The need for a progressive 9th Assembly

The Presidential and National Assembly elections were held on Saturday 23rd February 2019 and it witnessed a large turn out of eligible Nigerian voters committed to exercising their franchise in electing their President and representatives for National Assembly positions.

The keenly contested elections between the two dominant parties in the race (All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP)), resulted in an overwhelming victory for the APC with the people renewing the mandate of its Presidential flag bearer Muhammad Buhari and winning majority of the seats in both chambers of the National Assembly.

The APC having attained this level of success in the process and while allowing the dust of the election to settle, the next critical concern is about getting its acts together to consolidate on its victory thus far as regards direction of the 9th National Assembly and power sharing arrangements. This is highly essential in a multicultural setting that has overtime been enmeshed in protracted cries of exclusion and marginalization by the different groups that make up the Nigerian State.

Accordingly, certain positions of parliamentary leadership are guided by conventions in a multiparty democracy where the majority determines and assume control of leadership in that arm of Government. The pattern of elective representation based on party allegiances made it rather impossible to strike a balance of power equation amongst the 6 geopolitical zones in the past with poor showing from the South East and South South to return representatives from amongst the ruling APC which formed the majority in the two Chambers of the National Assembly.

However, with changes in the pattern of representations from the just concluded elections, there has been significant improvement by the APC from these zones considered hitherto to be strong holds of the opposition PDP, as the APC was able to return some members to the Parliament.

Having acknowledged the foregoing political dynamics that impeded successful balance of power sharing arrangements, within this context, the APC is yet again faced with the challenge of deciding the leadership of the legislature. This is important considering the need for effective arrangement to assuage the cries of marginalization and strike a perfect power balance at the center. This can also be viewed from the principles of separation of powers between the three arms of government and specifically between the Executive and Legislative arm as they operate hand in hand towards ensuring effective checks and balances. It is therefore difficult for any government to make any meaningful developmental strides in the absence of synergy between both organs. This fact is exemplified by the unfriendly relationship between the Presidency and the 8th assembly from the unset of the present administration and the negative impact it has had on governance.

In the quest for continuous improvement in the Governance process and the President’s resolve to run an all inclusive Government. It is desirable for the ruling APC to ensure that the right power balance is achieved in the political equation in addition to having the right people with requisite capacity, competency and loyalty to the Nigerian people to emerge as principal officers of the upper and lower chambers of the 9th National Assembly. The new leadership of the National assembly must be of persons who respect, share the ideals and vision of the party, chosen in line with democratic principles and the need for entrenchment of internal party democracy. Anything short of these would imply that lessons were not learnt from previous experiences.

Another issue that the APC must not ignore is the politics involved in getting things right, thus, the question of who gets what, when and how will definitely be a factor worth addressing. As such, the issue of power sharing should be considered in deciding persons that will lead the legislature. With the President from the NorthWest, the Vice President from the South-West controlling the executive, the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (although not a political office holder) heading the Judiciary from the NorthEast, it will be both equitable and politically wise for the leadership of the legislature to go to the other regions.

Therefore, the APC should seize this golden opportunity to effectively deal with the cries of discontent from the southern region of the country. The party has been making some inroads in the South-South, as mentioned earlier, it is quite evident in the number of total votes that came from the region at the just concluded election, which happens to be a significant improvement from the outing in 2015. This is an opportunity to strengthening acceptability of the APC brand in the region by zoning the Senate Presidency to the SouthSouth.

The leadership of the Senate is substantial enough to ensure the desired inclusiveness, assuage dissatisfaction and improve high sense of belongingness, amongst the people. It will also serve as a unifying factor; something the country desperately needs at the moment.

The North Central zone has been unflinching in its support for the APC, and it has kept faith with the party again. A significant majority of the legislative seats from the zone were won by the APC, this type of loyalty should not be left unrewarded. Accordingly, it will be expedient for the speakership to be zoned to the region while considering the fact that other zones have had their fair share of power distribution at the moment in terms sensitive appointments within the governance hierarchy. Besides, there are ranking members of the house of representatives from the zone who have won reelection on the platform of the APC that can deliver effective leadership in the lower house. This will go a long way in showing appreciation for the support the party enjoys in the North-Central zone.

The president as the leader of the party has a duty to ensure things are done correctly, a repeat of what happened at the beginning of this administration will be unacceptable. It is certain that Nigerians cannot afford another four years of the avoidable drama that played out for the most part of this administration where the legislature was consistently antagonistic to the executive and vice versa. More worrying was the fact that at some point both arms were controlled by the same party, such a situation is unhealthy for our gradually maturing democracy.

Finally, all stakeholders should note that no matter how sincere and well intentioned a government is; it amounts to nothing if it does not translate into improving the wellbeing of its citizens. Consequently, the ruling party has no choice but do things differently, it must consolidate on the victory at the polls by getting things right in the legislature this time around. It is one of the ways the party can achieve its laudable developmental objectives and justify the confidence reposed in it by Nigerians.

Abdulrahman wrote piece from Lagos this