Ending the Presidency/ Senate impasse
Last week Tuesday, the Senate President Bukola Saraki once again spoke on the lingering face-off between the senators and the executive arm of the government over confirmation of nonimees of President Buhari. Saraki spoke in his lecture titled: ‘Separation of Powers and National Security in Nigeria: An Appraisal’, which he presented to Course 26 Participants of the National Defence College (NDC) in Abuja.
Saraki said that each arm of government should be free to do its duties. “But, regrettably, that is not always the case, in practice, in the Nigerian experiment,” Saraki’s Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, quoted him as saying in a statement.
“We, in the Legislature, as representatives of the people, strive to carry out our oversight functions in line with the doctrine of Separation of Powers - because it is our duty as stipulated by the Constitution,” he said.
Two days later, the Senate reiterated its position that President Buhari should sack Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu vowing that failure to do that would allow the impasse over the Senate’s refusal to approve the president’s nominees to persist.
Dr. Abdullahi Sabi, the Senate spokesman, said this while clearing the air regarding the Senate’s suspension of confirmation of Buhari’s nominees.
The Senate President was also not happy that the legislators are often misunderstood by Nigerians: “To one’s chagrin, however, our actions are often misconstrued, because few understand that the Legislative arm of government is not a rubber-stamp, driven from pillar to post by the whims and caprices of another organ of government.”
While the executive arm of the government appears to be unperturbed by this face-off, the National Assembly seems to be rather worried that the executive’s attitude makes little of the significance of their position prompting the Senate President to making a strong declaration asserting legislators’ importance to the nation: “Let all listening to me today note the unassailable position, which is this: the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature are co-equals; none is subordinate to the other.”
This confrontation dates back to 15 December 2016 when the Senate refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the chairman substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on account of a security report sent to the Senate by the Department of State Services, DSS, claiming that Magu failed the integrity test.
Senator Abdullahi Sabi said at that time: “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to inform the general public that based on security reports available to the Senate; the Senate cannot proceed and confirm the nomination of Ibrahim Magu Mustapha as Executive Chairman of EFCC. “Accordingly, the Senate hereby rejects the said nomination and has returned the said nomination to Mr. President for further action.”
Three months later, in March 2017, the Senate for the second time, rejected Ibrahim Magu’s nomination after he was presented again by the president. Two months ago, in December 2017, not minding the long list of uncleared names with the Senate, President Muhammadu Buhari has sought the confirmation of nine nominees as state Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
While we hesitate to apportion blame, we wish to remind both parties that the consequences of their positions are dire and have started manifesting. For example, the last monetary policy meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria was postponed because they could not form a quorum. It is commendable that the Senate confirmed some nominees (such as the ambassadors) notwithstanding the impasse, which gives us hope that the problem can be solved completely. The fact that the ruling party also forms the majority in the National Assembly should make a political solution easy to find.