Bobrisky, Nigerian Lawmakers And Quest For Honour

The award of the national honour of a Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR to Speaker Tajudeen Abbas has stirred an unwarranted controversy among the lawmakers.

It was not the first time that Nigeria’s House of Representatives would resort to buffoonery when the members last Wednesday adopted a motion to reject the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR bequeathed on Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

Their beef was that the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio was conferred with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON, a rank that is a step higher than the CFR bequeathed to Speaker Abbas.

It has indeed been a matter of debate since the broadcast on October 1 whether either of the two officials deserved the award. That is, given their collaboration in bringing the 10th National Assembly to its present degree of subjugation and idiocy in legislative assertiveness.

For a legislative chamber besotted by self-acquisition, the motif of this House of Representatives for self-glorification has never been in doubt.

The first pointer to the egotism of this set of lawmakers came to national infamy when the legislators approved the importation of N160m worth of SUVs for each member. This was at a time when there was serious pressure on the country’s foreign reserves. The self-centered lawmakers did not mind that their expenditure would be a disservice to the national economy and a disincentive to local automobile manufacturers. If federal lawmakers would not use made-in-Nigeria vehicles, potential investors in Nigeria would ask, why then would they bring money into Nigeria?

Justifying that cheeky wrap in avarice, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi in an undistinguished rationalization said that the resort to imported SUVs was because of the bad roads in Nigeria. The senator was not ashamed to look himself in the mirror and categorise his claim as a reflection of the senate’s failure of oversight.

Reps Reject CFR award on Speaker Abbas

Well, the Reps resolution rejecting the CFR honour came two days after the lawmakers commenced their comedic introspection of the Bobrisky prison saga. While many Nigerians may actually be intrigued as to how Bobrisky was able to spend his or her time freshening and fattening up, many believe that there were more urgent issues on ground.

Questioning Bobrisky whether she or he spent time in prison would have been an escape from the wanton bruises on the citizenry from the bad governance that this set of lawmakers have superintended over.

Meanwhile, at the time the lawmakers were debating the motion to reject the CFR, local divers in Niger State were desperately searching for 150 Nigerians who could not be accounted for after a boat capsized on the River Niger.

it was also at a time that the hardship in the land was translating into several dimensions of social dislocation. The lawmakers who have not been bold enough to question the federal administration’s debatable polices of free-float of the naira and removal of fuel subsidy rather resorted to debating the kind of honour that their speaker should wear! What a shame!

Rep Philip Agbese who introduced the motion spoke even as thousands of his Benue people continued to wallow under attacks of bandits. Agbese reportedly escaped the bandits last April during a constituency function.

Despite not providing succor for his people, he has rather spent quality legislative resources on dressing up a motion laced in self-glory.

Now, the Reps in claiming equality with senators rejected the journalistic epithet of Lower House that has been associated with the House of Representatives or House of Commons around the world.

It is an appellation that some claim came from the fact that the House of Commons in the United Kingdom was composed of the lower class, unlike the Upper House which is otherwise known as the House of Lords, meaning the titled class.

It is significant that in almost every part of the world where bicameralism operates, that the lower house is in almost all cases more powerful than the Upper House.

The same practice prevails even in the United States where the lower house has the power to initiate revenue bills, initiate the impeachment of a president or federal officials, and also has the unique duty of electing a president of the country in the event of a tie in the electoral college. That is a prospect that may emerge this year given the tight presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Even more, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States is third in the order of protocol ahead of the president pro-tempore of the Senate.

However, Nigerian members of the House may be ignorant of the fact that these features were not adopted into the Nigerian constitution in 1999 making them to be almost among the least powerful among their peers in the world.

Indeed, the Nigerian Senate like the United States has the unique duty of confirmation of federal appointments.

The Nigerian Senate in 2005 was unpretentious sometime in February 2005 when some members of the House tried to contest that power. That drama came to fore during the confirmation hearing of nominees to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The NDDC Act provides that the Senate shall confirm the nominees in consultation with the House of Representatives.

Your correspondent remembers that when President Obasanjo sent his nominees that year, that members of the House Committee on Niger Delta appeared in the hearing but were firmly refused from directly questioning the nominees. The Senators forbade the lawmakers from speaking telling them to rather direct any enquiries to their senators who would speak on their behalf!

Those were days when the Senate had balls, able to assert authority unlike now that both sets of legislators have taken to quizzing Bobrisky to show relevance!

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