Oluwatobiloba Bolashodun, Naij.com’s editor, in this opinion article examines the process of the former governor’s confirmation and why the action was not wrong on the side of the Senate.
The Judiciary is an area that requires focus especially in the quest against corruption. The honor associated with the bench has since left, with reports of bribery and allegations of favoritism against Judges nation-wide. How then can corruption be effectively curbed when the judiciary itself is stained?
The confirmation of the former River state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, unlike others was predicted not to be an easy ride.
His confirmation became controversial as arguments ensued between the senators of the Peoples Democratic Party and their All Progressives Congress counterpat during the confirmation of ministers on Thursday, October 29. The PDP senators led by the minority leader, Godswill Akpabio of the PDP, had argued that the former governor of Rivers state should not be confirmed until all allegations bothering on corruption leveled against him were cleared.
Comparatively, the Nigerian Senate had on a Wednesday, March 11, 2015 confirmed Musiliu Obanikoro as a federal government minister, brushing aside allegations that he played a key role in the election fraud in Ekiti state. Obanikoro was named in a leaked tape as a principal actor in the state’s governorship election rigging in 2014. This consequently sparked off national outrage.
Comparatively, the Nigerian Senate had on a Wednesday, March 11, 2015 confirmed Musiliu Obanikoro as a federal government minister, brushing aside allegations that he played a key role in the election fraud in Ekiti state. Obanikoro was named in a leaked tape as a principal actor in the state’s governorship election rigging in 2014. This consequently sparked off national outrage.
The Goodluck Jonathan-led government allegedly refused to investigate the claims
The Senate approved Obanikoro’s nomination as a minister after repeated deferments, despite protests from senators from Lagos state, Obanikoro’s home state, and other opposition APC senators who had vowed to stop the clearance over the Ekiti scandal.
As a former senator himself, the Senate allowed Obanikoro to “take a bow and go” without answering questions, a privilege reserved for former federal lawmakers.
In the same light, Senator Buruji Kashamu who is wanted by the United States government for alleged drug offences is still in the Senate. Although, on Friday, October 9, the National elections petition tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun state cancelled the election of Kasahamu. That was on election matters. The point is that there is a question activity of him which has set absolute doubt in the mind of the Nigerian polity.
What about the Senate minority leader and former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio? He too is not far from alleged corruption case as he is currently facing allegations filed in a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by Leo Ekpenyong, an Abuja based lawyer.
Ekpenyong’s petition which was also forwarded to President Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, stated that between January and December 2014, Akpabio colluded with two of his top aides to steal a whopping N108.1 billion from the state’s treasury.
Bukola Saraki, the Senate president is also facing 13 count corruption charges slammed on him by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Saraki is accused of offences ranging from anticipatory declaration of assets to making false declaration of assets in forms he filed before the CCB while he was governor of Kwara state and failing to declare some assets he had acquired while in office as governor.
It would be recalled that in 2014 APC Senators staged a walk-out when Senator Obanikoro was confirmed minister of the federal republic of Nigeria against their protest. So today is the reversed game as Amaechi is confirmed a minister of Nigeria. It is a big surprise that alleged corrupt PDP Senators like Jonah Jang, Buruji Kashamu, Godswill Akpabio and the likes walked out, a clear case of pot calling kettle black, then who is deceiving who?
PDP is now the opposition party
Be that as it may, in the case of Amaechi, methinks the PDP senators should not have behaved amateurishly which had depicted the traits of motor park touts. What does the Senate standing order really say? If you watched the confirmation process, on the Amaechi issue, it was based on sentiments on the part of the PDP. Senator Sam Anyanwu, the chairman committee on ethics and privileges, deliberately omitted what the Senate order says.
To corroborate what Dino Melaye said, Senator Babajide Omoworare from Osun state categorically read out the rules unlike the Rivers state senator, George Sekibo, and Senator Akpabio. The Osun senator unlike Sekibo who took his address on emotional ground, noted that once a case is before a court, petitions are not entertained. Besides, there has not been any proof beyond reasonable doubt that Amaechi stole what he has been alleged to have stolen.
However, it is not that if these people did all these and are still allowed in the hallowed chamber, that it should continue to be so in other cases, no. The question basically is: “what does the law say?”
From the look of things, people now say that the promise of change is now a change of promise. But the basis is that if the rule/law says the Senate should reject anyone with corrupt charges petition even when the case is in court, then the actions would be faulted. However, the order specifies otherwise.
With all of these playing up as it stands, the PDP ought to realise that they’re now opposition party and that this political cliché has not disappeared from the political lexicon that ‘‘the minority might have their say, while the majority will always have their way.” The PDP should bear their new political role of a town crier till when they bounce back.
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