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Former Nigerian ambassador to the United States Jubril Aminu speaks on
the controversial electoral bill, Sanusi’s tangle with the legislature
and consensus candidacy. Excerpt:

Assessment of the legislature

When you are going
to judge an institution, you cannot do so from the point of view of a
short term. If you allow me, I will say there is an improvement. This
National Assembly could have become the centre of serious ethnic and
geographical strife in this country, particularly politicians helped
and engineered the media. It is possible for the place to become very
sharply divided, to the extent that it ceases to be an agent for
national unity. But they are doing well.

From 1999 to 2003,
I will say we had only one challenge; which was the impeachment of the
President. But from 2003 to 2007, we had the challenge of the third
term. The president wanted a third term, but the national Assembly
stopped it. I like Obasanjo, so I did not like it at that time. But
when you look at the decision, it was in the interest of the country.
Then we had the unfortunate sickness and untimely death of President
Umaru Yar’Adua and the ascension of Goodluck Jonathan. That was also a
very challenging time for the country. Again, it was the National
Assembly, which people always abuse, that rose to the challenge to
provide the solution, thereby saving the country from another crisis.
So, we have a National Assembly that people abuse any way they like,
but when it turns out that we have real critical issues, people turn
round to them. So far, we have solved most of these issues. I am not
saying we have solved everything. But we have solved most of them.

Concerns over the remuneration of lawmakers

Who are the
Nigerians that are worried? It is you media people who are worried. I
can take you to my village in Song, you will see that they are not
worried. So, people should stop this nonsense of talking about
allowances and how much the members are getting. This is moreso because
when you investigate, it is not true.

People are not able
to look at the big picture. They only look at the small thing,
sensationalize it and use it to abuse very credible and highly
responsible Nigerians just because they are lawmakers. Four million
naira a month is nonsense. You see, since I said it in the Senate, I
will repeat myself here. There is a war against the legislature by
interested people; principally, governors. And they have corralled a
lot of troops from media people, political commentators and others to
fight us. In doing this, they use all sorts of names on us. Where do we
have this kind of money? Do we print money? Is the treasury in the
National Assembly? How could the National Assembly have so much access
to money? Every kobo we spend in the National Assembly comes from the
Executive. They talk as if we have got some kind of machine guns and we
go round taking government money. How do we do it? Can anyone tell us?

Conflict with executive officers

The ministers have
a lot more access to money than we have. The governors too. This is
just a war against members of the national assembly which is very well
known to all Nigerians. Recently, it was intensified in the form of
electoral bill where we felt that in amending the Constitution, we
cannot amend the law for one person or against one person. We do not
even make a law for one moment. We argue and argue before we make a
law. It is not fair for the Executive to have freedom to bring into
congress people who are their own loyalists. Can an Ambassador ever
vote against the President? We had a case of one governor in 2003, two
days before the convention, he appointed 65 Special Advisers and
Special Assistants and put them all as delegates to the convention
simply because he wanted to control the votes. And we said this time
around, we cannot have such. Yet, whatever case we make, you refuse to
print it in the papers. The composition of the National Executive
Committee of the parties, we were forced to find a way of
counter-balancing the excessive powers of the governors. All the
parties fund themselves from the government they control.

They refuse to
collect money from their members, which is what happens in advanced
democracies. Since the money is from the government, those who have the
money control the party and obviously have more power. So because the
financial control is so loose, people who are in charge of money can
take the money out and use it for their purpose.

That was why we
said since the party apparatchik are under the control of the
governors, it is only the legislature that is a little bit independent.
The party Chairman sits in front of the Governor and they compile the
names of the delegates and bring it. Even now, in a lot of states, they
have already nominated the names of the delegates to the party
primaries.

That was why we did
what we did. People are now finding ways to fight us. I hear that some
people have budgeted about N200m to fight our electoral law. Let them
go ahead. Normally, we should get the support of the media and the
people, but we do not.

Criticism of legislative oversight

If I have any
criticism about visitation, it is that the amount of time we are able
to spend on one visitation is too small. I always tell them, for
instance, how do you spend one hour on a visitation to a University.
What will you be able to see? The National Assembly knows that these
contracts are not being executed.

We come from
villages, where these roads are said to be built. For about three years
now, we were told that contract for the Song to Maiduguri road was
awarded; but up till now nothing has been done. They tell you they have
no money. Sometimes they will say they have no executive capacity.
There was one time when it looked like controlling capital expenditure
was like controlling the economy or managing the economy.

Sanusi’s stance on the expenditure of the National Assembly

Sanusi (the
Governor of the Central Bank) is a very principled person and he is
very logical. Do you know the implication of apologizing, you are tying
yourself. He felt he was using information given to him supposedly by a
competent government source in the ministry of finance.

You cannot crucify
him for using information from a competent source of government. The
only thing wrong with his comment is to go and discuss it at an
international event, outside the country. But then in this country, we
have not developed the ethics that, whether you are in opposition or
government, you must not talk badly about your country to outsiders.
Our people always do that. So you cannot single out Sanusi on that one.

Northern consensus candidate

There is a danger
in over blowing the importance of the exercise and there is also a
danger in under rating it. You should not over rate it because this is
just, in my view, a private arrangement more or less made by four or
five individuals.

This did not
involve any party; it did not involve any cultural or religious
organization. We should, therefore, look at it as a private
arrangement. They have their right to do so. So far they have been able
to keep their agreement and have respected it. That is why it should
not be underrated. The electoral importance of what they have done is
directly proportionate to each person’s reach. If you have somebody who
enjoys and continues to enjoy a large following, others will join.

Political plan for 2011

I do not consider
myself a career legislator. When I went to the United States of America
as an ambassador, I was already 60 years of age and by the time I came
back in 2003, I was already 64. I told them then that I do not also
consider myself a career diplomat. I will not do anything that I do not
enjoy.

So I am still
consulting my Oracles. The Fulani Oracles are very slow in responding.
I still have a couple of weeks to make up my mind. From the point of
view of enjoying the pressure of doing the job, I think I like it.