Confusion in the red hallowed chambers!

Senator Dino Melaye looked visibly troubled when he addressed a press conference concerning the validity of his certificate from the Amoudu Bello University, Zaria(ABU). Surely he would have loved to talk about more significant national issues. A lot of questions have arisen from the accusations that include the Senator did not graduate from the School where he is deemed to have studied geography. Sahara Reporters Nigeria’s premier online newspaper have tweeted allegations of bribery of lecturers by Melaye. These are grave accusations. The Senate does not require more than a school certificate for a Senator to qualify for the position. But if Melaye filled out his forms stating that he is a graduate, and he does not have a certificate, then there are issues concerning perjury and false claims which can be tried under the law. The allegations were made known to Senate on the floor of the red chambers by no one less than Senator Ali Ndume, former Majority leader of the APC in the Senate who was allegedly removed by Saraki and his cohorts quite unceremoniously. Ndume was removed for his alleged support of Ibrahim Magu as a nominee  to head the EFFC. The Senate committee on Ethics has quite a job at hand.  It intends to find out if indeed Dino Melaye has a certificate from the department he claimed to have graduated from at ABU. Whether the committee would follow the tweets made by the online paper verbatim and try to establish if Melaye passed the courses the paper claimed he didn’t or whether they would go as far as trying to find out if the Senator bribed his way out of the university or not is difficult to determine. The ethics committee of the Senate has its own guide lines and is not necessarily subject to public opinion or the courts of the land.

Since the revelation has been made, many analysts have sought to determine where the heat is coming from. Could it be from within the Senate which is visibly divided not necessarily along party lines, but over who should control activities therein? Other analysts say the heat could be coming from outside of the Senate. Melaye has made many enemies from what he describes as “speaking the truth”. One of the most recent enemies is the Comptroller General of Customs Colonel Hameed Ali with whom the Senate has been having a running battle  over how he should dress to address plenary.  The Senate has sought for the CG of customs to explain the new policy that requires car owners who purchased their cars to pay additional sums of money to make up for deficits in duties that may have occurred through the smuggling of cars through the leaky land borders of Nigeria. Translation: Hameed Ali and his customs officers want to take out their inability to police our borders and stop cars from being smuggled into the country out on innocent Nigerians. The Senate has been emphasizing that Ali should appear in uniform to defend his actions. Ali prefers a white kaftan to the customs Khaki.

Could the CG of customs  have orchestrated a certificate scandal against Melaye? Not likely. But what about the Senate President Bukola Saraki  who is being accused of importing a bullet proof Range Rover worth over N250million for personal use? This no doubt has the customs written all over it. Who would have information about car imports other than the customs?  Saraki and Melaye are going to the ethics committee. Ali Ndume may not be gloating, but clearly, even if the two distinguished Senators are found not guilty on all counts, which is very likely, all is not well with the Senate. The upper legislative body is split down the middle; there appears to be no cohesion, very little agreement and varying views on quite a number of issues. The 2017 budget has not been passed, the Senates committees have allegedly been going over the document with microscope trying to bring out the ambiguities which are many. The hollowed chambers would continually be tainted with all manner of accusations which would lower the esteem with which Nigerians should hold this institution.  What manner of senate is this?