The withdrawal by Speaker of the House of Representatives of a Counter Subversion bill that he sponsored, and attempted to stealthily pass, has once again brought the House into disrepute. The bill’s purpose was to suppress and criminalise dissent against poor governance and agitations for self-determination.
The House of Representatives passing the bill’s first reading deserves censure for two reasons. Firstly, they have made no attempt to criminalise or suppress the routine “official stealing” associated with budget padding and corrupt budget implementation which causes the dissent in the first place. Secondly, the right to self-determination is inalienable, given by God and legislated by the United Nations Charter of Human Rights.
The attempt to pass such a controversial bill clearly indicates a fear that serially poor, uncompassionate governance threatens the nation with grave social unrest, if not imminent fracture.
The withdrawn bill would have clearly infringed upon personal freedoms by criminalising refusal to sing the new (old) national anthem! This is quite silly taking into consideration the fact that inability to speak English is not a crime, and no attempt has been made to translate the National Anthem into all indigenous languages. Apparently, the sponsors of the bill expected millions of non-English speaking Nigerians to learn and recite off the top of their heads words they don’t understand!
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The Speaker’s spokesman said the bill was withdrawn after “extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders and a careful consideration of the nation’s current circumstances”. It is disreputable and beggars belief that the Speaker did not deem it necessary to “extensively consult” or “carefully consider the nation’s circumstances” before sponsoring the bill.
Further bringing the House into disrepute is the assertion by legal experts that refusing to recite the national anthem apart, there are extant laws criminalising the crimes listed in the bill. Even worse, clause 7 of the discarded bill was outrageously illogical and nonsensical. It stated that making statements which “may” lead to separatist agitation will be punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment.
This would mean that anybody telling another person that they are tired of poor governance in Nigeria, which is a quite valid reasonable statement to make, will illogically be jailed for 25 years if the listener agrees and then decides by himself to join a separatist movement and become an agitator!
Rather than praise the Honourable Speaker for withdrawing the bill, the House of Representatives deserves reprimand for passing its first reading evidently without intelligent consideration. They must be cautioned to cease wasting their time and our money. With regard to wasting time and money, the National Assembly (NASS) is set to spend N344 billion in 2024. Their budget is higher than that of 20 states, and also exceeds the combined budget of more than 27 federal universities.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo created news and brought NASS further into disrepute by criticising the take home pay of its members as being outrageous and immoral. In 2007, NASS adopted the Self-Accounting Procedure which authorised funds previously domiciled in the Pool Account to be deposited into the personal accounts of senators and members of the House of Representatives. Initially, these monies were disbursed quarterly, but further self-serving adjustments to procedures enabled the money to be disbursed monthly.
Although the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC) chairman told the nation that a senator’s net monthly take-home pay after deductions is under one million naira, the truth leaked that in addition to an SUV worth N150 million, the sum of N21 million is paid into each senator’s account monthly! Their principal officers collect far more! The RMFAC chairman cleared the commission of complicity by declaring that the “running costs” and “allowances” added to legislators’ salaries were self-granted and not under the commission’s control.
The Senate has refused all entreaties to detail the breakdown of these “running costs”. Added to this is the suspicion that legislators still apply for funds for local and foreign travels, medical allowances, and oversight duties. The unknown exact amount legislators receive is controversial and has also brought them into disrepute especially when they are allegedly the highest paid in the world!
The final irony of the withdrawn bill was attempting to criminalise insulting, defaming, embarrassing, or bringing into disrepute the leadership of local, state or federal government. That is sheer nonsense considering that the biggest insults and embarrassment Nigerian public officials receive is when the truth of what they either did or are currently doing is publicised and brings them into disrepute! Opposition to the proposed bill came as no surprise because it was a poorly thought-out attempt to silence the criticism of mediocrity and unethical behaviour prevalent in governance. Passing it would have effectively criminalised the right of dissent
The Federal High Court Abuja deserves commendation for throwing out an ex-parte motion seeking to restrain Nigerians from protesting against hunger and bad governance. Civil society organisations (CSO’s) spokespersons claim that the dismissed motion aimed at crippling the fundamental rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression, dissent and peaceful assembly was sponsored by those who wish to subvert the will of the people, engage in corrupt practices, and enact anti-people policies.
If government truly wants to put an end to protests and separatist agitations, they would be better advised to govern compassionately, morally and ethically rather than struggle to outlaw dissent by bringing a compliant legislature into disrepute.
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