Is APC Ready for Leadership? By Olusegun Adeniyi

 

To be sure, we are all aware that there was no way President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) would have been able to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) without poaching from members of the then ruling party. But now that the APC is in government at the centre, it is not too much to expect that the party would begin to forge its own distinct identity. From the way things stand, however, no such thing is going on. If anything, the PDP is gradually but steadily imposing itself on the polity, essentially because nature abhors a vacuum. There is nowhere that has become more apparent than in the National Assembly.

 

 

In most democracies across the world (whether parliamentary or presidential) once a political party becomes the majority in the legislature (even if by just a single vote), its members would assume the chairmanship of standing committees. The essence of that is not only to compensate for victory but indeed to also push the agenda of the new ruling party. But in Nigeria, legislative committees are seen as booties to be shared by the presiding officers with the “more juicy” ones reserved for friends and allies regardless of their competences or lack thereof. It is within that context that one can understand the recent composition of the standing committees in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

 

It must be pointed out that the “political hybrid” in the National Assembly did not start with this administration since minority parties have always been given some committees to chair. But it has never been this pronounced though I will blame it on the way the new ruling party mishandled both the election of presiding officers and its eventual fall-outs. In the present circumstance, since APC members are not united by any shared ideals, it is easy to see why, in the House of Representatives, virtually all the committees that are important for reforms of certain areas of our national life have been handed to the opposition PDP members by the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, who is evidently more interested in shoring up his support base, in the absence of any coherent policy direction by his party.

 

Against the background that the United States House of Representatives with more members than Nigeria’s (435 to 360) has 21 congressional committees, 20 standing committees and one select committee, does it make sense for Dogara to establish 97 standing committees? But then it is understandable: In our country, every speaker comes in and creates his/her standing committees in what has become a patronage system so as to keep as many members as possible happy.

 

The same thing is happening in the upper chamber where the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki yesterday released the composition of the standing committees. Whereas in the United States, the Senate has only 20 committees,our own Senate has 65 committees! And the spokesman (chair of the Information committee) happens to be a member of the opposition party!

 

Now back to the House. Of the 97 committees, Dogara gave the chairmanship positions in 49 of them to APC members while ceding the chairmanship of 44 committees to the opposition PDP. But the devil is in the details. The four most critical committees in the petroleum and power sectors were handed to the opposition PDP members: Power; Gas Resources; Petroleum (Downstream) and Petroleum (Upstream). The Speaker also ceded the Banking and Currency committee to the PDP at a time the value of the Naira has become a subject of international debate. Some other committees chaired by PDP members include Public Accounts; Army; Works; Capital Market and Institutions; Public Procurement; Information, National Orientation and Values; Niger Delta Development Commission; Foreign Affairs; Climate Change; Aviation etc.

 

I am not in any way blaming Dogara for rewarding those who helped him to the position of Speaker, especially in the absence of any institutional support from the APC to rally their members behind him. The situation is the same in the Senate where Saraki has to accommodate PDP members with important committees. What else can he do when he is daily being fought by the leadership of his own party? But the challenge remains that of the APC that has refused to learn the lesson of internal cohesion and how to maximize its majority to push its agenda (assuming there is one!).

 

However, the problem goes far deeper as there is a lingering unwillingness by the two leading political parties to graduate frommereacronymsto serious platforms as neither the PDP nor the ruling APC is defined by any set of beliefs. Their membership is recruited by vested interest of a most crass definition. It is therefore no surprisethat vital committee leadership and membership positions in the legislature would be allocated on the basis of balancing the interests that produced the leadership of both houses. Yet in all these, what baffles is that the APC seems intent on subverting its own hold on power by the way and manner it has encouraged the crisis in the National Assembly to fester as a result of its own internal contradictions.

 

What the foregoing says most loudly is that there is an embarrassing lack of focus on the part of the APC. No one has cared to define the 'change' mantra that President Buhari and other leaders keep talking about. The party has not, even in its very structure and approach to its own affairs, indicated an intention to change the behaviour that underlies Nigeria's sorry political culture. More regrettably, President Buhari has so far conducted the affairs of state in a manner that does not signal a definite political direction. Since this is a burden he bears as a result of the incoherence of his party, it is either he nudges the APC to go along with him or the party will squander his personal integrity which is still all that he has going for him. That choice will need to be made sooner than later. 

 

The urgent task on hand is to couple the president's reformist zeal to an enabling political party platform that works and has a clear policy thrust. That synergy between president and party is embarrassingly absent at a period there is also no sign that the presidency and National Assembly are on the same page. In a situation in which its major operatives are being undermined, it is understandable that the APC principal lawmakers will also keep empowering the opposition to stay afloat. Even worse, the leading lights of the APC in the National Assembly are behaving in a manner that tempts the conclusion that they are still all PDP people.

 

Perhaps it is just as well that President Buhari is starting with a retreat for the ministers who are yet to be assigned portfolios. He should go further by resolving whatever the problems are within his party in the National Assembly, following the election of principal officers more than five months ago. If the president does not know, then he must be told very clearly: self-subversion cannot be a strategy either for working towards improving the welfare of the people or for sustaining a ruling party in power.

 

Reuben Abati @ 50

 

My friend and brother, Dr. Reuben Adeleye Abati, will be 50 on Saturday. Whatever may have happened to the frequency with which his phone rings after his stint in Aso Rock, nobody will dispute the fact that Abati, who entered national consciousness almost three decades ago as a fiery commentator on public affairs, has paid his dues. I wish him the best for the day and many more decades in good health as he continues to deploy his talents for the greater good of our people and country. Happy birthday in advance to my dear ‘aburo’ of 24 hours!

 

What to Learn from Orubebe

 

The process by which boiled yam is turned into pounded yam may not be complicated. But it is such that by the time it is done, the end product (pounded yam) could only be mildly hot. That then explains why the Yoruba adage that “a pounded yam of three years can still burn to touch” is very deep indeed. And that perhaps is the best way to understand the current ordeal of the former Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe, who would be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal next week.

 

Whatever may be the merit of the case against the former Minister, not a few Nigerians remember that on March 30 this year, Orubebe made a public nuisance of himself at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre, in a futile bid to scuttle the announcement of the presidential election result that was going against his candidate and then incumbent, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Although he failed spectacularly, that “pounded yam” of more than seven months ago may now be too hot for Orubebe’s fingers to handle!

 

I must make this very clear: I am not in any way exonerating Orubebe of the bribe-for-contract (allegedly to a man who carries the title of Pastor!) charge levelled against him. He has to defend that allegation among other charges. However, the real issue for me is not what Orubebe did or did not do with public money (that is now a subject for the CCT to decide), but rather his comportment in office. There are codes of behaviour for senior public officials that Orubebe serially violated in an era notorious for gross impunity. The message here therefore is that what the former minister did on March 30 was not an isolated incident; it was a culmination of a pattern of bad behaviour that others in similar positions would do well to avoid.   

 

In my column on this page on 15 September, 2011, titled “Bash Ali, Orubebe and Wikileaks”, I used the example of the then Niger Delta Minister to explain why some public officials sell our country cheap by the way they conduct themselves. Going through the piece at the weekend, I concluded that it is worth re-publishing because it is one that would serve the next crop of ministers in a new administration that comes with the mantra of “Change”.

 

Whenever the Federal Executive Council is eventually inaugurated, what is now clear is that those men and women cannot continue with the template of the past. That is the kernel of the recollection of the column, written on this page more than four years ago. While Orubebe will have his day in court, hopefully next week, there are lessons that the ministers of President Buhari must learn from the piece, especially now that everything in Nigeria revolves around corruption:

 

Bash Ali:Godsday, we included in the budget the fight and land cost for the 9 sports academies in Nigeria with 3 of your directors at the meeting. And I have always told you that this GWR fight must be done TRANSPARENTLY because apart from the honour and glory that it will bring to Nigeria, there is a lot of PPV fight money which we can all benefit from. Is doing a TRANSPARENT business at your ministry a fake thought that calls for the examination of my head? What happened to the money that was included in the budget? Did you divert it?

 

Orubebe:I thought you were reasonable but had to withdraw because I realized you are not coordinated, you have a loose and porous mindset and living in the air. (April 23, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: You withdrew and sent me back to the NSC because I insisted on a TRANSPARENT deal and now have the audacity to insult me. This is the second time you have said I am living in the air for believing a TRANSPARENT deal can be done at your ministry in particular and Nigeria in general. Do you know that out of 150 million Nigerians, I am one out of less than 5,000 Nigerians that have a national honour, do you know that I am an Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON?

 

Orubebe: OON, a disgrace. I will ensure that you are removed from the honours list. I promise you that. (April 24, 2011)

 

 

Bash Ali: That is an empty talk. I got my OON on merit, so a million Godsday cannot take it away. Why are you preventing me from doing more great things for Nigeria and getting the highest national honour possible? Why? Must corruption always win?

 

 

Orubebe: There will be no room for your apology and begging when we set up government without you. (April 28, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: Godsday, it is you that must apologise and beg me to forgive you for being rude and talking trash. Set up government without me? What a joke!! If I am a fool for insisting that the boxing deal must be TRANSPARENT then I don’t want to be wise and above all, I gave Jonathan my mandate, not Godsday.

 

Orubebe: Big fool. Why can’t you stop deceiving yourself? I am sorry for your children and family for having a stupid father who does not understand the times. (July 9, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: Godsday, does understanding the times mean you have to be corrupt? I was just thinking, why can’t we do a TRANSPARENT business where we can all come out WINNERS? Let us contribute our quota to make Nigeria great, please. Let us help our brother, Jonathan to succeed, please.

 

Orubebe: It’s like you are in love with Orubebe, remove shame and come, I will forgive you and teach you to be a responsible man like me. (July 10, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: I cannot be in love with a man who has an arid vision for Nigeria. What shame? And forgive me for insisting on a TRANSPARENT business? Does being corrupt make a man like you responsible? I feel sorry for Nigerians, Jonathan.

 

Orubebe: Your foolishness has made you not to know that this is the man that can bail you out of your blindness and frustration. Time is clicking. Don’t make me change my mind again. (July10, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: You are the foolish and blind man who wants to continue to steal from governm ent because you are in power. I will never again deal with you unless I get instruction from Jonathan. You are right, time is clicking because very soon, I will lead a revolution that will remove corrupt people like you from government and if I die in the process, nothing can be more redemptive.

 

Orubebe:How can you be afraid to die when you have nothing to offer to Nigeria? (July 10, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: I have contributed more to the betterment of Nigeria than you. I have spent millions of Naira to promote sports and NEVER asked government for a kobo despite being frustrated by a corrupt man like you.

 

Orubebe: Come and take one very small contract to survive (July 13, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: Give the very small contract to survive to your corrupt friends in government.

 

Orubebe: If you are a fool at this age, am sorry for your children and family. I will tell your children to deny you. Big FOOL. (July 15, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: From your action and text messages, you have shown Jonathan that he made a big mistake by appointing an idiot like you as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A revolution is coming and it will sweep you out of office.

 

Orubebe: It’s like you have no job. I would have taken you as an aide but you don’t have the brains. Sorry, too bad. Yours is a hopeless case. (July 15, 2011)

 

Bash Ali: I am a world boxing champion and a national honour holder but your corrupt government has made me jobless, frustrated and hopeless but my brain is intact for a REVOLUTION that would remove you from office. Mark my word.

 

Orubebe:I thought your head was getting normal. Oh sorry, I have volunteered to take you to Uselu at my own cost to bring you to normalcy. Foolish man, stupid man, crazy man, nuisance to society. Waste to our generation. Uselu is your rightful home. (Sept 1, 2011)

 

The foregoing is an abridged version of the text messages between Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe and renowned boxing champion, Bash Ali beginning from April until the first week of this month (September 2011). It was first published last Thursday in “TheNation” newspaper with an accompanying interview by my friend and one of Nigeria’s best reporters, Yusuf Alli, who spoke with both Orubebe and Bash Ali. The text messages speak volume about the character and temperament of our senior public office holders and help to explain why WikiLeaks reports (of United States’ diplomatic cables) about our country have been so damaging.

 

Now, what is the story behind this altercation? Even without any investigation, I have an idea about what happened because it is a familiar tale. Since the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Bash Ali has been writing any and every Nigerian president that he wants to stage a Guinness book of World Record fight in the country on the basis of the old age which he touts. Whenever a president gets that letter, he minutes it to an appropriate ministry while a standard courtesy letter is written to Bash Ali to liaise with the ministry. With that letter, woe betides whoever he is directed to meet. Of course most officials who get the letter don’t place much premium on it but once you have been unlucky to have given audience to Bash Ali, then you are in trouble. I know many officials who have unpleasant tales to tell after meeting him.

 

While I am almost certain that is also the experience of Orubebe, what the exchanges show is the immaturity of our officials because not only is the language deployed by the Minister in his text messages shameful, he also should have seen how Bash Ali was cleverly leading him on in the conversation. Consistently, Bash Ali was reinforcing the charge of corruption against Orubebe who was all the while abusing the man oblivious to the fact that in this information age, he was unwittingly putting himself on record without even dismissing the allegation. Now that Ali has put the text messages in the public domain I will not be surprised if one Polsec (whatever that means) at the American embassy writes a dispatch to say “Nigerian Minister demands bribe to stage boxing tournament”!

 

In their piece, “How Public Officials Can Avoid E-Mail and Texting Liability Landmines”, Patrick J. Harvey and Ballard Spahr warned that public officials should always assume that all e-mails and mobile telephone text messages will eventually become public and that they should never use a text message to rant unless the person is ‘comfortable with it being printed in his/her local newspaper or enlarged on a poster board in court as a litigation exhibit’.

 

But our public officials have not learnt any lesson in what they put down in writing and what they say some of which is now coming back to haunt many of them given the expose of the United States diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks has put in the public arena. The more I read the cables emanating from the American embassy in Nigeria the more I realise the damage that our officials have done to the image of the country. Now, there are two variants to the cables published by WikiLeaks. Some dispatches were based on the ‘information’ independently sourced by the officials which were not credited to any sources and then there were those based on the subtle debriefing of our important personalities and public officials. The latter is what I am concerned about because from what transpired in most cases, it would seem these officials just let loose without realising they were being recorded.

 

The main reason why many of our officials become unguarded and irresponsible when discussing corruption in our country with foreign dignitaries is to put on a self-righteous image so as to present themselves as saints. It is then no surprise that whenever you see a top Nigerian official in the midst of Western diplomats and he or she is asked a simple question as to what challenge our nation is facing, the instant response would be ‘corruption’. It doesn’t matter that the person speaking could have houses all over the world and be sitting atop stupendous wealth that cannot be explained. As we can glimpse from the wikiLeak reports, almost all the officials encountered by the diplomats pointed the finger of corruption at others except themselves.

 

Incidentally, we are a nation where every official from local government to the presidency is ‘fighting corruption’ yet questions remain as to who actually is doing the corruption. In my piece published on October 1 last year to mark Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary, I made allusion to this disposition by Nigerian officials and to illustrate my point I used the African folklore of three famished brothers eating from the same plate of food not enough to satiate their hunger. Apparently losing out in the game of greed, the first brother remarked but to no one in particular: ‘you are eating too fast’. To this the second brother responded: ‘so you saw him’.  The third brother completed the farce: ‘That was exactly what I wanted to say’!

 

That kind of posture accounts for most of the negative things we now read about our country based on WikiLeaks reports but if there is any lesson that we can learn it is that officials can no longer afford to be careless with information, and that goes with what they say and what they put down in writing. Letting down their guards and allowing themselves to be used as spies just because they were invited to a cocktail by a clerical staff at the American embassy just shows the character of most of our public officia ls. But the reason many sold themselves and the nation cheap was because they never in their wildest imagination thought that what they said in secret would ever be out in the open. How naïve they were!

 

I hope we have all learnt sufficient lessons from the WikiLeaks saga as to how we should comport ourselves when discussing with foreigners just as I believe Orubebe would also have taken note that in this information age, every careless and irresponsible text message will one day be accounted for. And the price for that could be very high.

 

Credits: thisdaylive.com