Flashback to 4 years ago, the minority APC (which was then ACN) in the Federal House of Representatives helped elect Aminu Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP into the offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker against the preferred choice of the Ruling PDP. The event was as unprecedented as it was brazen and audacious in its execution. It was nonetheless compelling in strategic terms. The opposition pulled the rug from under the feet of the ruling PDP. And with that deft move, the ACN (now APC) rewrote legislative history and set a new but dangerous precedent in legislative order and process which also invariably raised legitimate questions about the legitimacy of these strange legislative practices.
At the time, the ruling PDP agonized, bickered and hissed at the embarrassment caused it by the ACN backed legislative coup. For the ACN, they went to town popping champagne and backslapping one another in relish of their successful legislative putsch. Subsequently, the ACN House of Representatives members essayed to put a nice PR spin on their actions by calling it an act of ‘legislative independence’. The rest is now history. Honourable Tambuwal, as we know, went on to serve out his four year tenure as Speaker and moved on to become the Governor of Sokoto State.
Part 2, Scene 1: The Ides of June
Today, with the passage of time, comes another opportunity on the same stage. Time, they say is like the African herb which heals all wounds. It is the friend of the wounded. It favours the brave. But time, they forget, is also the heat that bakes the sweetest revenge. So, in the build up to the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, the PDP, still smarting from the humiliating defeat it suffered at the hands of the APC in the 2015 general elections, quietly plotted, planned and laid patiently in wait, like a puff adder, for its opportunity to strike deep at the heart of the APC. In the rainy ides of June, it was clear that the uncanny silence of the PDP meant that political conspiracy, as it normally should be in a vibrant democracy, was afoot. With glory in their sight and the winds in their sails, the PDP confidently mobilized its members to the National Assembly, armed with a resolute and iron cast determination to take more than a pound of flesh from the ruling APC.
In all of these political plots and conspiracy nothing indeed is new, surprising or out of the ordinary. What is rather shocking is that the APC did not learn from the past mistakes of the PDP; that the APC did not foresee this coup de grace coming and take pre-emptive steps to blunt the brilliant PDP political gambit. An African adage warns that when you see a frog hopping around in the twilight of noon, it is either chasing something or something is chasing it. It therefore beggars disbelief that warning bells did not go off in APC headquarters when it became public knowledge that the big PDP masquerade, the one popularly called ‘Mr. Fix it’ was reported to be frantically prowling the beautiful recesses of Abuja in the nights leading to the National Assembly’s inauguration. Methinks that it should have been clear to the APC that when ‘Mr. Fix It’ suddenly appears on the scene then it is clear that there must be something very big and very important to be ‘fixed’.
Part 3, Scene 1: History Repeats Itself
And so on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 the PDP bared its fangs and successfully fixed all the elections in the National Assembly. No, they did not just go for the position of Speaker like the ACN did four years earlier. No, that will not do. The PDP was determined to prove a fine point and they did it with style and brutal efficacy. The PDP fixed the position of Senate President, took the Deputy Senate President for itself, fixed the positions of speaker and Deputy speaker of the House. They fixed it all. In short, it was a merciless routing. A complete decapitation of the APC. What the PDP accomplished has gained immediate national acclaim as a potent case study in political subterfuge and strategy. If what the ACN accomplished in the House in 2011 was audacious, what the PDP has just executed in both the red and green chambers of the National Assembly is simply breathtaking in its strategic brilliance and magnitude.
Those who are characterizing the events that took place in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly as ‘treachery’ are missing the point. Democracy is about governance. Effective governance thrives on compromise. Compromise is the game of politics. Politics is about the management of interests and conflicts. Politics, therefore is the engine that drives and makes democracy productive. While morality adds value to the practice of democracy, democracy itself and indeed politics are primarily about the interest and good of the majority. So long as constitutional provisions are complied with, then all is fair that ends well.
Those who come to the altar of democracy must be willing and ready to frolic with the goddess of politics and sail on the fickle streams of time and chance. For the APC to have sat back comfortably calling meetings, conducting mock polls, ignoring the legitimate interest of a section of its membership and issuing orders in the belief that they will therein prevail without playing robust politics is not only unfortunate but has proved costly and fatal. And because of this fatal political miscalculation which bothered more on political naivety, inexperience and complacency, the Nigerian Senate has produced principal officers from two different political parties – a frightening legislative oddity.
It is doubtful that the threat of sanctions from the APC will amount to much more than face saving posturing and pretension. Pray! What will sanctions avail when the ship has sailed? Moreover, the truth, is that the APC stands on a weak and shaky premise on the matter of morality because it was the APC that in 2011 introduced this odd practice in the National Assembly where the minority party conspires to produce presiding officers for the ruling party. Like they say, what goes around, like a boomerang, will ultimately come around. And what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander. Clearly, the PDP learnt well the political history lessons which the ACN taught it in the 7th National Assembly and with the birth of the 8th National Assembly, the student had matured sufficiently to become the teacher and this time, it taught the APC some earth shaking lessons in political strategy.
Sadly, for the APC, the political humiliation is far from over. Given that the PDP is the defining power behind the Saraki throne, Senator Saraki will therefore have to constantly be in the good books of the PDP in order to remain Senate President. The immediate implication is that it is almost certain that Senator Saraki will have to concede some choice Committee Chairmanship positions to placate and keep the PDP happy. Should this happen, it can only be imagined the additional pain and division it would impose on the APC.
Part 4, Scene 1: Denouement
Political watchers are unanimous in their agreement that the PDP revenge, if we may call it that, was served ice-cold and with ruthless efficiency. It will take the APC sometime to assimilate the political magnitude and consequence of what just happened in the National Assembly. Like Muhammed Ali once said, to be a great boxer, you must not only learn how to throw heavy punches you must also learn how to take heavy punches. It is hoped that the APC will be able to take and recover quickly from the impact of this masterful sucker punch which the PDP just landed at their divided house. The impact of these developing events on our democracy is what is not yet clear. But it is gratifying to note that most of the invaluable inventions and discoveries in the world came about not by choice but by chance. It will be interesting therefore to watch how the Senate will function under the leadership of principal officers from opposing parties. Nigeria might just be on the brink of opening a new and valuable chapter in democratic history.
What is clear, however, is that this is the first political outing of the ruling APC and it has been nothing but woeful. They have shown an unwillingness to unite, an inability to act decisively, a reluctance to compromise and a shocking inexperience in playing the game of politics at the national turf. The expectation is that the APC will get its acts together quickly and begin to act, lead and govern like a ruling party which it now is.
To be able to adroitly and successfully manage the crisis of leadership occasioned by the Saarki Senate Presidency will be the first litmus test of the APC’s ability to navigate the turbulent, treacherous and ‘banana-peels-littered’ leadership terrain that is all too familiar in Nigeria’s Senate. For now, the PDP has clearly won round one in this four year bout of politics. More importantly, with this masterful opening gambit, the PDP has put the APC on notice that it boldly and relentlessly intends to pursue, overtake and recover all that it has lost.
Anthony Ubani, a Leadership & Communication Advisor, writes from Abuja
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Anthony Ubani