Much Ado About Natasha

PRESS STATEMENT

By African Writers Centre (AWC)

…towards assuaging Nigerians and encourage patriotic citizens to overlook the conscious and deliberate attempts to heat up the polity and distract the Senate from the harmonious activities and collaboration with other arms of the present administration to optimize potentials and benefits of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Introduction

1. The attention of African Writers Centre (AWC) has been drawn to what we see as a calculated plan and carefully orchestrated design to heat up the Senate and instigate an unwarranted and needless distraction aimed at destabilizing the President of the Senate from maintaining focus towards attaining the projections of the upper legislative chamber in sustaining democratic tenets and good governance in Nigeria.

The Target

2. Assessment of the unprovoked attacks on the person and office of the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could easily be seen as grand designs to create a disruption in the upper legislative chamber that would give room to infiltrations that would truncate the peaceful and harmonious relationship between the Executive and the Legislature in our country. Recall that Nigeria’s democracy had suffered a lot of setbacks and losses due to cat and dog relationships and sustained fighting between the Executive and the Legislative arms of government that was characteristic of Nigeria’s democracy in the past.
3. The present leadership in Nigeria has demonstrated that there could be sustainable and fruitfully beneficial cooperation and collaboration between the Executive and the Legislature for sustainable growth, faster implementation of fiscal policies, as well as better delivery of good governance and democratic dividends to our people.
4. We are however convinced that neither the President of the Federal Republic, nor the President of the Senate would fall for these plots, or allow these gimmicks designed by political opponents, merchants and detractors of government to distract this administration that is focused on making landmark achievements and remarkable positive changes in governance in Nigeria. We are further convinced that Nigerians are seeing through these actors, whose only agenda is to pull the government down and deny Nigerians of reaping the many great benefits targeted to build a greater nation.
5. In any case, it is assuring to note that this administration understands the undercurrents and would not fall for the tricks. Nigeria is better positioned presently to achieve optimum productivity in all spheres of governance, as there are highly experienced patriots leading both the Executive and the Legislature. For the first time in Nigeria, the nation is so lucky with leadership structures, that we have the President of the Federal Republic, the Vice President and the President of the Senate as all Senators, who had also been Governors of States in Nigeria in the past. Consequent upon this, they are not just experienced, and men who cannot be swayed by frivolous plots, which ordinarily they see through, but they also understand the dynamics of government and governance. They know how to avoid the needless ambush and plotted landmines and navigate the landscape to benefit the citizenry and the country.
6. We therefore call on Nigerians to also see through these developments and plots, avoid been drawn into nothingness, selfish aggrandizement and attempts to make mounting out of clear mold hill.

Gender Sensitivity

7. This government, as well as the Senate under the leadership of Dr. Godswill Obot Akpabio has clearly demonstrated gender sensitive approach to its dealings and businesses. Women make up only about 3.67% membership of the 109 Senators and all the female Senators in the 10^th National Assembly are new in the red chamber. Nevertheless, the President of the Senate has been magnanimous in ensuring equitable distribution of positions to tilt in favour of the women Senators, irrespective of party affiliations, religion or ethnicity. In other words, in the present Senate, women are occupying sensitive positions.
8. For instance, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Peoples Democratic Party, representing Kogi Central was appointed Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, as well as Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Steel. Just recently, Senator Natasha was also appointed as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora. In the same vein, Senator Ireti Kingibe of Labour Party, representing Federal Capital Territory was appointed Chairman Senate Committee on Women Affairs, as well as Vice-Chairman, Committee on Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation; while Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule of All Progressives Congress, representing Lagos West was appointed Chairman Senate Committee on Humanitarian Affairs and Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
9. The President of the Senate is not just a fine, gender-friendly gentleman, but he is also a serious-minded but jovial democratic enthusiast, who makes conscious efforts to carry all Senators along despite their party lines, gender, religion or creed. He is a leader that has always shown empathy, fairness and cordiality even as he makes uncommon milestone, symbolic achievements. It is as a result that he has succeeded in building and leading a people and goal-oriented, dynamic and harmonious National Assembly that also collaborates with the Executive for optimum growth and development of the country, so as to advance the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Crux of the Matter

• It becomes pertinent for us to delve a bit into the present unnecessary imbroglio, which many patriots have described as banana peels and needless ambush on the leadership of the National Assembly. It is on record that by the written Senate rules, every department of the chamber has its lawful responsibilities and the President of the Senate is actually quite engrossed and committed to the enormous responsibilities of his office that he cannot delves into frivolities of who sits where.
• It is incumbent on the designated department of the Senate to determine who sits where by assigning seats to Senators based on Senate rules. By our investigations, the office responsible for assigning sitting positions to Senators had done its work based on the Senate rules and not by looking at beautiful or handsome faces. In any case, no Senator was assigned seat outside the Chamber, so why the so much ado about seat and sitting positions, a function the lawful office had discharged very well.
• The President of the Senate should be commended for being diligent enough to insist that Senators should sit as assigned so that order and decorum would be maintained in the Chamber. It does not matter if it were a male or female Senator or whether the Senator is from the ruling party or opposition party. We commend the President of the Senate for doing the right thing by asking Senator Natasha to sit properly and comply with the rules. What Nigerians must condemn in the National Assembly and elsewhere is lack of decorum and order, youthful exuberance, impunity and resorting to self-help by daring constituted authority.
• Nigerians should not be deceived because of the gender or political party involved. Should we allow a particular Senator to publicly bully not just the President of the Senate, but the entire Senate and pass on in the cover of gender or opposition. This must not be allowed to continue. The established rules of engagement must be upheld despite whose ox is gored; and this is what the President of the Senate has done.
• Much as we appeal to the President of the Senate, all the Senators and the entire National Assembly to forgive Senator Natasha, we urge her to tender unreserved apology to Nigerians through the President of the Senate and the Senators. We also appeal to the President and Leadership of the Senate to rescind any plans to suspend Senator Natasha. While we plead on her behalf, as she is new on this political stage, we believe that she would have learnt her lessons and would not make such a mistake again.

Conclusion

• We enjoin Nigerians to be very watchful and analytical in this democratic journey. One must not always be right because of perceived weakness, be it gender, party or ethnicity; there is need to look at every matter critically based on merit. We should not be supporting rebellious tendencies, maligning and bullying of leaderships, as a way to get back at the government in power. A word is enough…

Amah A. Amaonye

Director General