Senate last week passed a surprising resolution mandating the Federal Government to direct the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, to withhold local government funds to Enugu State and other states that had not democratically elected council chairmen and councilors.

The senate’s argument is that the direct effect of running councils without elected chairman and councilors was a “breach of the constitutional obligation and consequent muzzling of grassroots political participation and development.”

Senator Fidelis Okoro (Enugu North) had moved the motion while his colleague, Farouk Bello Bunza seconded it. Some lawmakers backed the motion and described it as a step in the right direction.

But, outside the hallowed chambers, the move has drawn different interpretations and opinions. “I do not understand the motion and the motive behind it, honestly I do not understand,” outspoken former governor of Kaduna State, and chairman of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Bularabe Musa, told Daily Champion.

He said the senate’s move gives room for suspicion. The same argument is traded by Festus Keyamo, a Lagos lawyer and pro-democracy activist who contended that even if the upper house had genuine intention for moving the motion, the way and manner it was moved has made it imperative that people “ask some questions.”

There is no going far fathoming the reason why the motion appears strange and suspicious to many Nigerians. First is the focus on Enugu State by Senator Okoro who is the brain behind the motion.

The question being asked now is, could Senator Okoro have moved the motion against the Enugu State governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, if he was still enjoying the best of relationship with him? The senate president, Chief Ken Nnamani, is at daggers drawn with Governor Nnamani. He endorsed the motion. But Senator Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu West), Nnamani’s loyalist, swiftly opposed the motion.

The scenario has prodded many a political watcher to reach a conclusion that it may not be hogwash to say that it is an extension of the political battle the two Nnamani’s have been waging over the political soul of Enugu State.

The interpretation may be dismissed by certain people, but events of the past make it unavoidable to think that way. Two of Nnamani’s predecessors had tried to use the Senate floor to cut their governors who they were at war with to size.

The first was Chief Pius Anyim Pius in the first session of the National Assembly, that is between 2001 and 2003. He and Governor Egwu of Ebonyi State were locked in a huge duel over who controls the political machinery of the state. Anyim got the senators from Ebonyi and few other states to back him. It was based on that, that Senator Vincent Usulor, now late, in 2002 moved a motion for the declaration of a state of emergency in Ebonyi State. The plot was foiled but that did not stop Anyim and his acolytes from strategizing on how to teach Egwu bitter lessons.

After Anyim, Senator Adolphus Wabara who succeeded him in the office was also in fierce tussle with Governor Orji Uzor Kalu over who calls the shot of Abia political space. After several fights in the state, Wabara decided to use the National Assembly to get Kalu to stoop for him.

He got the lawmakers to prevent the Stock Exchange from endorsing the move by Kalu to raise funds on the floor of the Stock Exchange for the execution of some projects in the state. Also under Wabara, opponents of then Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, made several efforts to move a motion for the imposition of a state of emergency on the state. But such attempts were botched by Senator Uche Chukwumerije who had insisted that those pushing for emergency rule in Anambra were enemies of democracy.

As far as ardent political watchers are concerned, last week’s motion by Okoro on Enugu State has the same complexion and shape of the Anyim and Wabara power play fisticuff.

No doubt, it is condemnable that some states could chose to sack elected local government officials and replace them with caretaker committee. It is even more painful that no convincing reasons have been offered by governors by taking such step.

But, be that as it may, where it becomes worrisome is the senate latching on that to ask for the withholding of funds accruable to councils in Enugu and other states guilty of the offence.

Some questions that need to be asked are: whether it is constitutional to withhold funds meant for the councils? Won’t that amount to trying to right wrongs with wrongs?

Beyond that, why is the senate making such request now? Musa argued that prior and after the 2003 elections, councils were run by caretaker committees, yet the senate did not ask for the withholding of their funds.

On the contention that states that created development centres and used councils’ subvention to fund them were engaging in illegality, of course, analysts wholly share the truism in this viewpoint. But again, they sharply disagree with the senate that it should be the basis for withholding allocation to councils in Enugu. Half the number of states in the federation created development centres between 2003 and 2004. Why is it now that the senate is noting that there are development centres and that they should not be allowed to exist?

Federal Government’s withholding of allocation of Lagos State council for several months was anchored on the fact that Governor Bola Tinubu created additional councils. The action attracted massive flasks from several circles. The Supreme Court ruled that the presidency has no power to withhold the allocation of any of the tiers of government.

The senate president who was then the senate committee chairman of states, local government and federal character was among prominent Nigerians who picked hole in Federal Government’s action and persistently campaigned for the release of the withholding funds to Lagos State.

Now, supporting calls for a similar treatment against Enugu State and few other states, seems strange to many who do not know how to reconcile the contradiction.

Senator Olorunmbe Mamora (Lagos East) had opposed the motion on the ground that the senate’s action amounted to assuming roles assigned to the State Houses of Assembly in the 1999 Constitution. He insisted that Houses of Assembly have the constitutional right to handle affairs of states.

Though the senate president flawed Mamora’s submission by explaining that “part 11 of the second schedule under powers of the Federal Republic Section 4(5) of the constitution placed a limitation on State House of Assembly’s constitutional role", many still see enough room to read interpretation to the new motion..

There are other parts of the motion that have made it plausible to entertain negative interpretation and insinuation. For instance, Okoro called on the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release the report of its investigation in Enugu. It took the contributions of other senators to include other states where similar investigations have taken place.

Part of the senate’s resolution read “President Olusegun Obasanjo should forward to the senate the report of the EFCC investigation into allegation of monumental corruption in Enugu State Government in particular and other states of federation in respect of which they have also carried out investigations.”

Though the upper legislative chamber has the prerogative to know when and how to go about its legislative duties, it is still considered a puzzle by many why the emphasis on Enugu.

Again, in the last few years that EFCC has been at war with states like Plateau, the senate has kept mute and remained neutral. It is based on that analysts view its current move with curiosity, more so as it went extra mile in setting up an ad hoc committee to investigate Enugu State.

Part of the terms given to the ad hoc committee include: investigate the creation of the so called 39 Development Centres in Enugu State which partake in the sharing of revenue allocated to the 17 local government councils established by the constitution. Investigate the arbitrary creation of wards which partake in the sharing of revenue allocated to the constitutionally established local government councils in many other states of the federation.

Sure, for the senate to erase current suspicion that its focus on Enugu is because of the cold relationship between senate president and Governor Nnamani, the upper legislative chamber needs to extend its investigation to other states.

Culled from Daily Champion, Monday, September 18, 2006