Legislature reconvenes, Obasanjo loyalists take charge

Nigeria's two-chamber national legislature appeared set for a more harmonius relationship with the President Olusegun Obasanjo's executive, analysts said Wednesday, after his loyalists swept key posts as both houses reconvened. The 109-member Senate and the 360-member House of Representatives dissolved on Monday to end the four-year mandate obtained from the electorate in 1999, returned on Tuesday to begin a new term. Emerging unopposed as new leaders in the two chambers were 55-year-old Adolph Wabara as senate president and 53-year-old Bello Masari as speaker of the lower house. Two key opponents of Obasanjo - former Senate president Anyim Pius Anyim and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Ghali Na'Abba - were conspicuously missing in the reconvened legislature. Though of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) which had a comfortable majority in both houses, both men were in confrontation with Obasanjo for most of his first term, even threatening him with impeachment at one point. Anyim chose not to seek re-election and even resigned from the PDP at the end of his term, while Na'Abba lost his seat to a member of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party. Their replacements, Wabara and Masari, are both known to be close confidants of Obasanjo. "What the executive wants to achieve in my mind is to have a ready-to-obey national assembly," said Martins Iwuanyanwu, political analyst and president of Leadership Watch non-governmental organisation. "One expects the relationship between the legislature and the executive to be cordial this time as long as the legislators agree with what the executive says," he added. However, John Adeboye, university teacher and poltical analyst, thinks a legislature does not necessarily have to be confrontational to be effective. "As long as the two arms of government work together in the exercise of their constitutional powers, there is likely to be improved political stability," Adeboye said. Analysts also appear divided on the benefits of having a legislature that is under the undue influence of the executive. Some believe such a state of affairs might have its merits if Obasanjo simply requires legislative speed to carry through programmes that would have a positive impact on the lives of the 126 million Nigerian population. But others see a danger of dictatorial tendencies undermining Nigeria's young democracy, if the legislature fails to serve as a check on the excesses of the executive and remains subservient.