POLITICAL NOTES
First the senate wanted the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs, Col. Hameed Ali, to appear before it and respond to some allegations, however, in full uniform of the agency he leads. What started like a child’s play soon exposed the underbelly of the animosity they both nursed against each other, as Ali declined appearing in uniform. The senate consequently passed a resolution that Ali is unfit to hold office and the battle rages on.The faceoff between the Senate and certain agencies of the federal government mirrors an utterly defective system. The only way to describe the new relationship between the executive and the legislature is vendetta. It is evidently a turf war.
Then came allegations that Ali’s travail was caused by the Nigeria Customs Service’ seizure of a vehicle imported for the Senate president for which appropriate duty was not paid.
Saraki has already faced a Senate committee on the allegation and had since exonerated himself.
Second, the Senate declined to confirm the nomination of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a record second time based on Department of State Security (DSS) report which claimed Magu lacks the integrity to lead the nation’s anti-graft campaign. What more, the senate left the executive with a caveat: it would not reconsider Magu if re-presented.
Magu too hit back at the senate in a report to the President, linking Senate President Bukola Saraki to alleged diversion of the Paris and London Club refund, to the tune of N3.5billion.
As it is, what the executive and the legislature share in terms of relationship is not good enough and the Nigerian people, ultimately, are the loser. This is sheer vendetta on both sides and cannot be located within the collective interest of growth and development. The earlier they realise this and make amends, the better, otherwise they might be putting the nation’s democracy at great risk.
