The Senate at Asaba: What really transpired.

Senate President Mark

In the face of our national travails occasioned by the need to once again review the 1999 Constitution, it has become necessary to caution Nigerian journalists on the need to stop playing politics and give informed and responsible inputs on how best to address the issues. This call becomes necessary against the backdrop of an editorial published in “The Nation on Sunday” of August 5, 2012, on page 15, titled: “The Senate at Asaba- The legislative body failed to address the main issues of our nation.”
Whoever among the respected members of the editorial board of “ The Nation,” that authored the said editorial was most unfair to the paper, as it gave an impression of a paper that is either not attuned with the current realities, as they concern the work of the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution (SCRC), or one that operates offshore. The editorial was not only presumptuous, and speculative, but failed to meet the simple test of a well researched and informed commentary, especially when the materials needed for such a commentary was readily available.
The editorial set out to say that the SCRC, failed to “address the fundamental issue of restructuring the country…” but that rather “it decided to give palliatives such as conceding the creation of one state in the Southeast, institution of state police, affirming the immunity clause and holding up the seven –year single-term tenure for the executive position of the presidency and the governor, among others.”
To start with, contrary to the position of the paper, the SCRC, has not concluded on any issue. If anything, the retreat was meant to only abreast the members of the committee of the issues arising from both the memoranda submitted and those from the last work of the committee during the 6th Senate. And this position was made clear by the Deputy Senate President and Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, while making his welcoming address at the Asaba retreat. Hear him: “I wish to reassure Nigerians that we will be open and true to them. We have no position on any issues except those taken by the Nigerian people through their inputs, whether through their memoranda, contributions at public hearings and their elected representatives at both the National and state Assemblies. We bear no allegiance to any, except that which we owe to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We have no interest to protect, except that of the generality of the Nigerian people and posterity. We will be driven by the force of superior argument and public will. What we owe our people is leadership, legislative due process, transparency, inclusivity and popular participation. We want to ensure that the generality of Nigerians own and drive the process to be able to take full responsibility of the eventual outcome.”  It is also instructive to note here that the Asaba retreat only signaled the commencement of the review. By October, the committee will be embarking on public hearings across the six geo-political zones and Abuja, to give Nigerians the opportunity to make further inputs. This is in addition to mobilising all the legislators to hold consultations and town hall meetings with their constituents, with a view to getting everyone involved in the process. How can a process that is yet to reach its embryo stage be deemed to have failed? This is rather presumptuous and speculative. Again, to say the retreat failed to address the “fundamental issue of restructuring the country,” shows that it is either the author was not in the country when the retreat held, or the author deliberately was interested in misleading the respected “The Nation on Sunday.” Interestingly, apart from the fact that the proceedings were broadcast live, as they were happening by both the AIT and  Channels Television stations, the paper’s Asaba Correspondent and one of its Assistant editors, covering the Senate, were not only at the retreat, but captured the proceedings in their respective reportage of the event, especially, the one published in “ The Nation” of July 25, 2012, at pages 43 and 44 entitled: “Senate and the Asaba declaration.” All the author needed to have done was to revisit the reports of these reporters. The retreat did not only look at the issue of restructuring, but a whole session was devoted to take a critical look at the issue of fiscal federalism. And before then, in Ekweremadu’s speech, while listing the 16 issues the committee had aggregated before the retreat, with the devolution of power, being listed as the number one item on the list, had said: “Devolution of powers – It is expressed that the legislative list in our constitution is skewed in favor of the Federal Government and needs to be revisited, to give our constitution a true Federal character.”
Additionally, contrary to the claim of the author of the editorial, the idea of a seven-year single tenure did not emanate from the committee. Although, the issue of the single tenure was part of the 16 listed issues to be looked at, it was one of the resource persons at the retreat- Prof.  Isawa Elaigwu that suggested a five-year single tenure. The committee is yet to deliberate on the matter, let alone take a stand. At any rate, it is Nigerians, and not the committee that have a stand to take on the issues so far raised, including the ones that would come up after the zonal public hearings and town hall meetings.
Although, there are several other inconsistencies in the said editorial, what we have raised are a few critical ones we feel strongly should be highlighted, so as to correct the misconceptions created by the editorial. We implore the paper and other Nigerian Journalists to feel free to contact the committee on any issue to seek clarifications, before jumping at conclusions. Pouring invectives at the committee and its members will not in any way serve the country any good. The task of restructuring the country should be the concern of every Nigerian, and it is a task that we must jointly accomplish.