Political violence and sponsored thuggery have continued to retard Nigeria’s development.
IF the ugly spectre of impeachment was the hallmark of the first four years of Nigeria’s second attempt at a presidential system of governance which commenced in 1999, the fear of recall of ‘erring’ elected office holders and the declaration of emergency rule are the current nightmare of politicians. Although the desirability of impeachment, and recall, clauses which were enshrined in our constitution to ensure that elected public office holders are not beyond reproach is not in doubt, it became the favourite weapon of politicians in the fourth republic who had an axe to grind with their opponents. This state of affairs has been attributed to the novelty of the presidential system of governance and the consequent lack of experience of our politicians who instead of adopting the time tested democratic ethos of negotiating, giving, taking and making of necessary compromises to accommodate each other, preferred wielding the impeachment axe as the first option.
This underscores the belief in some quarters that the first tenure was full of motions without movements for Nigerian politics. Painfully, Alhaji Salisu Buhari, first speaker of the Federal House of Representative, Chief Evan Enwerem, the first Senate President and Dr. Chuba Okadigbo who succeeded him are some of the political big wigs at the national level who went through the embarrassment of impeachment during the first four years of the return of democracy in Nigeria. While the late politician Dr. Chuba Okadigbo paid the ultimate price of death after his impeachment and subsequent decampment from PDP to ANPP, the likes of Salisu Buhari, Evan Enwerem and others who are lucky to be alive have been as it were, swept into political oblivion.
Even President Obasanjo who survived several impeachment plots did so at a huge political and economic cost to the nation. Thankfully, our present crop of politicians is now exhibiting higher maturity hence we have witnessed less of impeachment threats in the present dispensation. Disappointingly, though, the first successful transition from one democratic government to another in Nigeria, also came with a new political burden – Recall. Admittedly, the recall clause was actually first used against senators Author Nzeribe of Imo State and Kennedy Waku of Benue State without success.
This time around, senators Jubril Aminu of Adamawa State, Ibrahim Mantu of Plateau State and Musiliu Obanikoro of Lagos State are among prominent targets of the political recall agenda. But the consequences of the application of the clauses of impeachment and recall of presumed recalcitrant elected political office holders entrenched in the nations 1999 constitution would pale into nothing when compared to the obnoxious weapon of emergency rule which President Obasanjo applied in Plateau State, in March last year in the wake of the bloody clashes between the Christians and Muslims in the state. Coincidentally, the Yoruba Council of Elders, (YCE) YCE reportedly listed that unfortunate incident in Plateau State as one of President Obasanjo’s three blunders in 2004.
Plateau crisis
Even as critics have been contesting the constitutionality of the action taken by Mr President in Plateau State, it has been argued that, assuming the declaration of a state of emergency has constitutional backing, the first place it should have been applied would have been in Zamfara State which unilaterally introduced the Sharia Law and consequently rekindled religious fundamentalism which is apparently the remote cause of the violent clashes in the otherwise tranquil state of Plateau.
This point of view is hinged on the belief that had an appropriate action such as a court injunction against the declaration of sharia law been taken against Zamfara State, the associated unsavoury consequences would have been averted as the judiciary would’ve had the opportunity of playing its assigned role of interpreting the constitution. Having failed to take that appropriate action, and since it is human nature to replicate actions which have gone unchallenged elsewhere, it didn’t take long for politicians to import the Zamfara ideology into their respective domain thereby instigating religious activism which triggered the violence that warranted a declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau. And with emergency rule introduced and sustained in Plateau State, a new potent weapon of vengeance was discovered by unscrupulous politicians.
Take the Anambra State mayhem for instance; it is believed that having failed to remove Governor Chris Ngige from office by abduction and contrived resignation, his political opponents must have reckoned that the next viable option would be to create a state of anarchy akin to the Plateau experience so that the president would declare a state emergency. But unfortunately, members of the fourth realm of the estate in fulfilling their watch dog role once again rose in defence of the embattled governor by exposing the culpability of the authorities that should have been protecting government house and the valuable assets of the state that were vandalised by the sponsored hoodlums. It is noteworthy that after the Plateau State emergency rule was declared, rumour mills were abuzz that Kano, Delta and Lagos States were the next to get the Plateau treatment as it were.
Curiously, the aforementioned states were believed by political observers to be in the black book of President Obasanjo by virtue of the perceived political differences between the leaders of the states and Abuja. Despite the fact that Mr. President debunked the rumour by declaring that even the emergency rule in Plateau was done at great personal pains and he is not contemplating taking such an action in the nearest future, some die hard protagonists who would stop at nothing to remove the Delta State Governor Chief James Ibori by hook or crook stage managed the abduction and killing of an expatriate oil worker among others on the Benin River to orchestrate an atmosphere of anarchy that would have engendered declaration of emergency rule in the state.
Happily, Nigerians and indeed Deltans rose in unison to support the government of Ibori in exposing the culprits. The scenario painted of Anambra and Delta States could be extrapolated for Edo state where the past four to five weeks have witnessed an upsurge of violence disguised as armed robbery attacks with a horde of policemen gunned down, a local government chairman shot and injured, the Anglican Bishop of the state also shot and injured and the police Public Relations Officer of Delta State who hails from Edo State murdered while visiting home for the yuletide in Benin City. Sadly, this is in-spite of the presence of a combined team of the armed forces and the police deployed to Benin City to stem the tide of crime since Xmas eve.
Edo siege
Many believe that the situation in Benin is more than what meets the eye. Similarly, the Governor of Kano State in the past fortnight has continually alerted the police that there are sinister moves by his detractors to cause public disorder in the state so that a state of emergency may be declared. Whether his claims are false or otherwise, it is obvious that the fear of emergency rule is currently giving governors indigestion. Although emergency rule may have its good sides, regrettably, the scenarios painted above typify the sordid sides of that extreme measure.
But as President Obasanjo stated, the decision to introduce emergency rule in Plateau State was in the best interest of Nigerians. Be that as it may, the road to disaster, they say is always paved with good intentions hence political decisions, especially those with far reaching constitutional implications should be made bearing the immediate and remote consequences in mind. Who would’ve connected the Plateau State emergency rule to the Anambra mayhem; the murder of expatriate oil worker in Delta State; the killing of nearly a dozen police men, shooting and injuring of a local government chairman and the Bishop of the State by men of the underworld in Edo State?
But a cursory look at the events enumerated above, clearly reveal an obvious correlation particularly because in each state, where hell has, so to speak been let loose, there is an existing political schism. This is buttressed by a common thread linking the Governor, Joshua Dariye and Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu’s power struggle in Plateau State; the Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and former governor Musa Kwakwansao, face-off in Kano State and the Governor Ibori and Goodnews Alabi/Anthony Agbi challenges in Delta State. The Governor Lucky Igbinedion and Chief Tony Anenih, PDP Board of Trustee chairman/Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia’s power tussle in Edo State is also instructive just as the Governor Chris Ngige and Chief Chris Uba, his estranged godfather epic battle is illustrative of the ugly sides of emergency rule.
Of course, cynics may dismiss these ugly trends as mere coincidences or at best rationalise that it is part of the learning process of the democratic practice. Nevertheless, we should view this incident with trepidation and remember that if the cost of learning becomes higher than the anticipated reward, it becomes counter productive. Having done that, we must also pause and ask ourselves, why the nation must get to the precipice before we realise that we face the risk of tumbling over. Bearing in mind the foregoing ugly consequences of emergency rule, those calling for the removal of the immunity clause in the constitution should review their position.
This is because it is possible that a law that was targeted at a particular individual or individuals may turn out to be the Achilles heel of our nascent democracy as state governors and their deputies may end up spending more time in court rooms than executing their mandate. Perhaps this is what informed the decision by the United States of America, the copy right owners of the presidential system of government that we now practice, to retain the immunity clause in their status books, even after several constitutional amendments.