Review… Speak the truth and die! How Buhari’s men are dealing with critics in the Nat’l Assembly

The body language of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration seems to suggest that dissent is anathema and those who engage in vocal dissention risk being treated like they suffer some kind of disease for which they must be quarantined.

Recently, Senators Shehu Sani and Dino Melaye, all of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and staunch supporters of their party and the president, at least as at December 2015, have come under severe attacks, both verbal and physical, from agents of state which leave traces of executive order in their action.

But the curious addition is Sen Enyinnaya Abaribe of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), whose vocal chords have made him rank as the most outstanding opposition voice in the Senate. By his activism in the defence of public rights and good, he has taken the shine off Minority Leader of the Senate, Obong Godswill Akpabio, whom Ripples Nigeria learnt has been forced to shut his mouth with investigations into alleged monumental fraud during his eight years as governor of oil-rich Akwa Ibom state.

Abaribe was recently rattled by a call for his recall by an APC leader in Abia state and son of the traditional ruler in the state, Victor Ikonne, who it seems has been unable to give life to his call, for now.

Also on the firing line is another PDP lawmaker, Sen Matthew Urhoghide, whose call for the impeachment of President Buhari has made him a persona non grata in his home state Edo, at least to the APC supporters.

Sen Urhoghide had described as an impeachable offense the action of President Buhari, in withdrawing $496 million from the Excess Crude Account which belongs to the three tiers of government, for the purchase of war planes from the US.

However, Sani and Melaye have not had it smooth with their state governors.

In Kaduna, Sani is treated like a leper by his state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, a politician who was at the fore-front of opposition against the past administration but now abhors any form of opposition or challenge to his executive powers to which he has given some form of imperial significance.

Read also: Low turn-out trails verification of signatures for recall of Melaye

It was gathered that recent rumour that Sen. Sani had jumped ship and pitched tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was orchestrated by agents of the Kaduna state government and leadership of APC in the state who wanted to score a point. Though Sani dismissed the rumour in a most poetic manner, it was learnt that the intention of the rumor was to present the ‘troublesome’ senator as having run away from a very hot battle and sought a safe haven where he would pursue his ambition to offer leadership to Kaduna state.

Sen. Sani has neither spared his state governor nor the President in his criticism of poor governance and expansion of poverty among the people. He is seen as one voice from the northwest which speaks truth to power. This, Ripples Nigeria gathered, has pitched him against agents of state who had earlier toyed with the idea of recalling him and later accused him of involvement in murder for which criminal charges have been raised against him. The police in Kaduna had also invited him over the issue.

Though the idea failed, Sani does not seem to have the respite he needs as the body language of the administration suggests that he has been marked for decimation so as to prevent him from causing trouble for APC in Kaduna in the run up to the 2019 elections. However, as it is, with Sani, APC has a hurdle to scale through to achieve easy victory in Kaduna in 2019.

But Sani’s travails are not as publicly expressed as those of Sen. Melaye.

Melaye climbed on the back of the populism of the Buhari-for-president campaign in 2015 to become a surprise winner of the election that brought him to the Senate. Since then however, he seemed to have pitched tent with the people and abandoned the team spirit which APC allegedly wanted to create.

The first signs of his ‘errant’ self, showed soon after Senator Bukola Saraki became Senate President against what was known as APC wish. Since then, he has taken bullets for Saraki and criticized the President Buhari government in unspoken terms. He has never hidden his loyalty to Saraki, a development which has pitched him against his state governor, Yahaya Bello, a transporter who became governor riding also on the Buhari mystique.

When Bello declared publicly that he was ready to jump into a fire if Buhari asked him to do so, he gave out clues that the exercise begun in Kogi state to recall Melaye, may not entirely be driven by public good.

Melaye is still battling to judicially stop his recall. His appeal to the effect is sitting at the Supreme Court. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is not waiting for the judicial process to be over before commencing verification of signatures already generated to push for his recall. The exercise began on Saturday (yesterday).

Surprisingly, Melaye will not be in his state to battle for his survival. He is holed up in a hospital in Abuja after the attempt by the Police to ‘extradite’ him to Kogi state for trial over alleged involvement in crime, was botched.

The Police have said that Melaye “jumped out through the window” of a moving Hilux van while being taken to Lokoja for arraignment. Melaye’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome SAN counter-claimed that Melaye had to open the door of the van and jump out when he suspected that he was being taken to Lokoja where he will be detained in prison custody and subsequently killed to achieve that task of silencing him perpetually.

Melaye is not the best of friends with his governor, Bello. Surprisingly, Melaye worked very hard to help Bello become governor over Kogi. But as it is said, the King’s first victims are always the kingmakers. Melaye will live in regret of his effort in making Bello a governor. But he will regret more for the effort he put in towards Buhari’s victory in the 2015 presidential election.

Both Senators Sani and Melaye are now being seen as very poor advertisements for APC and Buhari’s appreciation of opposition as having achieved a silencing of PDP with the mechanical use of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Department of State Security (DSS), the president’s body language now turns on its own.

The curious addition to this list is Abaribe. Though he is of the PDP, it was not surprising that an APC stalwart, whose father conferred Buhari with a chieftaincy title at Aba during the 2015 campaigns, was spearheading the move.

Though Ikonne, said to be an ex-ally of Abaribe, is seen by many in Abia as a rabble-rouser, he seems however to suggest that the APC in Abia is not comfortable with Abaribe for speaking truth to power and also challenging the poor governance indications of the Buhari administration.

It is however yet to be seen how Ikonne will drive his call as he is not yet able to generate support for his new-found vocation.

On his part, Urhogide has received attacks from APC supporters in his state, and was even ambushed at the Benin airport, the weekend after he suggested that Buhari be impeached, and was thoroughly harassed.

His cap was removed from his head by APC supporters in the presence of the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, and he had to be rushed into the airport building by his own supporters to avoid being mobbed.

With Sani, Melaye, Urhogide and Abaribe, APC shows that it is very uncomfortable with criticism of the President Buhari administration despite what is perceived by many, as its glaring failures.

By Femi Qudus…

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