Lawmakers
As Nigerians gear up for the May 29 handover date to the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari and newly elected governors across the nation, there has been a flurry of activities and heightened political horse trading, mostly occasioned by the new realities thrown up by the outcome of the 2015 general elections.
Conscientious Nigerians have looked in awe at what Nigerian politicians have been showcasing since the announcement of the presidential election that ‘threw up’ the former Head of State, Buhari, as Nigeria’s new president come May 29.
Beginning with the sheer shameful defections from the soon to be former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the infighting and disgusting name calling that has insulted the sensibilities of sane country men by chieftains of the PDP, Nigerian state legislatures decided to add their own peculiar form of absurdity to an already bad situation.
The lawmakers, in their own wisdom, have decided to throw their searchlights on the chief executives of their states in a manner that suggests something sinister, calling or moving for the impeachment of the same governors they have worked with for years at the twilight of their tenures.
As at the last count, about five state Houses of Assembly have either made bold moves for the impeachment of their state governors or muted the idea of sacking their governors. Starting with Ekiti State, with its own peculiar problems, the train moved to Enugu, Niger, Katsina and lately, Bayelsa State, where grapevine sources hinted of a move against Governor Seriake Dickson.
Save for Ekiti and Bayelsa states, all the other states mentioned have governors who are serving out their second terms and have worked with the same state legislatures over the years without any move made against them. This has made many observers wondered what could be the motive behind moves to impeach the governors when they will be bowing out of office in few weeks.
It also baffles many where the resurgent spirit of the lawmakers, who many Nigerians consider as mere appendages of the executive, especially in the states, came from.
For the average Nigerian, there are just too many questions to be asked; what are the governors supposed to do now that they have never done over the years or why are the lawmakers just noticing that their governors have been committing impeachable offences. Or is something or some people actually pushing them to go for the necks of the governors?
Without mincing words, not too many governors in Nigeria may be free of impeachable offences in the real sense of it. In fact more than half of the 36 state governors should have been impeached long before now if we practice true separation of powers and the mechanism for checks and balances are properly followed in this part of the world. But the sad news is that when it comes to states in Nigeria, there is hardly any difference between the executive and the legislature, making the state Houses of Assemblies mere rubber stamps for the executive, who sees nothing wrong in the actions of the executives, no matter how much it impacts negatively on the people they were elected to represent.
Against this background, it may be wise to look more closely into reasons why hitherto docile and rubber stamping Assembly men suddenly found their voices and whether they are fighting a just and workable cause or they are merely on another selfish and self-centred voyage that may lead to nowhere.
As it is expected, every state assemblybthat has moved against its governor has adduced one reason or the other for moving against their governors. Though in most cases, the moves are coloured in public interest, but a closer look at the issues at stake will reveal a deeper “the more you look the less you see” reason.
EKITI
The Ekiti impeachment saga may as well be termed as the most notorious in Nigeria’s recent history and one that may as well be a model for embattled state chief executive officers on how to handle belligerent lawmakers in future.
Trouble started in Ekiti immediately after the swearing of Governor Ayodele Fayose in his second coming as the governor of the state. The PDP, which had only two members in the Ekiti State House of Assembly, had its rank swelling to seven on the swearing in day, as five members of the assembly defected from the All Progressives Congress, APC to it. That marked the beginning of crisis in the House of Assembly between 19 APC lawmakers and the newly inaugurated governor.
It has always been clear that the main sin of Governor Ayodele Fayose against the 19 APC lawmakers in the House of Assembly is the fact that he belongs to a different party, the PDP and that he had the temerity to dislodge the former landlord of the Ekiti Government House, Kayode Fayemi of the APC. Aside this, the 19 APC lawmakers are also after the governor for daring to remove the Speaker of the House, Adewale Omirin and replacing him with one of the 9 PDP members in the House, a situation that led to the assembly having two people parading themselves as speakers. The question, however, is what does the APC lawmakers and their party stand to gain if they eventually impeach governor Fayose? If the governor is impeached, a PDP deputy governor will step in as governor while the House of Assembly will also be completely PDP from June this year, as none of the APC lawmakers won their re-election bid back to the House.
That leaves us with only one reason, APC’s vengeance mission against Fayose. The governor has been controversial, no doubt, but underneath the threat and moves for impeachment has always been the need to teach the stubborn governor some lessons!
Enugu
The impeachment move against Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State did not come so much as a surprise to many because tension had been building between the governor and the state lawmakers.
Though there are many who believe that the lawmakers in the state woke up from their slumber after the Speaker of the Assembly, Eugene Odoh lost the governorship ticket of the PDP in the state to Chime’s anointed candidate, it is instructive to note that despite the lawmakers inactivity in Chime’s 8 years in office, the assembly men may just have a point and a legitimate grouse with the governor.
The lawmakers have been at loggerheads with the governor over his decision to take an 11 billion naira loan just two months before the expiration of his tenure, concession of Enugu water corporation for 25 years and alleged sale of choice land in Enugu, the state capital. For them, it was like mortgaging the state and creating unnecessary problems for the incoming administration in the state. As noble as their move may appear, those in the know say the crux of the problem may not be far from the loss of the governorship ticket by the speaker and the fact that the governor denied most of the lawmakers tickets for reelection in the last general elections.
Niger
The impeachment drama in Niger State is one that is very funny and the reasons given absurd. The move against the governor came as a surprise to many because the state has one of the most pliant House of Assembly in the country. Not too many Nigerians can boast of actually knowing much about the Assembly or even remembering the name of the Speaker until they found their voices all of a sudden.
Citing the reason for moving against the governor, the lawmakers were alleged to have said the governor had been paying them half salaries since February this year and that their severance allowances had not being paid. The import of this is that the lawmakers decided to move against the governor not because he is guilty of constitutional breaches but for personal gains.
Katsina and Bayelsa
The cases of impeachment in Katsina and Bayelsa can best be described as non starters because of the way and manner it is going.
In Katsina, APC lawmakers in the House of Assembly announced their decision to serve a notice of impeachment against the governor, Ibrahim Shema on Tuesday when the House resumes but in a swift reaction, the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Mahuta of the APC, denied that the APC members in the House ever met anywhere and decided to move against the governor.
This might have effectively pooh-poohed the impeachment move before it took off the ground.
In Bayelsa State, tales of impeachment is still in the realm of rumour but if happenings in the state over the months and the dynamic nature of Nigerian politics is anything to go by, a notice of impeachment may as well surface soon.
According to reports, the plot to unseat Governor Seriake Dickson may be the brainchild of Dame Patience Jonathan and a domestic aide of the President Goodluck Jonathan, Woripeme Dudufa. Dame Jonathan, who is believed to desperately want Dickson out of office, is said to be capitalising on the grievances of some lawmakers in the state who were denied PDP’s ticket to return to the House. How this will play out is yet to be seen but there is no doubt that it will be an interesting scenario in the next two to three weeks as the current assembly serve out its time.
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