The senators are not different from the boys that invaded the Senate –Barr Ikimi

Barr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, a Warri based human right activist, good governance and social justices advocate, in this interview with Ovasa Ogaga, he spoke on the Senate suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, saying that the senate lacks powers under the constitution to suspend any of its members, he equates the action of the senator as a violent reap on the Nigerian 1999 constitution as amended. He noted that by the level of impunity displace by the leadership of the 8^th senate, that there is a thin line between the Nigeria senate and the hoodlums that invaded it. (This interview was conducted before the recent High Court judgment on the matter.)

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Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was recently suspended for criticizing the decision of the Senate and expressing a contrary view, what is your take on the legality of the senate action?

 

Senator Ovie Omo Agege has a right as a senator and also as a Nigerian to express himself within and outside the senate chamber. He also has the right to hold contrary views or opinion from that of the senate or National Assembly and holding such opinion cannot earn him a suspension. So, as far as the Nigeria constitution is concern, that he expressed a contrary view does not amount to a violation of the constitution and therefore the action of the senate is unconstitutional, null and void.

 

Though people talk about the senate rule, can the senate rule supersede the 1999 constitution as amended? The answer is No! Therefore suspending him for holding or expressing himself is illegal, null and void and is of no effects. His purported suspension is actionable in court; this means that he can challenge the action of the senate and enforce his fundamental human right, through the court. This point should be clear, the senate rule cannot be above the constitution; the constitution said that any law that is inconsistency with any provision of the constitution remains null and void to that extent of the inconsistency. So, his suspension from my opinion is illegal.

 

There is federal High-Court and Court of Appeal judgment which is yet to be set outside, says that the National Assembly cannot suspend a lawmaker for more than 48 hours, so where is the senate deriving its powers from?

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The Senate has a rule that is guiding its members like practice and procedure that guide their activities. And according to the senate rule from what we read in the media that say that the rule proscribed 14days suspension for any senator for act of misconducts. Sadly they even broke their rules to suspend Omo-Agege for 90 days and Ndume’s Own is for 180 days. So, where did they get the powers from even with the senate rule? And again, if the senate rules are inconsistent with the constitution as this case is, such rule is void, the only way you can suspend a legislator is through a recall, which could only be done by his constituents.

 

Dr. Bukola Saraki was elected as a senator Omo-Agege and others were elected to represent a senatorial district, so, it is wrong for a legislator to suspend another legislator, because the constitution stated clearly that the only way you can remove a legislator from the house is by recalling him through his constituent who elected him, and that is what is known to law, anything short- of that is illegal and invitation to anarchy and chaos.

 

Some analysts claimed that the invasion of the senate by some youth was provoked by the acts of impunity and illegalities going in the senate, what is your take?

 

With due respect to the office of the senate President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Senator Bukola Saraki,  I think that there is a thin line between the senator and the hoodlums that invaded the hallow chamber of the senate. Talking seriously, I think the senators are not different from the boys that invaded the senate. Because apart from all these illegalities we are talking about, we have senators who earn salaries above what they are officially supposed to earn, but here you have senators who calls themselves distinguished senators breaking the laws which established what they are suppose to earn with impunity, where did they get such powers from? So, you discover that these people, the Senators are also behaving like hoodlums, because it’s only a hoodlum that forcefully takes what does not belong to him.(rider)

 

What are they doing at the senate? Many of them with due respect are mentally lazy, they just sit and begin to talk about things that profits them at the National assembly, the budget is gathering dust for over 6 months now unattended to, but they have time to chase irrelevant things. This is a budget that will affect the live of over 180 million people gathering dust in the national Assembly, we are already in the fifth months, its yet to be passed, so what are they receiving such fabulous salaries for? When it comes to bills that affect them, they are passing them with jet speed, but when it concerns average Nigerians, they slow it down. So, are these sets of people different from those hoodlums that invaded the senate? My answers is no, they are not; because the hoodlums are lawbreakers and we also have senator who are lawbreakers even when they are supposed to make laws for the nation. So, the senators provided the enabling environment for their colleagues to invade the senate.

 

What were they really talking about when we have issues that is very important to our national growth unattended to, but leave they sit and talk about irrelevant things, are they serious people? Who leaves a burning roof to chase after a rat? Because of the inaction of the national assembly, the president been mindful that they are not patriotic has jettison them and without seeking their approval to start withdrawing money from the excess crude account to purchase 12 military plane for about $496M. The president could not have wanted for these legislators who only Gods know when they will pass the 2018 national budget, to wait endlessly for them means endangering our national security. So, those who are claiming that the action of the president is illegal should think twice because the action of the national assembly which is practically holding Nigerians hostage is also illegalities.

 

There is so much acts of illegalities going on in Nigerian because we have senators who are not patriotic, they would rather be loyal to the senate president and not the nation which they swear to defend its constitution. With the level of impunity going on at the national assembly I hope they are not plotting to truncate our democracy, because their actions are threatening the foundation of our democracy. I have a bad news for them, they should continue in their ways, a generation is coming that will fix Nigeria, but sadly our generation will not be remembered. A generation is coming that will correct all this abnormality after correcting all this abnormality our generation will be known and describe as a dark age because we are wasting our generation. Other countries of the world like Saudi Arabia, name it, they are planning for generations ahead, i know of Saudi Arabia they have planned for two generations ahead so that when the oil finishes the generation yet on born 200 years will benefit for the oil. But here we have a nation that is not even planning for tomorrow. i am not even talking of a week or a month we are not even planning for next tomorrow. If this senators are patriotic our project would have been passed into law long ago it they are patriotic they will so busy that they will not even have time for reordering of election. when you talk of reordering of election how does it benefit the ordinary man, how does it benefit me who is a constituent of the delta central district, even if the election of the senator are last on the list, a senator who have worked will definitely win the approval of his people even if you don’t have confidence in the electoral system, our electoral system is shaking. Once a legislator or any person win election the people say this are the people we want and they vote massively for the people and the result that comes out is different, the people can protest that this is not our representative this is the person we voted for, so reordering all this are selfish project design to benefit just themselves not the Nigeria purpose. Those who invaded the senate the senator were not different from those people there is a tin-line between them is just that they are senators and other people are hoodlums. we have official hoodlums and the non official hoodlums the senators are official hoodlums like the non the official hoodlums that came to carry the mace that is why i said they are all hoodlums like i said they will be wise not to truncate our democracy .

 

Recently Senator Deno Melaye who has been very vocal about rule of law was invited by the police for questioning, but he refused invitation and when the police eventually arrested him and he jumped out of the vehicle and got himself injured, does these character represent what a senators should be?

 

No, what happened is that all these people got their way into the senate with money; these are wealthy people they got their way through connection if the people are allowed and involved in the selection; all these things won’t happen. They are connected to the party, if the people say these are the people we are bringing and before the man is selected by the party, you know what is happening there its all money. What is happening in this man’s party is also happening in the other party. I know of a party worse than that, they will not even conduct primary they will say this is the person we are selecting , impunity and so our selection process is a problem because when you have the people that have the money to contest election and drug barons because money is involved, they are involve as ex-convicts, they are involve in one crime or the other. These are the people that come out to contest for the position of a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria, because it’s not easy to pull out about one hundred million to vie for senate. Form of a senate is 10 million if not more than that because I know that the presidential form is twenty something million. Where do I for example get ten million to buy the form of a senator for my party that is outside the money I am going to spend because I have already started spending before I got the form because the primaries I spent money and I have to settle some members of the constituents and in some cases they buy the votes and the highest bidder wins before we now go into the election proper. Where do we get that kind of money because a topical Senator will have to get at least 100 million to win his election so where does he get it, except he engages in shady deals like I told you he can’t, like a professor, how much does a professor earn, he can’t, except he has a God Father and when he gets there, the godfather controls him, so when we are talking of a senator look at what a governor will spend, a billion and above, so you see its money so if you have the money you can get there, if you really want to serve because they don’t have the money they are off, but we have a system where almost everyone that are contesting this election are riff rats because its all money election because those intellect you hardly find them so if you see what is happening today is a sum total of what is happening in our country today, all money politics this is where money politics has led us to.

 

Coming back home, we are talking about the issue of money now, there is this assertion that those who do the menial jobs like riding of Okada and the rest in Delta state are  Urhobo youths and women , that Urhobo race has been reduced to a beggarly race, by successive administration in the State, how true is this?

 

No, that assertion is wrong, right from the beginning the Urhobo man has been a very hard working person, he does not beg, but the problem is that our supposed leaders are greedy and selfish leaders who want to make money, look at leaders like Mukoro Mowoe they live their lives for the Urhobos, he was patriotic. Is Urhobo still united? How can Urhobos have have two factions of UPU, Chief Omene and Chief Taiga should step down and work together to make sure that a credible president general emerges so that their names will be written in gold if not that they will be remembered as the people who at one time tried to destroyed UPU because they cannot destroy it, there is no Unity in the Urhobo nation because people who are speaking are either people from Chief Taiga camp or Chief Omene camp, these are the people still talking, they don’t have the right to talk because they are not representing the totality of the Urhobo people, if Mowoe had acted like them they would not have any UPU to inherit. Our supposed leaders are our biggest problems , they go to represent us for their selfish interest. You are talking of Okada, should the Urhobo man go and steal? The Urhobo man is a very proud man, they prefer to ride Okada that steal, is it because we don’t have a governor we are beggarly nation, when we have a governor where there no Okada riders from Urhobo extraction, when Ibru and Ibori was governors few people benefited, their families benefited not everyone, all those ministers from Urhobo extractions, I don’t want to mention names, of what benefit where they? the thing is that let us all be united not producing governor or minister because it does not rub off on the whole Urhobo nation.

 

On a final note sir, there is this assertion in Urhobo land that if you can pay you get the Urhobo peoples vote, how do we change this mentality sir?

 

A; it is very unfortunate that we have found ourselves in this situation and its even getting worst, if you vote for somebody who gives you five thousand naira today, you will spend that five thousand naira for the next four years because by the time you go to meet the person he will tell you I have settled you already, so it will take some time for our people to know these things, that is not all about money that politics, going to administer a place is a serious business because the people in developed word they go there not to amass wealth for themselves but develop people and the nation but our people see these people as people going to enmassed wealth for themselves so they say let us collect what we want to collect, but when you collect that and you vote for them they will recoup what they have lost, so don’t do it, but if they offer money collect it but don’t vote for them if they are drug addicts or not qualified candidates, thank you.