{"id":442618,"date":"2011-06-16T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/16\/challenges-before-mark%e2%80%99s-seventh-senate\/"},"modified":"2011-06-16T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T23:00:00","slug":"challenges-before-marks-seventh-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/16\/challenges-before-marks-seventh-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges before Mark\u2019s Seventh Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Friday, 17 June 2011 00:00<\/span> Abdul-Rahman Abubakar<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Political dynamics and intrigues that characterized the conduct of the 2011 general elections culminated in a parliament with representations from several political parties that is unprecedented since 1999.
\nAt present, about six political parties have lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly. The scenario also altered pre-election permutations, especially regarding zoning of key offices in the Senate. The arrangement in the Sixth Senate was somehow balanced with all the geo-political zones represented in the body of principal officers. There was also balance in terms of religion representation. At that time, the two presiding officers were Christians but six Muslims form part of the ten-man body of principal officers.<\/div>\n

Emerging realities in the Red Chamber are pointing at the possibility of sharp contrast in the composition of the next body of principal officers. With Senate President David Mark and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu back on the saddle, it is expected that the status quo as regards other principal officers\u2019 positions is also maintained not only in terms of region but also religion. The former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin was considered for the post in 2007 basically because he was the only ranking Muslim PDP senator from the South West at that time. The sweeping victory of the ACN in the Yoruba zone has left PDP with no ranking senator, hence the difficulty in assigning the office to the zone.<\/p>\n

That has become part of the problems facing the PDP in selecting its principal officers. The office of the leader is the third most important in the Senate and with the first two already clinched by Christian senators, it will not only be morally right but also in the spirit of equity and fairness to reserve the office of majority leader for a Muslim PDP senator. However, the crisis now is that the Presidency is said to have insisted that the office of Senate Leader be reserved for Senator Victor Ndoma Egba from the South-South zone. Though Ndoma-Egba, a ranking Senator and Senior Advocate of Nigeria deserves the office, the circumstances presently require that compromise may be the name of the game. There are agitations for Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi) to be selected as Majority Leader.<\/p>\n

In sharing the spoils of the 2011 polls, the North East, from where Ningi hails, is yet to clinch any important office in any of the arms of government. As a result, PDP senators from the zone are agitating for the office of Majority Leader. But because the Presidency had earlier insisted on giving the office to Ndoma-Egba, the matter is now generating heat among senators. Lamenting their ordeal, one of the North-East senators said: \u201cWe cannot force them not to do what they want. If they like they should give the office to South South, but what we told them is that they should no longer count on our support during crucial debates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The North East zone is known to have dumped its own son, Atiku Abubakar, during the presidential primaries as well as the contest for Senate Presidency in preference for the party\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

Aside problems on the majority side, the minority parties are also deep in crisis over the selection of their leader. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which has higher number of opposition senators has adopted Senator George Akume from Benue State as Minority Leader. But the decision doesn\u2019t go down well with several minority members of the Senate. Akume is Tiv from Benue and to many senators, his struggle to clinch the minority leadership is to extend the local political rivalry between himself and Mark to the Senate, a situation that could create crisis in the Red Chamber. Akume had waged \u2018war\u2019 against Mark throughout the life of the Sixth Senate after losing the Senate presidency to the Idoma chief.<\/p>\n

A senator who spoke to Daily Trust on Akume\u2019s aspiration said the former Benue governor lacks the political dexterity and capacity to lead a vibrant minority. He said \u201caside that, Akume will only try to destabilize the Senate by throwing up old political rivalry against the Senate President. I know that some people just want to use him for their political gains otherwise when did he join ACN that he will become a leader in the party. He is not even the most ranking and I can tell you that if he is nominated, some of us will raise point of order against his aspiration.\u201d From all indications, the minority side of the Red Chamber is already divided even before full commencement of the session.<\/p>\n

Other than leadership issues, the Seventh Senate is also faced with the poor public rating suffered by the preceding Senate. The Sixth Senate suffered image crisis mainly due to jumbo allowances which the lawmakers approved for themselves. At some point in the life of the last National Assembly, the legislative arm was perceived as the problem of the country\u2019s democracy with many calling for one of the chambers to be scrapped.<\/p>\n

At the moment, former leaders of the House of Representatives are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) partly due to illegal increase in allowances contrary to provision of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). Many believe that the Senate did the same, with senators receiving huge quarterly allowances not backed by law. The presiding officers in the Senate were also believed to be receiving jumbo pay, far above their approved wages. EFCC has come out to say that former Speaker Dimeji Bankole was taking home N400 million annually instead of N8 million approved by law. This was no doubt replicated in the Senate as the Senate President, chairman of the National Assembly, could not have paid himself below the Speaker\u2019s emolument.<\/p>\n

But in his inaugural speech, Mark promised to prune down the allowances of senators. The executive has also shown that it will no longer tolerate the huge spending by the legislature after President Goodluck Jonathan rejected a 100 percent increase in the National Assembly\u2019s 2011 budget. The lawmakers jerked up their provision in the 2011 budget from N112 billion to N223 billion, forcing the President to reject the budget until the allocation was reversed to N122 billion.<\/p>\n

Now, the Senate has the burden of truly leading the way in ensuring that a larger chunk of public funds goes into development of critical projects for the national good.<\/p>\n

The slogan many of the senators, especially Mark used to win re-election was that they were going to ensure creation of more states. For Mark, the chant of Apa State, more than any other issue, influenced the Idoma votes in his favour. The time to deliver on that promise has come. Before the expiration of the last Senate, over 20 groups had presented their demand for state creation to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review. Failure to create additional states will certainly be perceived as yet another deceit. The people are waiting all over the country to see Adada, Edu, Anioma, Ibadan, Tigga, Okura, Gurara among several other new states created. The Senate already said the review of the constitution is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Unlike in 2007 when committees were easily shared based on the election of the presiding officers, this time around the process was through a unanimous vote. Therefore, no senator can be singled out and denied committee chairmanship on the basis of disloyalty to the leadership. In the Sixth Senate, some of the senators that voted Akume during the election never got any important assignment throughout the four-year duration. Some of them never got the chance to even contribute during important debates.<\/p>\n

Contrary to that, there would be so much pressure on Mark and the Senate leadership to appease all the senators because they unanimously bought into the \u2018unopposed\u2019 theory that saw Mark clinch his second term. Even Senator Danjuma Goje that dreamt of contesting has since \u2018apologized\u2019 claiming to have been misled.<\/p>\n

With only about 54 standing committees, the leadership of the Senate is bound to break many hearts. Some senators will certainly not get to head any committee while some will surely fall by the wayside trying to resist the perceived injustice. Hence there will be problem of maintaining cohesion in Mark\u2019s inner chambers. There is already wrangling among senators believed to be the \u2018right hand men\u2019 of the Senate president with all of them fighting for supremacy and recognition. It may not be long before there is an explosion in the team.<\/p>\n

The Senate may have started on a good note with the election of its leadership in a rancour-free manner. But with greater number of opposition parties that are all angling to take over the leadership of the country by 2015, the next four years will certainly not be a tea party for the PDP. The unity of the Seventh Senate would certainly be put to test when controversial executive bills are thrown to debate on the floor. Every Senate has a defining moment and this one is not going to be an exception. Only then, will the people know those among their representatives that would stick to the interest of the public and those that will compromise.<\/p>\n

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