Dogara: The challenge of maintaining a bipartisan House

BY KEMI YESUFU

After a six-week break, the House of Representatives reconvened on Tuesday. If the green cham­bers where the House holds its plenary sessions smelled of damp air and the seats were covered with sprinklings of mould, due to a lack of use, majority of the lawmakers who resumed for the business of legislating were lively and an­imated.

Top on the list of those who walked into the green chambers with a spring in their steps, was no other person than the Speak­er, Honourable Yakubu Dogara. Dressed in flowing white agbada with a cream cap to match, Dogara, who was accompanied by other principal officers, took a little more time to greet his colleagues, welcoming them back to work. On the day, it was quite obvious that the House is enjoying relative peace. Having dealt with its leadership issue as the only storm ahead might arise when it’s time to allocate committees, Dogara went straight to the business of presiding over the House on the day of resumption with peti­tions and motions raised by members han­dled in a convivial atmosphere. As expected, he seized the opportunity to subtly reiterate his commitment to the promise of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to con­duct the affairs of government in a changed way. In his welcome address, the Speaker scored the House high, promising that issues close to the heart of Nigerians which led to the choice of APC at the center would form the nucleus of the House’s legislative philos­ophy.

Indeed, Dogara’s speech sounded very much like the executive summary of the 21-page Legislative Agenda developed for the House by a coalition of governmental and non-governmental organisations. The Speaker told his colleagues that the dire need to deal with corruption, terrorism and a strug­gling economy will be the guiding philoso­phy for the lower house. He said: “Our con­stitutional mandate of making laws for good governance has been narrowed to specifics by prevailing realities: we are confronted by endemic corruption; widespread debilitating poverty; mass unemployment; crass inse­curity aggravated by terrorism manifesting in insurgency, kidnapping and vandalism; a fledging democracy encumbered by weak institutions and above all an ailing economy. In the task to free our country from these challenges and vices there shall be no com­promise. Such is the magnitude of the task before us, deserving total commitment and urgency. Now therefore is the time to prove that we not only appreciate this but that in­deed we possess the capacity and will to ex­ecute our mandate. We must come out deci­sively to facilitate the war against terrorism and insurgency, the war against corruption and the war against kidnapping and van­dalism. We must adopt definite legislative measures in aid of job creation, poverty al­leviation, revamping our economy through diversification and growing our institutions to cultivate and stabilize our democracy”.

Dogara went on to hail the armed forces for its recent victories even as he sought a more effective approach for dealing with killings recorded in the North-Central zone and kidnappings in other parts of the coun­try. His words: “In the face of the successes against insurgency, certain infractions on our internal security give cause for concern. I re­fer to the mass killings in Plateau and Benue states as well as the spate of killings and kid­napping in other parts of the country which could escalate if not nipped in the bud. May I therefore call on our security agencies to rise to the challenge now. I need not reiterate that the security of lives and property remains the primary purpose of government under our constitution”.

The importance of legislating for the peo­ple notwithstanding, for many, especially reporters who watched from the gallery, the high point of Dogara’s address was his take on the travails of the Senate President, Sena­tor Bukola Saraki. All the while the Speaker who spent most part of the break overseas, kept his opinion to himself. Like Saraki, Dogara was a member of the “New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)”. But before Tues­day, he chose the path of caution, probably not wanting to draw the ire of his party and its supporters who are hyped by the Senate President’s arraignment at the Code of Con­duct Tribunal (CCT), pointing to the high profile case as part of the promised change.

Dogara, while commending Saraki for submitting to the Code of Conduct Tribu­nal, however, asked that all give the Senate President the benefit of doubt. The grateful Speaker who understandably is reluctant to get the House involved in the battle of wits between the Saraki, the presidency and the APC, also commended his colleagues for not commenting on the dramatic happen­ings. This is as he sighted the decision of the House to look into the report of the Ad Hoc committee on Code of Conduct for Mem­bers as a pointer to the choice for decorous conduct by Reps. Dogara also threw his weight behind President Muhammadu Bu­hari’s most discussed intervention so far, the Treasury Single Account as it would greatly reduce corruption in the public sector. “The barometer of the polity has been on the rise of late because of certain developments concerning the arraignment of the President of the Senate. While commending the Pres­ident of the Senate for submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the recognition that no person is above the law. I wish to caution that there is need for great circumspection in times such as this in order to maintain proper focus in pursuit of the common good. In this re­gard, I wish to commend you, my dear col­leagues, for the maturity of avoiding further escalation through media commentaries”, he stated.

“The introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy is also a commend­able measure. Over the years, the problem of uncontrollable revenue leakages constituted a cause for serious concern to the legislature and public finance management in general. It is hoped that this new policy will substan­tially deal with the issue of revenue leakages and accountability”, he added.

But not too long after his speech, the reps elected under the platform of the main op­position, the PDP showed that they equally returned to the House prepared to play their role. The opposition lawmakers shot down a motion to investigate the alleged non-remit­tance of funds by Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Sponsored by Hon. Chike Okafor, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Imo State, it was alleged that Federal Government agencies in recent years have mismanaged issues of tax remittance and engaged in unapproved spending of funds which should have been paid into the Federation Account. First to pick holes in the motion was Hon. Edwin Pwajok, PDP, Plateau State. His point of or­der was followed by another one from Mi­nority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor. Relying on sections of the Constitution and the Estab­lishing Act of the NEC, Pwajok faulted the basis of the motion moved by Okafor.

He sought the leave of the House to have the motion stopped from being read and de­bated on the floor of the parliament. In the motion as listed on the Order Paper, Okafor sought to bring to the attention of the parlia­ment that allegations have been raised that the sum of $4 billion was paid as taxes and dividends by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNGL) between 2009 and 2014 without the sum reflecting in the ac­count of the government during the Good­luck Jonathan administration. In a surprising response, Okafor withdrew the motion men­tioning the need to “avoid further controver­sy”.

Again on Wednesday, Ogor in what can be described as another deft maneuver suc­cessfully amended the motion moved under matters of urgent public importance by Hon. Raphael Igbokwe on Nigeria’s 55 years of independence. Igbokwe’s motion was debat­ed passionately by members and when Ogor started by paying glowing tribute to past leaders of the country and those who have contributed to sustaining the democracy, no­body saw his call for the Speaker to speak with Buhari on the Senate President, com­ing. He called for a “political solution” to Saraki’s trial. Ogor who said the legislature is the fulcrum of Nigeria’s democracy hence the importance of protecting it from outside aggression, warned that it was Saraki’s turn now and it could be any other person’s turn next time. Speaking to Dogara, he said: “May I therefore challenge you because today the major responsibility lies on your shoulder, as the hour has come that no matter how right or wrong, for a political solution to whatever is happening to our great institution”.

Though some would dismiss Ogor’s ex­planation that his call is patriotic and not a case of his playing opposition politics, he has supporters among his PDP colleagues who argue that Saraki needs to be protected. One of them is Hon. Oghene Egoh, representing Amuwo Federal Constituency of Lagos. “What the Minority Leader was saying is that heads of institutions should be respect­ed. Saraki is the chairman of the National Assembly so for him, it is quite unfortunate that he is not covered by immunity like the number one and two in the executive. He is not talking about Saraki as a person but the institution he represents, that if he is dis­graced. Nigerians will not have respect this institution”.

Despite the emerging battle of wits be­tween the APC and the PDP in the green chambers, Egoh says lawmakers are united in the move to do things differently . “The Speaker made it clear yesterday (Tuesday) that we need to support the president in all areas including the fight against corruption. He has put his legislative agenda down and the statement he made on resumption is in consonance with the legislative agenda he put down. Neither of the three arms of gov­ernment can run the nation alone. So, we need to cooperate”, he posited. Assurances from the PDP Reps notwithstanding, it is not a done deal. It is glaring that the PDP lawmakers are poised to play the opposi­tion effectively. Suffice to say the success of Dogara’s speakership as well as how far his legislative agenda is adhered to depends largely on how well he makes the House work on bipartisan lines.

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