The Anti-Democracy’s Senate of Insensitivity

By Andrew Oota

The 10th Senate may go down in history as the most compromising, insensitive and unintentional about the plights and aspirations of the citizens.

As the highest lawmaking body for Nigerian with majority of senators as accomplished personalities in their serious fields of endeavour , the expectations of most Nigerians from the current 109 members of the red chamber is nothing short of sound judgement , reason , courage to defend democracy and uphold all known democratic tenets .

Under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio , majority of the decisions of the Senate that attracted the most debates within and around the globe were either anti-people, anti-democracy, self-serving and coated in plain arrogance, massaging the Presidency-ego or silencing of few opposing voices.

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From the Tax Reforms bills , to suspensions of senators Abdul Ningi, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan; threats to senators Tony Nwoye, Seriake Dickson for speaking against suspected sleaze and injustice ; purchase of exotic cars and shameful defence for same at the time the country is passing through very tough times or advance approvals for presidential luxuries, were all actions that clearly presents the 10th Senate as insensitive.

Taste and urge to grant approvals from the executive without due diligence , the multiple budgets that sets the records since advent of democracy in a fiscal year; sex scandals , ethic and regional divides built by the Senate leadership , lack of oversight functions by standing committees of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited , the Central Bank of Nigeria , ministries of petroleum ,finance , Federal Inland Revenue Service , Nigerian Customs Service, Niger Delta Development Commission , who have over the years gained notoriety for clear abuse of laid down procedures are signs that the 10th Senate heads into a record breaking in failure and, are indications that the Senate has yet recalibrated to understand why they were elected in the first place.

The quality of debates of the 10th Senate appears more like scripted movies ; since inauguration, the 10th Senate has given the impression that all executive communications ,including the most important which is the appropriations bills are flawless .

Lawmakers , except senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, have all viewed all executive communications as angelic and the only little adjustments have been in upping the budgets with irresponsible and inexplicable self-serving items.

The case with the committees is even worse as committee chairmen of agencies that form the economic backbone of Nigeria in terms of revenue generations make themselves very soft and available for compromise .

An encounter between the Senate panel of public Accounts and the Auditor General for the Federation prior the passage of the 2025 budget was a pointer to what has become of oversight functions under the Akpabio-led Senate .

Both in, and outside the chambers ; begining with it’s president, the Senate has thrown measured language that befits senators to the dogs.

While Akpabio enjoys reckless and uncoated language to describe Nigerians, his colleagues and every opposing view; it is same at committees as seen between the chairman of the Senate committee on Ethics and privileges and a former education minister.

Parliamentary language and conducts are some of the attributes expected of statesmen .

With former Governors, former monsters , former presiding officers of the House of Representatives , former permanent secretaries , former deputy Governors , former Speakers of state Assemblies, Retired military/Police officers ,accomplished business men and women , professional egg-heads as senators ; the Senate oughts to live above board , but that seems a tall order.

The worse again is the ineffectiveness of opposing political parties in the Senate .

The leadership of the leading opposition party , the People’s Democratic Party in the Senate has become more APC than the rest of the senators who won elections on the APC platform .

It is shocking that analysts have become to wonder if the current opposition lawmakers ,particularly the PDP understands the role of opposition parties in constitutional democracy .

Senator Abba Moro who leads the opposition political parties carries as if he was elected on the APC platform , endorsing the removal of a governor elected on his party’s platform without blinking an eye.

This is not to say opposition should be irresponsible to the extent of opposition every decision ,but a clear abuse of the constitutional powers by the President to sack a Governor elected on the platform of the PDP with the endorsement of PDP leaders in disregard of the official position of the PDP in itself passes for gross anti-party, anti-democracy and pure legislative rascality.

The argument by some PDP members that the Senate didn’t have a quorum in the first place was face-saving .

What they needed to do as a tradition in parliament was for the opposition to stage a walk-out and address a press conference distancing themselves from that rape on democracy .

The logic that the majority will always have their way also didn’t apply in the senseless emergency rule-approval of the Senate , this is because the All Progressives Congress senators lacks the constitutionally required numbers to approve an emergency .

Suffice to say , the 10th Senate has set out an an appendage of the executive and posses a great danger to democracy .

It would seem the likes of Senators Ibrahim Dankwambo a former Governor of Gombe state and former Accountant General for the Federation may have resigned to fate .

His vibrancy that drew attention to the dangers of multiple budgets has faded out pretty soon.

Senator Oshiomhole’s caution about how the Senate might be viewed at all times has also diminished.

Senators Abdul Ningi, Kawu Sumaila , Tony Nwoye ,Ireti Kingibe, Ned Nwoko, Enyinnaya Abaribe etc appears have given up and perhaps joined train than only leads to further plunging of the Senate’s left image .

Since inauguration ,the 10th Senate has not called the executive to explain the skyrocketing cost of living and the state of squalor in the country .

Insecurity in Nigeria particularly the attacks by herdsmen on innocent farmers requires more decisive actions of the Senate beyound motions .

While motions are a tool of the parliament , the 10th Senate has not summoned the courage to invite the relevant bodies saddled with the responsibility of bringing this menace to an end.

Resolutions of the Senate are not binding , but where lives of the ordinary citizens are been wasted daily , the resolutions of the Senate must come with conditions that are either met of recommendations for sacking of heads of those institutions are proposed immediately to send the signals that it won’t be business as usual .

Infact , whereas the constitution states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary responsibility of Government , it suffices that where a government fails in that regard, it constitutes gross violation of the grand norm and the consequence of such behaviour is known to the Senate .

The quick calls for executive sessions by committee chairmen of the Senate are just meant to discuss how to further shortchange Nigerians .

While it can be understood that certain security matters are better discussed in closed sessions, such matters can only be justified if they have to do with security strategies .

Committees of finance , petroleum , gas , public Accounts , customs , CBN etc calls for closed sessions have non-business with closed sessions because there is no basis for that , other than perfect ways of shortchanging the people.

Incidentally , the 10th Senate committees have broken the closed-door sessions since return to democracy in 1999.

The disaster is that after the closed sessions , Nigerians have no-idea of what was discussed and there is no-action that suggests an execution ,worse all is the the situation remains the same and in most times takes a negative geometric progression.

The 10th Senate avoids debates that seeks to call the executive to order, but what the Akpabio Senate fails to understand that all presidential systems of government have the tendency of dictatorship , what slows it down or hurts such tendency is a vibrant Senate that stands to ensure that checks and balances are provided without compromise .

The idea is not to advocate for an unnecessary confrontation , but a constructive engagement that provides the boundaries of separation of powers and integrity of the Legislature as an arm of the government that shares more closeness with the electorates .

The behaviour of this Senate clearly sends that signal that it’s existence is of no-use to democracy .

The willingness to endorse all executive actions is a potential danger to democracy and rule of law as currently happening .

The Senate has had the likes of Senate President Ken Nnamani , David Mark , Bukola Saraki who stood for the people and stopped certain executive actions that defies all democratic logics.

Democracy did not collapse , rather it was strengthened; what is obtainable today is taking the country many years backwards.

The 10th Senate may have chosen the path of irresponsibility and insensitivity to further destroy the Nigerian democracy , a sad commentary that only fantasies the Senate; but the consequences of surrendering it’s legislative rights and powers to the executive as a strategy for the Senate President to survive is not only illogical , it is also a breathtaking shame that will forever adore the pages of history and posterity .