Senator Ken Nnamani, a former Senate President during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime spoke with journalists in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory on the National Assembly crisis and party supremacy. Below are Excerpts of the interview as published today, August 13 by This Day.
What is your take on the leadership crisis rocking the Senate?
There is a wall of difference between theory and practice. When we talk of democratic process and presidential democracy, we are talking about bundle of processes following due processes. In parliament, you don’t prove morality but you talk about justice. We must understand that the legislature is an arm of government. The political party is not an arm of government. It is true that political parties form government when they win election but once they have formed government, government takes the life of its own. It becomes the government of the federation. You are governing those who belong to a party as well as those who don’t belong to a party and even those who are not dreaming of joining a political party. So the government is bigger than the political party that formed it.
That party that formed the federal government takes a back seat to prepare for another election and would from time to time be advising the government in a subtle manner but not that it will take the front seat. It also applies to the legislature. A legislator is one who is capable of thinking independently. He or she quite understands that the party is supreme and that it was the vehicle that brought him to the parliament. So, having gotten to the legislature through the party, the lawmaker has to show loyalty to the party that offered him the platform. There is also a party loyalty and party discipline. Hence, the National Assembly as an institution is not a party secretariat; you don’t go there to enforce party discipline. It is expected that a party should have prepared its lawmaker enough before sending him out for election.
However, the moment a party candidate emerges as a lawmaker, he owes a lot to Nigeria because if we are taking about Senate, it is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not the Senate of APC or PDP. You owe loyalty to the party but there is an overriding superior constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If there is no Nigeria, there will be no party. As a lawmaker, your loyalty lies with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to the Senate. The party takes back seat. If there is a claim that the party is bigger than the legislature, you will be making a great mistake which may not work. If the party is as special as being claimed now, let the party submit the list of ministers to show supremacy, you will notice that it will not work. The executive branch of government has the constitutional role to submit the list of ministers. The president himself is a product of the party but the party will not submit the list of ministers to Mr. President. The National Assembly is not a party secretariat. It is the Senate of Federal Republic of Nigeria and not Senate of PDP or APC.
Do you foresee any danger in the future?
The danger of what is happening now in the National Assembly is that they cannot get much accomplished if they keep on emphasizing on party supremacy. They should emphasise the Senate – the legislature is an arm of government because they have to work as a team. How do you pass budget? How do you screen ministers if you hold your party’s tenets and principles? The APC and PDP senators have to mix up. During my time as Senate President, my party leaders told me that I cannot appoint committees headed by the opposition other than the two that is allowed by the constitution, statutorily. The first is public account while the other one is ethics and privileges. I said okay but I went and appoint four extra. Why? Because I needed the support of APP, who have big senators like Dansadau, Abubakar Sodangi and Yari Gandi among others.
You can’t do without those people because they are knowledgeable and they come to the chamber with their constitution and the standing rule of the senate. They know the rule very well. You cannot scheme them out and they are many, with some having PhD. They were not in the PDP. In fact, I ended up making Sule Yari Gandi who is now late, the Senate Committee Chairman on Special Duties and he was working close to me. I had to buy peace, stability of the Senate. My party leaders called me a rebel and warned me that we can only appoint two. I said we were talking about the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not the Senate of PDP.
At that moment, Ahmadu Ali flared up and was very angry with me. He said Nnamani, you have come again; you are a rebel. I said, yes, I am a rebel with a cause. Because I needed to pass Mr. President’s bills coming in and going out. If we say it should be a PDP affair, we cannot pass even budget. That is why I warned that if this thing going on continues, it might affect this administration till the last day. They will not know any peace. They must strike a balance; emphasis on party would not make the legislature work.
What is your advice for the Senators?
Senate must work as a team if anything must be done. The president will come to realize this when he starts sending bills to the Senate and when the debate starts with people holding on to their party’s supremacy, nothing will work. No minister would scale screening and none of the party has superior majority in terms of numerical strength. There must be a meeting of minds where the party is now swallowing their pride and know that they are talking about the Nigerian Constitution which is above any party constitution.
That is the danger I am seeing in this thing going on. Our party leaders are misunderstanding party loyalty and party supremacy with the legislative arm of government which is an institution. Parties come and go but the National Assembly would remain there. As long as we are using presidential democratic process, there would always be a legislature which is an arm of government. Party is not an arm of government; it is a vehicle to enable people get to where they are going. They have to manage it in such a way that they will still be loyal to their party but would remain most loyal to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as epitomised by the legislative arm of government. The danger is if you over emphasise on party supremacy, it will get you to a point of ridicule. If the party is as special as being claimed now, let the party submit the list of ministers to Mr. President. That is why I am still surprised that a sophisticated party like the APC would on a day it would receive its price, on the 9th of June – I thought they would be the first to be seated in the chamber but they fixed a party meeting outside the premises of an institution. Who is to blame? That singular mistake would follow them throughout this administration. It is a fatal mistake which they were not thinking of addressing.
There is no way they can correct it, is an error because the process was that the senators sat and nobody raised the issue of quorum, but actually there was a quorum. The aspect of talking about morals; court is a court of Justice and not morals. The legislative arm is not a court but it acts like a court at times by following a process. That 51 senators were absent at the inauguration is immaterial. There were those who were present. So the moral aspect of it saying that somebody was not on sit does not arise. The time of inauguration is 10:00am prompt. Once it is 10:00am, we start the business. Since nobody raised any point of order. Even if there is such observation the senators on ground formed more than a quorum.
The fact that senators – elect cannot talk on the floor made it more serious to draw the attention of the Clerk to the fact that some senators were absent. The people in attendance were more than 50. I thought that the people who are going to claim their price for victory would have arrived on time and take the front seat to make sure that they capture it since power is changing hands. That is not the day for holding meetings. We held the general election on March 28 and the second one on April 11. We had enough time for meetings.
People should look inwards. Whoever arranges that meeting and whoever agrees to go that meeting is the genesis of what is going on today. People should ask themselves whether they did the right thing. Why do you have to hold any meeting on such days? Party is not an arm of government. The APC formed government and after that it took the back seat. You don’t come and brag that the government is our own. It has become everybody’s own. Even to those who didn’t vote.
The opposition party has produced a Deputy Senate President; will the party be able to play its role as the opposition?
The ruling party has already made a serious error by not attending sitting according to programme by not following the process. The question we have today is that, is the PDP willing to be a party in government at the same time, party in opposition? For instance, PDP already has a Deputy Senate President. The question is whether the PDP is prepared to be a party in opposition and a party in government.
Why did you say so?
Now, PDP has a Deputy Senate President where does that take PDP to? I have been expecting people to come up with this question. I want people to think deep and say that given this situation, is PDP better off being a party in opposition or a party in government? I will leave it hanging. I am not going to decode it. This matter is going to play out over a period of time. I once told our party, the PDP in a Board of Trustee (BoT) meeting when some people cross carpeted including a governor with all his commissioners to join PDP, people are rejoicing. I raised my hand, Obasanjo was seated, and I told them that this thing we are encouraging will one day come to hunt us. They said Nnamani, you have come. I said how you can leave a party that elected you and carry their mandate to join another party without you going back to the electorate because you campaign and the people voted for the party? You now made it your own and decided to pull out. We may be clapping today that we are getting members but it will come to hunt us one day. I did predict more than four years ago that there will be an implosion in the PDP.
Was that the reason why you formed the PDP reformed forum?
Yes! I advocated for internal democracy and I was suspended by the party alongside, Peter Odili, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Aminu Tambuwal, Aminu Masari. I was the chairman while Masari was my deputy because we believe that we cannot give what we don’t have. We must have internal democracy but they said no, we want to overthrow the party. Chief Raymond Dokpesi was our member and we used the AIT very extensively.
What is your reaction to the crisis rocking the Senate over the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders?
I am not aware and I don’t want to comment on what I don’t have a serious understanding about so as not to give a misleading information. I am not aware at all but I have a way of finding out because some of these key actors and players are alive and documents have not been burnt so a little research can be done.
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