10th NASS Leadership: We Won’t Allow Impunity To Continue In Democracy –Kawu

You are one of the persons protesting against the zoning formula brought out last week by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, what do you think is the problem with the zoning arrangement? As you are aware, we are practicing constitutional representation, which derives from the 1999 Constitution, which provides for a presidential system of government, which gives us the opportunity to have the National Assembly. And when you hear about presidential system of government, it’s all about separation of powers; independence of the organs of government: the Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature.

In the presidential system of government, the Legislature is the most important organ because it has direct representation from the people, more especially in Nigeria where we have 360 members of the House of Representatives from various constituencies based on population of each constituency. Then we have the Senate which was founded on the principle of equality, whereby we have three Senators representing each State of the Federation and we have one Senator for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, making 109 Senators. This is what we call bicameral Legislature in a Presidential system of government. The essence of the Presidential system of government is to give power to the people through direct representation. Therefore, in Nigeria, we have the Senate, we have the House of Representative.

Looking at what is happening today in terms of zoning particularly with what APC has done so far, what is your take on that? What we are witnessing today is against the tenets of democracy. It is against what we stood for over two decades. We fought for the independence of this National Assembly to the extent that we almost lost our lives. When you check back you see what happened in 2006 when we insisted that the Executive could never and we would not give them the power to change the Constitution to allow them stay in office beyond the constitutional limit of two terms. So, we fought the Executive to a standstill. It is an insult for the APC to dictate to me where I will go in choosing the presiding officers. We are Representatives of the people; it is a constitutional representation.

We came with our own agenda, the agenda of our people. And there are so many issues on the ground now. Some people are agitating that we must sit down and discuss our Constitution. Some people are asking for true federal system; others are asking for fiscal federalism while some people are asking for restructuring to change the political structure of Nigeria. Some people are not even happy with the way and manner the country is going, and so they tend to break out from Nigeria. The only way we can face these challenges is to have the Constitution as our guidance. Allow us to sit down and do the needful. Allow us to do those things that will promote unity, happiness and prosperity of Nigeria.

In this very difficult situation, what is your advice to the APC leadership and other party stakeholders? I am advising the President-elect, that as a democrat, whom we have learnt a lot from, he must not allow crisis to engulf the party. He was at forefront in fighting Olusegun Obasanjo for this democracy. We were with him when we stopped Goodluck Jonathan from installing leadership in the House of Representatives. In the 7th Assembly during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, you are all aware how the Executive intended to stop us from exercising our constitutional rights.

We fought them and they tear-gassed us. At the end, the wish of the people and the constitution prevailed. Now there are so many challenges we face in making sure that we consolidate the gains of democracy more especially the Parliament. Now the 10th Assembly is about to be inaugurated, suddenly we saw a letter directing the members of the National Assembly to abide by the decision of the National Working Committee of the APC. For us, as veterans in this game, for us who have suffered a lot in defending the sanctity of the National Assembly, we believe it is an insult. The National Assembly is an organ of government. It is not an agency of the Federal Government and the role of a political party is to guide, but they can’t dictate the selection of the Presiding Officers in the National Assembly.

The Constitution is very clear that we should choose among ourselves irrespective of party, and we are very lucky this time around the opposition constitute almost 48 per cent of the total population of the Senators- elect while the majority party has 52 per cent. When you go to the House of Representatives, it is the opposition that has the majority even though it is a combination of the different political parties.

We thought the President- elect and the APC, will learn from past mistake in the 7th Assembly when President Jonathan intended to dictate to us where we would go in the selection of Speaker of the House of Representatives. We said no. We must follow the rule of law and the Constitution and we must be guided by the rules of the House. We chose Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Nigerians are all aware.

Even in the 8th National Assembly, Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu emerged presiding officers of the Senate against the intention of the APC. Our thinking now is that the APC and the President-elect will learn from past mistakes and do the proper thing through consultation, interface, reach out, persuasion and persuade the members of the National Assembly and all the stakeholders in arriving at that position. So, Baba, don’t allow sycophants, don’t allow the so-called new cabal in Nigeria to dictate to you; we will not allow it and we will resist it.

Some of your sons are still in the National Assembly and we know that you are very consistent in terms of democracy and you are very consistent with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We learnt a lot from you but we will not allow this one to happen when we are in the National Assembly. It is a game of number, and we are doing our best to teach them another lesson.

Are you in touch with other Senators-elect in this crusade to stop the Executive from installing the leadership of the 10th National Assembly? We are in touch with 109 Senators and I will assure you that we have a serious number to stop imposition in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. Yesterday, the House showed Nigerians a lesson. We are consultation and politics is a game of number, it’s a game of persuasion, interface and we are doing it. We will cross the bridge when we get there. What you are saying appears to be the position of the NNPP.

Are you also lobbying other opposition parties to join you in this crusade to liberate the National Assembly from the interference of the Executive? Well, I think lobby is part of democracy, and politics is a game of give and take.

What we are saying is that we have many challenges in Nigeria and we have a document which all of us have agreed, the Constitution, why can’t we use the Constitution to resolve the logjam? We are not lobbying for anything but we will find our way because it is important that we came to represent the people and we came with their message. Every member among 109 Senators or 360 members has a message. I know you have a representative.

Are you happy with what is going on in Nigeria? Of course no. Therefore, you are waiting for your representative to stand for you. The issue of zoning as you said, yes we are doing zoning in politics to achieve a political gain, and there is nothing wrong in doing zoning but do it in tandem with the Constitution.

When you are doing zoning in the Executive, pick President from here and Vice President from there. That is why when they are doing it, we ask them to reconsider the sensitivity of Nigeria but they refused to listen. In our own case in the National Assembly, we are independent organ.

When we are doing zoning, definitely when we pick the President of the Senate from zone A, definitely his Deputy will go to zone B. Let me justify myself, the current Chief Justice of the Federation is from Oyo; a Muslim from Oyo. Where is the President-elect from? The CJN is there because of the Constitution; he is there because of the independence of the Judiciary in Nigeria.

Where is it interfering with the affairs of the National Assembly? They are independent. And we are here to make sure that we compel the Executive to do the needful. Another Senator-elect representing Kano North, Jibrin Barau, has already been tipped for the office of the Deputy President of the Senate.

Don’t you think that your agitation will work against Kano even though you are not in the same Party with him? Let me tell, Barau is my friend, a very nice and fantastic legislator. He is my senior colleague. He came into the National Assembly in 1999 and I came in 2003. He is going for his third term in the Senate and I am going for my third term. Though I was a leader in the House for two terms, I am respecting him. And he is qualified to be anything not in Nigeria alone but in the world.

He is a very good representative who represents his people well but it’s a process. You see, when we come in on 13th June, before we do anything in the Chamber, we will swear with either the Bible or the Quran, that is to say that we swear to the Almighty God to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It means the Constitution and Barau; the Constitution and the APC zoning formula. So, we must do justice. What we are seeing today is new. There was no time in these 24 years of democracy where a political party, even with the impunity of the PDP, there was no time they wrote a zoning formula and tied a name to it and sent it to the Parliament.

This is the first time we are seeing this. We need to challenge it; if we follow it now, it means we are inconsistent with what we were doing before. We were with Asiwaju when we fought Obasanjo, we were with Asiwaju when we fought Jonathan. We formed the APC.

What is the difference between what APC is doing now and what PDP did then? I can say that what APC is doing is impunity plus. So, it is not about Barau, it is not about individuals. It is about Nigeria and the Constitution of Nigeria and our co-existence.

We spent 12 years fighting PDP, most of those who are in APC now we’re opposing us, to the extent that they were inviting the Police to tear-gas and beat us. But because we believed that we were doing it for the good of our people, we continued doing it. Now they are enjoying it; had it been we kept quiet, what would have happened.

So, I am not against Barau, I am not against anybody and I am not saying that anybody is not qualified, what I am talking about is the process. The National Assembly is part of our blood. We can die because of the National Assembly because it is the only sign board for the unity of Nigeria.

If for any reason, there is problem in Nigeria, where are we running to? See what is happening in Sudan. Even their own neighbours, Southern Sudan, over 2.5 million people ran to Southern Sudan; where are we moving to? Nigeria is our own country, we won’t allow impunity to continue in democracy. We are democrats and we are born to fight for the right of the people.

Is this the position of your party the NNPP? It is the position of all the democratic people in the National Assembly. I am speaking for a lot of members in the National Assembly. It is neither NNPP nor PDP nor Labour Party. It is for the unity of Nigeria. My heart is bleeding.

Where are those people that are dragging our Baba, Asiwaju, who fought for this democracy to the extent that he had to leave this country for the fight for democracy? Why should he allow this thing to happen under his own watch? Baba Asiwaju, our younger generation and we, your children have started witnessing signs of inconsistency from you.

We are doing your bidding, and your bidding is to have a prosperous Nigeria, a united Nigeria, a democratic Nigeria where everybody can look and say, glory be to God.