The Mace(y) Theft on Idle Youths
As is usual in Nigeria, last week proved to be a most eventful one. Certainly, what with legislative invasions, stolen Maces and a Presidential declaration to the world, that Nigerian youths are uneducated, idle, good-for-nothing layabouts, waiting for ‘free bees’.
A Presidential ‘Faux Pas’
I cannot but say a few words about the ‘faux pas’ (blunder) made by President Buhari, while addressing the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster last Wednesday. I refused to believe it, until I watched the clip of the session myself. He
said “More than 60 percent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school, and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing,
healthcare, education free”. Does he have to use the word ‘lazy’, before we know meaning of what he said? General Buhari said worse as Military Head of State. Have we forgotten Fela’s song B.O.N.N. ‘Beast of No Nation’, which he released subsequent upon General Buhari’s reference to his people as “useless, senseless, and indisciplined” preceding the launch of the “War Against Indiscipline” drive? His media team has since ‘spurned’ the reports, to claim that he was incorrectly quoted or his words were twisted. Whatever! E ma pe aja lobo fun wa (Don’t call a dog a monkey to us)!
This incident recalls another gaffe, which took place in 2016, also in the UK, when the President reportedly agreed with a journalist, that Nigeria was “fantastically corrupt”. While it is undeniable that corruption does indeed exist on a grand scale in Nigeria (like in other countries of the world), it is surely a disservice to a country which one claims to lead, to engage in such public self-hatred. What away to attract foreign investment/ boost investor-confidence. More like effectively de-marketing one’s own country! It seems that our President finds it easier to “diss” and run down his people to the world, than to take the blame and responsibility for his Administration’s gross inadequacies and failures. He failed to mention at that forum, that the Nigerian Government only allocates about 7% of its national budget to education, instead of UN recommended allocation of 26%.
There is a common perception, that this Administration ‘takes the cake’ in not only appointing people ‘of blessed memory’, but giving geriatrics appointments into supposedly ‘juicy’ public offices. Obvious examples are, our Ambassador to the USA, 82- year old Rtd. Justice Sylvanus Nsofor, as well as our High Commissioner to the Court of St. James, (the UK), Rtd. Justice Adesola Oguntade, who is 78. Younger Nigerians - such as our Ambassador to Germany, 51-year old Yusuf Tuggar - seem to be the exception, rather than the rule. In the circumstances, one can justifiably wonder, why Government chooses to fill appointive posts, with people who are well past their prime, while overlooking capable, younger and more vibrant Nigerians who can deliver the goods? Beyond the much-touted N-power programme, how many meaningful job opportunities has the Buhari Administration created or offered to Nigerian youths, which they rejected, so as to justify their mass characterisation as an idle lot?
Breach of Legislative Chamber and a Stolen Mace
Last Wednesday, Nigerians (and visiting Ghanaian Lawmakers at the National Assembly (NASS)), were treated to a ‘show of shame’, as thugs invaded the Senate Chamber, and made off with the Mace, the symbol of the Senate’s authority. Throughout the world, no Parliament sits without its Mace. Good thing a spare Mace was available in the Senate, doubly frustrating for the thieves, as their apparent objective - to obstruct, disturb and halt the Senate proceedings – went unrealised. The Mace was reportedly found, later the same day, abandoned under an Abuja bridge.
The recently suspended Senator Ovie OmoAgege, was arrested by the Police in connection with the stolen Mace, and was released shortly after, without charge. I will not go into the constitutionality or otherwise of Senator Omo-Agege’s suspension (as this issue was discussed on this page last April, when Senator Ali Ndume was suspended). Although the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act 2018 (LHPPA)
empowers both Legislative Houses to suspend erring members, this provision seems to be inconsistent with Sections 42, 48, 49, 90 and 91 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(1999 Constitution), which entitle every constituency in Nigeria to representation at the National and State House of Assemblies. Even Section 60 of the Constitution, which allows the Senate to regulate its own procedures, is subject to these other constitutional provisions. See the case of DINO MELAYE & ORS v
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, where the Federal High Court held that a Legislator cannot be suspended for more than 14 days.
Isn’t it ironic, then, that the same Senator Dino Melaye, who successfully challenged his indefinite suspension from the House of Representatives in the afore-mentioned case, is now spearheading the suspension of Senator Omo-Agege, for 90 days? This confirms my long-held view, that Nigerian politics is almost wholly one of selfinterest, where we reverse our views, utterances and decisions recklessly, depending only on our present circumstances and the (personal) benefits on offer. In other words, ours is, by no means, a politics of ideology.
I do not for a moment, presume to hold brief for Senator Omo- Agege; being a Lawyer, he is eminently qualified to do so himself. However, this puts him on a higher pedestal, in terms of public expectations of his behaviour and conduct. Lawyer or not, no decent person ought to engage in, or be associated with, thuggery and Mace theft, especially senior parliamentarians, such as the Distinguished Senator. I however, beg to differ from some of my fellow compatriots (including professional colleagues), who have characterised this act of brigandage as Treason. This a clear case of exaggeration – hyperbole.
What is Treason? According to Black’s Law Dictionary Free
Online Legal Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Treason is “The offence of attempting to overthrow the government of the State to which the offender owes allegiance; or of betraying the State into the hands of a foreign power”. Section 37(1) of
the Criminal Code Act similarly provides that “Any person who levies war against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the President or the Governor of a State, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death. Sections
410(1) and 411 of the Penal Code, which are applicable in Abuja, contain a similar definition, as well as punishment, for the offence.
Going by these definitions, it simply beggars belief, how an invasion of one of the two Houses of the Federal Legislature by a few unarmed thugs, can amount to an act of Treason. I submit that, by any stretch of the imagination, it cannot. We do run a Presidential System, made up of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. The President, is the overall head of the Government. To seize the Mace, ostensibly in order to stop the Senate – just one of a bi-cameral Legislature - from sitting, cannot, I submit, amount to Treason.
The LHPPA
By virtue of Section 14 of the LHPPA, no stranger may enter either of the two Federal Legislative Houses, without the permission of the Senate President or the Speaker. Anyone who gains entry without the requisite permission, and refuses to leave, is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N50 or 3 months imprisonment or both. Sections 16
(b) and (c) of the LHPPA, also provide that any stranger who interferes with or resists or obstructs any officer of a Legislative House while in the execution of his duty or who creates or joins any disturbance which “interrupts or is likely to interrupt the proceedings of that Legislative House while it is sitting”, is guilty of an offence punishable in each case with a N100 fine or 6 months imprisonment or both; I posit that the hoodlums have committed these three offences.
By virtue of the LHPPA, these hooligans face up to 15 months imprisonment and N250 fine each, and possibly other sanctions under relevant provisions of the Penal Code, for their brazen effrontery, assault on Sandra Davou, a Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, possibly criminal damage of some of the Senate’s chairs and theft. In the case of Senator Omo-Agege, Section
22 of the LHPPA bars him, while he remains suspended from the Senate, from entering the Senate Chamber, and empowers an officer of the Senate to have forcibly removed him therefrom. Of course, he could argue, in his defence for being in the Chamber, that his suspension is unconstitutional. We must also concede, in all fairness to him, that if Senator Omo-Agege was involved in the conspiracy to steal the Mace, only a court of competent jurisdiction can determine that, having had the opportunity to evaluate all the evidence before it. Although Section 2 of the LHPPA confers on Senator Omo-Agege some immunity from criminal prosecution while he is in the Senate Chamber, this provision however, applies to utterances, and does not extend to cover the instant situation.
A ‘Fishy’ Affair
The entire Mace affair does seem a little fishy, to say the least, given the subsequent turn of events, in the aftermath of the theft. This is because, having entered the Senate Chamber apparently accompanied by the thugs (as is evident in the video clip of the incident), Senator Omo-Agege, a Buhari apologist, seems to have been let off the hook rather lightly, following his apparent arrest by the Police. How? Because, he was promptly released without charge. He has since procured an order from the High Court of the FCT, Abuja, restraining the Police and the DSS from arresting him, pending the determination of the case which he filed, apparently post- haste, in respect of the sordid events of that inauspicious day.
Questions
Could there be some sort of conspiracy brewing in the Senate, to unseat its Leadership, especially as it is fast gaining a reputation for high-handedness, dictatorial tendencies, and lack of tolerance for dissension? Why do the Executive and Legislature have an aversion to dissent? What is Democracy without dissent? Did the Mace thieves, believe that the Senate was sitting to consider the ‘election sequence’ agenda (which the 1999 Constitution permits them to), and so decided to disrupt their activities that day? Since President Buhari did not fail to sing the praises of his Administration and its so-called achievements at the Westminster forum, why are his supporters so afraid of the election sequence changing, if they are convinced that this Government has done well, and is popular with Nigerians? Would it matter if the Presidential election was first or last? Likewise, if the NASS have also performed well, and are popular with their constituents, why the hullabaloo about election sequence? Above all, one must seriously question the security apparatus of the NASS. How were those hoodlums, even able to gain access into the NASS, when not only do you have you be checked and re-checked to gain admittance, your destination in the NASS must be confirmed? It certainly doesn’t add up.
“... IT SIMPLY BEGGARS BELIEF, HOW AN INVASION OF ONE OF THE TWO HOUSES OF THE FEDERAL LEGISLATURE BY A FEW UNARMED THUGS, CAN AMOUNT TO AN ACT OF TREASON. I SUBMIT THAT, BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION, IT CANNOT”