A world of godfathers

by

Reuben ABATI

By Reuben Abati

“Have you been following the developments at the Lagos State House of Assembly?”

“High wire politics. Power Game. Man pass man. Man pass woman. Two Speakers in 50 days. Perfect material for a Nollywood film”

“Omo… as in …!”

“But I think the State lost the opportunity of having a female Speaker of the House for the first time in history.”

“That has already been established. History has been made It is now on record that Mrs. Mojisola Meranda once served, no matter how briefly, as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. She has broken the jinx. But the whole drama is not about gender balancing, or gender equity, it is about following due process and respecting the power calculus in the State.”

“The Constitution is very clear. It says in Section 92 (2) that the members of the House shall choose their own Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among themselves. Which also means that they have the right to appoint and remove whoever they put in those two positions. The Speaker in particular is only first among equals, not the Babangida of the Assembly”

“I think we have to leave the Constitution out of this. This is about power and influence. Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has just shown that he is not anybody’s mate in that House.”

“What kind of talk is that? They are all colleagues. Even Obasa himself says the people who removed him as Speaker behind his back are his brothers and sisters”

“And you believe that? Did you not see all the drama? Brothers and sisters who voted against him, held press conferences to condemn him and openly humiliated him at every turn. Is that how a brother treats another brother?”

“It is part of the price anybody in a leadership position has to pay. Obasa has been Speaker for 10 years. I think the whole drama should be a wake-up call for him. He must have learnt some lessons about his environment and more lessons about politics.”

“I understand now that he has been reinstated, he is also expected to resign in the days to come and another person from Lagos West will be chosen as Speaker.”

“I don’t think so. Nobody wins a battle and gives away the spoils of victory. I see him sitting firmly on that seat till 2027. He may even return as Speaker after the next House of Assembly elections. The people who have lost out are the people who opposed him.”

“How? They are properly elected representatives of the people.  They owe their constituency a responsibility to make laws for the good governance of the State.”

“You are very sure they were elected by the people?”

“Yes, of course”

“In this Lagos State?”

“Elections were held. People trooped out to vote in the various constituencies. Other parties took part in the elections”

“I hear you. But go and write it down, most of those lawmakers who opposed Obasa and refused to listen to the directives of the Godfather, they and their Baba Sope sponsors, will be pushed out before the 2027 general elections.”

“This is a democracy. They have the right to express themselves.”

“Yes. Freedom of speech. But that will not guarantee their re-election. I imagine they will be on all fours now, begging, pleading for mercy.”

“Mercy from whom? I thought you said the Speaker of the House is only first among equals.”

“Yes. But this is a clear case of my Godfather is bigger than yours. What those 36 lawmakers in Lagos State did was to embarrass Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Godfather of Lagos politics, and the President of Nigeria. For a whole month, they portrayed Lagos State as a wild part of Western Nigeria.  Very bad optics. All of a sudden, the President looked as if he had lost control of his own State. This is a man who has been called upon to look into the crisis in Rivers and Osun States. With his own political family, the APC in Lagos engaged in street fighting, what moral right does he have to provide leadership in the political crisis in other States?”

“It is democracy, though.”

“It is not part of democracy for you to expose your leader, and the President of Nigeria to ridicule and not expect consequences.”

“Okay. Okay. Obasa is back. Mojisola Meranda has also been returned to her former position as Deputy Speaker. The status quo ante bellum has been restored. Now, going forward, what the people of Lagos State need is peace, not in-fighting by their lawmakers. Obasa must find a way of working with other members of the House, particularly Deputy Speaker Meranda. He is a leader. He cannot afford to isolate himself. He has proved his point and his value. I understand he is the political leader of Alimosho political constituency. Nobody can become Governor of Lagos State without winning that Constituency. It is the largest political constituency in Lagos State, Nigeria and the whole of Africa!”

“Fine. But have you asked yourself why all of this will happen and the Governor of Lagos State did not nip the crisis in the bud? He allowed the crisis to fester.”

 “No, I disagree. What do you expect him to do? When it is convenient, we talk about separation of powers. When politics and expediency merge, we abandon principles and blame others. You do me, I do you, God no go vex. When Obasa publicly humiliated Governor Jide Sanwoolu, kept the man waiting for five hours when he went to present the Budget for 2025, and humiliated him further by saying he too could be Governor, that kind of behaviour has consequences too.”

“So, this is all about ego then? Tinubu gets thoroughly embarrassed because of the ego of his own boys? I hope Sanwoolu knows that allowing Tinubu to be embarrassed under his watch could have consequences too. We may just not have seen the end of the tragi-comedy in Lagos State”

“What annoys me, to tell the truth, is that the fight is not about principles. I have read stories indicating that the Lagos lawmakers turned against Obasa because he was not giving them enough money. One of them even said the Speaker refused to pay his hospital bills when he took ill.”

“Well, that is some useful information for the voters in Lagos. Their lawmakers just want to share money. It is about their personal pockets, not democracy. It is shameful. No. It is not shameful. It is worse than shameful. I said ego. You talk about money. In Igbo language, money is actually EGO. You see, we are actually saying the same thing.”

“I just think that President Tinubu should watch it. There is trouble in Lagos State. There is tension in Osun State. Two states in the South West, his own region of the country. In both places, the President’s party, APC, is the problem.”

“APC again?

“Yes. APC. In July 2022, then Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Tinubu’s cousin had conducted elections into Local Councils without giving the mandatory one-year notice required by the Electoral Law of the State. He gave a 40-day notice. Adeleke, not yet elected Governor, went to court. The APP too. The Federal High Court, Akure declared the local council elections null and void. The elections held and of course the APC won every single seat. Adeleke, now Governor, refused to recognize that election. The APC local council chairmen who had been elected fought the matter all the way to the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure. The Court of Appeal recently ruled on two grounds (a) notice of election and (b) the time of filing the suit by the PDP, and dismissed all other prayers as academic. The Court gave no consequential orders, no reinstatement order, and did not upturn the judgment of the Federal High Court.”

“I am listening”

“It was a 53-page judgment. On the basis of this, the Adeleke administration organized fresh local council elections on the order of a court. The APC council men claim they are the legitimate council officials. Local Council officials are on strike in the State. Tension everywhere.”

“I get it. I get it. The APC officials are misinterpreting the court ruling because they have a Godfather in Abuja.”

“I have not said it is Tinubu pulling the strings in Osun oh”

“No. I get it. I read stories showing that the Attorney General of the Federation gave instructions to the Osun State Governor to recognize the APC agitators. The Inspector General of Police also supported the AGF’s directive. AGF plus IGP on one matter equal to Tinubu when you do your calculations. Simple logic.”

“I just know that peace should be allowed to reign in Osun. The APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, once boasted after the Ondo State governorship election in 2024, that the APC will take over Oyo and Osun States in the next elections. I hope this is not the sign that we are beginning to see: the grand plan by the APC to create a political homogeneity in the South West.”

“Court rulings must be respected. The Rule of Law must prevail.”

“I believe you will say the same about Rivers State where the Supreme Court has upheld the defection of the pro-Wike, anti-Fubara 27-man Amaewhule faction in the Rivers State House of Assembly from the PDP to the APC, and has also ruled that the State can no longer get Federal allocations until Governor Simi Fubara re-presents the State’s 2025 budget to the Martins Amaewhule faction. The court also nullified the local government election conducted last year by Fubara. I see Governor Fubara has been putting up a bold face, commissioning one project after the other. The truth is that he has been thoroughly humiliated. Minister Nyesom Wike has won.”

“I am more concerned about the people of Rivers State. It looks like it is the people of Rivers State who have lost out. But I really cannot comment on the judgment of their Lordships until I see the Certified True Copy (CTC) of their submissions. I am confused. What are they saying for example about the precedent in Abegunde v Ondo State House of Assembly which they decided in 2015, and what the Constitution says in Sections 68(2) and 109(1)(g) on the illegality of cross-carpeting? Those are the core issues.”

“Hmm. The jungle has finally matured. Fubara is about to be taught a lesson for standing up to his Godfather. It is the same thing. Do you think he will now be impeached?”

“It depends on how he plays his game. He may just have to respect the unfavourable Supreme Court judgment and find a way to go and beg Wike in Abuja. He has already directed his own local council chairmen to hand over to the heads of administration in their councils, effective March 3. The former pro-Wike local council chairmen whose tenure was extended by six months are on their way back to office.” 

“But I hear members of the South-South Elders Forum are advising Fubara not to beg anybody, because they will not. I think those elders should just go and sit down somewhere. They are the same elders who pushed Fubara to this point of humiliation.”

“Not a fair comment. The elders are saying that Wike is no longer Governor of Rivers State and he cannot continue to run riot over the State from Abuja. After the Supreme Court judgment, Wike held a thanksgiving session in his house. Please how can one man constitute himself into such a nuisance? He is a threat to democracy in Rivers.”

“He has a big Godfather. It is President Tinubu who is indulging him. He knows he has the President behind him. The President himself praised him on live television. We all know that. Wike might as well do what he likes with Rivers State.”

“Is that democracy? Godfathers everywhere. Even in the National Assembly.”

“I have not seen the hands of any Godfather in the National Assembly, at least not in the recent salacious case of cuckoldry allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti”

“That’s another material for Nollywood. Except that it is not funny. We cannot afford to have a National Assembly that spends its time again and again having to deal with a House of Representatives member who beats up a woman at a sex toy shop; a Senate President who gets accused by Joy Nunieh; and now a married female Senator alleging that the Chairman of the National Assembly, the same Senator Godswill Akpabio was making sexual overtures to her and harassing her.”

“I agree with the former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in the matter. We should be more worried about the integrity of the institution. We must rescue that institution. Our National Assembly must not become a comedy house of errors. The matter should be referred to the Ethics Committee of the Senate and both parties must submit themselves to the authority of that Committee. Senator Natasha Akpoti says she has evidence. She who alleges must prove. Simple”

“Nothing will come out of it. You want to bet? This is the point. Senator Akpabio has a Godfather that is bigger.”

“Who is that?”

“Who else? And as for Senator Akpoti, except she brings out that concrete evidence she claims she has, she should begin to prepare for worse humiliation in that Senate. I hear the other Senators are actually making jest of her. They are saying even if a mosquito, the male anopheles, hovers too closely around Senator Akpoti, she will scream that the mosquito is sexually harassing her, and go to court. She alone: Governor Yahaya Bello, then Reno Omokri, and now the Senate President. Next time she uses that trope, nobody will pay attention to her.” 

“You are taking sides.”

“No. Just thinking aloud…I also heard that the male lawmakers in the National Assembly have all resolved that if Senator Akpoti smiles at them, they will never smile back!”

“Ha Ha. You kept making this point about godfathers. It is not only in Nigeria though. Look at the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. He went to the United States, looking for the godfather’s support against Russia. For merely expressing an opinion about Putin, he was openly humiliated by President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. I have never seen a thing like that. The President of a sovereign nation tongue-lashed like that? Even his dressing was questioned and he was ordered to leave the White House.”

“Godfathers are not always nice. When you stand up to them. They crush you. I thought that was a diplomatic blunder by the way. Why conduct public policy and diplomacy on live television? I pitied Zelensky. He and his country were made to look small. And America first.”

“He was humiliated. He learnt his lesson. Beware of the godfather.”