But perhaps the worst and affronting credibility crisis is a scenario where government’s officials simply refuse to turn up to give account of activities in their respective duty posts. Many see the development as blatant disregard for the duties and powers of the lawmakers and lawmaking process.
Only last week, the Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) Interim Management Committee (IMC), Prof. Perebradikumo Pondei walked out on the National Assembly committee probing alleged N40 billion irregular expenditure at the commission. He accused the committee chairman, Hon. Olubumi Tunji-Ojo (APC-Ondo) of alleged corruption, saying he had no moral standing to preside over the committee because he was part of the commission’s problem.
Pondei had defended his action, noting, “Tunji-Ojo is an interested party and we do not believe that NDDC can have justice because he cannot sit on his own case. We have no issue with appearing; we appeared before the Senate’s ad hoc committee, and as long as he remains, we will not make any presentations.”
Although other committee members insisted that Pondei was in no position to set rules for the committee, the acting managing director stood his ground and did not make any presentation.
Only three weeks ago, Senate Committee on Labour, Productivity and Employment, walked out the Minister of State for Labour, Productivity and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo for unruly behaviour at its sitting. It turned out a shouting match, with the minister and the lawmakers raising their voices at each other in a manner that was unbecoming of both parties, who threw caution to the wind. Their spat was over who controls the temporary employment of 774,000 young Nigerians across the country. Minister Keyamo accused the lawmakers of arm-twisting him to take control of the process.
Not too long ago also, the Ambassador of Lebanon, Ambassador Houssam Diab staged a walk-out on the House of Representative Committee on Diaspora Affairs on July 9, 2020. Diab had accepted invitation by the committee to discuss cases of maltreatment of Nigerians in Lebanon, alongside the detention of one Temitope Arowolo over alleged attempt to murder her boss. While the ambassador expected a closed-door session with the committee, it turned out an open one, with media and the public at the sitting. This prompted Diab to walk out, but the committee chairman, Hon. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe ran after Diab and eventually prevailed on him to stay after promising a closed-door session.
Late last year, while Boko Haram and bandits ran riot in the Northeast and Northwest regions, killing and maiming innocent civilians and rendering farming and economic activities comatose, the National Assembly invited the service chiefs to brief it on their counter-insurgency operations and how best to help strengthen them to do their duties proficiently and effectively. The service chiefs, led by Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, simply refused to turn up, to the embarrassment of the lawmakers overseeing their activities. Sen. Enyinaya Abaribe had simply called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fire the service chiefs or resign himself, since he had failed to protect the lives and property of Nigerians. There was uproar as senators were divided along party lines, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members defending their respective partisan positions.
Perhaps, the 8th Assembly, led by Sen. Bukola Saraki in early 2019, suffered the worst parliamentary indignity when the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, blatantly refused to heed invitation from the lawmakers to explain the wanton killings in the Middle Belt, particularly Benue State, by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. Idris did not only disrespect the lawmakers by refusing to visit them, he also did not obey the orders of his own commander-in-chief, President Buhari, who asked him to relocate to the region to personally oversee the operations of his men and women, particularly in Benue and Taraba States, to forestall the incessant killings and displacement of local communities. The herders were pushing to overrun the area and displace farmers for their cattle to have unfettered access to graze in the farmlands.
In some of these voluntary walk-outs and refusal to heed invitations, the lawmakers’ resort to threats of arrest of these officials always go unheeded by the enforcing agency, The Nigeria Police. This has also been a source of embarrassment to the lawmakers, especially from a force mostly known for its zealousness in acting of tune with established norms. Only last week, the force attempted to arrest the former Acting Managing Director of NDDC, Dr. Joy Nunieh in her residence without a warrant. The intervention of Rivers State governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, saved Nunieh from the police’s arbitrary action.
So, how did the lawmakers lose out on its powers to enforce compliance with provisions of the constitution that empowers them to bring probity to governance through its oversight functions of the activities of the executive arm of government? At what point did Nigeria’s legislature lose the moral ground such that it has become a plaything in the hands of the executive and its officials?
Elsewhere, the National Assembly is likened to a court of law whose word is law itself that cannot be flouted. So, at what point did it lose its respect such that even foreign dignitaries walk out on it and nothing happens thereafter? How did it sink so low in the estimation of Nigerians? When last did it invoke its zero budgeting for a particular agency because of its officials’ recalcitrance in violating its rules since arrest of its officials was not possibly because it lacks the enforcement powers?
Lastly, how does the common man on the streets view the National Assembly? Do the lawmakers still exude honourable and distinguished aura in the face of these attacks on its credibility? Or have they become so dishonourable and undistinguished in their conduct in the eyes of those they represent such that no ones takes them seriously?
These posers are at the heart of the legislators’ credibility crisis, where most government officials tend to regard them with some element of contempt and treat every appearance before them as just another opportunity to undermine the legislators. Perhaps, since the advent of democracy in 1999, no legislature had been so debased by government’s officials as the 8th and 9th Assemblies under Buhari’s administration’s watch. Some believe the manner of the emergence of the two Assemblies leaves much to be desired of a legislature deserving of respect and awe. The two Assemblies under Buhari emerged in circumstances quite unbecoming of legislatures before them.
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