The national assembly witnessed
significant events in the year 2018. Some of these occurrences were also
unprecedented following the tides of political happenings during the year. No
one ever thought that a senate president would defect from a ruling to an
opposition party. It was quite an interesting year and here are some highlights
of major events.
DSS SIEGE
On August 7, armed DSS operatives
wearing scary ski masks blocked the entrance of the national assembly. The
siege came shortly after Senate President Bukola Saraki defected from All
Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A legislative source had said
Ahmad Lawan, senate leader, and some senators elected on the APC had met with
Lawal Daura, the then director-general of the DSS, a day before the siege. No
explanation was given as to why the DSS operatives prevented lawmakers from
going into the assembly even though they were on recess at the time.
After a dramatic protest by Boma
Goodhead, a house of representatives member, alongside some others, the
lawmakers were eventually let in. Some members of the national assembly alleged
that the DSS blockade was a ploy to enable APC senators remove Saraki.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who
was acting president at the time sacked Daura over the siege.
ATTEMPTED ARREST OF SARAKI, EKWEREMADU
On July 24, the police
prevented the convoy of Saraki from leaving his residence in Abuja. On that
day, Nigerians woke up to statements of
Saraki’s aides alleging that there was an attempt to prevent the senate
president from honouring an invitation by the police.
Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general
of police (IGP), had asked the senate
president to appear at the office of intelligence response team (IRT) to make
statements on a robbery incident in Offa, Kwara state. Over 20 people were
killed in the incident in April. The police alleged that some loyalists of
Saraki carried out the heist that saw the attack of five commercial banks in
the state.
However, Saraki evaded the police
and presided over plenary that day but Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president,
was not that lucky. After preventing him from leaving his home, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invited Ekweremadu for questioning over
alleged money laundering. The deputy senate president who later honoured the
invitation of the anti-graft agency has constantly denied any wrongdoing.
MASS DEFECTION
On the day that there was an
attempt to arrest Saraki and Ekweremadu (or prevent them from leaving their
homes), 14 senators dumped the APC for other political parties.
Some of the senators that
defected from the ruling party were allies of Saraki. Before the formal
defection, lawmakers like Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, and Isah
Misau, senator representing Bauchi central, had been constantly criticising the
way the government of the day conducted its business.
That same day, 37 lawmakers in
the lower legislative chamber dumped the APC.
WORKERS’ STRIKE
On December 4, the Parliamentary
Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN)
picketed the premises of the national assembly. The angry workers were
protesting over outstanding salaries and allowances.
Armed with placards which read:
‘Omolori must go now’, ‘Pass our conditions of service now’ and ‘Probe NASS MGT
Now’, among others, the workers prevented the lawmakers of both chambers of the
national assembly from sitting.
They discontinued the protest
after Saraki and Dogara intervened but that did not last for long. When they
resumed, it was with a four-day warning strike which commenced on December 17.
They cut off water and power supply, and
blocked major entrances to the assembly.
IMPEACHMENT PLOT
Following the wave of defections
that hit the national assembly, the APC leadership began plotting the removal
of Saraki. And what was their grouse? Saraki had left the APC believed to still
have the majority number in the senate and as a result, they have to give way.
Adams Oshiomhole, APC national
chairman, was one of those who insisted on Saraki’s removal. He had said Saraki will not only be impeached but “we
will work hard to have him defeated as a senator come 2019.”
The purported plot gained
momentum such that on August 1, some lawmakers spent the night at the
legislative complex, keeping wake in wait of unnamed senators who they said
were planning to sit overnight to effect the impeachment.
Although the events surrounding
the plot have waned, it is still being re-echoed, even when the current
national assembly has few months left.
DRAMATIC MELAYE
Melaye hit the headlines on
several occasions, including a foiled escape from police custody and a failed
recall process.
The senator was implicated by
armed robbery suspects arrested in Kogi, according to the police. Jimoh
Moshood, police spokesman, had said the senator was mentioned by the suspects
as supplying them with arms. But Melaye denied the allegations – and he was not
going to have any of those.
On April 24, the senator
attempted to escape custody and jumped out of a moving police vehicle conveying
him to court in Kogi state. The foiled escape landed him in more trouble as the
police charged him for attempted suicide after re-arresting him. He was also
said to have been kidnapped on one of the occasions he was to appear in court.
Melaye and the police are back in the news again. Are they going into the new
year on this note?
BUDGET BROUHAHA
It had to be the most dramatic
budget presentation in the nation’s history. On December 19, President Muhammadu
Buhari presented the 2019 appropriation bill of N8.83 trillion to a joint
session of the national assembly amid jeers and – you wouldn’t believe it –
fights.
Before the president arrived at
the national assembly, the house of representatives members in the PDP had
concluded a plot to protest what they described as the president’s failing
administration and non-performance of the 2018 budget.
Unfortunately, some of their
colleagues in the APC were not going to allow that and so, they ended up confronting
one another. Blows were exchanged but that wasn’t the end of it.
Buhari eventually arrived to
present the budget but while he spoke, his speech was frequently punctuated
with jeering and cheering from the two sides of the divide at the joint sitting.
A speech which would have ordinarily taken 40 minutes ended up lasting for well
over an hour.
The situation was so chaotic the
presiding officers could not deliver their speeches while the president left
hurriedly at the end. Terrible.
MACE THEFT
The world will not forget in a
hurry how thugs allegedly led by Ovie Omo-Agege, senator representing Delta
central, stormed the national assembly complex and ran away with the senate
mace. Both lawmakers, staff of the national assembly and visitors were
awestruck during the operation that didn’t last for up to ten minutes.
Thugs invading the legislative
complex located in the three arms zone, the most secure part of the country,
sounds just unbelievable. How did it happen? The thugs arrived in a Hilux van
that waited at the main entrance while they walked in reportedly with the
senator into the building.
They were said to have then
hurried off to the senate chamber, overpowering the sergeant-at-arms stationed
at the entrance and running down to where the mace was kept. Footage from the
scene showed how they overpowered whoever that came their way and subsequently
ran away into the waiting van.
There is no official statement on
who was behind the invasion but as God may have it, the mace was recovered
under a bridge within Abuja metropolis. Unbelievable.
No doubt, it’s been a dramatic
year indeed.
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