for Senator Tokunbo Ogunbanjo, all others refused to queue behind Nnamani. At the last minute, they quietly declared their support for Ike Ekweremadu.
But Shuaibu disagreed, describing the analysis as mischievous. He said; 'I can tell you that the South-West senators are grumbling over two committees…That is Agriculture and National Population…What is wrong in taking one committee from one senator and giving it to another senator regardless of the borderline between zones? Education was taken from the North and given to the East. Appropriation was taken from the South-South and given to the North. So many other committees have been like that. We made a resolution in that Senate to discourage the issue of juicy committees. There is nothing like juicy committees. Every committee should have equal status and enjoy equal privileges on the floor of the Senate. I have been chairman of Drugs and Narcotics Committee since 1999. What is juicy about that?"
But the South-West senators do not want to hear this. For them, the ultimate is to get back into reckoning by having control over some strategic committees.
The PUNCH, Tuesday, July 26, 2005