In the African society that we all sprouted from, it is a taboo for a child to disown his mother (or father). And Franz Fannon could well have this matter in mind when he espoused that “every onlooker is either a coward or a traitor.” Whereas what is trending at the moment, indeed since the beginning of the week, is the screening of ministerial nominees submitted to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari, there is the need to keep bringing some basic issues to the front burner, so that those making efforts to sweep them under the carpet will have a hell of a task doing so.
And what are these basic issues? In the Senate, the nation’s highest legislative body, there is the fundamental matter of freedom of speech, which, though guaranteed all citizens by the Nigerian constitution that the Senate leadership swore to protect and defend, is being denied some senators simply because they chose to toe the ruling party’s line. Watching the screening of ministerial nominees at the Senate, one sees how several of the senators that were allowed to speak express profound thanks to Senate President Saraki for allowing them to speak – as if the latter was doing them a favour. So, being allowed to speak has now become such a big deal.
In that hallowed chamber, there seems to be instituted a regime of fear. Unfortunately, many senators want to be appointed into so-called ‘juicy’ committees and enjoy other privileges. And the one person that has the final say over all that is Saraki, the President of the Senate. So, even though they know most of those things are utterly reprehensible, they will rather wound their conscience by cooperating and be “carried along.”. Little surprise that penultimate week, majority of the senators condescended to the needless level of passing a vote of confidence on their president, at a time he was answering grave charges directly bordering on highstake fraud and corruption.
Would the so-called vote of confidence change anything? One doesn’t need a political scientist to decode that it is a completely worthless exercise that only – sadly – portrays the Senate as a place where anything goes – even if there are voices of reason and of honour and integrity that wisely tried to prevail on the senators not to do so. If it was done to persuade President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and ask the Code of Conduct Tribunal to drop the weighty charges against Saraki, that goal wasn’t achieved because gone are the days when a president would meddle in the affairs of the judiciary. This is a regime of change from darkness to light, a compete departure from falsehood to truth.
At the United Nations General Assembly lately, the President was categorical in insisting that the law must be allowed to take its full course in Saraki’s and all other cases before the courts. And would it sway the judiciary or intimidate the CCT? Surely not because more than any other period in the life of the nation, the judiciary is enjoying a new lease of life where its independence is firmly assured. That’s why I indicated that the confidence vote was as needless as it was worthless.
The infringement on freedom of speech resulted to a situation where one of the most principled members of the eight senate, Engr. Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central) had to stand his ground that he must be allowed to speak the truth. And because the truth was not what is needed by the powers that-be, he was resisted. And since then, there seems to be a deliberate, orchestrated effort to run the man down in the media and other fora.
Nigerians must rise in unison to resist any attempt to foist dictatorship in the Senate and elsewhere. If people holding the high office of senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot be allowed to contribute in plenary because they differ with the leadership on matters of principle, what becomes of us, lesser mortals? Nigerians cannot fight for this democracy with their blood, only to allow the personal interest and greed of one man to truncate it.
For this democracy to prosper and get us to the Promised Land, Nigerians must learn to celebrate compatriots that make selflessness their trademark, especially in the foregoing era of unprecedented selfishness. And it is for this same reason – and in this light – that we must hail Senator Kabiru Marafa and the five other senators that were almost suspended by the Saraki lackeys for siding with the truth.
It is rather shocking, if not out rightly shameful, that some senators would even consider suspending these great men just because they are believed to have petitioned the police when the Senate Standing Rules were tinkered with and forged. Even if a rule exists that prohibits senators from divulging in public acts of criminality in the hallowed chambers, that law should be expunged forthwith. It has no place in the prevailing regime of change which assiduously seeks to reintegrate Nigeria in the comity of responsible world nations and make the citizens proud of their fatherland, as the Americans and others do.
Marafa and co could, if they had wanted, simply join the Saraki chorus-singers and sing his praises or even lead in passing the so-called ‘vote of confidence’ in the man. And they will by so doing be assured of limitless goodies, including chairing ‘juicy’ committees. Instead, they chose the narrow but straight path of honour. When the history of our struggle for democracy in this dispensation is written, their names would be written in gold.
Just as nobody came to this world without a mother, nobody, at least in our presidential democracy, can win or even contest an elective office without the platform of a political party. In African culture where brotherhood is the way to go, it is wrong to classify the betrayal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by Senator Bukola Saraki and his ilk as the party’s own problem.
It is a big threat to democracy. And unless the senators representing all of us put aside party differences and punish the perpetrators of this evil, we shall be setting a dangerous precedence that would ultimately place the efforts of our heroes past (and present) in vain. And posterity will never forgive the present generation of Nigerians. Clearly, we don’t have the luxury of continuing as onlookers. Nor is it ethical to celebrate those that have disowned their mothers, especially when you rode on the back of the mother to become Nigeria’s Number Three Citizen. The time to act is now.
Dr. Tanko is the Director-General of the U.S.-based Centre for Ethical Governance.