This democratic dispensation is imperiled. It is essentially so because it came into being through a cocktail of conspiracies. It was that conspiracy that threw up the likes of Godswill Akpabio. He was recruited as the President of the Senate not because he has the capacity to preside over an assembly of men and women who should make laws for the good governance of the country, but because he has an infinite capacity for political stalking and brinkmanship. Since the conspirators knew from the outset that they were going to rock the boat, they needed an Akpabio as the head of the legislature so that the desecration would go full cycle. Armed with the art and science of petty politicking, Akpabio was considered the right man for the odd job.
So far, he has not disappointed in this regard. Under his reign, the Senate chambers has lost its halo because the man at the top can hardly make a distinction between the serious and the unserious. He is addicted to unintelligent banter, the type that makes you think that you are in a market square. How can someone who occupies a high political office be as flippant as this man?
The trouble is this: Akpabio is not pretending about the fact that he is an errand boy of President Bola Tinubu. To give full effect to his job as the president’s factotum, he was handpicked and installed as the President of the Senate. But he did not just attain that height. The deal was struck between them even before the All Progressives Congress presidential primary election that produced Tinubu as candidate took place. The plot was solidified after the controversial emergence of Tinubu as President. On hand to assist Akpabio was Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele who was also handpicked by Tinubu as Senate leader. Both have a clear mandate. They are to ensure that the Senate is under the firm control of the Presidency. The President must rule and reign on the floor of the Senate chambers. The duo are to ensure that any person or idea that is opposed to what the President wants is shut down. That is not all, they are to ensure as well that those critical of the President or the Senate leadership face disciplinary actions. Such deviant senators are either suspended, removed from committee positions or punished in some other ways. The objective is to intimidate and subjugate such senators into submission. Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi State was fed with the bitter pill of suspension for daring to accuse the Senate leadership of budget padding. Since he returned from his humiliating suspension, his voice is hardly heard anymore. Now, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has been forced into suspension for daring to protest against her ill treatment by the Senate president. The war of nerves between them culminated in allegations of sexual harassment she levelled against Akpabio. The battle is still raging. But what is noteworthy is that the Senate never took the matter seriously. The lawmakers did not think that there was anything to the allegation to warrant a probe or an inquiry. They merely joined Akpabio in making the entire drama look unserious. A good many of the senators sheepishly queued behind Akpabio because he has harassed them to the point of inactivity. As a presiding officer, Akpabio is in the habit of picking or talking down on his fellow senators, especially those he thinks are opposed to the crippling policies of the Tinubu administration. Unlike most past Senate presidents before him, Akpabio has never been threatened with removal by his colleagues. He knows they cannot discipline him because they had no hand in his emergence in the first place. He is sure of his tomorrow in the Senate chambers because the President, the owner of the country, is behind him.
Regrettably, a combination of Tinubu and Akpabio has brought about perilous times for Nigeria. The country is passing through an upside-down era. It is a time when our cherished values and basic liberties have been thrown overboard. The country is now weighed down by oddities. All of this came about because a devious plot to capture the state for personal gains has come to fruition. While Mr. President is sitting atop the presidential villa with his agenda of nepotism and sectionalism, Akpabio is busy desecrating the hallowed chambers of the Senate with inanities.
Just a few days ago, the duo of Opeyemi Bamidele and Godswill Akpabio seized the floor of the Senate as if they have exclusive right over it. Bamidele chided some senators for their criticism of the policies and programmes of the Tinubu administration, but added, for effect, that the government was succeeding regardless of the criticisms. Akpabio took it from there by making uncomplimentary remarks about Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election. Akpabio mocked Obi over the lingering crisis within the Labour Party, charging him to settle the rift in his party, if he wants to be taken seriously as a presidential material. Observers are still wondering how Obi became a subject matter in Akpabio’s order paper. I think that Akpabio was battling with a certain form of flagellation. The thought of Peter Obi was giving him goose pimples. He just needed a release. That desperation led him into his indulgence in irrelevances.
In a normal setting, one or two senators would have taken exception to Akpabio’s unwarranted attack on Peter Obi. After all, there are senators who have sympathies for Obi’s political pursuits. But no senator responded or called Akpabio to order over the desecration of the high office he occupies. That is how low the Senate under Akpabio has sunk. Even more worrisome was that the provocative interjection from Akpabio had nothing to do with any issue before the Senate. Yet, he chose to throw an unguarded missile into the crowd.
If the environment of the Senate under Akpabio’s leadership were a free one, some members would have joined issues with him over his verbal assault on Peter Obi. No doubt, there are some members of the Senate who are Obi’s loyalists. Their sensibilities may have been assaulted by Akpabio’s uncouth remarks, in which case it would be expected that they could raise objections to Akpabio’s indiscretion. But none could do that because the Senate president wouldn’t allow them. Any form of insistence from any senator could lead such a senator into trouble. He could be marked and labelled an enemy of the President. This is the unfortunate situation in the Senate under Akpabio’s leadership. An upper legislative chamber that is supposed to earn the respect of the President has become his playground instead.
•Written By Amanze Obi
