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Umar Ghali Na’Abba
was Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1999-2003, and his
tenure was marked by a trenchant opposition against the policies and
sometimes, the person of the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo. There
were several attempts to impeach him, allegedly sponsored by the
presidency and when he lost re-election in 2003, he blamed his defeat
on a conspiracy among the police, the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) and the state government. He resigned from the
Peoples Democratic Party in 2005, and returned in 2007 after the
leadership of the then Action Congress rejected his bid to be their
governorship candidate in Kano State. His house was recently burnt in
the riots that followed the April presidential election in the North.

What’s the implication of the parliamentary election on the Peoples Democratic Party’s hold on the National Assembly?

The PDP now has a
reduced majority, therefore, if voting is going to be done on party
basis, the PDP may find it difficult to pass some of the bills that the
executive may send.

Are votings usually done on party basis?

When I was in the
National Assembly, there was no occasion that we voted essentially on
party basis. We used to vote according to the needs of the moment and
that encapsulates members from all the parties.

Do you foresee a more vibrant opposition in the National assembly?

It will be
presumptuous of me to declare that the opposition is going to be
vibrant. In the past, the opposition, at the level of the party, had
continually colluded to subvert democracy with the party in power. So
it all depends on how the opposition parties relate with the party in
power.

Do you think that such factors as regionalism will play a greater role than party affiliations?

Regionalism is not
necessarily going to be more powerful. Since 1999, there have been many
occasions when all legislators forgot where they come from and rallied
round to work towards uniting the country. There have been bills passed
based on sheer patriotism. An example is the overriding of the veto of
President Obasanjo over the Niger Delta Development Commission Act in
2000; the killing of the Third Term ambition of the then president, and
so many bills like that.

But of course,
there are moments when regionalism will triumph. On the Niger Delta
bill, for instance, you will expect that members from the South South
will vote en masse for it, the way members from the north central and
north west will rally for the Hypperdec bill…On balance in such
circumstances, negotiations begin among the zones.

You have emphasised
the patriotism of legislators yet the impression Nigerians have of them
is of people who care only about lining their pockets

I believe that
between 1999-2003, we fared very well because most of what we did was
for altruistic reasons. But I am not claiming perfection. However, when
the executive arm realised the enormous potential of the legislature,
they became highly interested to the effect that in 2003, they ensured
through the manipulation of the parties that majority of those who came
to the legislature were their cronies. That started the decline of the
legislature and it is still declining, because the norm in the assembly
is now collusion with the executive instead of acting as a check on the
executive.

Is this a consequence of the failure of leadership in the National Assembly?

Well, this is what
happens when the executive install the leadership. The leadership must
then hearken to the executive. And I don’t foresee any changes. So long
as the structure of our political parties remain the way they are, we
will continue to put forward garbage after garbage for the National
Assembly and whenever you find reasonable people, they will be the
exception rather than the rule.

What is the consequences of the high turnover among legislators?

We are spending
more money on the legislature and also wasting that money because most
of the lawmakers do not return. Between 1999 and 2000, the House of
representatives spent over N500 million in the training of legislators,
majority of whom did not return in 2003. So you can see the wastage of
funds.

What is the major cause of this?

It is a consequence
of interference. Those who own the parties decide that once you don’t
do what they ask you to do and you prefer to work according to the
dictates of your conscience, they decide that you can’t go back. Since
there is no internal democracy, you can’t win in the primaries because
the party machinery will be used to ensure that the delegates selected
reject your candidacy. Thus, they will continue to deny capable people
the chance of coming to the legislature.

What has been your legacy to the House of Representatives?

The legacy I left
is enormous. There used to be order, decorum and a sense of
responsibility; and there was zeal even among the civil servants. And
the legislature was full of confidence and the feeling of independence
was enjoyed by all. But all these have been eroded.

#Final results

ACN 107068, ALP 1078, ANPP 3313, APGA 336859, HMP 1678, APS 364, BNPP 234, CDC 447, CPC 3063, DFPF 163, PPP 563, FPN 101, FRESH 122, LP 1549, NPP 790, PDP 290496, PPA 1698, PRP 275, SDMP 1103

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# Oguta Council poll stalemated.

While security chiefs and the supervising REC’s are still meeting, the electoral materials are already being evacuated to Owerri, the state capital, for safe keeping.

# Some male protesters attacked by soldiers, dispersed in Oguta LGA.

Twenty minutes later, a defiant crowd of women protesters, daring soldiers marched to the INEC office in Oguta calling for the cancellation of the election.

# Election materials are yet to be distributed in Oguta Local Government Area but there are protesters calling for cancellation of the election, alleging plot to draw the election into the night to perfect rigging.

# Numerous cars, buses and trailers with many passengers and passers-by are stranded at the security barricade on Onitsha road, which is the entry point to Mbaitoli Local Government Area, in line with the enforcement of election monitoring directive issued by the security agencies.

Mbaitoli Local Government Area is one of the councils where the supplementary election is taking place today.

# In spite of police deployment of 10, 000 men to the election, there was no single police or security official at Polling Unit 008, Orodo Ward A, which is adjacent to an INEC office in Mbaitolu.

# Impressive voter turnouts in the Imo State supplementary election but many of the voters are disappointed by the late commencement of the exercise in some areas.

# The Nigeria Army apprehended over 120 suspected political thugs in Mbaitoli and Ngor/Okpala LGA’s between 5:20am and 6:30am today. Sagir Musa, a lieutenant colonel and assistant public relations unit of 81 divisions confirmed the arrests.

The thugs were in buses from Onitsha and neighbouring states. Preliminary findings indicate that they had been documented and handed over to the Imo State police command.

As at 11.30am, accreditation was yet to commence in Oguta and Mbaitoli Council areas. It was, however, not certain why the election processes had not commenced.

Latest reports and results from Imo State polls at election.234next.com

The Kaduna chapter
chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in this interview,
alleges that the governorship election in the state was rigged.

Before the
election on April 28, some opposition parties called for the
postponement of the election because of the curfew. Was the ACN part of
them?

Whether
postponement or not, what we said was that the curfew must be lifted.
There is no way you can conduct election when there is curfew; when
people are still under siege. How do you expect people to come out and
vote under such condition? You can interpret it to mean postponement
even if it means indefinitely. Because there is no way you can conduct
election under a curfew. What we are saying is that election conducted
under a curfew cannot be transparent, free and fair. These are some of
the reasons that necessitated our rejection of that previous exercise.

Don’t you think postponing the election would have contravened the Electoral Act?

Then why didn’t the
government lift the curfew as well? If INEC knew they were limited by
the Electoral Act, the government should have lifted the curfew.
Otherwise, we don’t bother conducting this election at any given time.
What we said was to lift the curfew and conduct the election. A
situation where a large number of people would be disenfranchised
because of the curfew is not acceptable. I cannot accept the result
because of the process and INEC and government had a choice to put
things in order. The choice was simple; lift the curfew and conduct the
election.

Was there not enough security provided by government during the election?

The security was
meant to harass the eligible voters of Kaduna State. The security was
meant to provide cover for the PDP rigging machinery. It was not meant
to protect the voters, rather, it was used to rig elections by PDP. It
was biased towards the PDP. That was a dubious process.

Do you think ACN would have performed better had the curfew been relaxed?

Whether ACN
performed better or not, it is all about a credible process; its for
the people to be free to come out and cast their votes. What we are
saying is for the right thing to be done. Election is not about
winning; it is all about a credible process; it is about helping the
people to arrive at what they really want; it is about sustaining our
democracy. Whoever knows what democracy means, it’s not about winning
election. So if we lose in a free and fair process, so be it. So we
cannot be hoodwinked or deceived into the fraud called election and
they expect me to go and congratulate the supposed winner. That cannot
happen.

Many people have said the election was transparent going by the way both the CPC and PDP won in their strong bases.

It was not
transparent. Look at the voting pattern; you will see how people voted.
I did not look at it from the point of predominantly PDP south or CPC
north. Because from 1999 till date, zones one and two have never voted
for PDP; it is only the south that had always voted for the PDP.They
were allowed to do their things in the south without molestation. In
the south, they were allowed to move around during the election without
any molestation, but in zone one and two, we were restricted and
intimidated. Most of them in the north were harassed not to cast their
vote. That was what accounted for the low voter turnout during the
election in the northern part.

So what is your next action?

We are going to do
everything legal and lawful to reject this purported election. We will
do everything possible to resist this imposition of leaders on us.
Everything legal is not limited to going to court. We have an option
that is constitutional; we can resist unwanted leaders through
constitutional means and that’s exactly what we are going to do.

How are you going to check your members and supporters so that they don’t take law into their hands?

That is why I said
we are going to use anything lawful to pursue our case; it does not
mean violence. So if you go violent that is then unlawful. Our
supporters should await our reaction. but we will mobilise them in such
a way that we will resist this day-light robbery through legal means.

Are you satisfied with the conduct of INEC in all the elections?

We are not
satisfied with both INEC and Police. The government, INEC and security
agencies were so much biased in favour of the PDP. They were doing
everything possible to ensure the victory of PDP at all costs. This is
what is preventing the existence of harmonious relationship in Kaduna
State. Because of certain interest groups, they refused to allow the
people to elect their preferred leaders. Under a free and fair
election, there is no way PDP can form government at the centre. And
there is no way PDP can form a government in Kaduna State under free
and fair election.