Impeachment
Proceeding: Constitutional Legality Versus Emotions
By
Shehu Abdullahi Zuru
For
the past three weeks or thereabout, I have watched, listened to various
commentaries about the impending threat of impeachment proceedings against
president Obasanjo. Unfortunately, what is disappointing is not the threat of
impeachment but sadly, the fluid, ethnocentric, self-assuming, and self
-opinionated reactions of the traditional clique of harbingers of Nigeria's
democracy. At the onset, I would like to state without equivocation that I hold
no brief for either sides in the stand-off, however, that does not mean that as
a 'neutral' Nigerian I am not concerned about the wellbeing of the country. From
this standpoint, what is relevant is not the politics or the emotions of
impeachment proceedings, but rather the constitutionality of it in the
prevailing circumstances. Therefore what is required is an objective appraisal
of the merits and demerits of impeachment proceedings taking into account the
constraints of time, circumstances, national interest and geopolitical
implications.
Assessment
of the Government:
There
is no better starting point for me than the quote from Maya Angelou's biography
"What is right anywhere is right everywhere" indeed the value of
judgement is the corollary of its basis. As far as this piece is concerned, the
appropriate index for assessment of the performance or failure of a government
is the different facets of national development: education, the economy, energy,
agriculture and rural development. The truth is that, Obasanjo's government has
not just failed to deliver the so-called dividends of democracy but is fast
squandering the prospects of an enduring democratic culture. The persistent
regulatory failure of the education system is manifest in the quality of
graduate, and the dire devil culture of cultism ruining the institutions, the
economy is still in doldrums, the energy sector has suffered a system failure
despite the domestic and foreign investment drive and the frivolous record of
investments. Agriculture has remained the perpetual casualty of momentary oil
price boom, ironically, rural development has become academic in the face of
legitimate public expectation. The reality is that, the foregoing
characterization of performance index in national development predates the
Obasanjo's administration. However, the inability of the government to make a
difference despite tremendous goodwill, and comparative international oil price
advantage underscore the frustration of Nigerians yearning for a change.
Needless to say that, the policy of attributing the failure of the government to
successive military administrations by the hired guns and spin-doctors of the
administration has remained inconsequential. It is a failure of capacity for
vision and self-initiative to consigned self to past failure as a preparatory
justification for non-performance when you have the resources, tools and the
opportunity to rewrite history. I am sure Nigerians are tired of being levelled
the prisoners of history, moreover, the 1999 re-independence has rekindled hope
and re-energised the collective will and determination of the Country to move
forward. This damning verdict on
the administration takes us to the next stage of the piece:
Impeachment
Proceedings under the Nigerian Law
Impeachment
proceedings constitute the modus operandi for the function of the principle of
check and balance in the dynamics of interrelationship between the legislature
and the executive in a democratic environment. It is a containment device for
the excesses of the Executive, the exercise of this constitutional right of the
Legislative Arm of the government is intended to ensure the former functions
within the realm of the constitution. S. 143 of the 1999 Constitution, and S.
140 of the 1989 draft Constitution provides for removal of the president from
office, (2) of both vested the power to do so on the National Assembly when the
allegations against the president sufficed for the conditions so provided by the
Constitution. Without prejudice to Mr Rueben Abati of the Guardian, and
Presidential Liaison officer to the National Assembly, it is mystification of
Constitutional reality or rather an alarmist gesture to create the impression
that the right to impeach is not constitutional. On the other hand, it is
permissible within the context of right of personal opinion to hold the view
that aggregate ulterior motives of membership of the National Assembly rather
than the drive to safeguard the Constitution was the motivation behind the
impeachment proceedings against the president. However, that will not erase the
fact that impeachment proceedings against the president is a legitimate
constitutional option available to the National Assembly.
Impeachment:
Constitutionality Versus Emotions
Undoubtedly,
the threat of impeachment against president Obasanjo has charged the political
atmosphere across the Country. The divergent views expressed on the matter
underlines the group and individual political characterisation, sub-national
culture and allegiance, fear, anxiety, and above all narrow parochial interests
which has corrupted our minds set. As stated above the constitutionality of
impeachment proceedings against the president can neither be faulted nor denied
on the paradigm of Nigeria's groundnorm which is the basis of our constitutional
democracy. It has been argued severally that the impending threat of impeachment
proceedings was irresponsible, some even said that it was a gross disservice to
national interest. Fair enough, but
the neglected question is whether individuals with narrow parochial interests
rather than the national legislature representative of the collective democratic
mandate of Nigerians should determine what the national interest is. Most
certainly, the National Assembly has the constitutional highground to determine
when the national interest is threatened and whether a given circumstance
justifies the invocation of the right of impeachment. In any case why
tantalising the potential implication of impeachment beyond reality, when
international practice has proven that any impeachment proceedings that refused
to recognise legitimate and unadulterated public opinion would be self
destructive of the party spearheading it. The irony and the uniqueness of the
present case has buttressed the hopelessness of the president and stupefy his
fallback circle of political have never being. The irony is that the threat of
impeachment proceeding emanated from within his own ruling party, which controls
the house. I am not unaware of president Theodore Roosevelt's proposition that:
"Greatness in politics is rarely self-created; it is a consequence of
trouble in the world. A leader without a crisis is usually consigned to the
periphery of history." Without a doubt, leadership is most demanded and
most tested during crisis, but this in someway is the exclusive of those leaders
who are products of Armageddon, those who create crisis, walk through the
political minefields to triumph over adversity. However there are leaders and
there are leaders, there is No basis for juxtaposing president obasanjo with
those crème of leaders. This is a leader held hostage by lack of vision, crisis
of confidence, ethnicity and poverty of judgement. This is a regime stretched to
the edge by policy laziness, profligacy, poor capacity for threat analysis and
deficiency of sense of proportion in response to national emergencies.
Obasanjo's regime insults human conscience, challenges morality, defies justice,
failed legitimate expectations, disregards public opinion, concerns the
international community and awaits the judgement of posterity. Therefore, the only irresponsibility perhaps imagined by the
critics of impeachment proceeding is for a president whose party controls the
house but yet to allow his presidency to degenerate to the level of irrelevance,
vulnerability and political liability. It goes without saying that if his own
party which provided the platform, packaged him and campaigned for his election
victory could abandon him a minute to midnight, there must be something
fundamentally wrong with his style of leadership. It is not good enough to
resort to geopolitical rhetoric of calling names, unsubstantiated allegation of
political undercurrent in order to divert attention from the colossal failure of
the Obasanjo's presidency. Regional press gangsterism cannot compromise the
super-imposed national interest rooted in the collective survival of the
country, neither can it overwhelm the emerging formidable interregional unity of
purpose determined to rescue the country from the brinks.
The
Justice of Impeachment
There are divergent perceptions of the administration depending upon the standpoint of analysis, however, what is incontrovertible is the majority verdict that Obasanjo's regime is a failure. This conclusion leads us to the question what do we do?: Should the national assembly initiate impeachment proceeding against the president? Have Nigerians been prepared for the trauma of impeachment proceedings? Can we justify impeachment against a failed president just couple of months away from the judgement day? Although it is no longer a secret that the various regions that make up Nigeria have de-invested from the common stock of national unity, can Nigeria in her present fragile state of ethnic political and economic volatility survive an impeachment proceedings? It is my view that every rational and sound appraisal of the situation must take the foregoing into account, what is involved is not just the organic law of the situation but also the justice of the circumstances. Although this is a rejected president, justice of the circumstances require courage, patriotism and patience, let us refuse to be provoked into extremism that will portray him as the victim deserving of public sympathy. Nigerians have survived the three years of the ongoing mal-administration; our resilience is the strength to persevere to the promise land. Finally, let me re-echo Tom Crew who wrote: "Wisdom eludes those who assumed they know it all, the prize of extremism is the lost of justification, and those who pursue vengeance and allow revenge to overshadow logic always end into trouble."