Recall Vanguard had in its December 17, 2017, edition asserted
that the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja to send
the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, back to the Code of
Conduct Tribunal, CCT, chaired by Danladi Yakubu Umar, had set the
stage for another round of high-wire politics in the polity.
That assertion, which was influenced by the knowledge of the
narratives and dynamics of the matter, has become prophetic today
with the news that both the Prosecution and Defence would be in
court on February 6, 2018. The tribunal had earlier
discharged Saraki of the entire 18-count charge, but the Court of
Appeal reversed the decision and asked him to return to the
tribunal to defend himself on three out of the initial 18
counts.
The tribunal had fixed the date based on an application filed by
the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacob (SAN) seeking for a trial
date. As if bent on further rupturing an already messed
up wound, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, just on Thursday, filed a two-count charge
against the chairman of the tribunal.
Interestingly, the question this raises is:
How can a tribunal chairman with a two-count
charge bothering on bribery be expected to give a fair
judgment in a matter involving his accuser? As it was
with the case against Bola Tinubu in 2011, there are very
strong indications that this litigation too would end up as a
fool’s errand. Needless to say that from the emergence
of Saraki as Senate President, his travails in the hands of his
traducers have known no limits. However, the
unproductive nature of the political schemes, particularly its
continued overheating of the polity, seems totally lost on the
pushers of the agenda.
Pursuance of political power
The reactivation of the matter has further raised the stakes in
an issue widely viewed as politically driven. Though some may
disagree with that, it is definitely so for two
reasons.
First, executive/legislature relationship in this dispensation
has been marked by mistrust, despite all attempts at making it look
healthy. Thus, the case would, in some ways, bring the
old rivalry back to life.
Second, the central character, Saraki, is regarded
as one of those, who could make or mar the chances of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid.
These identified reasons, Sunday Vanguard observed, produced a
nexus between an alleged impeachment plot against the Senate
leadership and the revival of the case at the CCT.
In stable climes, the aforesaid may not be considered a weighty
argument. But this is Nigeria where anything is right in the
pursuit of political power in a manner reminiscent of Nicholo
Machiveli’s advice on the ruthless use of power to achieve
political results.
Ruthless use of power
Without prejudice to any form of merit being ascribed to the
case, findings by SundayVanguard revealed that the steam the matter
has gathered lately is not unconnected with the strategies employed
at suppressing any hindrance to the President’s re-election.
In doing so, it was learnt that the geopolitical zones of origin of
perceived targets were considered – a situation where the names of
Saraki and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, prominently
popped up.
The plot, a source told Sunday Vanguard, is to closely watch and
checkmate the duo as soon as possible.
The source said the group had been able to use some northern
governors to hold Tambuwal down, adding that the pro-Buhari group
sees Saraki as the most difficult opposition it may contend with in
the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In the judgment of the group, Saraki’s firm grip of the Senate
at a time like this is such that demanded that he is
checkmated.
Provocative happenings
In fact, some recent happenings in the National Assembly, NASS,
were gathered to have been unpalatable by pro-Buhari groups.
Prominent among the provocative events was the Senate’s decision
to cut short the recess of members of its Committee on Petroleum
Downstream to investigate the fuel scarcity that marred the Xmas
and New Year periods. Such intervention which is an
oversight function was viewed to have portrayed the executive as
not being alive to its primary function as enshrined in the 1999
constitution. Also, the lambasting of the executive by
senators during its January 17, 2018, plenary over the freighting
security situation in the country, was also found to have been
taken by the group to be anti-executive.
Apart from the debate, the Sen Ahmed Lawan-led Senate Adhoc
Committee had also visited Benue State over the security
situation.
Considering that these happened when the executive seemed to be
dithering, the interventions projected the legislature as more
responsive than the executive arm of government.
Another development was penultimate Tuesday’s amendment of the
Electoral Act by the House of Representatives which readjusted the
2019 election timetable in a manner that Presidential election
would come last.
It is believed that the Senate would also pass the proposed
amendment and that if Saraki and Dogara put their minds to it, they
could get their colleagues to override any presidential veto on
it.
Override any presidential veto
With the new order of election, the President’s re-election bid
could be jeopardy.
Considering that APC’s sweeping victory at the last general
election, was further made possible by the bandwagon effect that
resulted from Buhari’s victory, the action of the House was simply
seen as harmful to the party’s 2019 prospects. Simply put, the
position of the House was seen as being capable of undermining the
party’s re-election bid. Hence, the notion that the issue
has further opened more battlefields for the pro-Buhari group and
invariably dragged the Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara into
the ranks of perceived antagonists.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that when reference was made to a
decision of the Appeal Court on whether the legislature could fix
the order of the election. But it was revealed that what the court
said the legislature could not do is to fix the date of elections
which is an administrative decision of an electoral empire. As for
order of elections, the court did not feel the legislature had gone
beyond its powers.
Perceived hindrances
It was reliably gathered that the group had since launched a
counter attack. The first was the series of meetings convened by
the proposed Director-General of Buhari Re-Election Campaign
Committee, BRECC, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, with former members of the
National Assembly, serving senators and some political leaders on
how best to handle perceived hindrances. The meetings whose
graphic details were reported to the Saraki team were exposed on
the floor of the Senate by Senator Isa Misau from Bauchi State in
his contributions to the debate on the Benue Killings.
Nonetheless, these counter-moves, SundayVanguard was told were
found not to be yielding desired results given what was described
as the unpopularity of the minister among senators.
This perceived inefficacy of the strategies, it was learnt, may
have informed the announcement by the CCT that following the Court
of Appeal decision that it should retry three of the 18-count
charge against Saraki, the prosecution and the defence should
appear before it.
Since the two parties had actually filed Appeal and cross-appeal
at the Supreme Court, the CCT’s decision came worrisome to
observers, who argued that when a matter is before the Apex court,
all other courts will have no jurisdiction over it.
A swipe at the President
Notwithstanding, it is believed that the tribunal’s announcement
amounted to an embarrassment to the Senate President and a reminder
that the matter is still alive which could be used to make him back
down on his perceived antagonism.
To put an end to what was considered as ridiculing of the
executive, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the pro-Buhari group
immediately after the Senate plenary on January 17, 2018, invited a
few Senators to the Villa. Among those in attendance were
Senator Adamu Abdullahi, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan and
Sen Abu Ibrahim. The aim was to determine why the Senate
President would allow some Senators to openly berate the President
and his administration on the floor of the Senate during a live
broadcast.
The group in their submission identified four Senators who they
said are the arrow-heads of the anti-Buhari sentiment in the
Senate. They are Misau, Dino Melaye, Shehu Sani and Sen. Sabi
Abdullahi.
vanguardngrnews
Recall Vanguard had in its December 17, 2017, edition asserted
that the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja to send
the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, back to the Code of
Conduct Tribunal, CCT, chaired by Danladi Yakubu Umar, had set the
stage for another round of high-wire politics in the
polity.
That assertion, which was influenced by the knowledge of the
narratives and dynamics of the matter, has become prophetic today
with the news that both the Prosecution and Defence would be in
court on February 6, 2018. The tribunal had earlier
discharged Saraki of the entire 18-count charge, but the Court of
Appeal reversed the decision and asked him to return to the
tribunal to defend himself on three out of the initial 18
counts.
The tribunal had fixed the date based on an application filed by
the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacob (SAN) seeking for a trial
date. As if bent on further rupturing an already messed
up wound, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, just on Thursday, filed a two-count charge
against the chairman of the tribunal.
Interestingly, the question this raises is:
How can a tribunal chairman with a two-count
charge bothering on bribery be expected to give a fair
judgment in a matter involving his accuser? As it was
with the case against Bola Tinubu in 2011, there are very
strong indications that this litigation too would end up as a
fool’s errand. Needless to say that from the emergence
of Saraki as Senate President, his travails in the hands of his
traducers have known no limits. However, the
unproductive nature of the political schemes, particularly its
continued overheating of the polity, seems totally lost on the
pushers of the agenda.
Pursuance of political power
The reactivation of the matter has further raised the stakes in
an issue widely viewed as politically driven. Though some may
disagree with that, it is definitely so for two
reasons.
First, executive/legislature relationship in this dispensation
has been marked by mistrust, despite all attempts at making it look
healthy. Thus, the case would, in some ways, bring the
old rivalry back to life.
Second, the central character, Saraki, is regarded
as one of those, who could make or mar the chances of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid.
These identified reasons, Sunday Vanguard observed, produced a
nexus between an alleged impeachment plot against the Senate
leadership and the revival of the case at the CCT.
In stable climes, the aforesaid may not be considered a weighty
argument. But this is Nigeria where anything is right in the
pursuit of political power in a manner reminiscent of Nicholo
Machiveli’s advice on the ruthless use of power to achieve
political results.
Ruthless use of power
Without prejudice to any form of merit being ascribed to the
case, findings by SundayVanguard revealed that the steam the matter
has gathered lately is not unconnected with the strategies employed
at suppressing any hindrance to the President’s re-election.
In doing so, it was learnt that the geopolitical zones of origin of
perceived targets were considered – a situation where the names of
Saraki and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, prominently
popped up.
The plot, a source told Sunday Vanguard, is to closely watch and
checkmate the duo as soon as possible.
The source said the group had been able to use some northern
governors to hold Tambuwal down, adding that the pro-Buhari group
sees Saraki as the most difficult opposition it may contend with in
the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In the judgment of the group, Saraki’s firm grip of the Senate
at a time like this is such that demanded that he is
checkmated.
Provocative happenings
In fact, some recent happenings in the National Assembly, NASS,
were gathered to have been unpalatable by pro-Buhari groups.
Prominent among the provocative events was the Senate’s decision
to cut short the recess of members of its Committee on Petroleum
Downstream to investigate the fuel scarcity that marred the Xmas
and New Year periods. Such intervention which is an
oversight function was viewed to have portrayed the executive as
not being alive to its primary function as enshrined in the 1999
constitution. Also, the lambasting of the executive by
senators during its January 17, 2018, plenary over the freighting
security situation in the country, was also found to have been
taken by the group to be anti-executive.
Apart from the debate, the Sen Ahmed Lawan-led Senate Adhoc
Committee had also visited Benue State over the security
situation.
Considering that these happened when the executive seemed to be
dithering, the interventions projected the legislature as more
responsive than the executive arm of government.
Another development was penultimate Tuesday’s amendment of the
Electoral Act by the House of Representatives which readjusted the
2019 election timetable in a manner that Presidential election
would come last.
It is believed that the Senate would also pass the proposed
amendment and that if Saraki and Dogara put their minds to it, they
could get their colleagues to override any presidential veto on
it.
Override any presidential veto
With the new order of election, the President’s re-election bid
could be jeopardy.
Considering that APC’s sweeping victory at the last general
election, was further made possible by the bandwagon effect that
resulted from Buhari’s victory, the action of the House was simply
seen as harmful to the party’s 2019 prospects. Simply put, the
position of the House was seen as being capable of undermining the
party’s re-election bid. Hence, the notion that the issue
has further opened more battlefields for the pro-Buhari group and
invariably dragged the Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara into
the ranks of perceived antagonists.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that when reference was made to a
decision of the Appeal Court on whether the legislature could fix
the order of the election. But it was revealed that what the court
said the legislature could not do is to fix the date of elections
which is an administrative decision of an electoral empire. As for
order of elections, the court did not feel the legislature had gone
beyond its powers.
Perceived hindrances
It was reliably gathered that the group had since launched a
counter attack. The first was the series of meetings convened by
the proposed Director-General of Buhari Re-Election Campaign
Committee, BRECC, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, with former members of the
National Assembly, serving senators and some political leaders on
how best to handle perceived hindrances. The meetings whose
graphic details were reported to the Saraki team were exposed on
the floor of the Senate by Senator Isa Misau from Bauchi State in
his contributions to the debate on the Benue Killings.
Nonetheless, these counter-moves, SundayVanguard was told were
found not to be yielding desired results given what was described
as the unpopularity of the minister among senators.
This perceived inefficacy of the strategies, it was learnt, may
have informed the announcement by the CCT that following the Court
of Appeal decision that it should retry three of the 18-count
charge against Saraki, the prosecution and the defence should
appear before it.
Since the two parties had actually filed Appeal and cross-appeal
at the Supreme Court, the CCT’s decision came worrisome to
observers, who argued that when a matter is before the Apex court,
all other courts will have no jurisdiction over it.
A swipe at the President
Notwithstanding, it is believed that the tribunal’s announcement
amounted to an embarrassment to the Senate President and a reminder
that the matter is still alive which could be used to make him back
down on his perceived antagonism.
To put an end to what was considered as ridiculing of the
executive, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the pro-Buhari group
immediately after the Senate plenary on January 17, 2018, invited a
few Senators to the Villa. Among those in attendance were
Senator Adamu Abdullahi, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan and
Sen Abu Ibrahim. The aim was to determine why the Senate
President would allow some Senators to openly berate the President
and his administration on the floor of the Senate during a live
broadcast.
The group in their submission identified four Senators who they
said are the arrow-heads of the anti-Buhari sentiment in the
Senate. They are Misau, Dino Melaye, Shehu Sani and Sen. Sabi
Abdullahi.
vanguardngrnews
Read more https://nairalaw.com/how-2019-permutations-fuel-executive-legislature-face-off/