One thing is evident from the arguments in favor of and against Tinubu’s selection of Godswill Akpabio as the leader of the 10th National Assembly, who is from the South-South region of Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom State. Clouds are gradually forming, and a massive group of unhappy and disillusioned politicians is following them.
It’s a pity that after 24 years of practicing democracy in Nigeria, we still have to rely on the decision of an executive president-elect to choose the national assembly’s leaders. This is not only laughable but preposterously anti-developmental. It’s a retrogression to civilian dictatorships in which one man practically controls the entire country.
How can the same president who appoints a Chief Justice of the Federation be the same person who chooses the national assembly’s leaders? In other words, he chooses both the lawmaker and the law interpreter, while he stays as the law enforcer. Isn’t this too much for just one man? Where in advanced democracies does this happen?
Unfortunately for President-elect Tinubu, he’s practically walking into political booby traps set by his own party members. By specifically choosing one senator out of the lot, he may have made the rest his silent enemies. These men will do everything on D-Day to see that their choice fails.
Unless he hammers out solid deals with the rest of the lawmakers jostling for the top seat or he simply allows the top three candidates from his party to vie freely for the Senate Presidency on the 5th of June, the administration of Tinubu may be in for its first shocker.
Yes, there’s every possibility of Saraki’s magic replaying itself. With the PDP, Labour, and many disgruntled APC members lurking in the corners, a political torpedo may happen at the national assembly on its proclamation day.
With the exception of the South, if the Southeast and North-Central, which are predominantly Christian-based areas, feel further alienated, it may cast the new administration in a worse light. The narrative would be that a Muslim-dominated administration is marginalizing “Christians.” Even if this accusation is not true, the facts on the ground will further lend credence to it.
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This is why Tinubu’s presidency must be aware of the banana peels strewn along its path and ensure a sense of inclusivity at all times. The inability of GEJ’s administration to understand this simple political calculation cost him his second term ticket and made his government one of the most criticized in Nigeria’s history.
CREDIT: Facebook.com / Uzogara Tobechukwu
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