Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar
Na’Abba has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of being behind the
unending war between the executive and the legislature since the return to
democratic rule in 1999.
He said this on Friday at a national conference on
“Political party supremacy and the dynamics of parliamentary autonomy”,
organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
Na’Abba recalled that the move by Obasanjo to impose a
leadership on the National Assembly and the resolve to fight back by the
lawmakers was responsible for the frosty relationship that has exists between
the two arms of government.
Na’Abba said Obasanjo changed the date of inauguration of
the National Assembly from June 3, 1999 to June 6th to allow him ample time to
manipulate the election of Senate President, thus paving the way for the
emergence of Evans Ewerem as Senate President instead of Chiba Okadigbo that
was preferred by most senators.
His words: “The action of 3rd June 1999 by Obasanjo, the
election of Ghali Na’Abba as speaker of the House of Representatives on 22nd
July, 1999 and the election of Senator Chiba Okadigbo as Senate President
convoluted to define the relationship between the legislature and the
executive.
“The relationship between the National Assembly and the
executive arm became characterized by antagonism. It was clearly more than the
necessary kind of friction which was desirous for the proper functioning of the
legislature.
“In doing what he did in the senate, the President did not
carry the PDP along. The intention of the President in all of those was to
ensure that he governed with a subjugated legislature. In the House of
Representatives, he met with stiff resistance.
“That was the reason he insisted that the Speaker be
impeached. Up to the time the House came to an end, he did not succeed. In the
senate, Senator Chiba Okadigbo was impeached eight months after he was
elected.”
Also speaking, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim also blamed Obasanjo for
the lack of party supremacy in the current political dispensation.
He wondered why Obasanjo declared himself as the leader of
the PDP, when there was duly constituted party leadership in place.
“The original sin was committed in 1999 when the then newly
elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo declared himself the leader of the party
thereby usurping the power of the party chairman.
“Once he did that, sitting governors in the state declared
themselves party leaders at the levels. Party executives then became simple
figureheads without real power or influence.
“One of the most serious consequences of this development is
that the party becomes completely incapable of insisting that their elected
executives and legislature implement the programmes on which they have been
elected.
“The notion of party supremacy has completely disappeared in
Nigeria’s political culture since 1999.”
By Wale Odunsi
