Second Republic governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa has said that with the lingering crisis in the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, cannot offer Nigerians the desired change.
He said the leadership tussle in the federal legislature had put Buhari and the APC apart, and likened the president to a leader presiding over a house and country on fire.
The eminent politician feared that if Buhari and the APC failed to unite and end the confusion in the National Assembly, it would lead to a constitutional crisis because the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which is the minority party, would take over the leadership of the legislature.
In an exclusive interview with Nigerian Pilot in Kaduna at the weekend, Balarabe Musa said if the PDP takes over the National Assembly leadership, there would be a constitutional crisis because it was illegal for a minority party to be in charge of the legislature.
He said: “I think the president should intervene if the party cannot get the loyalty of the senators in this matter. And that is difficult because these senators are PDP lawmakers. The PDP senators fully supported and elected Senate President Bukola Saraki and not the APC, who were having a meeting somewhere else when the National Assembly was being proclaimed.
“Then, the president will have no alternative but to stay neutral but he cannot afford that luxury because his house (the whole country) will be on fire. This crisis is equivalent to his (Buhari) house being on fire. He would have to intervene and if he does and it fails, then it is a more serious matter because who else will intervene and solve the problem?
“If the party and the president intervene and does not succeed, then it means the PDP has taken over. And that will be constitutional crisis because the PDP is not constitutionally entitled to run the Senate. The regulations of the Senate arising from the constitutional power say the party with the majority senators will have the Senate president. But is that what it is now?”
Balarabe Musa noted that the APC, after defeating the PDP in the last election, underrated or underestimated the party, adding that “this is responsible for the tight corner it has found itself.”
He declared that the APC made a big mistake for thinking that after defeating the PDP the opposition party would go to sleep.
According to him, “Anybody who before or even after the election thinks he can underrate and underestimate the PDP is making a serious mistake. This PDP is made up of the most experienced politicians in the country; forget about the moral aspect. It consists of the most experienced politicians who have been in the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, National Party of Nigeria, NPN, National Republican Convention, NRC and PDP. They are the same class of people. They have been in power longer than anybody. They are the richest group of Nigerians. In spite of its moral aspect, the PDP is still the most national political party in the country. You can’t defeat such a party and feel that all is well.
“In any case, the APC knows that they are not in control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is their (PDP) members who elected the leadership of the National Assembly, so you can’t underrate them,” he said.
Balarabe Musa also expressed doubt over the possibility of the government of President Buhari bringing about the qualitative change Nigerians look forward in the country, saying “Nigerians shouldn’t expect any change from Buhari if the NASS crisis lingers on. The crises is not only rocking the National Assembly but also giving doubt about the change we are expecting. It is giving doubt about the quality of the change we are beginning to experience.
“Well, you see there were strong aspirations for things better. For a qualitative change but the situation arising from the NASS is not a good thing for the party, the image of the National Assembly and even for the country. If there is no good working relationship among the NASS, the party in power and the Executive arm of government, we should not expect any change.
“These three have to work together under the leadership of the party. But this is threatened. The APC members of NASS could not accept any guidance from their party which nominated them to contest the election in the first place. And eventually, this lack of coercion between the NASS and party will translate into lack of synergy between the Executive and the NASS and eventually will affect the country,” he stated.
-Nigerian Pilot
