By Oseloka H. Obaze
With the recent declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State, Nigerians find themselves in the most discomfited circumstance. Their democracy is halting as its core tenets and pillars are continually eroded. The state of her democracy is now critical and tending discernibly towards being hopeless. What is true and real of Nigeria, is that the unfolding State failure has been a gradual process.
In her constitutional governance history, no singular event has epitomized the injurious and disquieting state of Nigeria’s democracy than the grossly unconstitutional declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State. The intent, premise and process were all wrong – all very unconstitutional. President Bola Tinubu was criminally ill-advised. But his wrong decision was further complicated by the vagaries of Nigeria partisan politics and the willful acquiescence by the National Assembly to an odious and dubious process, which they are statutorily meant to checkmate. That was a double fault.
Nigeria’s extant 1999 Constitution, which ought to be the governance ground norm, remains what it has always been; an expedient document of dubious parentage. It has no ownership: hence it has no defenders. This explains why the Constitution is continuously desecrated, even by the judicial arm of the government that has the statutory remit to interpret, uphold, and defend it. Inevitably, governance in Nigeria, at best, remains wabbly in all ramifications.
The adjunct to the bastardization of the Constitution by those in the Executive and Legislative arms is that fundamental constitutional rights of Nigerians are in parallel being systematically trampled upon, without consequences and recourse. Rule of law, due process and the attendant rights are all being circumvented. Nigeria is a Constitutional Republic that no longer adheres to her laws and founding principles.
The Nigerian Government has visibly gone rogue and has become unwholesome, ineffectual and totally feckless and reckless. Leadership hubris is palpable. Governance is in disarray. State Capture is routine as is Cancel Culture. Presently, the Federal Government is treacherously tinkering with the administration of the States; while State Governors are whimsically usurping the rights and autonomy of Local Governments despite extant laws to the contrary. For most Nigerians, whatever residual hope there is, remains fleeting as suffering and disenfranchisement continue to gain toehold. With poverty now a norm, Nigerians are understandably disconcerted and discontented.
Ironically, those who ought to speak up in Nigeria don’t. Two fearless elder statesmen who dared to consistently speak truth to power, Chief EK Clark and PA Ayo Adebajo recently bowed out due to natural attrition. There is a dearth of successors for them, which in itself, is an alarming reality. Meanwhile, the political opposition is gaunt.
But there is a cadre of Nigerians, who fought hard to keep Nigeria whole. They are not speaking up; at least not collectively. Their taciturnity is exceedingly troubling. By implication, their reticence is a presumptive acceptance of the status quo, if not a tacit approval of the national drift and unscrambling. Perhaps, they are shortsightedly concerned about losing their accruing perks from the national cake. One wonders if they can’t discern that Nigeria is methodically being dismantled; in tandem with her ungoverned spaces that continue to expand exponentially.
Incidentally, these are all presumably astute old men and women, who have nothing more to lose; and for whom the indivisibility of Nigeria should be the utmost preoccupation. Certainly, they can’t join the crass political elite carpet baggers, who justify their noxious relevance with the mantra, “if you can’t beat them, join them.” If they do, then they will figuratively mimic maggots that feed off a carcass, but soon enough confront only dead bones. Then, they too die.
These so-called “owners of Nigeria” – military and civilian cohorts alike- must have an urgent and inevitable conversation for several reasons. Nigeria isn’t at its optimal best. The warped 1999 Constitution is being gutted in ways never imagined, by Executive Fait, especially as regards the Federal Character Principles. Statutory appointment and stipulated retirement age are ignored with impunity. Incidentally, Nigeria remains a pluralistic and multi-ethnic and multi religious country. And nothing can change that except if Nigeria ceases to exist as a nation. And that is an option, farfetched as it may seem.
For now, the Nigerian nation is living a convenient lie. The rulers and the ruled are all estranged, unhappy, nervous and mutually suspicious of each other. As hunger and poverty are statutorily weaponized, the simmering anarchy might seem benign. Yet it is as if everyone is just waiting for the next shoe to drop. Sardonically, if the “owners of Nigeria” don’t speak up now, when the ongoing disassembling is done, the Nigeria mosaic would have evanesced.
Facts are stark. President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight year in office was an era that enthroned nepotism, bigotry and blinkered parochialism without apologies. Nigerians stomached that twaddle and the attendant illiberalism foisted by the “cabal,” perhaps, in the self-deluding pretext that such governance modalities were aberrations -an outlier of sorts that would soon pass. They were resoundingly wrong. Then President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged. If Buhari enthroned and canonized nepotism, Tinubu is presently legitimating and codifying it. The Legislative and Judicial arms have proven his ever willing accessories. The recent declaration of a State Emergency validated this contention beyond any doubt.
Today, the Legislative and Judicial arms are appendages of the Executive arm and this is a mockery of their statutory classification. Checks and balances in government are all but dead. So too, is the separation of powers. Suddenly governance is profligate – and to some, such aberration seems acceptable. Contemplating the equal but separate classification has become mythic and academic. Clustered together, the 10th National Assembly is as sad governance joke.
In a recent personal note to me, a veteran civil service and governance expert, who once served in the Presidency said: “Federal institutions have become ethnic enclaves with the North and the West driving the process.” Imponderably, the South-East remains remote by design. This default chasm is not ancillary or germane to progress or true nation building. Neither is national retrogression a desirable or utilitarian building block for development, stability or peace and security.
Nigerians are confronted with dangerous national drift to a unitary government; to a one-party state, if not to absolute authoritarianism. The last time Nigeria brushed Unitarianism, we know what sadly followed. Our history should thus help us interrogate the emerging scenario. Paradoxically, it seems no one can muster the courage to speak up. Nigeria’s political opposition is clearly in disarray. If indeed there is any truth to the recent allegations by Nasir El Rufai, then we know the identikit of the puppeteer that manipulates and undemocratically pull the national opposition parties apart.
Nigerians should all be acutely distressed when their government becomes reckless and goes rogue with impunity. For their part, the “owners of Nigeria” can’t mimic Nero. They can’t afford to. Reticence or traditional conscientious objections are not viable options. And Nigeria’s problems cannot be wished away. This assertion is not conjectural and for anyone to think that it is will be courting delusion. What’s to do? The “owners of Nigeria” –they know themselves- must now have that seemingly elusive and difficult conversation on Nigeria’s fate and future. That conversation, difficult as it may be, is long past due. The time is now. Chaos is imminent. Delay is dangerous.
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Obaze is MD/CEO, Selonnes Consult – a policy, governance and management consulting firm in Awka.
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