Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has berated the Senate minority caucus for failing to join Senator Seriake Dickson in condemning what he described as anti-democratic actions by the Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Frank, in a statement issued after Tinubu’s June 12 address before a joint session of the National Assembly, praised Dickson for rising in defence of democracy and speaking out when Tinubu failed to speak on the ongoing Rivers emergency rule during his Democracy Day address.
Dickson, who represents Bayelsa West in the 10th Senate under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had accused President Tinubu of ignoring the political emergency in Rivers, including the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the entire State House of Assembly, which he described as a constitutional aberration.
He also accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of deliberately suppressing his right to raise a constitutional point of order in the chamber.
Frank described Dickson as a true patriot and a hero for standing up at a time when, according to him, “so many politicians cutting across party divides in Nigeria have become political cowards and sycophants.”
“Senator Dickson played the role of a true opposition by speaking the minds of ordinary Nigerians. He did not just make me proud as a citizen of Nigeria, he has made me proud as an Ijaw son. He has made me proud as a Bayelsan. He has made me proud as a Niger Delta son and he has made the entire country proud by speaking truth to power against those destroying our democracy and the country,” Frank said.
He hailed Dickson for speaking “the truth and the true position of our democracy” when other lawmakers chose to remain silent.
Frank condemned alleged decline in democratic accountability in the country and accused the Tinubu administration of ruling with impunity and fostering a one-party system.
“What Dickson has done is akin to what lawmakers often do in foreign countries where democracy is being practiced like the United States and the United Kingdom and even South Africa where you see lawmakers confronting the president with the truth and expectation of the people. It might look like he is alone, but we want to let him know that the Nigerian masses are with him. Even if his colleagues across party lines may not support him due to cowardice in his bid to save our democracy, Nigerians and the world are with him, and we are encouraging him to do more by being fearless as usual,” he said.
Frank further expressed concern over an alleged growing culture of sycophancy in the National Assembly.
He said other lawmakers knew that President Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech was laced with “propaganda and deceit” but chose to shower him with praise instead.
He warned that there may be moves to suspend Senator Dickson for his bold stance, as seen in past instances, but urged the Bayelsa lawmaker not to be discouraged.
“We know that with what Dickson has done there might be plans to suspend him the way the Senate did to other senators who have stood up for the truth in the past but let him not be perturbed because God and Nigerians will fight for him. For it is better for him to be with God and the people who are in the majority than to take sides with the evil and satanic leaders who are working to destroy democracy in Nigeria,” Frank said.
He criticised the minority caucus in the Senate for being allegedly compromised and abandoning its core duty of checking executive excesses.
“It is shameful that the minority caucus in the Senate has been totally compromised because if there was a strong opposition, the minority leader of the Senate is supposed to have taken the action that Dickson took. Unfortunately, we have a compromised minority leader who is only doing the bidding of the ruling party. Since Abba Moro became the minority leader, he has not been able to condemn or criticize the anti-democratic and unconstitutional policies of government. Were Nigeria a country practicing true democracy, someone like Senator Dickson would have been the minority leader of the Senate in this political dispensation,” Frank declared.
He further accused the current administration of being more focused on coercing opposition figures into submission rather than building a truly democratic society.
According to him, a government that is doing well does not need to harass or intimidate its critics.
“But whether now or later, this government will go and Nigeria will remain and they too would remain to face the consequences of their action and inaction,” Frank added.
