CONGRESSIONAL INTRIGUES: A CALL FOR PATIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE- 2

CONGRESSIONAL INTRIGUES: A CALL FOR PATIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE- 2

PATIENCE

Some folks seem to be developing a surge in systolic blood pressure because they feel that they have not seen any palpable change in the country since the president was inaugurated on May 29^th. They appear to have lost touch with reality and have failed to grasp the length, breadth and depth of the economic and social destruction which have been meted out to this country. A few have recently become aware of the treasonable utterances of an Ojukwu-esque orator and spokesman of a certain Radio Biafra whose sympathizers are still deeply pained and depressed from the fact that a “Northerner” is now the president of Nigeria again. They blame the president solely for the troubles in the National assembly as if he elected every one of them. They suddenly want ministers to appear from the blues despite the fact that the Ahmed Joda led transition committee report was recently received. They want Buhari to dash out of the starting blocks devoid of caution so that they can cry out….false start!!!

Germany- G7 meeting https://dayamisolomonblogspot.wordpress.com

I agree the president should have fired certain criminal elements of the past administration or at least have his chief of staff appointed by now but I am not all that bothered because it will end up being a brilliant choice whenever he or she is announced. It is not as if President Buhari has been visiting West Germany and the African Union with area boys and suicide bombers. I guess people simply censor what they view on the news concentrating of whether the president stood up against protocol while addressing pressmen or not. The nonsense constantly spewed by supposedly young Nigerians against the president and his party is extremely disturbing. The abuse leading up to the polls has not ceased; someone claimed that the APC utilized propaganda and abuse to win the last election when we all know that the constant insults from the president’s wife and his aides against General Buhari played a massive role in Jonathan’s fall from grass to shame. Another fellow while trying hard to make sense of the Jonathan’s woes in the elections said that it was the former president’s naivety which allowed Tinubu to install Tambuwal as the speaker in 2011. These Nigerians are simply amazing.

I published a piece on the 31^st of December 2014 titled “SAI BUHARI: THE EISENHOWER EFFECT” http://jideakej.blogspot.com/2014/12/sai-buhari-eisenhower-effect.html. I went back to read a little bit more about the 34^th American President who was a five-star General in the US army. His cabinet was said to have been devoid of “personal friends, office seekers or experienced government administrators”; those who were so used to a certain system and bureaucracy simply did not get a look in. it is on record that the members of this cabinet were recommended by two individuals; his eventual attorney general and his former deputy in the US army during WWII who was a 4-star General. He is still rated as one of the really good American presidents despite his relative inexperience. This may be attributable to the caliber of individuals he surrounded himself with and the way he interacted with them.

We have a completely warped system of governance in Nigeria that will require radical measures to correct. I am certain the president is interested in appointing those best suited for this action but many Nigerians are still locked up in their narrowed mindsets and blinded by nepotism and other such vices. Some misguided ones are hell-bent on returning Nigeria to the captivity of the PDP cabal and waiting patiently for Nigeria to implode so that Biafra or Lower Niger can emerge from the ashes. Eisenhower in his farewell address to Americans at the end of his second term warned them against the policy and monetary relationship which existed between legislators, the national armed forces and the arms industry. This was termed the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex and he said “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought by the military industrial complex”. He emphasized that only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry could ensure the much needed balance. We may not have this specific complex in Nigeria but what we have is a National assembly committed to ruining the fabric of this nation and directly and/ or indirectly aiding the plunder of the resources of Africa’s largest asset. Why should these over pampered 469 individuals be provided mansions, cooks, newspapers, combat clothes and even hardship allowance when students have no hostels and young girls are taken from their parents? Why should they go on recess with their bank accounts bursting as a result of astronomical allowances when young helpless mothers bleed to death after childbirth and their young ones die because of the lack of basic facilities and utilities inclusive of clean water, and electricity?

Perhaps we should reschedule our elections into the Senate and the House like the mid-term elections in America so that they can be some stability at the outset of any new executive. The president and his crew will come good in time and they will work to curb the excesses of this assembly but will be resisted. The office of the Citizen is the only antidote to neutralize opportunists and gluttons. We have to support the president to do the job he has been elected to do, I believed very early that he was suitable for the job and there is yet no reason to alter my stance. By September 2 1945, WWII was finally over and the Allied forces had defeated the Axis powers despite suffering casualties numbering about five times of what the Germans incurred. The cold war soon ensued and the super powers retreated to their trenches.

I think it is good that the campaign by the Saraki   camp has happened early on in this republic. Whatever has happened is still open to remedy; it would have been terrible if this ship had set sail only for such a rebellion to occur midway. The real enemies are those who are fighting personal battles to fill their pockets and maintain the status quo and they must be resisted. I have not seen or read the bye-laws of the National Assembly and I wonder if the pump and pageantry about the 20 principal offices have any actual constitutional backing in that document or if the lawmakers since 1999 simply formulated their own protocols to pulverize Nigeria and become billionaires. They got away with 3 million naira furniture allowances then; one wonders the value of the other heists they have gotten away with ever since. A few people have posted on several social media platforms that the PDP rarely or never had issues with the appointment of their principal officers. That assertion is not entirely true considering the fact that they had a far more apparent majority in both houses since 2003. However the PDP were notorious for circulating currency to ensure things went their way most of the time; the incumbent president does not seems to be a fan of such measures yet some people have described that as the peak of naivety and inexperience.

Wike www.punchng.com

We have very serious issues to deal with like governors and government appointees being unable to account for months to years of unpaid workers’ wages. A certain governor recently reversed a Supreme Court ruling to confer privileges and benefits accrued to former governors of his state upon an individual whose election was annulled in 2007. Nigerians must be alert and properly knowledgeable; a postgraduate degree and ability to “blow” grammar does not equate common sense. Nigeria was saved from destruction and we have another chance at redemption; let us not waste it because of hate and other primitive sentiments.

j'olee

27/06/2015

  

CONGRESSIONAL INTRIGUES: A CALL FOR PATIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE-1

CONGRESSIONAL INTRIGUES: A CALL FOR PATIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE- 1

Nigeria just before March 28, 2015 was like the infamous RMS Titanic headed for the iceberg which perforated the right flank and exposed her to the cold icy salt water that eventually drowned hundreds trapped onboard as the grand ship sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic. Unlike the Titanic ship whose crew was unable to steer her away in time from the death blow of the floating freezer; Nigeria was saved from exsanguination by a “galaxy alliance” of rebels and villains.

Titanic Model at the Merseyside Maritime  Museum Liverpool. (c)JoleeAkeju21/08/2014

It may be a little over the top if I liken Nigeria under the administration of the recently sacked vandals dominated party to the Third Reich presided over by Adolf Hitler. Within twelve years, a dictatorship fueled by aggressive propaganda controlled practically everything in Nazi Germany and eliminated any political and religious opposition. Adolf “blessed” with great oratory skills (unlike Jonathan) appeared to sedate an entire nation and rode on their “love” to mount his domination project characterized by crushing and harnessing nation after nation. Simultaneously, the Empire of Japan was charging forward in her campaign to dominate Asia and the Pacific; both nations had the same agenda so it was logical for them to join forces. The People’s Democratic Party like Nazi Germany fell under the cosh of an aspiring emperor whose court jesters branded as the best President in Nigeria’s history and likened him to a chromosomal translocation between Mandela Gandhi and Yew King jnr. He was also described as “Jesus Christ” at one time by a false prophet called Bastard.

The persecution of Christians was rampant in Nazi Germany and a similar if not more intense measure was practiced throughout the existence of the Soviet Union. Violence and terror was the tool to crush Christian gatherings and the underlying motive was to break their resolve and spread atheism within their territory. Joseph Stalin reigned over the Soviet Union during the 6 years which the Second World War lasted and he was by no means a saint. By 1939, Hitler’s army had engulfed most of the lands around Germany prompting Stalin to work out an understanding with the Führer in August of the same year. It was a treaty of non-aggression and a commitment not to ally with any perceived enemy of the other garnished with the license to invade Poland, parts of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and parts of Romania in September of 1939.

The Molotov-Robbentrop pact did not last very long as Hitler ordered his Wehrmacht to metastasize into Soviet territory. Hitler’s troops had silenced Poland and France leaving the United Kingdom as the main resistance to the relentless Germans. Water definitely overwhelmed “garri” when Japan took apart Pearl Harbor in December 1941 forcing the United States to upgrade from passive sponsor to active combat duties. A more elaborate Allied force was complete in January 1942 led by 4 super powers; United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China…yes China. This was an alliance of necessity just like the Congress for Progressive Change, Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party and a fragment of the All Progressives Grand Alliance gathered together in an attempt to mount an effective and last gasp challenge to unseat the party which had boasted that they would rule for 60 years.

Would it have made any sense if the British and Commonwealth nations opted to wage the German resistance on their own because of whatever the Soviet Union was guilty of? The eastern sector of the war had to be prosecuted by USSR and China while the other theatres in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and West of Germany required a monster effort from the fusion of the other nations. There was a fracture line visible within the ruling PDP at the time caused by the failure of Jonathan to coexist peacefully with certain influential elements who should be credited with ensuring that he was rewarded with over 22 million votes at the 2011 presidential elections. Patience Jonathan was tormenting her “son” in Rivers while her husband was supporting the reinvention of mathematics which ensured that 16 became greater than 19. Bukola Saraki of the Ilorin Empire voiced his opposition during the fuel subsidy scam and coffins of his alleged misdemeanors as Kwara state governor (2003-2011) and as Director of the deceased Societe Generale Bank (2003) were exhumed. The likes of Danjuma Goje, Saraki and Ali Ndume who were all PDP senators transposed to join forces with the already formed APC to attempt to depose the “keep doing it” president. Does anyone really think that Buhari and Tinubu were foolish to form this hydrogen bond? With the benefit of hindsight, should anyone really be barking that this relationship was naïve and uncalculated?

"Trusteeship of the powerful" https://www.pinterest.com/pin/44684221273060496/

TACTICAL MANEUVER OR MUTINY?

I really am not all that bothered by the recent happenings and combats within the National Assembly. It surprises me that some people claim they are surprised that the members are capable of scheming and undressing one another. I was busy attending to a patient at the Accident and Emergency room of the National Hospital Abuja in October 2007 when I witnessed as anesthetists tried in vain to resuscitate Dr. Aminu Safana who slumped during a house scuffle in defence of the then speaker of the House Patricia Etteh who was eventually impeached. “No be today fight and gidigbo dey start for that mansion”. Something more intriguing is the attempt by more than a few to accurately decipher what it has all been about since the inauguration of both houses. Opinions range from an implosion within the APC to a direct revolt against the “godfathership” of a certain Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Some have indulged in gloating about the delayed fulfilment of Doyin Okupe’s prophecy while a few others have exclusively blamed the president; accusing him of naivety and his Party of lacking democratic ideals. Do they really lack true democratic principles and what is the current struggle really about?

Nigeria’s system of government can be said to have been copied from the model utilized in the world’s grandest democracy. We adopted the presidential system of government for the executive while we also chose their bicameral system of congress but with a touch of terminologies and offices much more popular with the British parliamentary system. When it is very convenient, those in power especially the executive claim privileges which can be equated with or surpasses such enjoyed by the president of the United States. The first in line to succeeding the US president under stipulated circumstances is the vice president who also doubles as the senate president irrespective of whether his party is majority or otherwise in the senate. The next in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed by the president pro tempore (usually the most senior member of the majority party in the senate) and lastly the Secretary of state (Foreign minister in other climes). This pathway of succession does not in any way translate to elevating the offices below the president’s to near equal status with special privileges independent of regulation. They do not have any such offices as deputy senate president or deputy speaker unlike what is practiced in Nigeria. The US congressmen understand their roles and try as best as they can to conform to their respective parties’ agendas a task handled by the elected whips. There are no unnecessary duplication of offices like what is evident on the website of the Nigerian National Assembly where 10 principal officers each for both the 109 Senate and 360 House of representatives are displayed. Perhaps it is the logic of glorifying the three traditional regions and six geopolitical zones of Nigeria that has led to the glamour which has characterized the offices of deputy this and deputy that. It is almost certain that those who would struggle for these largely daycare offices would need to balance numerous equations before gaining the right to occupy the houses, jets, exotic vehicles and full benefits accrued to the holders. One wonders how people forget that it was the same type of election which brought the senior senator for Ebonyi and the junior senator from Kogi into congress; why should any one of them attain superstar status because he suddenly got the license to preside and bang his gavel.

House of Representatives members have visited other nations under the guise of getting training without necessarily imbibing any values to develop our system. In both chambers of the National assembly, the chief presiding officers are supreme and can do just about whatever they please and get away with it. They decide what letter to read and what bill is allowed to get to the floor. In the US, the senate president and the president pro tempore rarely indulge in the actual process of presiding over legislatives duties even though in theory they are the top 2 in line for that duty; the same applies to some extent in the House of representatives. The task of presiding officer actually gets to rotate among junior senators of the majority party in order for them to gain valuable experience. What is ongoing in the Nigerian National assembly is an anomaly. I do not believe that the two presiding officers (Saraki and Dogara) are representing the interest of their party but appear to be deriving their main backing from PDP members and a group of loyal party members. Ali Ndume lost his bid to become deputy senate president to Ekweremadu and he has now been named as the Senate majority leader; I really do not understand how this is an APC leadership problem considering the fact that a group of rogue members have decided to have their way at the expense of the party they claim to belong to instead of decamping. It happens with cancer cells and I suppose a suitable therapeutic regimen could be administered soon or later.

Even though Saraki could have won enough votes to become senate president assuming there was a straight contest against Senator Lawan, it would have been obvious that the APC caucus backing him were in the minority. I believe that it is wrong for any such individual to continue in his pursuit to do as he pleases disregarding the wishes of the party he claims to belong to. There are 60 APC senators to PDP’s 49; I do not believe that at least 30 of those APC members are loyal to Saraki even if we include those who may belong to the camps of Kwankwaso, Goje, Dino Melaye and Yerima. I do not think it is right for Saraki or Dogara to announce principal officers for the APC caucus if such do not have the backing of the majority. It is selfish and should not be accepted by those concerned.  The Republican Party is in the majority in the US Congress and their congressional leaders do their best to ensure that their agenda is promoted irrespective of whatever good intentions and fantastic ideas the Democratic president may have. Nigeria’s presiding officers in the National Assembly should not be seen as antagonists to the intentions of their party.

Saraki lands in Ilorin aboard Presidential jet. http://pulse.ng/local/saraki-senate-president-gets-hero-s-welcome-in-ilorin-photos-id3886999.html

Some have suggested that president Buhari may be in sync with these presiding officers because of his lack of intrusion. I do not know if any of these ones read the press release by the APC caucus of the House after the scuffle and undressing session. It was read by a certain Nasiru Sani Zangon Daura from Katsina who clearly denounced the actions of the speaker. I want to believe that Mr. Daura is most likely a relative of the president, a close one at that. Would he be opposing the speaker while Buhari is in tune with Dogara? I guess I am just seeing things; who knows? I may just be so wrong. If Bukola Saraki is incubating any Presidential ambition, I really do not think he is doing himself any favor.