By Lillian Okenwa
“There is almost an innate bigmanism in most Nigerians that makes us refuse to defer to institutions or even allow institutions to be strong.” – Prof Solomon Ebobrah
“Every nation fails or succeeds on the quality of its institutions. But every institution is as strong as the quality of its personnel, their competence, and professionalism, their values, and norms. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a country where state institutions utterly malfunction, bereft of any sense of responsibility, and where public officials have perverse norms and values, lacking a sense of purpose to serve the national interest”, wrote Olu Fasan in an article titled: “INEC: Nigeria’s institutions act irresponsibly with impunity… Sad!”, and published in Vanguard on 12th April 2023.
Fasan maintains that: “The latest instance of institutional failure in Nigeria is the abysmal performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which dashed the hopes of millions of Nigerians, and the expectations of the world, by conducting a presidential election universally condemned for woefully failing the basic tests of transparency and credibility. INEC’s failure reinforced the global perception of Nigeria as a failing state.”
Also lamenting the state of the nation, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ikeazor Akaraiwe observed that: “Paradoxically, military rule abolished strong institutions in Nigeria because of the military command culture. Our two continuations of military rule in the persons of Generals Obasanjo and Buhari, for example, all but destroyed the judiciary by refusing to obey court orders.
“Our two civilian rulers, Yar Adua, and Jonathan obeyed court orders. When Jonathan obeyed the judgment making Adams Oshiomhole (from the opposition party) governor of Edo State and removing his own party man Prof. Osunbor, it was a watershed moment for the rule of law.
“Then, Jonathan submitted to the electoral umpire and accepted the election results, thus strengthening the rule of law.
“It is said, and I verily believe, that Buhari lost the 2019 elections to Atiku, but using the coercive powers of the military and state, Mai Gaskiya returned himself to power, thus undoing all that Jonathan did with respect to INEC emerging as a strong institution.
“And I add; another reason institutions are weak in Nigeria is the poor-quality appointments we make to man the institutions. For example, a judge who is weak in the knowledge of the law will undermine the strength of the institution by the porous decisions and allegations of corruption which always trail such decisions.
Likewise, Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN made some observations. “Institutions are strong in America because of sanctions for impunity. How many lawyers are interested in prosecuting the criminal elements who manipulated the 2023 general elections? Stop agonising! Organise the legal profession!!
“In 1987, the NBA boycotted courts over the disobedience of a single court order. That was under a military junta. Today, the Federal Government and State Governments are in disobedience of scores of court orders, including orders of the Supreme Court.
“The AGF publicly justifies the disobedience of court orders by the Government! And the NBA has never deemed it fit to call out the AGF. In fact, he hosted the NBA during its last NEC meeting in Kebbi State!
“I like the motto of the United States: E unum pluribus (one nation out of many). The United States recently produced a black couple in the White House for 8 years. But in Africa, the members of the political class whip up ethnicity and religion to turn away the attention of the masses from problems of poverty, unemployment, diseases, illiteracy, etc, in order to sustain the status quo.
“Nigerian professionals are not better as they run their national associations on the basis of “turn by turn” of ethnic groups!”
But Prof Solomom Ebobrah, a Professor of Law with the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island Bayelsa State summed it up.
“I think the challenge of institutional failure in Nigeria goes beyond the selective obedience or disobedience of Presidents to Court orders. There is almost an innate bigmanism in most Nigerians that makes us refuse to defer to institutions or even allow institutions to be strong
“Most of us secretly enjoy the power and prestige of being the ones able to pick up the phone and with a call or two, change things. Get results. It happens everywhere, every day. Private and public sector. We call it connection. It hinders institutional primacy. And we only grumble when we are not the one exercising power or connections or we are at the receiving end. How are the institutions supposed to be strong?
“We are all stronger than the institutions and their rules, or at least, most of us want to be.”
