President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not read Godswill Akpabio’s script on how to play vengeful politics. After Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan served out her six-month suspension by the Akpabio-led Senate, the former Akwa Ibom State governor has effectively shut Natasha out of the red chamber with his astonishing and dangerous stance.
Just when you think Akpabio will halt his dishonourable brand of politics, he digs deeper into infamy. Denying Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan a return to the Senate on the grounds that the suit she instituted to challenge her unusual suspension is yet to be ruled on is a new low. According to the instruction given the Clerk of the Senate, the suit must be ruled on by the judge before she can return to represent her people of Kogi Central senatorial district. In effect, Akpabio, Nigeria’s number one lawmaker and third ranking citizen, has effectively ended Natasha’s time in the Senate.
If he could ensure that the challenge of her suspension never got heard until the suspension ended, ensuring that the suit remains in limbo even after 2027 is a piece of cake for the wannabe dictator who is now Senate President.
That Tinubu admitted that his emergency declaration on Rivers State attracted “over 40” litigations, yet he recalled Fubara after the initial six months shows that he is a learner where Akpabio is. The Senate President had to contend with just Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s litigation. And that was enough for him to wield his dubious big stick. The suit must first be dispensed with before his senate considers recalling Natasha to her seat and represent her people. To the head of the federal legislature, he is merely in a game of muscle flexing to deal with someone he considers a “small girl” who dared to stand up to him.
Apparently, he could not wait until 2027 when the term of the 10th National Assembly would elapse. He has a game plan to keep her away from the red chamber well before their term is over. It does not have to be through fair means. What is game to him has wider implications than his ego-driven venture. As Nigeria’s number three citizen, democracy, growth and its survival are dependent on the actions and pronouncements of highly placed leaders as the Senate president. When the building and strengthening of institutions are said to be the bedrock of democracy, the actions of people like a Senate president are the main parameters.
Political morality is anchored on the fidelity of the political elites to not just the laws, but the spirit of the laws that chart the growth of political institutions. Akpabio failed miserably on this score, allowing his ego to get the better of him. That is the essence of social ethics. The profound effect is captured succinctly by Qamar Rafiq, Pakistani human rights advocate, in his statement.
“The demise of our social ethics under the debris of political dirt has revealed over the time the public goods of prosperity or progression are nothing but a fairy tale”, Rafiq said.
In brazenly insulting the psyche of Nigerians in his treatment of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, Akpabio sent a distinct message to the people. How do you punish a co-equal who, like you, came to represent her people, impose an unprecedented six-month suspension, ensure the legal challenge of the sanction was never heard and after the expiration of the punishment turn around to use the inaction and complicit attitude of the same judiciary to further alienate a whole senatorial district? The message is clear: democracy has been sold, hijacked and serves only the privileged.
If Akpabio and his fellow travellers do not know it, confidence in the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and, by extension, the legislature itself as well as the machinery of government have waned tremendously, much lower than what obtained prior to the 2023 general polls. The three arms of government, especially the National Assembly, have not dressed themselves in sterling colours. It seems lost on Akpabio and his colleagues that our democracy is still at its nascent stage. What they do today will to a large extent define the trajectory of the nation’s democratic journey.
Unfortunately for Akpabio, while Nigerians know the buck stops on Tinubu’s desk, they know he heads a co-equal of government. He is not the first person on the job. Before him, Ken Nnamani presided over consideration of the failed move to grant a third term to then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Despite his latter day denial, Obasanjo knows Nigerians know he earnestly wanted a third term. But Nnamani used his leadership of the National Assembly to put every senator in the box. Every senator was required to speak for himself with his famous “answer your father’s name” proclamation. There was no voice vote as Akpabio opted for during his conduct of vote over the emergency rule proclamation in Rivers State. It was a monumental false call by Akpabio that irretrievably dented his democratic credentials. His dubious way of trying to deny Akpoti-Uduaghan further sitting in the senate has cemented his name in the register of ignominy in the fourth republic. He can only succeed in mitigating his poor leadership in a once in a lifetime opportunity as senate president if he retraces his step when the red chamber reconvenes on October 7. The damage is irredeemable for Akpabio.
*Editor’s note:*
This column came in before the news that Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s office was unsealed today and that she gained access to her senate office.
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