The 2019 fight to finish

The 2019 presidential election is still far away but it is already shaping up to an epic battle. On the surface, last week’s brawl between Senator Dino Melaye and Oluremi Tinubu who were enmeshed in a shouting bout using unprintable words against each other may look like a mere contest between two Senators. But it is not. It is far deeper than that. It is indeed about 2019.

Although some political analysts have expressed concern attributing the sad development to the frosty relationship between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) federal lawmakers and the Federal Government as a result of the deft moves to remove the principal officers in the Senate, but the battle is all about the soul of Nigeria come 2019.

Ever since the permutation of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC’s) choice of candidates did not go their way last June, when Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu emerged as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively, the battle line seemed to have been drawn between the two government institutions.

Indeed, the cat and mouse politics in the Senate portends a serious danger in the polity with regard to the call by aggrieved Senators on the other side of the divide to impeach President Muhammadu Buhaari, coming at a time, when Nigerians are groaning under the present economic recession.

Some adduced that it is an unnecessary distraction on the part of the Federal Government who supposed to close rank with the National Assembly to get the economy out of the woods but the reverse is the case due to the festering imbroglio. Some Nigerians see it as settling of scores between aggrieved politicians on their self-serving interest strategising against next general election due in2019.

Apart from the fact that ‘god fatherisim’ did not play a part in the Senate selection of their principal officers, the APC leaders took it as a slap on their faces, hinging the emergence of Senate leadership on forgery of Senate standing rules, which is now being contested at the law court. As the ‘game’ is playing itself out, accusation and counter accusations between the PDP and APC lawmakers in the Senate have become the order of the day.

Recently, the PDP caucus in the Senate threatened to withdraw support  for the ruling party stating that President Buhari is acting ‘dictatorially’ to remove both the Senate President and his deputy, and harping that the anti-corruption war by the administration is selective targeting the perceived opponents.

With the court case on the forgery of the Senate rules ongoing, the die is cast between the PDP and APC senators, whose Senators share positions in the Upper Chamber. Nigerians are watching both parties since this episode of ‘charge syndrome’ started in the polity whether the Senate and the Federal Government stalemate will deepen democratic norms in the country.