The call by the All Progressive Congress (APC) on its lawmakers to prevent the passage of legislative proposals over alleged constitutional breaches came under heavy knocks on Friday as reactions trailed the position of the party.
The APC had issued the directive in a communique released at the end of its 8th Interim National Executive Committee Meeting, Thursday in Abuja. The committee had directed its members in the National Assembly to block all legislative proposals, including the 2014 Budget and the confirmation of all nominees to military and civilian positions, pending the resolution of the crisis in Rivers State.
Responding to the directive issued by his party, leader of the opposition in the House, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, said, “Government shutdown or filibustering is nothing new in party politics world over”.
He however said, “The progressive lawmakers’ would not truncate the country’s hard earned democracy. We will do what we need to do to ensure good governance in our country.”
Gbajabiamila further said, When government isn’t shut down and successive budgets have been passed of what benefit has it been to the common man. The end justifies the means and the end in this context being good governance and the means extraordinary measures such as this.”
But the Senate has dismissed the APC threat. Reacting to the directive in a telephone communication with THISDAY yesterday, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who described the decision as dangerous and capable of undermining the cohesive spirit of the Senate, was however quick to express confidence that his colleagues would jettison any party’s parochial instruction and ensure that a sense of national interest prevails.
He further said that the Senate as currently constituted would resist any move by individuals or groups to destroy its sense of patriotism adding that the upper legislative chamber is the conscience of the nation.
“If it is true, it will be dangerous and capable of undermining the much admired cohesiveness of the Senate. I believe the senators will always rise above party lines in consideration of important national issues. We will not allow anybody to destroy the patriotic bent of the Senate. The upper chamber is the conscience of the nation anywhere,” Ekweremadu said.
Also echoing Ekweremadu, Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said such a directive would not work in the parliament that is not ruled by partisan politics. According to him, the chamber had always looked at issues from national perspective and therefore any call to divide it along the fault lines of party affiliation would amount to an exercise in futility.
Ndoma-Egba who also said he would not deliver any judgment against APC over the matter, noted that it was left for Nigerians to judge the character of a party which asked its members to shut down the economy of a nation by frustrating budget passage.
“The Senate is not partisan. It is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Senate has always looked at issues from one prism and it is the prism of national interest. Senators are guided by national interest. I have no judgment to make. It is left for Nigerians to judge. That a party is calling on its members to shut down the nation is quite revealing,” Ndoma-Egba submitted.
Also reacting to the call, an APC senator, Kabir Marafa (Zamfara Centra), said he did not believe that APC which according to him consists of intellectuals and statesmen would give that parochial directive.
Marafa who said he did not attend the National Executive Council (NEC) of APC where that directive was given, noted that upon hearing the news, he had consulted a number of his fellow APC senators whom he said also denied knowledge of the instruction.
He insisted that his party would not have descended so low to give such directive when in actual sense it’s leaders know that the parliament is ruled by simple majority and only the party with the highest majority determines the decision taken. He further noted that APC lacked the majority status to shut down certain decisions such as the one allegedly highlighted by the party in the Senate today.
He said: “I have not received that instruction officially. I only heard of it on a national television and honestly, I have tried to consult with my colleagues and almost all that I called said they were not aware of it. I don’t think the party gave that instruction because APC comprises highly intelligent people of immense experience. So, I don’t think people of such experience could give that type of instruction because each institution has its own peculiar style of operations and National Assembly for instance, is ruled by simple majority.
“You need two-third majority to decide on a number of issues. In the matter of the clearance of ministers for instance, you don’t need two-third majority but as Senate is today, APC does not have the majority status to decide what obtains. So, I don’t see how anybody could give that directive in a party that has former senators and members of House of Representatives.”
To underscore the fact that the directive must have shocked other APC senators, a number of them contacted yesterday either declined to comment on it or completely opted not to pick their calls.
Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial district on the platform of PDP, Senator Smart Adeyemi, said APC’s directive was anti-people.
“The APC has allegedly directed its lawmakers to antagonise the PIB; if it is true, that is most unfortunate for the party that claims to be a progressive; to come out to say that. It is undemocratic, it is unconstitutional, unbiblical and unislamic position by a political party in the history of modern politics.
“For a party to come with anti-people politics and claiming to be progressive; for some of us, in the PDP, we look forward to an opposition that will help in galvanising and accelerating economic activities.”
Also, the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, has condemned the APC directive saying it was tantamount to shutting down the country.
Spokesman of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said, “The most dangerous of the APC’s recommendation is encouraging its members to engage in things that may lead to instability.
“The APC fails to think of the implications of not passing the budget and its effect on Nigerian masses.
“Also, if approval for the service chiefs is not given by NASS because of political disagreements in a state, it may lead to mutiny.
“This recommendation is also coming at a time when Boko Haram is intensifying its activities in Nigeria.
“We condemn this directive in its totality because it is a threat to our democracy.
In its reaction, the labour party described the directive as subversive and unpatriotic.
While addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, National Chairman of LP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, said the party was appalled by the way APC accused the Presidency of complicity and masterminding the political conflict in Rivers state.
We believe that this extreme reaction is subversive to say the least, unpatriotic and insensitive to the fragile nature of Nigeria’s heterogeneous and muLti-ethnic society, he said.
Nwanyanwu said there was no sentiment that will justify any patriotic leader whether in politics or out of it to arouse emotions that have the capacity to threaten the corporate existence of Nigeria.
“We condemn very strongly the extremism and fundamentalism that the APC has come to be associated with. What APC has proposed to do is a recipe for the disintegration of Nigerian state. It is therefore a wind that will blow no one any good.”
He further said, “We call on all patriotic Nigerians to rise to defend the sovereignty of the Nigerian nation. The President must not allow the himself to be intimidated By the mischievous antics of APC political leaders who are so desperate for power that they do not wish to wait for the2015 general election when the Nigerian electorate will exercise their inalienable right to choose their leader at the polls”.
Source: Thisday
