Dino Melaye: The Making Of A Brand By Reuben Abati

It is a sign of the times, and a tragedy that the most popular Senator in the Nigerian National Assembly at this moment is not the person who has moved the most impactful motion, not a lawmaker who has proposed a thought-provoking bill, and certainly not any Senator who has given any impressive speech debating a matter of national importance. What we get, most of the time, in place of legislative responsibility, prudence, accountability and distinction is burlesque, farce, Japanese-styled Bungaku-Bunraku enactments, a dose of medieval commedia d’ell arte and an enormous supply of Yoruba Alarinjo with a bit of the Akata from Efik and Ibibioland. And the star in this comedy of errors that the Nigerian National Assembly has become is a gentleman called Dino Melaye.  He is the perfect archetype of all that is wrong or right with the Nigerian legislature, a fine representation of contradictory binaries, and a lesson unto the rest of us. 

      I am not condemning Dino Melaye. I am in fact just about to say that we created a man like him, just as before him, we needed a Busari Adelakun, and a Lamidi Adedibu to show us the true character of Nigerian politics. And to those who think Dino Melaye is something of an aberration, I say to them that Dino Melaye is indeed a true picture of Nigerian politics. He is much smarter and far more politically savvy than those who condemn him. His Wikipedia profile announces that his ambition is to be Nigeria’s President someday, may be he won’t become President, but he may suddenly show up in the future as something close to that high office.  He is far more Nigerian than those who criticize or condemn him. He knows the system. He plays the system. He has the capacity to beat the system. Most people who get to the top in Nigeria beat the system, and when they do so, they flaunt their smartness in the people’s face. The pundits write their articles but nothing changes, because a man like Dino Melaye can get a whole Vice Chancellor of a University created under the Act to do his bidding, and a National Assembly to queue up behind him. 

The Senate, CCT and the Politics of Saraki’s trial

Senate President: Bukola Saraki

he present Senate serving the Nigerian people runs the risk of being remembered as the worst since 1999. Public Relations Consultants and media officials of this particular Senate have done their part flooding both the print and the online media with details of how productive the Bukola Saraki-led Senate has been, and they have been quite aggressive in telling us about 30 important Bills which when passed, will change the face of Nigeria and deliver change.

The Senate according to one report has considered over 125 bills, debated over 48 motions, and passed three bills. But nobody is apparently impressed. During the Jonathan administration, the Senate was the better regarded of the two legislative chambers. While members of the House of Representatives in the Seventh Assembly behaved as if they were a band of students’ unionists, the then Red Chamber projected an image of maturity and temperance, even if it was also self-serving! With the Eighth Assembly, the House of Representatives, apart from the shameful resort to physical combat over the distribution of “juicy” committees in November 2015, has shown itself to be better organised than the present Senate. The critical difference is that of leadership. It is one of management. It is a matter of weight and politics.

Panama Papers, Zuma and the DNA of Corruption by Reuben Abati

Jacob Zuma, South Africa President

Where corruption is involved, African leaders seem to be utterly beyond shock.  Blacks folks in office often regard as normal business, the kind of infractions that draw alarm and apologetic resignations in other parts of the world.  This is not meant to be a racist comment, but it is curious that the African sense of shock is mediated so often and so conveniently by other considerations, including politics, ethnicity, religion, and a certain lack of a feeling of shame: that measure of restraint that defines the idea of being human.

       Two major scandals in the international arena in the last week would seem to prove the point. The first is the leakage of troves of documents, now known as the Panama Papers, revealing how the rich including world leaders, celebrities, public officials and business men, have over the years hidden away their wealth in tax havens with the help of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. While the consultants and the persons and companies involved have alleged that there is really nothing illegal in what they may have done, to the extent that tax avoidance is not a crime (it is the evasion that is a crime, although this looks like a matter of definition), there have been indications of money laundering and corrupt dealings involving public officials. The unfolding scandal has already resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland, and of an Austrian bank Chief, Michael Grahammer. Russian President Vladimir Putin also has questions to answer.

The Made in Nigeria Campaign by Reuben Abati

Nigeria National Assembly

There has been renewed talk lately about the need for Nigerians to patronize locally made goods, (someone should have added… and services!). Championed by Senator Ben Murray Bruce, and supported by the Senate President Bukola Saraki, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar and a large crowd of online campaigners, so much ink, saliva, and emotions have been invested in this old, and perhaps boring story.

     Senator Bruce, who goes by the moniker "the Commonsense Senator" even introduced a hashtag #BuyNaijaToGrowtheNaira. He hasn't quite explained the connection, but with the exchange rate melting down and the Naira yo-yoing, everyone including our neighbourhood electrician, and his friend, the battery charger, have both become experts on the fortunes of the national currency.  Senator Saraki has promised that the Public Procurement Act will be amended by the 8^th National Assembly to make it mandatory for the government to patronize locally made goods. Minister Aisha Abubakar has proposed a "Patronise Naija Products Campaign."

Shareholders of defunct Intercontinental Bank sue Sanusi

Aggrieved former shareholders of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, led by Abdullahi Sani, Adaeze Onwuegbusi and Chijioke Ezeikpe, have dragged the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over the sale of the bank to Access Bank Plc.Sued alongside Sanusi are the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The shareholders want the court to compel, direct and mandate the SEC, as the official and apex regulator of the Nigerian Capital Market acting under her powers pursuant to Section 13 of the Investments and Securities Act 2007, to conduct a detailed public investigation into the circumstances relating to and connected with the sale/acquisition/take over/ transfer of the shares, assets and securities of Intercontinental Bank Plc to Access Bank Plc, in order to protect shareholders and investors of Intercontinental Bank Plc and the maintain a fair and orderly securities exchange market so as to protect the integrity of the securities market against all forms of abuse as occasioned by the Sanusi and his friends/associates/cronies, and order appropriate sanctions against parties involved in Intercontinental Bank takeover fraud.

Crisis looms in APC over power sharing

Despite its growing acceptability within the country’s political circle, all appears not to be well with the All Progressives Congress as a crisis over power sharing and control is brewing in the party.

Investigation by Saturday PUNCH showed that the five governors, who defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party, were locked in a supremacy battle with some leaders of the three political parties that merged to form the APC.

The parties that merged to form APC are the Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change.