On Saturday June 6, 2015, the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, gathered together in Abuja, purporting to elect those to lead the 8th National Assembly of Nigeria. At the end of the mock elections, Hon Gbajabiamila and Senator Lawan, emerged as candidates for Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate, respectively.
This is nothing but a mockery of democracy, for a political party, claiming any progressive ideology, to be conducting an electoral exercise that is not backed by any law in existence. Neither in the APC Constitution, nor in the Electoral Act, nor indeed the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is there any provision for election, by way of primaries, for the leadership of the National Assembly. One cannot but wonder where the APC got the idea of a mock election, to determine the leadership of the National Assembly. Our conducts must be valid, legal and sustainable, or we go back to the same culture of impunity that we have all chosen to depart from. The APC cannot just wake up one day to be conducting a mock election that has no legal backing whatsoever.
In this regard, section 50(1) (a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution is instructive.
50(1):
“There shall be:
(A) A President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House, from among themselves; and
(B) A Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.”
It is noteworthy that in all other elections in Nigeria, there are statutory provisions, especially in the Electoral Act, guiding the conduct of primaries and a procedure stipulated for such primaries. In the primaries for all the recent elections for instance, representatives of INEC were present to monitor the primaries.
The Constitution has not made any provision for the conduct of primaries or mock election for the leadership of the National Assembly, and political parties have no direct role to play in such elections. This is meant to guarantee the independence of the Legislature and give room for quality debates and sound law making. Thus, it was possible for the APC, as an opposition party, to determine the leadership of the immediate past House of Representatives, on the floor of that House, through members of that same House. That should be the hallmark of democracy, and not for the APC, now as a ruling party, to seek to impose on Nigeria, it’s undemocratic culture of imposition of candidates, by holding the legislators captive, in the dead of the night. I cannot but commend the courage of those Senators, who have since distanced themselves from this cult-like phenomenon, spreading like a cancer, from the stable of the APC.
Section 50 specifically guarantees the independence of the Legislature and the APC cannot seek to reverse this democratic experiment. It is the prerogative of Legislators, on the floor of their respective Houses, to determine their choice of leaders, devoid of party bureaucracy or hegemony.
Legislators should be allowed to vote openly, according to their conscience, for their own leaders, without any threat, bullying or imposition. The dangerous culture of imposition, for which the APC has become roundly notorious, should not be nationalized and exported as political virtue.
In the projection of the APC, what does the party expect the whole world to witness on the day of inauguration of the National Assembly, but a rubber stamp of its preferred candidates, all chosen in the dead of the night, to be foisted on the people of Nigeria, willy nilly.
I therefore urge all honorable members of the House of Representatives and the Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to uniformly and courageously reject the attempt by the APC to take over their responsibilities. It is a booby trap that will blow them terrible wind, in the near future, should they kowtow to this mind-bending undemocratic tendency.
God bless Nigeria.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa
