High turnover of lawmakers, defections and democratic consolidation

 

As you are all aware, the recent party primaries have raised important questions that pertain to legislative consolidation and institution building. The high turnover rate that has afflicted the legislature since 1999 is likely to worsen in 2023, with over 70 per cent of legislators at the national level expected not to return. The figures are likely to be the same or higher at the state assembly level, where governors wield unfettered control and dictate the outcomes of elections. —Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, Director-General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies at the closing ceremony of the Capacity Building Workshop for Lagos State House of Assembly on Friday, June 24, 2022 at Ogere Resort, Ogun State.

Last week, German international development agency, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, and the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies jointly organised capacity building for lawmakers and some key bureaucratic staff of Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Lagos State Houses of Assembly. This was geared towards strengthening the legislative arm and consolidating Nigeria’s democracy. I was one of the resource persons at the workshop. Others include the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Niger State, Professor Sam Egwu, Legal Adviser to NILDS, Dr Shuaibu Danwanka, and Special Assistant (Technical) to the DG of NILDS, Prof. Jake Dan-Azumi.

Although papers were presented on a wide range of topics, what is most significant to me is the issue of high turnover of lawmakers in Nigeria as broached by the DG of NILDs and former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman. Apart from the opening quote, the DG had previously noted at the closing ceremony for the Ondo State contingent at the training last Thursday that: “The high turnover rate significantly erodes legislative stability and institutional memory. It also means that more funds are required to build the capacity of new legislators. Combined, these factors leave the legislature relatively weaker than other arms of government.”

Nigerians should have cause to worry about this unsavoury and ugly development. The legislature is the most important arm of government because it is constituted by the true representatives of the people. At the national level, there are 109 senators, 360 House of Representatives members, 993 State House of Assembly members and 8,890 councillors. Compare that to the President, 36 governors and 768 Chairmen of Local Governments and six FCT Area Councils. It clearly shows that the lawmakers are more in number than those holding executive positions. Apart from that, while the executive can only serve for a maximum of two terms of eight years (four years each) there is no term limit for members of the national, state or local assemblies.

In the United States of America Senate, Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was in the Senate from January 3, 1959 to  June 28, 2010 (51 years, 5 months, 26 days). Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) was in the US Senate from January 3, 1963 to December 17, 2012, which is a total of 49 years, 11 months, and 15 days. Senator Strom Thurmond (D, R-SC) was in the US Senate from December 14, 1954 to April 4, 1956 and from November 7, 1956 to January 3, 2003, which is a total of 47 years, 5 months, 8 days. According to the US Senate website, where I sourced this information, there are 10 senators in US history who have been in the red or upper legislative chamber for 40 years and above. The incumbent US President, Joe Biden, was in the US Senate from January 3, 1973 to January 15, 2009, a total of 36 years and 13 days. After this length of time in the US Senate, Biden was Vice President to President Barack Obama for eight years before being elected as US President in 2020.

In Nigeria, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North) has been in the Senate since 1999, while a member of the House of Representatives, Nicholas Mutu (Bomadi/Patani), has also been a member of the House of Representatives at the National Assembly since 1999. These are Nigeria’s record-holders and I do hope they can match the US record.

Back to the issue of high turnover of lawmakers, there is no gainsaying that it is unhealthy to lose 70 – 80 per cent of our federal and state lawmakers at every election. This ugly trend happens due to several reasons. They include zoning cum power rotation arrangement within the state, non-performance, bid to move from legislative to executive arm or from the state legislature to National Assembly. For instance, Governor Douye Diri was a serving senator when he decided to vie for the governorship seat in Bayelsa. Same with Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who moved from being a serving senator to becoming the FCT Minister and later contested and won the governorship seat of Bauchi State. Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora was a member, and indeed Speaker, of the Assembly before moving up to become the senator representing Lagos State. Today, he is Minister of State for Health. Likewise, former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Alhaja Monsurat Sunmonu, moved from that position to become a senator representing Oyo Central between 2015 and 2019.

Negative impacts of high turnover of lawmakers include loss of institutional memory, manpower and competence. It takes a while for lawmakers to master the art and the act of law-making, oversight and representation which are their core responsibilities. Given the high turnover of these lawmakers, institutions like NILDS and KAS, who are at the forefront of capacity building for lawmakers have to start afresh after the 2023 general election. This is very demoralising. I saw the low morale of participants at last week’s training as those who lost out during the just concluded party primaries either did not turn up for the training or were inattentive. I am of the considered view that party leaders should encourage the re-election of their lawmakers if they are serious about nation-building and institutional strengthening.

Aftermath of the 2022 party primaries, there has been a gale of defections from one party to another, with the ruling All Progressives Congress being the worst hit. News has it last week that about 22 senators were set to dump the APC for other political parties. This prompted the national chairman of APC to call for an emergency meeting with the senators on June 22, 2022. It is not unusual to have this trend in the lead-up to every general election. This was what aided APC to victory in 2015 and that is the worst nightmare of the party in the lead-up to the 2023 general election. I granted an interview to Trust TV last Friday on this phenomenon and my take is that APC, and any other political party affected, should ask the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives to declare the seat of those who jumped ship vacant as there was no factionalisation or division in the party which was the ground given by Nigerian Constitution to federal lawmakers in section 68(1)(g) to cross-carpet.

Those planning to defect should know that patience is a virtue. In life, you win some and lose some. If you lost out in your re-election bid, it’s not the end of the world. There are several appointive positions to which you can be nominated. Last week, the president nominated seven persons to the Nigerian Senate to be screened as Ministers of the Federal Republic. These lucky few may never have contemplated becoming a minister in their life. Thus, those scheming to defect should think twice. My advice is for them to stay put in the party that brought them to power, contribute to the party’s success in the next election and hope to benefit from the spoils of victory after the inauguration.