Not long after the ill-fated attempts to force the C.B.N Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido to submit to its bullying tactics by apologizing for or retracting statements credited to him to the effect that our Legislators take home about 25% of the nations entire overhead budget monthly, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved an amendment in the Electoral Act which gives them automatic membership of their parties’ National Executive committees (NEC). This move was condemned in its totality by every strand of public opinion, including a resounding condemnation by all stakeholders at a recent Public Hearing into the Amendments to the Electoral Act. In fact overwhelming public opinion would have pronounced the attempted amendment as a dead issue after the manner it was roundly condemned at the Public Hearing, but apparently the public misjudged the resolve of the Legislators to have their way, even against the wishes and interests of the entire population which elected them. Significantly, even the chairman of the PDP who spoke against the proposed amendment condemned it, yet the PDP-dominated House of Representatives went ahead and passed the amendment.
The case which the legislators made for themselves in support of the amendment is that Governors have exercised a dangerous and suffocating control over party matters, including the fate and political fortunes of serving legislators, such that a drastic step is needed to free the parties from their stranglehold. They see their automatic membership of their Parties as one carry of addressing this problem, because as the single largest bloc in the national Executive committee of their Parties, they will checkmate the influence and power of Governors in the decision-making process.
Yet another case made by the legislators is that they need access to their Parties’ National Executive Committees to be more familiar with party policies, and be better placed to represent the party and their Constituencies. A final argument which the legislators make in their favor is that the amendment will not give them any advantage or benefit as individual, serving legislators. Or the contrary, it will only redress a dangerous imbalance as it affects future legislators.
All these arguments were made on the floor of the National Assembly during the Public Hearing, yet most stakeholders were not impressed. The dominant view at the Hearing was that the amendment is opportunistic, self-serving and insensitive Far solving the crippling absence of intra party democracy in all political parties, due largely to the larger-than-life influence of Governors, the amendment will only make the problem bigger, not solve it. The dictatorship of the legislators will replace the dictatorship of Governors. The historic and inherent rivalry which exists between Governors and Legislators will compound intra-party politics, and although Governors may lose some ground, National Executive Committee will be turned into unwieldy battlegrounds. The struggle for power and control of party machinery and influence will merely shift to new levels or areas. So there is no case to be made that the whole-sale and automatic membership of legislators in party National Executive Committees will enhance intra-party democracy.
The argument that membership of their Parties National Executive committee will enhance their effectiveness in representing the parties and their constituencies, and therefore improve the overall quality of governance is also a weak one. Each party should decide for itself whether it wants legislators elected on its platform to be members of its NEC, as many do in their constitutions already. If the party has no provision for legislators in its NEC, is up to its legislators to make a case for inclusion, and not gang up with other legislators from other parties to legislate an unfair advantage across the board for themselves.
The attempt by national legislators to confer upon themselves automatic membership of their parties’ NEC through an amendment of the Electoral Act is self-serving and immoral. Its timing could not have been worse, given the current poor image of the National Assembly in the nation. It has the added advantage of delaying the passage of the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010, in the event that President Goodluck Jonathan refuses to assent to it, which he should. People who complain of the absence of intra-party democracy should not act in a way that gives the impression that public opinion is irrelevant to their ambition. If our legislators will not respect the feelings of Nigerians, President Jonathan should show leadership and patriotism by refusing to assent to this provision.
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