About 100 of the the 360 member-House were not present at the Wednesday plenary which was designed to mark off the new legislative year. The event would have taken place on Tuesday, the day the chamber reconvened after a two-week break but was shifted in solidarity with the Senate over the death of one of its members.
The scanty attendance caused unusual attention to be turned on the the chamber. Several unanswered questions were raised .
The Speaker, perhaps, reading the mind of many, tried to offer reason for the absence of most lawmakers. He hinged it on the fact that this was a political season. All through the session, he drew the focus of most people away from the vacant seats with his unending jokes.
But what charged the atmosphere most was his speech, which was meant to welcome the lawmakers back from their break. The speech captured some happenings in the country and the path that he would want the legislators to ply between now and May 2015.
“It is my honour and pleasure to welcome us all back from the short but hopefully refreshing recess, which marked the end of the third session of this Seventh Assembly. I hope the recess afforded you some much needed rest. I am conscious of the fact, as I have no doubt you all are, that this final year of our four year tenure is an election year.
“Consequently, the propensity for our members to prioritise politicking over our legislative mandate may be pretty high. It is in the light of this that I urge all of us to remind ourselves of the fact that Nigerians will expect full commitment with due diligence from us during the residue of our four-year mandate. Honorable colleagues,
having come this far, we cannot afford to abuse the confidence so overwhelmingly reposed in us by our people,” he declared.
According to him, “There remains yet a lot of ground for us to cover. Among the several Bills at various stages of consideration, we already have a pact with Nigerians to conclude work on some critical bills including, but not limited to: The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB); Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and Constitution Review. I am satisfied with the progression of these bills and I hereby restate our commitment to deliver on our promise to Nigerians on these vital bills.”
He got a deafening applause for the submissions . The ovation emboldened him to touch on other areas .
“Honorable colleagues, on Saturday 21st June 2014, the Independent National Electoral Commission conducted the governorship election in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria. Reports at our disposal indicate that there was remarkable improvement in the conduct of that election compared to other elections in the recent past. We commend INEC for their improved performance and urge them to continue along this path of progressive improvement going forward.
“ Worthy of note also is the new and much welcome culture and spirit of political contest exhibited by the contestants in the Ekiti election. Moments after INEC returned the winner at that election, the first runner-up candidate and incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi publicly congratulated the winner, Mr. Ayo Fayose and promised to ensure a smooth transition. Dr. Fayemi’s gracious concession was followed shortly thereafter by that of the second runners up, our own Hon. Bamidele Opeyemi.
“We highly commend this spirit of sportsmanship, which for long has been a scarce commodity in our polity. I am confident that when the history of political contests in Nigeria is written, these great Nigerians will be allotted a prominent line.
“Honorable colleagues, reports reaching us from the North East of Nigeria indicate that the wanton destruction of innocent lives and valuable property by the Boko Haram insurgents has not abated. And sadly, our Chibok girls are still in captivity. May I once again commend our armed forces and security agencies for their unwavering
effort, determination and sacrifice in tackling this unfortunate relentless assault on Nigeria’s peace and security. The fact remains, however, that we as a people and a government still need to do so much more to contain this menace and restore to our people the peace and peace of mind that have been so rudely snatched away from them,” Tambuwal stressed.
He added: “It is my view that now is the time to establish a Counter Terrorism Special Forces Unit as well as a National Counter Terrorism Centre for the Armed Forces. This should be accompanied by mass recruitment of personnel as well as the redeployment of existing
officers and men to this special unit so that they can immediately benefit from the professionalism and expertise being offered by the international community by way of training. It will also be necessary to formally bring on board the Youth Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) in the proposed counter terrorism special training programme. When fully operational, this special forces unit shall be maintained in a state of permanent readiness to respond to terrorist incidents anywhere in Nigeria. These special forces will be exposed to continuous training to maintain their skill and readiness levels.
“The challenge of terrorism is real in our nation and we must adopt decisive and functional strategies to meet this challenge. This calls for a serious reappraisal of our existing security apparatus and operational strategies. We certainly cannot expect to rely on the security strategies of last century to effectively deal with the security challenges of today.”
The Speaker continued: “Honorable colleagues, for much of the last 15 years of democracy practice in the country, the Nigerian military has conducted itself most professionally by limiting itself to its Constitutional role. Recent events whereby the political leadership appears to be gradually pulling the military into partisan political roles are most worrisome. When the military becomes the preferred agency for clamping down on the media, for the grounding of aircraft and closure of airports and for forcibly restricting the freedoms of citizens, including elected officials, through arrests, detention and false imprisonment, then there is need for us to return to the drawing board of democratic governance.
“It is important for those of us holding public office in trust
for the people to be reminded that employing security reasons and security reports as justification for each and every governance infraction is not an acceptable practice in a democracy. On our part as a legislature, we would be betraying the hallowed doctrine of separation of powers and abdicating our constitutional duty of checks and balances if we decide to look the other way when tyranny rears its ugly head in our nation.”
The Speaker’s speech elicited a long drawn applause from members. However, beyond the thumb up , the concern of many is the shape the House will command in the next one year. The current low attendance, predictably, will worsen in months to come. Several members are more keen about playing the politics that can help them pick the tickets of their parties than attending plenary sessions.
Tambuwal may not like the situation but there is little he can do to alter it . The implication of this is that the public can only expect little or nothing from the chamber in the next legislative year. The fate of sensitive bills like the PIB may continue to hang in the balance .
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