Where is the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara? Dogara presided over the eighth assembly and bowed out in June , 2019 when the tenure of that assembly elapsed.
However, since the inauguration of the ninth assembly, Dogara, who represents Bogoro-Dass-Tafawa Balewa federal constituency of Bauchi state has been missing in action.
Apart from participating actively at the inaugural session of the House on June 11, 2019, where Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, was elected Speaker, the Bauchi-born politician has not been active in activities of the House, especially at plenary.
Dogara , a member of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), who was first elected into the House in 2007 had played a major role in the politics of who succeeds him as speaker.
In line with the directive of his party, the former speaker was speculated to have supported Honourable Umar Bago for the speakership position. The PDP had on the eve of the inaugural session of the ninth assembly endorsed Bago, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Niger State and directed its members in the House to vote for him.
Regardless, Bago could not make it to speakership seat, as majority of opposition party lawmakers disregarded the directive of the PDP.
When the former speaker was not active at plenary in the early days of the ninth assembly, not a few had assumed that having had a tasking tenure as speaker, he deserved a rest.
However, if that was the case, one would have thought that by now, he would have had sufficient rest.
But it is now eight months after the inauguration of the ninth assembly and Dogara is still not participating fully in the business of the House.
The question, therefore, is why has the former speaker not been active on the floor of the House, this past eight months? Could it be because he is no longer a presiding officer?
If the PDP had gained a majority in the ninth assembly, as it had very much anticipated prior to the 2019 general elections, Dogara would have most likely retained his seat as speaker. And if that had happened, there is no doubt that he would have still been active at plenary.
When the people of Bogoro-Dass-Tafawa Balewa federal constituency voted Dogara into the House for the fourth consecutive time in 2019, they would have done so, in the hope that being a seasoned lawmaker and a former presiding officer, his representation will bring them the greatest premium.
Yours sincerely, like several other Nigerians had hoped a Dogara in the House will be a boost to the opposition. The former speaker is expected to be a rallying point for the opposition in the House. But alas, these expectations are daily being dashed by the continued inaction of the former speaker.
It is astonishing that the man, who many expected was going to give some impetus to the opposition caucus is conspicuously missing in action.
Since 1999, apart from Honourable Patricia Etteh, whose tenure as speaker was truncated by impeachment, this is the first time a former speaker of the House would be in the House as member and a member of the opposition, for that matter. Thus, it would have been great having Dogara participate actively on the floor of the House.
It is not in doubt, that owing to his experience and pedigree as a resourceful lawmaker, Dogara’s contributions at plenary would have greatly enriched deliberations in the green chamber.
Methinks, Dogara’s prolonged absence from plenary is a disservice to this country, his political party and his constituency in particular, to say the least. This is because representation is like wine; the older, the better.
Some may argue that a lawmaker does not need to be active at plenary to offer purposeful representations to his constituency. However, the fact is that active participation in plenary is essential for lawmakers.
But the question is this, if a lawmaker is not active at plenary, who speaks for his constituency, when issues affecting them become a subject of discourse? If majority of members of the House are not active at plenary, how would the parliament conduct its business and achieve set goals?
This brings to the fore the kind of politics we play in this clime. While our politicians profess to be pro-people in their politics, they demonstrate otherwise in their conduct.
In advanced democracies, politicians are concerned about development, while in Nigeria, politicians are concerned about ego. That is the tragedy of our democracy and the bane of our politics.
In the United States of America, Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker in 2007. When her political party, the Democratic Party, lost majority in the American House of Representatives in 2011, Pelosi became the minority leader. From that position, she continued her service to her constituency, the Democratic Party and the American people at large.
There is no evidence that Pelosi became inactive, after her party lost majority in the American Congress; otherwise, she would not have been re-elected as speaker. Similarly, in the British parliament, it is unheard of that former prime ministers, who lost their positions, suddenly become inactive.
In advanced democracies, lawmakers only stop participating in plenary, when they lose elections into the parliament and not when they stopped being presiding officers.
In this other clime, it is a thing of joy for one’s constituency to be represented by a ranking legislator, because they bring their rich legislative experience to bear on the lawmaking business. Now, compare that to our situation. Certainly, one cannot conveniently say so.