By Abiodun Awolaja
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Philosophers have extensively discussed the dangers of power grabs and unconstitutional seizures of power. To take just one salient example, German-American theorist Hannah Arendt and the French theorist Michel Foucault do not exactly see power with the same lenses, but they are both united on the dangers of tyranny. Arendt associates power with non-violent collective action rooted in cooperation and mutual agreement, while Foucault sees power as ubiquitous and relational. Yet they both denounce unchecked power. Hear Arendt:” Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” In Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, Foucault says: “People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don’t know is what they do.” If you have read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, it’s highly unlikely you would want to fault Foucault, because that novel demonstrates convincingly how a totalitarian system can transcend the designs of its authors.
It is trite that power can lead to corruption and that powerful individuals frequently dehumanise those with less power. That is why this week, a communication that may well have been written by an emperor emerged from the Senate advising the suspended senator representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, not to return to the Senate after the expiration of her six-month suspension. Responding to a September 4 communication from the senator, the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly, Dr. Yahaya Danzaria, claimed that her suspension was still active and tied to a pending case at the Court of Appeal. The implication, quite simply, is that the suspension which ended on September 6 has been extended indefinitely. This is Madness Incorporated.
In its utter emptiness, the Senate is saying that the pending case at the Court of Appeal, which relates to the legality or otherwise of the six-month suspension, precludes the Kogi senator from resumption of duties even after the suspension has lapsed. This position is not only erroneous; it is rooted in totalitarianism. Dr. Danzaria and the Senate’s position that “no administrative action would (sic) be taken until the Court of Appeal delivers its decision” is akin to the suspension of the Nigerian Constitution which guarantees the people of Kogi Central representation in the National Assembly. It is an insane power grab that makes utter mockery of the democracy we all fought to have in 1999. If the present madness is what the likes of Gani Fawehinmi and many others died for, then it would have been better not to have democracy at all. The once hallowed chambers of the NASS is now inhabited by Baby Kingsway, intellectual toddlers in adult bodies and moral midgets whose actions lucidly signpost the decay of a nation. As long as Nigeria’s democracy throws up people like these terrible sets of fellows who would have been better off as houseboys, Nigeria is doomed. I write what I see and I do not care in the slightest what any rogue thinks.
By keeping Akpoti-Uduaghan away from the Red Chamber, Akpabio and his enforcers are carrying out a coup that effectively excises Kogi Central from the rest of Nigeria. They are just like Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has just been jailed 27 years for executing a constitutional coup following his defeat by Luis da Silva in 2022: they have suspended the constitution. On many occasions, Nigerian courts have ruled that legislative suspensions must not be used to punish political opponents or silence dissent. But Akabio and his boys don’t care. What they care about is power grab and using the Senate to settle personal scores. Pray, does Akpabio want to become a demigod?
As Adedayo Adedeji (SAN) has argued, it is constitutionally proper for Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to be allowed to resume her seat following the expiration of her suspension. This, Adedeji observes, would preserve the Senate’s dignity, show respect for its disciplinary powers, and ensure that the people of Kogi Central are not left without representation, in violation of Sections 68 and 1(3) of the Constitution. I also align with Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), who says that the Senate is overreaching itself in this case. Hear the erudite lawyer: “The court case being referred to relates to the six-month suspension; as to its validity and constitutionality. The appeal flowing from that case is also limited in scope to the six-month suspension. Anything to the contrary will portray the Senate as being vindictive and petty.” I so hold.
This dictatorship stinks to the high heavens. It seems that the last Senate President Nigeria had was Bukola Saraki. Using the office of Senate President to settle personal scores and create a stifling atmosphere is transparently demonic. Akpabio must realise that he is not the first person to occupy that seat–the Evan Enwerem era feels just like yesterday. He must desist from reducing it to his low level. To be cynically unforgiving even when you have all the power is to play Lucifer the adversary. I am no publicist for Natasha, but the truth remains the truth even when the Senate has become a study in tyranny. How is the senator to represent her people when she remains shackled by a lawless leadership? Denying her her wages is not sanction; it is suffocation. The Senate’s decision is decidedly perverse. This is no longer about a dispute between two parties: it is persecution writ large.
How do you go for the kill even when your opponent apparently has no bite? Godswill Akpabio, is there something about this young woman that you are not telling us? We in Yoruba call people like you agbaya. Is the case in court not enough for you? Do you want her and her constituents crushed? This is cowardice of the highest order, the inability to confront your nemesis. History will consign you to the dustbin.
Constant experience, Baron de Montesquieu tells us, shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go. But the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is even starker in his submission. He says that “the possession of power inevitably spoils the free use of reason.” How sad that Akpabio’s Senate and reason have become mortal enemies!
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