Gov. Fayose's call for action on Lawal and Oke's report: A needed reminder

Governor Ayodele Fayose has assumed the responsibility of Spokesman of the PDP in recent times. As the Chairman of the PDP governors’ forum, he has taken it upon himself to be the voice of the opposition. This is commendable as Olisah Metuh fights his own battle. Fayose like all our past Governors has been testing his popularity and looking for the next safe spot in political offices. He has considered completing his 7 months of impeachment for which he had paid himself upon resumption in his second term, he is considering the Presidential office, though he is not a Presidential material, in my modest opinion. Eventually, he would likely come back to where his ilks go and lack the immunity that he is shopping for - the den of undistinguished fellows at the National Assembly - the Senate.

In an effort aimed at standing for the people and acting like a Presidential candidate, Fayose in his usual manner wrote the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo to demand for the immediate release of the investigative panel report on corruption allegations against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency. He is also asking the Vice President to actually act on the report. This is undoubtedly good to our ears, as there was a time frame within which it was expected to be completed and action taken – except the Presidency stage-managed it all expecting Nigerians to forget about it over time. No, we have not forgotten, and not the opposition especially. That assignment must not be a waste of time and resources from the Vice Presidents Office. Did he go through the investigations to give us nothing? Are they hiding or shielding something or someone? Is the fight against corruption truly objective? These are the many questions the actions and inactions of the Vice President brings to fore.

To act on the report is to take a position on the status of the duo of Lawal and Oke. The Vice President cannot be the investigator and the executioner at the same time as the rules of natural justice precludes him from punishing if the report indicts. Fayose is asking Osinbajo to release the report, but the question remains to whom. The assignment was given by President Muhammadu Buhari, can he submit or release the report to another person without ‘repercussions’? If Fayose gives an assignment to his Deputy and he reports to another would it not amount to insolence? In so far as the suspended officials remains suspended, there should be no cause for alarm.

Governor Fayose has gladly threatened to go to the court to compel the Acting President to release and act on the report. This is the right course of action that will guarantee results and form part of our jurisprudence in administrative law. While the buck stops at the President’s desk on the report, the Presidency whether through the President or Vice President must demonstrate that the war on corruption is not selective and ensure that there are no sacred cows in its fold. Whoever is found culpable should be handed over to the EFCC to show to Nigerians that the APC led government is serious about fighting corruption.

   

Still on the recall of Senator Dino: The Senate protecting its own against the wishes of the people

One man’s meat is another man’s poison; so they say, and so we say when the people of Kogi West complain about their Senator. They got what they asked for. Citing low performance, distant representation, lack of constituency office and zero town hall meetings as the reason for an attempt to recall Senator Dino Melaye, one could almost pity the constituents of Kogi West for the choice of representation they are stuck with. Dino is peculiar because he has brought unnecessary attention to his people and reduced the hitherto distinguished position to an undistinguished level. He entertains at the slightest opportunity instead of making meaningful contributions. 

The people however still have a Constitutional right to determine what they want. We say we get the leader we deserve, but the people of Kogi West are now been represented by a leader they don't want and have a right to remove and replace him - by law.

With a court order, upon Dino's application to the court asking that 'status quo' be maintained, it has become imperative that the INEC does forthwith suspend the recall process as the court has ordered. The wishes of the electorate as well as the functions of INEC will simmer down while Senator Dino can now sleep with his eyes closed. There are claims that Senates attempt to investigate the INEC chairman on his role at TETFUND made him abandon this process, but this may not be true and INEC has claimed it is not true.

There were rife and well placed insinuations that the Governor of Kogi State was instrumental to the setting in motion of the recall process. While this may be seen in some quarters as inconsequential, it goes a long way to show how power relationship is the driving force in our polity today. Dino versus Bello is the cause of the brouhaha in Kogi West and not probably the wishes of the people.

I have always advocated the use of the weapon of recall as a shield for voters and I still believe in its efficacy. In 'Our weapon of recall'  https://mylegalviews.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/our-weapon-of-recall/, I advocated that sections 69 and 100 of the constitution can be achieved if need be. It should however come from the people and not orchestrated as in the instant case, though that in itself can not invalidate the process so long as the constitutional requirements are satisfied.

The purpose of this analysis is to correct the assertion of Deputy Senate President on the issue of recall. While agreeing that the use of an advertorial by the Attorney-General of Kogi State to drive home the point of recalling Dino is immoral and financial recklessness, the claim that the Senate must sanction the recall process is a misplaced argument from the Senator.

The Deputy Senate President berated the Kogi State Attorney-General for his position in the advertorial and described him as a professional liability to the State. Perhaps because of lack of knowledge or for the self-serving purpose of the Senate, he interpreted section 68 of the Constitution as a sanction of the propriety of a recall process. How a lawmaker of his status and years of representation turns a law on its head still baffles me.

Section 68 (1) (h) provides that ‘A member shall vacate his seat if the President of the Senate receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of INEC stating that the provisions of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall process’ and 68 (2) provides that the Senate President shall give effect to the above so however that he shall first present evidence satisfactory to the Senate that the recall provision is applicable to the member affected. In this case, while INEC would have done the legal process required of it through its Chairman, the administrative duty and execution of the process remains in the Senate.

Ekweremadu and the Senate in extension misconstrued this for sanction of the process whereas it is only an administrative act on the part of the senate leadership. This misconception will remain until a Senator is actually recalled and the provisions of the law tested.

Whether it is Dino or another Senator, since a whole lot of them are undistinguished, let the recall process be tested and let us make the Senate a more serious organ. It is our claim that the wishes of the electorate that voted in a Senator can not be subjected to the whims and caprices of the Senate whether to give effect to or not.