Beware of an Imperial President
By
Dipo F. Akinsiku
The announcement on Tuesday that the Nigerian Senate has decided to explore ways to cooperate with the House on the Standing Motion to impeach President Obasanjo is A welcome news. Since 1979 when the military handed over power to an elected civilian government there has been a tendency to treat the President of Nigeria like a thirteenth century Monarch. During this period, the typical Monarch was generally above the law and had absolute control over every sphere of his kingdom. That every person and numerous groups throng to the State House to pay homage to an elected Nigerian president as if he were a revered Royal is to say the least dodgy. Even British people who are still obsessed with the Royals have long ago taken all governmental powers from their world acclaimed monarch. This unbridled treatment of our president partly gives impetus to the president and his aides to pillage the country and live extravagant lives beyond what the country can afford at the present time.
This is wrong. Nigerians must stop and think of the dangers inherent in not viewing the President first and foremost as a civil servant. Anything other than treating the president in line with what the constitution intended is dangerous. Strict adherence to the constitution is all the more crucial for an ethnically diverse country like Nigeria with competing interests and values. Therefore, closely monitoring every action of the president, even with suspicion, is imperative. Indeed, part of the reason the Presidential system was adopted during the Constitutional Conference that led to the 1979 Constitution was to create a government that was answerable to the electorates with all the constitutional safeguards to prevent a dictator from ever imposing himself and his wishes on Nigerians.
It is in light of this that the current attempt to impeach a stubborn, and to a large extent, an elected president who is predisposed to dictatorial tendencies, becomes interesting and instructive. It is very shameful to read about how the so-called highly placed people from religious leaders, to secular leaders, to some fringe, and fly-by-night organizations have argued against going forward with impeachment proceedings. Some even argued that impeachment was not a democratic process. What a joke! The call against impeachment becomes further ridiculous when some of the president’s ardent supporters conceded that he has committed impeachable offenses but should be spared so that the “nascent democracy” may thrive. What nascent democracy? Nigeria has been practicing democracy since the 1950s. Democracy is not new and we practiced and understood it better in the early days of the Nigerian nationhood than now.
Without a doubt, impeachment is the only legal and constitutional way to remove a sitting President of a democratic country whose term has not expired. And it should always be the only way out apart from being voted out of office in a free and fair election. Essentially, testing the constitution and its provisions are desirable and should be encouraged. In the long, run such tests will benefit the people, and in particular the executive, legislative and the judiciary branches of the government. Nigerians need not be afraid of impeachment as long as the legislature adheres strictly to the respective provisions as laid out in the constitution.
As long as the process is not abused and charges are clearly enunciated as the current impeachment motion has done, it can only advance democracy and not hurt it. Thus, every motion of impeachment of a President ought to be considered by the legislature on its merits. I am certain that only a motion of impeachment with merit will go forward and that a motion that cannot muster support and scrutiny from the members of the legislature will not have any impact on the presidency. In any democratic government the impeachment process is always a tough hurdle to cross. And the situation will not be different in Nigeria.
President Clinton was barely a couple of months into his first administration when Congressman Bob Barr initiated series of highly partisan attempts to begin impeachment proceedings. All the attempts failed despite the deep-seated hatred many Republicans had for President Clinton. It was not until the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, when President appeared to have perjured and suborned perjury that the proceedings moved forward.
Yes, we should respect our president but our president must also respect us by obeying our laws and the constitution. Respect must not be construed to mean coronation. Any president who consistently flouts our laws and has a disdain for the constitution, especially sections that deal with separation of powers, does not deserve our respect. The constitution is supreme and, apart from reflecting our yearnings and aspirations, it is also an expression of our collective self-worth, as well as, our values as a multi-ethnic society. In fact, only an imperial ruler in a civil society can get away with what General Obasanjo has done to the National Assembly. Among which are overall gross misconduct and for sabotaging the Electoral Act passed by the legislature when he inserted an extraneous provision not in the version passed by the National Assembly. That by itself is not only an impeachable offense; it is also a criminal offense. I believe that President Obasanjo can be successfully prosecuted after leaving office for doctoring and tampering with an important official government document.
President Obasanjo was set on the course of becoming an Imperial President when barely a few months in office, he decided to buy a one hundred million dollar ($100million) Presidential jet. Legislators objected initially, but finally signed off on it after a sustained pressure from the presidency. It was obvious at the time, that Nigeria, one of the poorest countries in the world, with about a seventy percent combined unemployment and underemployment rate, and coupled with a fast vanishing industrial sector, could not afford such a largess, even if the president deserves such a lifestyle. Every Nigerian President must be told in no uncertain terms that we do not want the type of legislative houses that exist in Egypt, Syria or even Iraq. We want a truly independent legislature and judiciary. Thus, any president without the temperament to deal with other branches of government does not belong in the Presidential Villa.
It is wrong for a Yoruba president to want to impose on the National Assembly certain officials from his ethnic background to be Governor of Central Bank, Accountant-General, and Auditor-General of the federation all at same time. Just as it would be utterly irrational, wrong, insensitive, and dangerous for a Hausa-Fulani president to want to impose people of his ethnic extraction on the people of Nigeria to be the head of all the instruments of coercion in the country. By this, I mean head of the country’s armed forces, Police and intelligence agencies at the same time. This is a wrong move on the part of General Obasanjo to insist on imposing this wrong-headed objective on the National Assembly. Either way one looks at it, it turns fairness on its head and ought to be condemned by all.
We have seen first hand, how the Abacha regime used all the instruments of coercion to suppress not only the will of the people, but his vocal opponents in the pro-democracy movement during the agitation of June 12 mandate of Chief Abiola. Most likely, if there was a prevailing voice at the table where the decision to shoot to death two hundred demonstrators in the streets of Lagos, the action would have been shelved. Equally, may be, a sane and lone voice of a Yoruba would have argued against the idea of brazenly shooting at Chief Abraham Adesanya for the purpose of killing him. In sensitive matters it would be a wrong-headed approach to have an exclusive group of people from the same ethnic background make important albeit life and death decisions. The same principle would apply to the extra-judicial murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa. May be he would still be alive today if a member of his ethnic background or a neutral person was at the table where decision to execute him was taken.
Preventing an imperial president from taking hold in Nigeria is very important in these days of clamor for rotational presidency. If rotational presidency were to be recognized while Nigeria is divided into minimum of six regions one can imagine the damage an imperial ethnic president can do to the other ethnic groups not in power. In short, imperial presidency is a risky proposition and all hands must be on deck to fight against an imperial president such as General Obasanjo. Interestingly, the threat of impeachment is already working. If an impeachment threat was not hanging over the President Obasanjo would be in South Africa right now and from there, according to his schedule, fly to Sweden. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that in his August 24, 2002 speech following the impeachment threat, General Obasanjo was a little bit contrite when he said “ Nigeria has nothing to fear as the leadership of the nation had renewed itself such as where the spirit of sacrifice was non-existent, it would be created.” He then cautioned against “harboring of resentment or bitterness by any Nigeria, stating that what was needed now was forgiveness, love, righteousness…” If this was a subtle apology from an “imperial president.” that is a good start and democracy is been well served. However, General Obasanjo later on in his speech, referred to the whole impeachment process as a joke. Another evidence that he is as contemptuous of the constitution as he is of the members of the legislature.
I call on all those who believe in the rule of law, and watertight separation of powers among all the three branches of government, to let the National Assembly carry out its duty. I believe that Nigeria will survive it and the process of impeachment will likely serve as a point of reference and lesson for any president who wishes to impose “imperial presidency” on the country in future. Even state Governors who are currently taking cue from Abuja, and hopping all over their respective states like thirteen century Royals, may become reflective and begin to realize that they are not Crowned Princes, and that political power is indeed evanescent.
Dipo F. Akinsiku, is Senior Analyst with a New York City based Research and Service Corporation. He was the former Producer and Co-host of the African Peoples Forum, A Weekly Public Affairs Program cablecast in New York City.