Ovie Omo-Agege, a senator from Delta State, has spoken on his race for the position of the deputy Senate president of the 9th Senate.
Mr Omo-Agege, who recently won his re-election to the Senate, also shed light on the controversy surrounding APC’s position on the leadership of the 9th Assembly and other sundry national issue – he also spoke about his journey from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to sainthood in All Progressives Congress, APC.
Question: What is happening to APC Delta State? Why are there always warring factions?
It is the nature of Nigerian politics. Even in families, among siblings we have quarrels . However the ability to come together to address these quarrels and forge a way forward is maturity but that appears to be missing right now. There’s been efforts from the national leadership of the party including the vice president to resolve these crisis but some of them have become very belligerent and are hell bent on destroying the party.
Even during the elections, most especially Otega Emerhor and the Executive Director of NDDC fought not just me but also the gubernatorial candidate because they never wanted us to emerge. The EDP of NDDC, brought in two million naira to every ward two days to the elections asking that the electorate vote APC for President and PDP for Senate, House of Representatives and Assembly and governorship. In Otega’s ward, PDP had 1690 while APC had 163. In the EDP’s ward same thing happened. In the units, PDP had 525 and APC had 24 votes. So they were hell bent on making sure that we didn’t win. This was replicated in the governorship and other elections but we manage to survive it and came out victorious against all odds.
We were hoping that now that the elections are over, we’ll find some common ground to reconcile but they are hell bent on destroying the party in Delta State but the national leadership of the party is looking into the issue because we cannot continue to live with this cancer.
Question: In South South or South generally, the PDP is believed to enjoy cult like following. How were you able to beat the odds to emerge victorious and how does it feel?
First of all, I’m very excited that I survived the onslaught against all odds. However, you need to clear the misconception that the PDP is loved or enjoy cult like followership in the South South. At least for sure not in Delta State. We know how they win and have always won their elections. It’s not because of any cult followership but intimidation and the relationship they’ve been able to strike with the security agencies and the electoral umpire over the years.
In my own case I had to fight against all those malpractices and survived. Even in the last elections, while INEC was insisting that we use card readers for all the elections at the unit level and that failure to do so will amount to total cancellation of the elections in such units, while the APC abided by INEC’s directives, however, the PDP did not. But for some reasons, they were able to put in their non card reader results to INEC and it was accepted. But we couldn’t take that chance so we became the good boys and that accounts for our low votes while the PDP presented abnormal numbers coming from certain areas most especially the riverine communities in some local governments in Delta State. For sure those results are not products of card readers and I can tell you they are not results of human beings either or that of registered voters.
Question: Isn’t what you have said so far a self indictment considering the fact that you were a major player in PDP before you defected? Was that how you won elections when you were with the party?
Yes. I was a Saul who has since become a Paul. While I was there that was what we did and I didn’t think it was right and that was why I joined the APC. To further address these malpractices and set the precedence for unquestionable election processes and results in Nigeria, one of the first major assignments I took as a senator was to champion the reform of the electoral act and we tried as best as we are able to, to address the identified loopholes in the electoral act but because the leadership of the senate had a different agenda in wanting to deduce an electoral sequence that was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari, which of course we never subscribed to; that was why there was a delay. Eventually when we were able to shut down their attempt to shove the electoral sequence that they desire, they came to the realisation that they had to proceed without that. When they moved it through the National Assembly, we passed it but without that poisoned bill which they sought to introduce and by the time it got to Mr. President to accent, we now had to confront the issue of the ECOWAS protocol which basically mandates that you cannot make a major alteration to your electoral legislation less than six months to the general elections and they were seeking to do this about three to four months to the general elections so that was why the thing collapsed.
But yes I knew this is a problem; we have always had and I did the best I could to correct it. So I was a Saul but I am now a Paul.
Question: But what is this thing about you devils becoming saints once you cross to APC?
Well I cannot speak for others. I only know of myself. You asked me if that was what we used to do in PDP; I said Yes. Was it right, the answer is No. And the moment I had the opportunity to correct things, I made that my first major legislative assignment in the senate. In fact, I used to tell people that even if I’m unable to pass any other bill, for as long as I’m able to push for the amendment of the electoral bill, that is good enough for me. Because once we get the electoral reform right, every other thing will fall into place.
Question: There are plethora of court cases as regards authenticity of Delta APC candidates in the last general elections. For clarification sake, can you explain these cases and how it affects your candidacy as Delta Central Senatorial candidate?
Well, people need to understand that truly there are barrage of court cases, but in all of these cases (and I think there are about 17 or thereabout), I and my major opponent, Otega Emerhor are not a party to any of them except one. And what that implies is that in all of these cases where Otega and l are not parties, we are not bound by whatever decision taken in those cases. Not only are we not bound, he cannot as a non party seek to enforce the provisions of that judgement and neither can they be enforced against me since I’m not a party.
The only case that Otega Emerhor himself is a party, where my name was brought in came through the Warri Federal High Court, seeking a declaration as the plaintiff that he is the one who won the primary for the Delta Central senatorial election in 2019. That is the only case where Otega himself is a party and I’m made a party myself. Of course we went in there, we joined issues, we filed and adopted our brief and the court adjourned for judgement. Five days before the court was to deliver it’s judgement, Otega Emerhor (knowing full well that he was going to lose) tried to arrest the judgement by filing a notice of discontinuance but we say no. The laws are very clear, the moment issues are joined you can no longer seek to discontinue on your own volition. You require our consent and we are not giving that consent. Both section 293 and 285 of the constitution are very clear as to when a judgement in both electoral and non electoral matters must be delivered. We stood against the arrest and sought to have the court deliver it’s judgement. And when if finally did, the court ruled that as regards the primaries for Delta Central senatorial district held on October 3rd 2018, the only primary that was conducted by the National Working Committee, the only committee recognized by law (both the constitution and electoral act) to conduct primaries, that the only primary they conducted which was supervised and monitored by INEC in accordance with section 85 of the electoral act produced a winner and that winner is not Otega Emerhor but Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege.
So between Otega and I, our issues are settled. That is the only litigation that has himself and I dealing with who the authentic winner of the Delta Central senatorial APC primary winner is. Every other court case that has gone or is ongoing has nothing to do with me and him. The case at the Federal High Court of Asaba whose judgement most media houses misconstrued was instituted by the factional chairman of the APC in the state, Cyril Ogodo and a few of his factional ward/local government chairmen. They sued the authentic chairman of the party in the state, Prophet Jones Erue, the national chairman of the party; they sued the APC as a party and also sued INEC. Those are the defendants. I am not there. There is nobody who contested for elections in Delta State that was joined in that case including Otega Emerhor. So when the court eventually made the decision, we told the court that we are not a party in the case before it and that the judgement cannot be binding on us. You can’t shave my hair in my absence. You must make me a party to the case to have its judgement binding on me. Let me also state that because I needed to protect the excos of the party, I went to the Court of Appeal seeking leave (permission) to be joined with the case and the Court of Appeal rejected saying I should have been joined from the Federal High Court where the case originated. That was the only issue that went before the Appeal Court. But the media went awash saying the Court of Appeal upheld the nullification of my election; an issue that was never before the court in the first place.
Anyway, that has become academic because after that the Federal High Court in Warri now delivered its judgement in a matter that pitted me directly with Otega Emerhor where the issue between him and I as to who won the primary was settled. Having explained this, I can tell you that as far as the litigation is concerned we are on a very strong footing and we hope that at some point there could be a way to reconcile everybody.
Question: What is wrong with your politics? The EDP of NDDC was your candidate and he seems to have turned against you?
Well, maybe you can help me with the answer. It is true that I helped him emerge as the EDP of NDDC. The original agreement between the major stakeholders including Otega himself, the Minister of State for Petroleum, former SGF and DG SSS was for the incumbent EDP at the time, Tuoyo Omatsuli to be retained and that was the list submitted to Mr. President for his approval. However, for some reasons, Mr. President had not appended his signature before another list championed by the Minister of Transport came with the name of the EDP. And when the issue blew up, the name had been submitted to the Senate and as the Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, there is no way I will see the name of an Urhobo man, my constituent who has been forwarded and sit back and watch that name withdrawn. So I fought to protect that name (Ajogbe), reached out to my colleagues and ensured that the nomination was sustained and eventually screened and cleared in the Senate.
But I can understand why he is fighting me because he never was with me. He is playing his master’s (Otega) script. And for Otega I think, beyond greed, there is so much hatred and hate over anything concerning me. Be that as it may, that is where we are and I didn’t expect that they will go to the extent of seeking to destroy the party. You cannot in one breadth say vote for Mr. President (for president) and vote PDP candidates for Senate and House of Representatives because for Mr. President to succeed with the next level agenda, he needs the backing of the senators. So if peradventure I had lost, it means the 65 of us elected on the platform of the APC would have reduced to 64. So I don’t believe that whatever they did was calculated to help Mr. President.
Question: Your party has zoned certain principal positions in the incoming national assembly, particularly the senate presidency, to some geo-political zones. Can you give an insight into this?
The party zoned Senate Presidency to the North East, Deputy Senate Presidency to the South South where I hail from and as you may be aware, its just two of us that are ranking senators from this geopolitical zone. My humble self and Senator Francis Asekhame Alimikhena from Edo State. We are both reckoning members and I’ve since declared my interest to run for that office. As I speak, I am canvassing my colleagues and all relevant stakeholders that will help make the ambition a reality.
Question: In the eight Senate, you stood for party supremacy and supported President Buhari. In the ninth senate, what will you do differently if you eventually emerge DSP of the ninth assembly?
Don’t see my emergence as DSP candidate as a benefit, but rather as service to my country, constituency and my party. I supported Mr. President and the party as expected of all APC senators. I do not intend to do less in the ninth senate and that is because Mr. President and all 65 of us who emerged victorious all subscribed to the party manifesto and the next level agenda. We took this to every nook and cranny of the country. There was a referendum on the next level agenda document of the APC versus the ‘lets get Nigeria working again’ pushed by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP, however, majority of the Nigerian people opted for the next level agenda.
Now having emerged with 65 senators and majority in the House of Representatives and also the presidency, majority of the Nigerian people have voted for a unified government. They’ve given us control of both chambers of the national assembly and the Executive. What the Nigerian people expect from us as senators is that we will create the enabling environment for the contents of the next level agenda to be implemented by Mr. President. And we are determined to do just that, and yes talking about rancours within the ranks of the 65 of us in the senate right now, it is expected but we also believe in party discipline and supremacy of the party. The Nigerian constitution does not recognise independent candidacy. We were all sponsored by the party, APC and we all subscribed to this agenda. And learning or in an attempt to learn from the mistakes of the eight senate, we are determined this time to ensure that as in every democracy, the majority party should provide leadership of the national assembly. Now I’m not unmindful of the provisions of section 50 of the constitution which mandates that we elect the presiding officers (Senate President and Deputy) from amongst ourselves in the senate. That is what the Constitution says but the Constitution does not forbid that the party that sponsored should sit down and consult amongst themselves and ourselves and come out with whom to support for the positions during the election in the senate and that is what the party has done.
The party has consulted with the Executive led by Mr. President, we (the 65 of us in the senate) they have consulted with key leaders in the party including the National Working Committee and they’ve determined that there should be zoning for equity, fairness and geological spread for these offices to go round the six geopolitical zones in the country. And in their wisdom they zoned the Senate Presidency to the North East, Deputy Senate Presidency to the South South and other positions were equally zoned too. In the next couple of days they will also come up with zoning formula for the House of Representatives.
Now that is the first step, the next step is to then determine who amongst us the party would support to protect the interest of the party in the National assembly. For instance, the party leadership decided that Ahmed Lawan become the Senate President, that is not an act of imposition, there were consultations at all levels in the party – The President, APC’s NWC, legislators, party members all zeroed in that Ahmed Lawan is the party’s choice but the final decision will be made by the senators who will make the final call on the Election Day. I as a senator have decided to abide by the party’s decision. There is no imposition. The senators will be the ones to go to the floor to vote their principal officers; but the party has a right to advice lawmakers of the party’s extraction.
Question: Following the open endorsement of candidates by the executive and party leadership, will the 9th assembly not be turned to a congress of rubber stamp lawmakers?
This perception of rubber stamp lawmakers is not valid. Those who are making the argument are looking at the concept of separation of power. But I am here to say as a student of constitutional law, that the principle ‘separation of power’ is not absolute. You can’t get absolute separation of power anywhere in the world. Rather, what exist is interdependence amongst the three arms of government – the executive, judiciary, and legislature.
You must also understand that this is a constitutional democracy, meaning that we are a government of enumerated powers. The powers of the legislature, we are the first body of government recognised in Nigeria’s constitution. Section 4 gives lawmakers of the Federal Government in the National Assembly the power to make laws. The same constitution in Section 5, vested executive powers on Mr. President and Section 6 is clear on the roles of the Judicial arm of government in the same constitution. So all of our powers were enumerated, but it is done in a way that they are interdependent on each order. So there is no way any one arm of government can function without another.
It is the job of the executive arm of government, to implement laws. So, if we don’t make laws, the executive has nothing to implement. At the same time, when they bring an executive bill which is an appropriation bill if we don’t pass it they can’t spend any money. However, we as lawmakers can’t originate this executive bills.
We also know that when we make laws, any of the laws that the judicial arm believes is inconsistent with the constitution, the judiciary can strike down such laws using the power of judicial review and this is where the principle of checks and balances comes in.
But, if you look at the voting pattern of the 2019 general election, you will see that the electorate voted for a unified government. As they voted President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC to head the executive arm, they also voted 65 of us of APC extraction in the senate, they gave us the majority because they want us to work in unison with the executive to deliver the Nigerian people.
That is not to say that everything they bring to us will be rubber stamped. There should of course be some form of opposition – this opposition duty is not our job [the 65 APC senators], it is the duty of the 43 senators elected by the Nigerian people to provide oppositional duties.
Provided everything that comes from the executive falls in the purview of the Next Level agenda, we will pass it, and that will not constitute rubber stamp. However, opposition is expected to be provided by the PDP lawmakers who are elected by the electorate to act in that capacity.
If the electorate had wanted us to be rubber stamp lawmakers, they would have voted all 109 lawmakers put forward by APC for the 9th Senate.
Question: How will the party avoid the repetition of 2015 mistake, where an oppositional party merged with some of your party members to decide the leadership of 8th NASS.
We are working very hard on that. That is why we are having all the issues we are having at the moment. We will rather identify and thrash the challenges that come with the endorsements and deal with them before we get to the floor on the 8th or 9th of June as the case may be. We have enough time to put our house in order.
Yes! I can tell you the Senate President is zoned to the North East, but all of the elected senators are qualified to become the Senate President but unfortunately only one person at any given time can be a Senate President. There are other offices in the senate.
Remember that Lawan himself was swindled from taking the position in 2015 and had to settle for the Senate Majority Leader. Where the minority determined the leadership of the senate, it will not happen again. We are also reaching out to some lawmakers in the PDP to ensure our candidate carries the day. As they say, the minority have their say but the majority have their way,p. But when the need arise to work together, we will work together. This is not a case of a winner takes all; we will work together. As far as the leadership is concerned, we believe we have earned the right to put forward people who will occupy principal offices in the 9th Senate, that is what the electorate expect of us, that is why they gave us the majority in the last concluded election.
Question: What are your chances of becoming the next Deputy Senate President, have you been endorsed?
I have paid my dues for the party. I have worked for this party in terms of capacity and loyalty and I am qualified to run for the position of the Deputy Senate President, so I do expect I will get the endorsement of my party.
I am in this race to ensure that all senators in the 9th assembly are stakeholders who are entitled to an enabling environment where each person can thrive as co-equal. We are trying to do away with all the tyranny and impunity that we witnessed in the 8th senate. We must understand why equal representation from all states, as opposed to the House of Reps that is based on land mass and population – in the senate, every state like every senator are equal.
We want to make sure every senator is equal, We are trying to create an environment where everyone can come to push through their views and the agenda of their constituents without the fear of sanction or fear of suspension as is the case is with the 8th senate. I strongly believe I will receive the support of my colleagues who are going to cast the actual votes and I am working very hard to see that this come to fruition.
Question: With the recent bikerings over the 2023 presidency, APC is no doubt set to implode; what is your take on this?
I believe that the party will hold together. We just finished an election, we have not even been inaugurated yet. When we get to that bridge, we will cross it. As we speak, we are still operating the 8th senate and still under President Buhari’s first term in office. There is time for politics and there is time for policy development. For now, I think it is premature to discuss 2023.
Question: The outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki has urged senators elect to vote competency as against zoning. Don’t you think this will play a role in determining the leadership of 9th assembly?
Saraki is entitled to his views; he is entitled to his opinions. I have always maintained that Saraki is one Senator and that we made him Senate president does not mean we made him king. He is just first among equals. He has one vote the way we do. So, if he said so, these are his views. Everyone has the right to say what he wants to say and one thing I must make clear is that we are not kids here in the Senate. The Senate is made up of statesmen; these are people who have left their mark in various endeavours before they came here. Nobody is here as anybody’s boy. When you say competence, there is presumption that if you are elected a Senator you are competent to be Senate president; you are competent to hold any position. In this Senate, nobody is a better Senator than any other Senator.
So, we are not in any way saying that leadership should be imposed on us from outside. I think that advice is very unsolicited and gratuitous. He can give that counsel to members of his party. As for us elected on the platform of the APC, anybody can serve as Senate president or deputy Senate or president. But having said that, there are a lot of factors that will come into play in deciding this leadership; factors such as equity, fairness, geographical spread.
And, indeed, if the party believes that the position of Senate president or deputy Senate president should be zoned to a particular geopolitical zone, I don’t think we require the advice of Saraki to tell everybody to get into that race just to sabotage the zoning arrangement. We have to ensure that we are all co-equals in this Senate and in spite of whoever we elect as senate president or deputy senate president, everybody will be carried along. Nobody is going to be anybody’s boy.
Question: What will the 8th senate be remembered for and what was your landmark role?
The Nigerian people will realise that we spent a better part of the time playing politics as opposed to focusing on real issues that affect the people. This was a national assembly where governance was shut down for the most part. It also held down budget of Mr. President for many months and that is why this government was unable to do much.
What mattered most to the Nigerian people was the infrastructural development of the country but we were not able to pass budgets on time to liquidate, and put money in the system to finance many projects. I think this was a big failing on the part of the 8th Senate.
But be that as it may, we did more in the areas of legislation. We recorded higher numbers of bills passed when compared to previous senates.
What would I as a person be remembered for in this 8th senate? I told people from the onset that the big ticket agenda we have brought to the senate is to reform the electoral system. That is why we moved the Electoral Act amendment bill. Yes it was not signed by President Buhari, but people need to realise that the President supported the bill but was barred from signing it because of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
Article 2 of the protocol forbids member countries from making “substantial modification” to their electoral laws less than six months to elections “except with the consent of a majority of political actors”.
I believe that now that we are going back, the electoral amendment bill will get deserved attention in order to accommodate our experiences in the 2019 election.
There are several vital bills like the Sexual Harrasment Bill, among others which I either wrote or co-wrote in the 8th senate.