RE-OPEN KADUNA POLYTECHNIC

If a word can be appropriately used to describe a situation in which the Kaduna Polytechnic, the largest Polytechnic in sub-Saharan Africa will be closed down since January this year, and with no prospect for re-opening in sight, that word would be unbelievable. The Kaduna Polytechnic has a population of 18,000 students, and        staff strength of about 3,000. It is the oldest institution of its type in the north, and admits students from all over Nigeria, in spite of the existence of Polytechnics all over the country. It is the property of the Federal Government, and has one of the best academic reputations in the country. It is one of the largest investments of the Federal Government in Kaduna State, and represents a productive unit in the economy of the State. Much of the security of the State is sensitive to events and developments in and around the Polytechnic. Yet this institution was closed down twice last year, and has been shut down again since January this year after the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) resumed its strike.

So much has happened since the resumed strike in January without, however, the institution being opened. The Rector and the Bursar have been on compulsory leave over allegations of mismanagement and corruption. There have also been many allegations against the Council and the entire management over mismanagement and corruption. A Panel of Investigation has been set up by the Federal Government, and a White Paper has allegedly been prepared, but has not been released. Recently, students of the institution have become restive, and on a number of occasions, they have come close to embarking on large scale violent.  Activities With every new day this stand-off continues, the resolution of the many problems of this premier institution gets worse. The tense security situation in the State makes it even more vital that the problem is resolved without further delay. The Government of Kaduna State, the Emir of Zazzau and the Governor of Niger State have all attempted to intervene and resolve the problem, without any success. As things stand, the relationship between the Unions on the one hand, and the Council and Management on the other is getting worse by the day. Students who have been at home for the last six months have been caught in a messy crossfire, and their respect for authorities, including that of the Federal Government, is being eroded by the day. Any further delay in resolving the issues which have led to the closure of Kaduna Polytechnic will make the achievement of sustained, long term peace impossible.

In plain terms, there cannot be any acceptable excuse for the length of time it is taking the Federal Government to resolve this issue. The Federal Ministry of Education cannot claim that it does not have the facts around the problem, or the solutions to them. Even making allowances for the fact that much of the period during which this institution was closed was one of active politics and elections, there is no reason why an institution of this importance can remain shut for six months.

It is also inconceivable that the issues which led to the closure of Kaduna Polytechnic can be of such magnitude that it will take all this length of time to resolve. The Rector and the Bursar have been placed on compulsory leave, yet the Unions are demanding that the entire management is corrupt and incompetent too. Council is still in place, yet the Unions are leveling serious allegations against its members, including suspicions that it is responsible for the non-release of the White Paper. The apparent silence of the Federal Ministry of Education and Presidency over the Report of the Panel and the white Paper is fuelling speculation that some powerful interests are in play against a fair resolution of this problem. Even a charitable observer of role of the Federal Government over the Kaduna Polytechnic closure will accuse it of unforgiveable indifference.

The Kaduna Polytechnic should be allowed to resume full and sustained academic activities without further delay. The ball is entirely with the Federal Government. The Polytechnic community and the nation need to know what the thinking and plans of the Federal Government are. If indeed there is a White Paper on the Report of the Investigation Panel somewhere, it should be released immediately or in the alternative, government should make it clear how it wants to resolve this impasse. The failure to communicate the position of government on allegations of corruption, mismanagement and high- handedness, as well as the role of the Unions is singularly responsible for this stand-off.

Once the Federal Government makes its position known on some of the serious problems which caused the closure of this institution, all the parties in this dispute and stakeholders should respect such positions, and allow academic activities to resume. The public will expect that with the length of time it has taken presumably to study the problem, the Federal Government will come up with positions which will not only solve the current problems comprehensively and decisively, but also prevent their recurrence. Too much has been lost by the students, staff and the community in this conflict at Kaduna Polytechnic, and the Federal Government should do the  responsible thing and bring the conflict to an end immediately.   

         

 

BETWEEN PILGRIMS AND REFUGEES

Hundreds of women, children and a few men serve as pathetic reminders of the human cost of the post-election violence which swept most of the States in the far north of Nigeria. They are refugees sheltering at the Hajj Camp in Kaduna city, in a State which received the worst brunt of the violence. They have nothing, and have all lost many relatives, particularly fathers and other male heads of their families. They are mostly from villages in the southern part of the State, and most have been witnesses to the slaughter of relatives. They have no material possessions; no other relations, and no faith and hope that they can relocate back to their former villages in the near future. They are entirely at the mercy of a Government which appears overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the violence and its aftermath; and at the mercy of members of the public and non-state organizations who visit occasionally to drop token symbols of their sympathy on them.

          A few days ago, the committee appointed by the Kaduna State Government to take an inventory of losses in lives and property, and to provide some relief to the refugees gave out some amounts of money to each adult and family to enable them relocate away from the Hajj camp into rented accommodation. Most of the refugees turned down the offer, or collected the money, and stayed put. It would have been surpassing if the refugees had moved out of the Camp with the amounts given to them, and public opinion has generally supported the contempt for the Government’s token offers of about N15,000 per family. Government’s defense is that the amounts given to each refugee family or adult was the best it could do given the huge number of refugees at the Hajj Camp and other locations across the State. In any case, Government claims it is not compensating the refugees, but only extending additional assistance over those which have been made available to the victims by government and non-governmental organizations and individuals.

          Most of the refugees have resolved to stay put in the Camp, not so much as a show of defiance, but out of a genuine absence of anywhere else to go. The failure of the cash-for-space approach of the Government has failed woefully, and has drawn more attention to the plight of the refugees.

          The Kaduna State Hajj Camp which serves as the processing and exit point for tens of thousands of Pilgrims from Kaduna and neighboring States now serves as classrooms for displaced children; a shelter for many families who have lost everything and have nowhere to go; and a symbol of a lingering crisis which will be with the people of the State for a very long time. Ordinarily at this time of every year, the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board should be preparing the camp for the annual influx of tens of thousands of pilgrims. But this is not an ordinary year, so some very difficult decisions will need to be taken by the Kaduna State and Federal Governments. Pilgrims must go to Hajj, but the way things are, they cannot use the Camp unless a quick and realistic solution is found for the present situation of the refugees. At this stage, a number of options would appear to be available for the government.

          One option is to find an alternative camp around the present camp or near the airport and prepare it for use by pilgrims by November and December this year. This option will leave the refugees where they are, while new funds are sourced to prepare the alternative camp. While this option may solve the Hajj problem in the short term, it will not address the problem of the refugees. A second option is to use a neighboring camp facility and airport, say Abuja or Kano, to airlift pilgrims who would otherwise use the Kaduna Camp and international airport. Again, this will involve additional costs, and still leave the refugee problems unresolved. A third option is to leave the pilgrims where they are, and still organize the Hajj operations around them. This will cause serious management and image problems for the exercise and the government, and is likely to affect the quality of the exercise. This, too, will not solve the refugee problems.

          All these options outlined do not address the challenging problems of the refugees. These unfortunate citizens are not loafers who want to live off the charity of government and fellow citizens. A few months ago, they were busy earning a living, looking after their families in their homes, or going to school in their neighborhoods. They are tired of living on charity and pity and handouts, and they want to relocate to their own homes. But they cannot go back to many of the places they fled from because their homes have been burnt and demolished. They are demanding that government builds homes for them to relocate into. And they have many sympathizers in the community, but this will be impossible task for the government. Every refugee or citizen who had his or her house or shop burnt, and there are hundreds of them, will demand that his or property is rebuilt. No government has the resources to do this. In any case, the Government Committee responsible for stock taking and advising government on what steps to take will have to address the nature of long-term relief which government may extend to victims.

          The solution to the refugees at the Hajj Camp should be found quickly. By now, government should have a clear idea of the numbers and other statistics of these people who have taken refuge in the camp. The State government should provide each family or individual with a realistic amount to enable them relocate into alternative accommodations. Certainly, the amounts given to them earlier will not enable them find accommodation in and around Kaduna. Government officials can actually also help them scout around for rented accommodation, rather than giving them cash and sending them into strange environments to look for accommodation.

          In the longer term, government needs to rebuild community trust and harmony in areas from which these refugees fled, so that those of them who want to go back can do so, and live in peace. Unless the thousands of people who have been chased out of their locations by murderous mobs can go back and live in peace, Kaduna State will be even further segregated along ethnic and religious lines than it has been. It is bad enough that many of the refugees say that they are victims of former neighbors who they lived with and know very well; but the failure to re-integrate them by enabling them to go back if they want, will leave too many wounds open for too long. The existence of refugees in camps in Kaduna State is a reminder and evidence that the State is yet to put behind it the sad events which followed the last Presidential elections. Coupled with rumors of attacks and recurring tensions especially in the Southern parts of the State, the perception that the people of the State are not out of the woods yet is bound to persist. It is time to deploy some imaginative search for solutions, and a strong political will to heal wounds and help individuals, families and communities move away from the terrible events of April 2011.

The refugees who have found a temporary shelter at the Hajj Camp in Kaduna have no rights more or less than those in other camps. All refugees and victims of the violence of April 2011 need all the assistance and sympathies they can get, wherever they are. The refugees at the Camp need to be provided with realistic alternative accommodation so that preparations for the Hajj can commence. Under no circumstances should force or any strategy of causing them further inconveniences so that they leave the camp be contemplated.                           

         

DEALING WITH ORGANIZED VIOLENCE IN THE NORTH

On the occasion of receiving some Armored Personnel Carriers donated by the government of Borno State, the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz  Ringim was reported to have said that the Nigeria Police and other security agencies will now focus on eliminating the creeping insurgency in Borno and neighboring States by a group which  has come to be popularly referred to as Boko Haram.  The Inspector-General said that President Goodluck Jonathan had directed all security agencies to now focus on the issue of violence in Borno and neighboring states.  He promised that the police and related agencies will now exterminate the threat by this group which and appears to have defied the use of military force and the most elaborate security deployment in Borno State.

          The comments of the I.G.P appear to contrast sharply with those of Mr. President during his visit to the U.S, when he said that his administration will adopt a “carrot and stick” approach in dealing with this group. The President also ruled out the option of seeking for the help of the US or other countries in dealing with this frightening phenomenon. He drew examples with the apparent success of government in dealing with militancy in the Niger Delta, as inspiration for this two-pronged approach, without, however, giving a clue as to what he will do specifically.

          A few days before the I.G.P’s comment, an unconfirmed source reported to be related to the group had released a list of demands as a precondition for engaging the government in a dialogue. These included the prosecution of the former Governor of Borno State, the Shehu of Borno and a host of other heads of security agencies and individuals over the unlawful killing of the leader of the group, Malam Mohammed Yusuf, and many of their members. The source also demanded for the release of the report of the leader of the group. The spokesman claimed that these demands are concessions from the earlier demand that the group will fight until all of Nigeria is brought under the rule of Sharia.

          One of the immediate effects of the comments of the Inspector-General of Police was the release of another statement from the group, withdrawing its conditions for a dialogue with the government, and demanding for the resignation of the new Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, who had made the issue of engaging the group and resolving the problems around them a matter of the highest priority for his government. The group cited the collaboration of the Governor and the government with security agencies as its reasons, and reaffirmed its commitment to continue with its campaign on terror. The Shehu of Borno released a statement on Wednesday, 15^th June 2011 denying any role in the manner security agencies related or dealt with the group. A statement from the Sultan’s Council condemned all insinuations over his involvement, and called for restraint, peace, harmony and unity among all communities in Borno and Nigeria.

          It is on record that in the last few months, prominent people including those related to the former Governor and the Shehu have been killed during attacks claimed by the Yusufiyya movement known as Boko Haram. Many other innocent citizens and dozens of policemen, soldiers and other security agents have also been killed by the group in Borno and neighboring States. Almost on a daily basis, bombs are either exploded or discovered in many parts of the North.  Kaduna State in particular appears to be a major target of bombers, and although many of the bombs planted are discovered and disarmed before they do damage, many others have killed and maimed people. It is not yet clear whether the new frontiers for these conflicts are related to the Yusufiyya movement, but this is little comfort to the citizens of the State who now live in constant fear that bombs will explode around them, or be discovered in their neighborhoods.

          It is now obvious that the threat of the Yusufiyya movement to national security is real, and it will require a serious effort on the part of the government to understand its genesis, its dimensions and the options available in dealing with it. The most serious threat at this stage is that the technology for making bombs appears to have become available to many people, whether they are related to the Movement or not. The number, location and motivation of people who have both the ability to make bombs as well as use them have increased dramatically. This is a most frightening dimension of this terror, for which many innocent Nigerians pay a price with their lives, limbs or property. 

          Another frightening angle to this widening specter is the near-total failure of security intelligence. This failure is not limited to the failure to identify the sources and locations of the arms and the perpetrators of this widening violence. A more serious failure is one which cannot even identify the major objectives of the perpetrators of this violence. There are vague linkages with politics in Borno state and the ANPP administration which have not been adequately understood. Could politicians have sown the seeds of this insurgency, and subsequently mismanaged its growth and development? Are there still patently political issues in the manner this group operates?

          There are also unresolved issues and grievances in the manner the group’s suicidal engagement with the security forces was handled, and in particular, the capture and death of its leader. Could there be attempts to cover up some facts, including reports of investigations which have not been released? Could there be opportunistic linkages between the campaigns being waged by the Yusufiyya Movement and grievances around the 2011 elections? Is the Movement spreading its activities beyond the North East into areas such as Kaduna and Niger States; or is it breaking up into factions, with some now taking up new political issues? Above all, how much community or public support and collaboration do these bombers and the terror on motorcycles enjoy? Who protects them? Do the people who know them share their views and ideals, or are they terrified into collaboration? How much sympathy do these groups have from ordinary people?

          The challenge before the Federal and State Governments in dealing with the spate of bombings and shootings in many parts of the north must be met with imagination and a strong resolve. The Niger Delta militancy that almost brought the nation’s economy to its knees, and which is being resolved at great cost to the nation cannot escape being a reference point in the spreading violence in many parts of the north. There are many dimensions to the violence in the north which differ substantially from the Niger Delta campaigns, which have to be understood. Much of the violence in the Niger Delta, from the kidnappings to the sabotage of oil installations were motivated  by a thinly-veiled criminal intent, in spite of genuine grievances around historic economic neglect, political insensitivity and environmental degradation which could have been handled within the political mainstream. Niger delta militants blew up oil installations, but the bombers in the north are blowing up security men and innocent citizens. Niger Delta militants made much money from their activities, and many of them have now been pardoned, and are receiving expensive education and skills. The bombers in the north have only what appear as vague political goals, and do not appear to be interested in making money from genuine grievances. They appear intent on waging a war against the State, and their stated goals are both difficult to comprehend or achieve. Yet they are becoming more active.

          By all means, government must take every step to protect citizens and the security of the State from the widening violence in the north. But the achievement of a sustained security and a resolution of this problem will require a deep understanding of the sources and dimensions of these threats, as well as informed and effective responses to them. It is time for a radical review of the nation’s intelligence system, as well as an imaginative approach to dealing with the very serious threat to the widening specter of violence in many parts of the north.         

ZONING TROUBLE

The leader and founder of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, (OPC), the most unashamedly tribal organization in Nigeria, Dr. Frederick Fasehun is reported to have described the election of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal as a slap to the Yorubas as well as the people of the South West. The leader of the self-proclaimed umbrella organization for the exclusive promotion and protection of Yoruba interests in Nigeria said that the failure of the House of Representatives to return the position of the Speaker to the South West has resulted in not just altering, but in actually destroying Nigeria’s power equation. He described the free and fair election of their leaders, by the elected representatives of the Nigerian people in the House of Representatives, an election which rejected the Presidency’s and PDP leadership’s Yoruba candidate in favor of another from Sokoto State as brazen, and a collective insult to the Yoruba people.

Dr. Frederick Fasehun spoke in true character as a self-proclaimed tribal leader, and one who should have been reminded to celebrate the virtual routing of the PDP in Yorubaland by the reincarnation of the Action Group now masquerading as Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He also spoke on the same day the PDP reportedly signaled its intention to zone the positions of Senate Leader to the North East zone, and House of Representatives Chief Whip to the South  West, although it is debatable whether even this will assuage the anger of the OPC leader. It is in the character of people like Dr. Fasehun to see Nigerian politics in purely tribal terms, and to define Yoruba interest as superior to all other interests. Nor would it impress him to be reminded that Yorubaland as a whole produced only three members in the House of Representatives for the PDP, and the members, including many from the PDP who elected their leaders had this in mind when they voted for someone else from a zone where the Party made a stronger outing. In any case, the quarrel of the leader of the OPC would appear to be less with the PDP leadership and the Presidency, which together put up an intimidating show of force to get a Yoruba Member elected, and more with the 256 Members of the House of Representatives who felt that the PDP’s zoning arrangement should be sacrificed for the integrity and credibility of the legislative arm of government. Many of the 256 Members who voted against  a Yoruba candidate and in favor of a Hausa candidate are Yoruba whose Party, the ACN, chose to part ways with the PDP on this instance. Perhaps Dr Fasehun is saving some choice invectives for these members in the House for future.

Dr. Fasehun’s outburst represents one more evidence that the PDP’s zoning principles and policies have lost their potency, and indeed, could quite possibly point to an increasing failure of the Party’s leadership to call the shots. The breach which started with the dispute around the legality or propriety of the rotation and zoning provisions of the PDP when President Jonathan was contesting for the PDP’s ticket appears to have developed into a major credibility problem for the Party. The election of Speaker Tambuwal by a House which has 250 PDP Members out of 360 is clear evidence that many members of the PDP are not impressed by the demands of their leaders that they must toe the line on zoning. The reported apology of Speaker Tambuwal to his Party leadership over his victory is a laughable charade. If the Right Honorable Gentleman Speaker is truly contrite and remorseful over his defiance of his Party to contest and win the position of Speaker, Nigerians would expect him to purge himself of the contempt by resigning. Similarly, his Party’s reported generous forgiveness of the Speaker and his Deputy is not going to fool anyone. The facts on the ground is that the House of Representatives have a Speaker and Deputy Speaker who emerged in spite of the vigorous opposition of their Party, and have deepened the dent on the credibility of the leadership. The Party itself has lost face, lost a major pillar upon which it hopes to build a survival strategy, and lost a battle as a result of the concerted efforts of the opposition and some of its members to reduce its space in Nigerian’s politics.

So if Dr. Fasehun feels aggrieved over the failure of PDP’s zoning arrangement to deliver as he wanted, he has to join a long line of the aggrieved. He has to queue behind the PDP leadership which campaigned against a candidate from a zone which stood by it, in favor of a candidate from a zone that turned its back on the Party. He will have to stand behind many party loyalists who feel that their Party’s rules apply only when they suit the interest of their leaders. And he has join those Nigerians who feel that the zoning Policy of the Party has promised more than it has delivered.

  The imperatives and provisions of sharing power in a plural and complex nation such as Nigeria are enshrined in the Constitution, and represent the only certain guarantee for survival of the nation. In virtually every social or political arrangement Nigerians are involved in, it comes into play as the basic rule. It may be time for the PDP to revisit its own arrangement for power sharing, and this time, accord it the power it deserves as binding agreement on every member. This way, people like Speaker Tambuwal and Dr. Fasehun will not remind Nigerians that tribes are our only defining values.              

POCKETING THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

By the time the new National Assembly is inaugurated today, Monday 6th of June, 2011, its leadership will bear a heavy imprint of the Executive’s hand. Since the return of democratic governance in 1999, no administration has been more desperate to affect the emergence of the legislature than this one. Whatever its motives are, there are serious grounds for the nation to worry over what the executive intends to use the legislature for.

The less-than-discreet efforts of the executive and the leadership of the PDP to affect the unopposed emergence of Senator David Mark as the Senate President had raised the concern of many Nigerians regarding the designs of the Executive over the Legislature, and in the longer term, in terms of its dealings with the legislature on substantive issues such as the exercise of functions, oversight or constitutional matters. Even making allowances for the PDP’s zoning principle, and the need to impose party supremacy over legislators, the strong arm tactics being employed in engineering the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly has crossed all boundaries of decorum and propriety.

As from today, Senate President David Mark will preside over a Senate only with a heavy push from the Presidency. In the maneuvers to ensure that he stands unopposed, using the dubious criteria of seniority and a zoning policy which has largely been discredited, the Presidency and the PDP leadership has foisted upon the Senate a leadership which will substantially owe its position to it. It is probable that Senator David Mark would still have been chosen by his colleagues as their leader, and there is certainly enough on the ground to suggest that he would have emerged as Senate President on the basis of the perception of his performance among returning Senators; but this is all the more reason why the overt involvement of the Executive and the PDP leadership in his emergence today detracts from his record, and the integrity of the process.

Whoever emerges the Speaker of the House of Representatives after a messy and divisive fight to pre-determine the outcome of the contest will have a huge task just merely justifying his or her position. So bitter has the fight been over who should be the next Speaker that the membership of the House has been split right down the middle, and the fallouts of the fight have allegedly even involved the dramatic arrest and detention of the out-going Speaker. The contest between candidates of the Executive arm of government and the PDP leadership on the one hand, and that of many of the members of the House on the other, have opened up old wounds, and are reminding the nation that the fallouts over the last elections are still haunting the nation.

The candidate of the executive arm and the PDP leadership is being forced upon the legislators under the cover of a zoning arrangement which provides that the Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the South West geo-political zone; a zone which has produced only four PDP members in the entire House of Representatives. Yet whoever the Speaker is, he or she will have to preside over a Chamber with elected members from many Parties and from many zones. Even though the PDP has more members in the House of Representatives than any other Party, a Speaker from the South West will be representing the zone with the least representation, whereas the North West, which is fielding the opposing candidate, has one of the largest PDP representatives in the chamber. If the executive-sponsored candidate emerges Speaker, substantial time and energy will have to be deployed by him or her to win the trust and confidence of members of the lower Chamber. This will be wasted time and energy, which should be more productively utilized in addressing the many challenges of governance in which the legislature is involved.

If the independent legislator with substantial following succeeds in defeating the government-sponsored candidate, he or she will face executive hostility which will subsist, subject to the degree of bitterness and damage to Party unity and harmony of the House which the fight would have engendered. He or she will also have to mend fences and build bridges with the opposing camp, as well as evolve strategies to facilitate the normalization of the work of the legislature within the shortest time-frame.

The legislature which is being inaugurated today will not have had a free hand in choosing its leadership or at best, the Speaker would emerge against a strong resistance of his Party and the Presidency. Yet this leadership will have decisive influence in the manner the legislature relates with the executive arm. The overbearing influence of the executive arm in determining the emergence of leaders of the legislature is bound to raise questions over what the PDP administration plans for the nation. The speculations or plans to push through some profound constitutional amendments which will seek to alter the nature of the Nigerian federal system, or amend tenures of the executive or some other initiatives which will affect the balances of power will draw much fuel from these heavy-handed tactics of the executive. The efficacy and integrity of the legislature will be compromised to the extent of the influence of the executive over it. The manner of the emergence of its leadership will have a definite influence on it in this regard. 

The April 2011 elections have thrown up serious political problems for Nigeria. These problems include many which have roots in the limited space for good government, transparency and competence. The emergence of a leadership in the legislature which is the product of the executive will not aid the need for good governance. It will put too much power in the hands of the Presidency and the PDP, and deny Nigerians the benefits of a government which operates with sufficient respect for the rule of law and enough controls to limit potential abuse.

THE MANY FACES OF NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY

The high drama which characterized the election of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives on Monday, 6th June 2011 showed the good, the bad and the ugly faces of Nigerian politics. There will be many perspectives on the outcome of an election which produced Representative Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the Speaker against a most desperate effort by the Presidency and his own Party, the PDP to stop him. Many of these perspectives will not fail to notice that the landslide victory of Speaker Tambuwal against the Presidency’s and PDP’s candidate would have upset much of the apple cart of the ruling Party, and would require much rethinking on the part of those who think they have an unchallenged control over Nigeria’s political affairs. There is also much in the development to give some comfort to those Nigerians who want to see some semblance of the operations of a democratic system which is not under the total domination of a powerful Presidency and a single Party.

          The good side of the drama Nigerians watched live on Television was the emphatic assertion of the right of the Members of the House of Representatives to elect their own leaders. This contrasted very sharply against the engineered, unopposed emergence of Senator David Mark as Senate President. Although the unseen hand of much of the opposition was evident in defeating the PDP’s and President’s candidate, it was also obvious that many PDP members defied threats and many other intimidation tactics of their own party leadership to vote against its candidate, and elect another candidate who represents a real challenge to the attempt by the executive arm to manipulate the emergence of a leadership in both chambers of the National Assembly. The House of Representatives thus lived up to its reputation as the chamber with a stronger sense of obligation to the mandate of the Nigerian electorate. History has recorded that it was this same chamber which scuttled the third-term bid of the former, now expired, President Olusegun Obasanjo.

          The negative angle of this development is that in spite of its failure, the drama in the House showed clearly how desperate the executive arm is to take full control of the leadership of the legislature. The former Speaker was arrested a day before the high drama, ostensibly on suspicion of corruption. The new Speaker and Deputy Speaker had to enter the chambers disguised in order to avoid possible arrest. There were many legal skirmishes on the rules of the elections, with widespread suspicions that the Presidency and the PDP were attempting to change the rules. The PDP had rolled out all its big guns to flatten all opposition against a candidate from a zone which had produced only three members PDP in the entire chamber, and even had to out-flank the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, in spite of losing total control of the South West geo-political zone, still nursed the hope that he could single-handedly facilitate the emergence of the nation’s fourth most power elected person. The election of Speaker Tambuwal, although by a wide margin, will inevitably create camps in the House, and there is likely to be prolonged turbulence and instability before the chamber settles down to business. He will have to find his way around the formidable anger and hostility of the Presidency and his Party, and will remain constantly vigilant against attempts to impeach him and install another candidate from the South West.

          Now that the election of Tambuwal has scuttled the PDP’s zoning arrangement, the Party has to go back to the drawing board. The situation right now is that the South West and the North East have none of the six zoned offices; the South East has the Deputy Senate President and the SGF; the North Central has the Senate President; the North West has the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and the South South has the President and the Deputy Speaker. Perhaps it is time for the Party to re-examine the political utility of its zoning and rotation principle, particularly when it zones offices irrespective of the Party’s performance or acceptance; and in a context where its rotation policy is in tatters after the candidature and election of President Goodluck Jonathan. Some perceptive PDP loyalists may also come to the conclusion that the game is up for the PDP as far as its dominance of national politics is concerned. In spite of its performance in the last elections, the facts indicate that it has only a firm control in North Central and South South geo-political zones. It has been uprooted in the South West. It is fighting a losing battle against APGA in the South-East, and against the CPC in the North West. The ANPP is still a force in many parts of the North as well.  

          It is also quite clear that opposition Parties have had a strong influence in the outcome of the election of Tambuwal against the PDP’s candidate. The ACN in particular appears to have instructed its Representatives to vote for Tambuwal and defeat the PDP’s candidate from the South West in order to make a stronger case for itself as the leading opposition Party. The gang-up against the PDP candidate and the embarrassing rebellion against the heavy-handed tactics of the PDP leadership show clearly that the PDP has no assured control over the affairs of the nations’ politics. Its attempt to engineer the emergence of the entire leadership of the legislative arm has been an expensive misadventure, and the Party will do well to come to terms with the fact that it has a difficult terrain to operate within.

          Now that the PDP administration has suffered a setback in its bid to take control over much of the Nigerian political space, Nigerians are likely to raise their comfort thresholds. Many people will also hope that the Presidency and the PDP will accept this setback in the spirit of democratic competition. The Presidency in particular should welcome the decision of the House of Representatives and allow Speaker Tambuwal and his Deputy to settle down immediately and lead the House without any hindrance. The Speaker and his Deputy should also move to mend fences with their colleagues; they must acknowledge the steadfast loyalty of their colleagues, not so much to their leadership, but to the inherent independence and integrity of the legislature. They should reward the members of the House with honest, competent and courageous leadership. This way, they can be assured of the protection of the members, and the Nigerian people.