Executive/legislature face-off product of governing party failing its responsibility, by Senator Kaka

By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

“When you control the executive and the legislature together, it is the party working committee and the chairman that should bring the executive and the legislature together.  Any appointment, any issue of national public interest would have been ironed out at that parliamentary caucus meeting, so that when it gets to the chambers they will simply use their majority to overrun the minority.  And then the minority will only have their say while the majority will have their way with ease. But they fail in their responsibility as a party,” he said.

Former Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Alhaji Sefiu Adegbenga Kaka, has described the lingering disagreements between its Federal Government and the National Assembly that it dominates as due to the governing party’s failure to assert itself over the people it produced as members of the executive and legislature.

He added that, this failure to assert itself over those members in itself had led to the setback that the government had experienced in its commitment to helping Nigerians fix their country for them as promised.

Speaking in an interview with The DEFENDER in Ijebu-Ode, recently, Kaka, who is immediately past Senator representing Ogun East at the Seventh Senate, said what the APC should have done was to wield the power with which it could have been facilitating parliamentary caucus meetings among the party’s members of the National Assembly where things would be ironed out before getting to the Senate or House of Representatives.

Failure to do this, the former lawmaker said, had been responsible for the challenges that had faced its government since the starting point in 2015.

Senator Kaka blamed the problem on the weak party system that had been in practice since Second Republic when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) dismantled the party leadership and chairmanship merger put in place by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo whereby, for solitary control, the leader of the party concurrently held forth as chairman of the party, adding that, where the executive does not respect the supremacy of the party, the legislators copy.

“We are feeling bad because we should be conversant with contemporary history especially the recent history.  We knew when Baba Awolowo was the Premier of Western Region.  In his wisdom and the wisdom of the party, they combined the chairmanship of the party with the leadership of the party that is, you had solitary control, ditto at the state level, ditto at the local government level.

“With the advent of the NPN, National Party of Nigeria, they decided to separate it and after separation the politicians danced round that separation of responsibility and authority and they realized that with the executive in power, they had unlimited room for patronage.  For a wise one, all they needed to do is to buy over probably the chairman alone or the chairman and the secretary and render the party useless.  And that was what has been happening.  That was why it was possible under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Mr. President to remove not one, not two, not three, chairmen of the party unilaterally with nobody blinking an eyelid.

“It is the same thing that is happening now because, more or less, the party has become lame dog that if it has been wielding any power at all, it could have been facilitating what is called parliamentary caucus meetings where things are ironed out before getting to the Senate or any of the chambers. But they fail in their duty either out of deference to the President or because they are looking anticipatorily for patronage, which may never come.  But meanwhile, they subjugated themselves and we are having the mess.

“When you control the executive and the legislature together, it is the party working committee and the chairman that should bring the executive and the legislature together.  Any appointment, any issue of national public interest would have been ironed out at that parliamentary caucus meeting, so that when it gets to the chambers they will simply use their majority to overrun the minority.  And then the minority will only have their say while the majority will have their way with ease. But they fail in their responsibility as a party,” he said.

*Keep a date with us on Wednesday for detailed interview of Senator Gbenga Kaka, who will be 65 on May 14.