Senate and matters arising
Leaders have always struggled with the balance of being feared and loved, hence the renewed struggle for the balance of forces in the Senate.
Admire or hate him, Bukola Saraki is increasingly becoming a goldfish without a hiding place. His rising persona is symbolic and this is intimidating his critics who are bemused because the qualities of Saraki’s leadership go beyond the hallowed chambers of the Senate.
Though some have said he did so to gain political mileage, Senate President himself has said that his defection from APC to PDP was not an ego trip as being touted in some quarters but a calculated attempt to integrate his people into a national movement via a political party with robust ideology.
He is quoted to have said “While I take full responsibility for this decision, I will like to emphasise that it is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the APC who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist”.
Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, as Speaker of the then House of Representatives, defected from the PDP to the APC on October 28, 2014, and adjourned the House to December 3, 2014 yet he did not lose his seat.
But Saraki has not violated any section of the nation’s constitution, rather what he has done is to ensure the independence of the legislature.
The constitution of this country is very clear that members of the Senate and the House of Representatives can choose from among themselves their own President of the Senate or Speaker (of House of Representatives) without leaning to any political party.
For the avoidance of doubt, section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution permits a legislator to decamp or cross carpet from his original party under whose platform he contested and won election, to a new party if he can show that there has occurred a division or factionalization of his original party, or that his party has merged with another party, or a faction of another party.
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana has already said the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot remove the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki without the required two-third majority of the entire members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
Falana said that even though the defection of the Reformed APC (R-APC) lawmakers was illegal and unconstitutional, the APC “lacks the moral and political right to condemn their defection to the PDP.”
He therefore cautioned against the illegal plot to remove Saraki as the Senate President, lamenting that the crisis of governance in the country “has been accentuated by the official impunity of members of the ruling class.”
The only circumstance in which the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives can lose his seat is provided for in section 50(2) of the Constitution.
It states, inter alia, that the President of the Senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall vacate their offices through a resolution passed by 2/3rd majority votes of members.
Consequently, for Saraki and Dogara to be removed, each of the houses needs 2/3rd majority votes. In the case of the Senate, that is 73 senators and 240 members of the House of Representatives to remove Dogara. That is an impossible task under the present circumstances.
The recent threat is a political vendetta taken too far, political rivalries are further compounding an already worsening situation.
As opposition mounts by the day, the fierce battle of survival of the fittest, the recent impeachment threat will only serve as the needed impetus to boost his political aspirations ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Some chieftains of his former party, in cahoots with others, are moving against him but Saraki is not losing the ability to focus despite distractions.
His commitment to nationhood, growth and development of Nigeria excel in his respective leadership positions within the Red Chamber.
In the face of the seemingly endless assaults at harming his hard earned status Saraki has displayed exemplary authority, and assuaged frayed nerves should be rest assured that any impeachment threat would only be a wild goose chase.
With next year’s election about seven months away, the campaign of calumny against Saraki will no doubt continue to mount.
But Saraki has so far shown a lot of good qualities of an effective leader in the presence of adversity, which explains the success being recorded by him on every front.
Leaders can’t fully discover their strengths and shortcomings without being tested by adversity and how they deal with it is central to who they are and what they will turn out to be.
The Saraki challenge has come too far to be broken by nocturnal politics and no matter the weight of external aggression and gang-up.
Saraki stands tall amongst leaders with political sagacity, have been very proactive working on problem-solving ideas, managing change and responding effectively to complex, open-ended opportunities, and challenges as they come.
The Senate President as a transformation leader exhibits courage to lead by example and has always has been working in a style that will have profound effects on transparency and ethics.
For Saraki, he is in a familiar terrain, he has undoubtedly prepared himself for the onerous task providence has bestowed on him of attending to and proffering solutions to political issues.
Looking at the numbers, APC and PDP stand shoulder to shoulder in the Senate, with each laying claim to numerical superiority. So to achieve the constitutional superiority of 2/3 majority votes to sack Saraki is indeed a tall order.
Whether pen prophets or political clairvoyants have erred or not, the deft political acrobatics at the National Assembly and threats of impeaching Saraki would apparently not work. The planners must go back go to the drawing board, yet still, the odds favour Sen. Bukola Saraki.
Adekojo wrote from Ibadan this piece