Ex-govs in the Senate are threats to democracy —Braimoh

Senator Yisa Braimoh represented Edo North in the Senate (2007 – 2011) on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. In this interview with John Alechenu, he speaks about the proposed National Conference and the growing number of ex-governors jostling to get to the Senate

As one from the South-South zone, what is your position on the National Conference?

The National Conference has come at a right time. There is the necessity for our people, ethnic nationalities, groups, and others to talk and that is what the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has made possible. I expect that the conference will discuss everything under the sun, save the unity of Nigeria, which the government had already listed as a no no-go area; and that at the end of the exercise, the outcome will lead to the emergence of a better Nigeria.

Is the South ready to present a unified position at the conference?

I think it is high time the Southern region began to speak with one voice. Even at the level of the South-South geo-political zone, there should be unity of positions on issues that affect the zone. And to achieve this, we should not dissipate energy and resources in pushing a plethora of groups; we should work towards having one group so that we can effectively speak with one voice.

At the Calabar meeting, the issue of harmonising the positions of the South-South Peoples Assembly and the Southern Leaders’ Forum came up. I sincerely believe that we should not be talking about unifying positions; rather, we should be talking of unifying the groups into one

so that we can have one leadership. Once we have one leadership, we will be able to speak with one voice.

Can you share your thoughts on the unceasing attacks on the civilian population in the North-East by Boko Haram?

I feel very sad that lives of innocent Nigerians are being taken in cold blood. One life, let alone 159 lives that have been reportedly taken in the last one week, taken in cold blood, is more than a thousand taken in a pogrom. It is unfortunate that Nigerians have decided to turn against their brothers and sisters, except if these insurgents are mercenaries from other countries and not Nigerians. If they are Nigerians and they are killing their brothers and sisters the way they have been doing, then it means they have lost their sense of sanity.

I appreciate the efforts being made by the Federal Government to address the Boko Haram insurgency. The deployment of military men and declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are not misplaced steps. It will take time to win the anti-terrorism war regardless of the steps the Federal Government has taken.

The only dimension I would like to add, in terms of suggestion, is for the Federal Government to constitute and charge a distinguished committee of former presidents and heads of state from the North, beginning from Gen. Yakubu Gowon, through Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida down to Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar, to deploy their vast contacts and influences in the North to seek for ways of ending the insurgency. It is a task that they should patriotically commit themselves to. The problem should not be left to the Federal Government alone to address.

With the benefit of hindsight, can you assess the current politics in the Senate considering the activities of some ex-governors who are now serving senators?

I have long, before now, expressed serious concerns at the rate at which outgoing governors, who in a bid to negotiate their exit from office at the threshold of their constitutionally prescribed two terms of eight years, have gravitated to the Senate for refuge. The trend, from all indications, will continue and will certainly not augur well for the Senate, which is seen as an enclave of equals with the Senate President as the first among equals.

Once these governors have made up their minds to go to the Senate, it does not matter whether the incumbent senators they seek to replace are doing well and deserve to be re-elected. They mobilise state machinery to clinch the party ticket and also to win in the general election. Now, the experience has been that these former governors in the Senate do not contribute to the progress of legislative activities; but rather, they have constituted themselves into some power cult with which they have caused political tension in the Senate.

This has been the sad narrative in the past 10 months or thereabouts, particularly since the advent of the All Progressives Congress, with legislators jostling and threatening to defect from the PDP to the APC. In the Senate, three former governors, who served on the PDP platform-two from North-Central and one from North-East zones-have been holding the Senate to ransom, and giving the leadership sleepless nights. The mentality of these former governors is such that they still imagine themselves as being in a position to bark out instructions and manipulate their followers. They do not want to recognise the fact that the Senate is different from the fiefdoms into which governors have converted their states. At the moment there are about seven former governors in the 7th Senate and from newspaper reports, about 18 serving governors, who are finishing their second terms, are jostling for the 8th Senate in 2015.

The implication of this is that in 2015, about 25 former governors may be in the Senate with their governorship tendencies and dispositions. My fear is that they may transform into governorship senators’ forum, seek to take over the leadership of the upper chamber and use the platform, at their whims and pleasure, to seek to sway political powers in Nigeria like the Governors’ Forum has been doing.

What is wrong with that? Is it not all about democracy and freedom to associate?

I am only calling your attention to the clear dangers emanating from the Senate on account of the activities of a group of ambitious former governors, whose interest is to take over the leadership of the Senate and deploy the platform to unsettle the administration of the incumbent executive head or president; and you are asking what is wrong with that? You can imagine the Governors’ Forum going wild on the one hand, as witnessed under the leadership of Governor Rotimi Amaechi before Governor Jonah Jang emerged and the Forum became factionalised, and the Governorship Senators’ Forum making its moves on the other hand, both acting in concert to hold the President of the country to ransom. It is better imagined than allowed to happen.

My position is that the Governors’ Forum is alien to the constitution and should therefore not be allowed to flourish. The forum should be disbanded. Governors can meet on the platform of National Council of States and not on the platform of a forum that is not constitutionally recognised. The same thing applies to the emergence of a Governorship Senators’ Forum. It should not be allowed to crystallise. The tendency will pose a grave danger to peace, stability and unity in the Senate. It is not as simplistic as you tried to rationalise it in your question. It is not about democracy; it is about threat to the stability of the Senate.

How can this be a threat to the stability of the Senate?

Anything that threatens the leadership of the Senate, threatens the stability of the institution of the Senate especially when you have a leadership that is a binding force in the Senate. Consider the present leadership under David Mark — sharply focused, consistent and persistent as far as observing the standing rules is concerned. He cannot be faulted on those general matters of administration and legislative acumen.

But I consider the planned defection of some senators from PDP to APC as masterminded by two former governors from the North-Central zone and another one from the North-East zone, one of the first steps in the direction of upsetting the leadership of the Senate. Their calculations were that if they defected and were able to secure the majority seats in the Senate, they would effect a change in the Senate leadership. One particularly ambitious former governor from North-Central was planning to position himself for the job. This is the political nuisance that I am against.

Serving and former members of the Senate should work together to put down these shenanigans. They should not be allowed to destabilise the Senate with their ill-gotten wealth, with which they would be ready, at all times, to influence and control voting patterns on motions and executive bills. If they are not stopped now and the trend continues in 2015 through to 2019 and 2023, I can only say: God save Nigeria.