Saraki’s senate of tasteless jokes and anything goes

When you heard, like other Nigerians, that the 2016 budget of the country was ‘missing’ last week, how did you react? For me, I laughed. “How can?” Is that a joke or something?” I asked. Yet, despite the flip-flops, the claims and counter-claims, the denials and damage-control efforts, that’s what the senate under the leadership of its President, Bukola Saraki, has made the serious document of Nigeria’s budget to become. A tasteless joke. An embarrassing one. How sad!

If there is anything Nigerians least expected about the 2016 budget after President Buhari presented it to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, it was the shameful drama and unnecessary controversy that came up on it at the senate. One day, they say the budget is missing. The next day, it’s not missing. The following day, it’s missing. The day after, it’s not missing. To our senators, there’s no need to come out clean with the truth; Nigerians are fools who don’t understand anything and can be tossed here and there. How bad!

Now, some explanations. On January 12, the senate was supposed to commence deliberations on the budget but this didn’t happen. Instead, it held a closed-door session that lasted for about 90 minutes, during which the disappearance of the document was announced to senators by the Senate leader, Ali Ndume. And the Senate President, during a brief plenary that followed, made no reference to the consideration of the budget which was expected to start that day, further increasing the speculations. Again, Ndume who was supposed to make the announcement as senate leader also kept mum on the matter.

Meanwhile, the simple conclusion some of the senators could make from the whole situation was that the budget was missing and they told journalists so. How could this have happened? Different types of rumours started flying. The major one was that the Presidency secretly withdrew the budget to rejig it in tandem with current economic realities.

As journalists made efforts at getting to the root of the matter towards helping Nigerians to better understand what was really happening, they reached out to the Presidency for its own side of the story. This came through Garba Shehu, President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, who denied outright that the President ever withdrew the budget. Shehu’s explanation was that only Buhari could withdraw the budget but had not done so. He even suggested that the issue of missing budget should not arise because several copies of the document were sent to the legislature.

“Nobody except the President can withdraw the budget; as far as we know, he hasn’t done that. The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly. By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property. Inquiries should be directed to the appropriate quarters,” Shehu explained in his response to media enquiries.

With the ball thrown back to the National Assembly’s court, news correspondents at the Presidential Villa approached Saraki after he met with Buhari behind closed-doors later that day, to get his comment about the missing budget. He only gave a sheepish smile exclaiming ‘ha, ha, ha’ before quickly dashing into his official car and he was driven away. Even Ndume later denied ever saying that the budget was missing. But in the House of Representatives, members were relieved when the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, directed the clerk of the house to display copies of the N6.08 trillion budget to dispel the rumour.

And so, from being told of a “missing budget” at the senate on Tuesday, by Thursday, the story had completely changed. Saraki told Nigerians that “the senate now has two versions of the budget.” But this was after Senator Ehinnaya Abaribe, a PDP senator from Abia state representing Abia South senatorial district, stood up on the floor demanding clarification on the matter.

Saraki would later go on to frontally accuse Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), of changing the contents of the 2016 appropriation bill before making the document available to lawmakers. “What he distributed is different from what was presented by Mr. President and we have resolved to consider only the version brought by President Buhari after collecting the soft copy from the executive and not that submitted by Enang,” Saraki announced to his colleagues.

Meanwhile, what was Enang’s own response? He said the matter was a sensitive one and that he would not comment further when prodded by the media. On his part, the chairman of the senate committee on media and public affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, while speaking with National Assembly correspondents, added that no statement made by any senator during plenary could be interpreted to mean an admission that the budget was ever missing.

Now, in all the accusations and denials, as well as the claims and counter-claims about the budget, in what way does the senate headed by Saraki deserve blame for the embarrassment caused Nigeria? In several ways. The information of a ‘missing budget’ came from nowhere but from it. Now, where in the world does such ridiculous and incredulous situation ever occur? If it was missing, how did it happen? If it couldn’t be found, who stole it? If it wasn’t missing, why did the senate make such insinuation and even asked its committee on ethics and privileges to investigate and report its findings?

Additionally, if the budget was secretly withdrawn by the executive arm of government for revision or correction, wasn’t the senate leadership aware of this? Frankly, would Saraki in all honesty tell Nigerians that he wasn’t briefed or hinted by the Presidency that it was going to make some changes in the budget? If he was aware, didn’t they discuss the appropriate manner the matter was going to be handled? If he agreed to the whole arrangement, why did he then act in the way he did?

If the drama played by Saraki’s senate leadership was to settle political scores arising from the silent power-tussle in the APC, the embarrassment was certainly not just to the Presidency but to Nigeria and Nigerians. Ordinarily, a senate is supposed to be a group of experienced, respected, wise individuals serving as lawmakers and decision-makers and working for the good of their people and the betterment of their country and her future prosperity. But our senate, especially under Saraki who came into office last June under circumstances far from ideal, is hardly living up to these lofty standards and expectations.

For me, some information are so nauseating and embarrassing that they ought not to be heard in public in a decent society. Such type of conversation was what the biblical Apostle Paul described as ‘foolish talking’ in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians even as he charged “let it not be once named among you.” Unfortunately, scandals have become part of our national life and nothing really shocks or irritates us anymore. Whether it was missing or withdrawn, I believe the budget issue could have been better managed by Saraki’s leadership.

Meanwhile, although I’ve personally never met Mr. Saraki; but if there is anything I’ve learnt from watching him from afar, it is that he has little or no regards for Nigerians. Were this not so, Saraki wouldn’t carry on as if he is ignorant of what majority of Nigerians are saying about him since his controversial emergence as Senate President last year and his continued stay in that position with the tons of corruption allegations against his name and despite calls for his resignation.

Of Saraki, it can also be rightly said, “He gives no damn.” When I look at him, I see a public officer who is not in any way concerned about how objective political historians would document his stewardship for posterity. Such a man, sincerely, ought not to hold the position of Senate President of the Federal Republic.

Moreover, when a senate decides to set aside its constitutional business of lawmaking to accompany its President to court to defend himself over corruption matters as we have seen under Saraki’s leadership, then, such senate is already that of anything goes. For how long will we continue to accommodate the shenanigans of men in positions of power who have no qualms in shaming and ridiculing Nigeria at the slightest opportunity by their conducts and deceiving Nigerians without being pricked by their conscience?

But much as the Senate deserves blame for its poor handling of the issue, I also believe the Presidency itself deserves even more. The executive made some adjustments and corrections to the budget but wouldn’t want to come out in the open to admit it for political reasons. Yet, a national budget, an estimate of government’s expected revenue and proposed expenditure, can be withdrawn and revised. With oil as the main stay of our national economy for years, and with the evident fall in its prices, the $38 projection for a barrel of crude oil in Buhari’s budget already has ‘K leg.’ And with prices even falling further, it certainly makes sense that the government might want to withdraw the budget for revision. This would be the realistic thing to do. But the Presidency muddled things up. Unnecessarily.

So, why would Buhari’s government lie to Nigerians? Why would the President and his men route the reworked budget through the backdoor? And why would they want to keep that fact away from Nigerians?

Cases like these ones raise red flags for some of us as they give serious cause for concern about the sincerity, credibility and transparency of those we put in government. That is why when it comes to Nigerian politicians, I am always sceptical. True patriots among them are few. Many of them are terrible liars. You can’t just take their word for it on any matter. They are forever excellent at making promises but fail woefully in fulfilling them. That the government is now withdrawing the budget as has been reported by some sections of the media is only a face-saving measure. It ought to have come out clean on the matter before now.

That is also why I really don’t envy people like Femi Adesina and Shehu Garba. Being a Presidential spokesman is no easy job anywhere. In fact, it’s one of the toughest jobs on earth, believe me. Theirs is one tasking and demanding job with little or no time for rest or respite. In a bid to cover up the glaring errors and mistakes of their principals, many Presidential spokesmen have caused unintended damages that eventually hurt the Presidencies of their bosses. I doubt if some of the utterances of these gentlemen will also not eventually cause President Buhari bigger embarrassment in future.

Anyways, if many of our politicians today treat us with disdain and contempt, I believe we gave them the allowance. Perhaps when we, as Nigerians, begin to demand more seriousness and accountability from members of the National Assembly and the executive, then, these men in power will learn to take us more seriously and understand that governance is not one huge and tasteless joke like they have made it to become in our country.