FEARLESS: NOWHERE TO HIDE

Femi Gbajabiamila is fit and proper to lead the House of Representatives, argues

In the Foreword to Femi Gbajabiamila’s 2012 political memoirs entitled,” Fearless: The Emergence of a Virile and Formidable Opposition Leader” Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had this to say ; ‘’Femi is a highly respected legislator and leader in the House. He has earned his stripes by being able to adeptly craft a beautiful mélange of passion, compassion and courage of conviction in the way he brilliantly puts forward arguments and ultimately discharges his duties’’.

In the same book, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal paid glowing tributes to his colleague; ‘’Femi is a stabiliser and a mobiliser and a very humble and true democrat who tackles issues dispassionately. Not only did he conceive the Speakership project, he nurtured it and worked tirelessly and assiduously towards its reality. His role transcended his role as the leader of the ACN Caucus in the House because he so much believed in it that he gave everything, time, money and commitment to its actualisation’’.

Finally, Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN) has this to say of his professional colleague; ‘’Femi is very engaging on the floor of the House and pushes his cases very well. As opposition leader, he has shown a lot of strength. His rejection of the National Honours on grounds of personal principles must also be applauded’’.

I had known Femi as a fellow Member of the 2003-2007 set at the House of Representatives, Abuja especially for his doggedness and patriotism during the anti-third term struggle. I found Femi as I met him, brilliant, hardworking a committed party man to the core and more humble than he has been painted by some critics.

Bespectacled with his slightly grayish hair and his usual sartorial habit of a well-tailored suit, Femi cuts the image of a serious and smart lawmaker.

Even before he became the Minority Leader in the House, the Femi Gbajabiamila I knew when I was a Member of the House was a very active lawmaker. His well thought out and well delivered speeches could sometimes become highly emotional. Of course, he mastered materials quickly. The few times he had walked into a matter or debate on the floor of the House, his intellect and deep reservoir of knowledge had always come to play. His presentations during sittings are as finely constructed and powerfully argued as his set-piece speeches. So awe inspiring and eloquent were his submissions that his colleagues including those on the other side of the political divide rarely had cause to grudge expenditure of time on them.

As the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr. Omolori observed; ‘almost all his arguments and debates have a two prong approach; the moral and non-legal issues before methodically and painstakingly attacking the legal ones using extant law, rule books, common law, judicial pronouncements and the constitution’.

Although a Minority Leader, Gbajabiamila has the uncanny ability to reach across to members of the ruling party during debates on matters of national importance. He has the reputation for sometimes collecting over 100 signatures across party, ethnic and religious lines when moving a motion or a bill for adoption.

Although it is generally agreed that a politician in opposition is free to play around with plans and proposals beyond the reach of those in government, Gbajabiamila is known to be considerate despite the often strident tone of his arguments.

For politicians, loyalty to party (which in practice has to mean the party leadership) is the supreme morality. If this is the yardstick

Wale Okediran

for measuring success, then Femi Gbajabiamila is right on course as a well-rounded politician.

In his letter to Members of the House Of Representatives on why he should be allowed to succeed Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila among other issues referred to the January 2010 impending leadership vacuum created by the absence of President Umar Yar’Adua who travelled to Saudi Arabia for medical help under doubtful circumstances. Consequently, Gbajabiamila was the first and only legislator to move a motion on the floor of the House for invocation of doctrine of necessity that eventually led to elevation of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Vice- President to Acting President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Gbajabiamila also turned down the national award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him on the ground that the abused rewarding system in Nigeria needs reform first. His exceptional record saw him overwhelmingly re-elected in 2007 and elected as Action Congress leader and Minority Whip of the House. In 2011,

Gbajabiamila was re-elected Action Congress of Nigeria leader and leader of the opposition by his colleagues in the House. While in this position, Femi Gbajabiamila revived the role of opposition in the House and maintained a tough stance against the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was the face of opposition not just in the House but the whole National Assembly including the Senate. On many occasions he put his life at risk in his many attempts to hold the government of the day accountable. In this capacity he has also instituted lawsuits against the federal government most recently on appropriation without due approval from the National Assembly and the deployment of the Nigerian military during elections. Over the last 12 years, Gbajabiamila’s legislative focus has covered employee rights, local content in construction, industry, vocational schools, economic stimulus, interest-free students loans and constitutional reform among others.

Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, Chairman, Nigerian Human Rights Commission in his book review article entitled, “Beyond Politics; Civic Memory In Times Of Trouble” observed thus: ‘’ The personality that emerges from a reading of Fearless, defies one word. To be sure, his work does justice to the title of the book. But there is more. It is the story of a man, his provenance, principles and politics. It is also the story of the son of a magistrate who would grow to become magisterial as a legislator; the son of a pioneering female politician who was willing to follow his mother’s foot-steps into public service and, in so doing also altered her political allegiances; of the son of a widow who has strived to never forget where he came from; of the lawyer who was not prepared to suffer on his advocacy skills the singular constraints of the court room even when his talents justly entitled him to the rich rewards that come with forensic distinction

in the court room. It is also the tale of the Muslim from the South West married to the Christian from the Middle Belt. Above all, it is as well the tale of the citizen, loyal party man, caucus leader, constituency representative, and constitutionalist struggling to reconcile these often contradictory roles in the most difficult of environments’’. Dr. Okediran is a former member, House Of Representatives, Abuja and former National President, Association Of Nigerian Authors