By Joy Odor
Senator Neda Imasuen, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, has downplayed concerns about the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s growing dominance potentially threatening democracy.
In a recent interview, Imasuen argued that party-switching is a constitutional right protected under freedom of association.
He attributed the APC’s growing influence to the collapse of opposition structures, noting that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) once dominated politics without being labeled a one-party state.
“First of all, defection is not a crime, and our constitution still recognizes the freedom of movement and association and no political party has the right to deny membership of its party, and so anyone who gravitates towards any political party is free to do so.
“I don’t even believe that the movement as we see today, will lead to what they call a one party state. No, there was a time that PDP ran this country, where almost all the governors were PDP.
“It wasn’t seen as a one party state at the time. It’s seen as such now because people are moving to a particular party. No, it’s not. Don’t also forget, as a party in government, and what do you expect of a government, party in government, I mean, it’s, it’s more stable.
“And so when there is instability in those other parties, as you can witness today, PDP is going through its own problems. Labor is even worse for it, and so you know, every position with a platform to run on as a labor person, I don’t believe there’s a platform for any labor candidate to run on today, because the party is so decimated in such a level that you’ll be taking the risk of your life if you want to think you want to run on that platform, because you seem not to exist. And so what would you expect? So I don’t see it as a drift to one party’s nation or state. It’s not going to happen” he stressed.
Imasuen emphasized that cooperation between government arms shouldn’t be misconstrued as subservience, dismissing claims that lawmakers have become mere approval machines for the executive.
“The issue of rubber stamping has been on not even with the 10th Senate. I believe the ninth Senate also had its fair share of that, that mark, but it’s an interesting thing for me, because if there’s a healthy relationship between the parliament and the executive, it shouldn’t be seen as rubber stamping.
“For me as a parliamentarian, what we see is a bill, whether it’s for an executive bill or a bill for a member’s bill, and a bill comes as a bill doesn’t it’s not clothed under any symbol of party, whether it’s labor, pdpc, or what have you. It comes as a good bill or as a bad bill.
Regarding the legislature’s role, Imasuen highlighted the challenges posed by the inherited economic mess, but praised President Tinubu’s willingness to confront difficult issues.
On proposed bills for new universities and institutions, Imasuen noted that while funding might be a challenge, lawmakers have the right to propose legislation.
“First of all, every senator has the privilege to propose a bill, as a matter of fact, that is why he’s here. And so you cannot strike down a bill of a senator just because you believe that is overwhelming, or believe that many of such bills have been passed.
“You can’t deny me that privilege. Neither can you deny my colleagues such privileges. And so they will come. The issue is whether or not the budget is enough to sustain it. That’s where I’m going. So if the budget cannot sustain there’s a bill, it remains a bill, but it’s if it’s not, if it’s not, if it’s not funded, because there’s no money to fund it.
“There’s nothing anybody can do about it. And that seems to be what is the case. It’s not this 10th senate is not. It’s not the only Senate that has done that. Previous senates have been doing it as well, but the executive is able to fund what they can fund, and what they cannot fund
Looking ahead to the National Security Summit, Imasuen expressed optimism that President Tinubu would act on the summit’s resolutions, unlike past administrations.
“Yes, Because the actors are different, before in the eighth and ninth Senate. I believe they also had this security summit. The outcome of such summits were submitted to the executive, and the executive did nothing about it, and so it remained on the shelf. I don’t believe that the government of Senator Ahmed Bucha Tinubu will do the same thing, because he’s serious about security and insecurity in this country.
“He’s serious about bringing about security and sanity to all of us, and so he will take it seriously. He’s supporting Summit, and so I believe that he will make use of the outcome of the summit. Okay, let us know” he narrated.
He called for national unity in addressing security and economic challenges, praising the administration’s bold decisions.
