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Is this the Democracy Nigerians Fought For? By Muhammad Ajah
The way Nigerian politicians twist the laws to fit their selfish interests marvels me. Why is it that every Nigerian politician thinks that he or she is the best for any position, a position that is definitely tenured and a position which was occupied by predecessors? One of the greatest problems that is militating against our progress as a democratic nation is inability to first protect our laws and secondly enforce it on all categories of the citizenry.
Two ravaging instances of today are the struggle for leadership at the National Assembly and the arguments whether or not to deregister political parties that could not attain the minimum requirements laid down by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
As a nation, we have laws that guide every aspect of our corporate existence. Although laws are meant for human beings and are liable to be amended as necessity arises, such amendment cannot be effected for the interest of a few individuals in a kind of set-up as Nigeria. Unless we want to yield to a track by Oliver De Coque that, “a land is owned”, implying that certain individuals can hold a whole society to ransom. However, reports have been in circulation that Nigeria is run by a cabal.
If that is established, then there is hardly a way to development for Nigeria. Here the table is turned and democracy is infested. Democracy is supposed to be guided by the decision of majority. The laws are supposed to be supreme over every Nigerian, moreso over the people who made them. But unfortunately, the reverse is the case in this country. Majority of Nigerians are really in the dark of how government is run or they are tactically kept away from that. Is it democracy?
The funny part of all these is that the laws are often broken by the lawmakers themselves. Once they sense that their interest is at stake, they would hurriedly amend the laws after having convinced the people in the Law House. Sometimes, the President is incapacitated to enforce the laws because there may be skeletons in his cardboard. To the president in such situations, it is better to allow peace to reign between him and the law makers than open an avenue that can lead to severe monitoring of his activities by the parliamentary members who are primarily there to maintain check and balances in governance.
The scenarios at the National Assembly are quite depicting despotism in leadership. Many Nigerians seem to be commending the way the just concluded general elections were conducted. Many believe they were signs of transparency and fair play. But less than a month after the electioneering events, the nation is stalled with anti-democratic forces that often subvert the people’s will. Nevertheless, for the sake of clarity, let’s take the two cases separately.
For the sake of democracy and good governance, there should be nothing like zoning of offices. Let the position of the senate president, the speaker of the House and others be given to those who can handle it on merit. The sit-tight syndrome of our leaders should be discouraged and discontinued. I think the incumbent senate president, David Mark has done well in the last four years. So, his achievements should speak for him. After all, his reelection shows that he had performed well. He should, therefore, summon the courage to contest against any senator – new or old – for the position he has enjoyed for the past four years. I am sure he did enjoy or over enjoy the position. But, we know it is really difficult to be a floor member after having been the leader. Senate rule 97 on ranking, which was hurriedly strengthened to effectively foreclose the ambition of fresh senators from aspiring for high seats especially the senate president should be disregarded. Let there be open contest. Every Nigerian has equal right, at least according to the constitution, and we must all stand up against sit-tight syndrome. But if that is defeated, then legal redress may be another option. Reports that senators from the North-East zone may be heading to court to seek judicial intervention in the case may be okay. But the controversies over adoption of David Mark or Danjuma Goje by the senators after their retreats at Enugu and Akure would be resolved on June 7th when the senate would sit to share positions. As for the house, the open-secret ballot system of voting for candidates of the next Speaker and other principal officers is commendable. The House recently amended its rule to provide for that ballot system of voting. Although some people perceive the amendment as a move by some of the lawmakers to scuttle the emergence of Alhaji Ajibola Muraina (PDP, Ibarapa Central) from the Southwest who is anointed by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as next Speaker of the House, I feel it is the best for democracy. It would be recalled that key contestants for the position, regardless of PDP new zoning formula are Mulikat Akande-Adebola (PDP, Ogbomoso) and Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from Sokoto State.
As for deregistration of political parties, INEC should enforce the laws. Unless INEC acknowledges its inefficiency, it should do the right thing to save the country. It is quite unimaginable that out of the 63 registered parties, only 10 were able to win seats at the last April general elections. Only 20 parties featured presidential candidates. Others definitely sold out to stronger parties. There are allegations that most of these parties collected money and endorsed other candidates. Or that some of these parties were primarily registered to spoil show for others. Or that they were formed to enhance political prostitution in the country.
A cursory look of the activities of the parties in the last electioneering dispensation revealed that some of them did not conduct any activities at all. They wrote programmes from the bedrooms of their proprietors and submitted to INEC. Whether or not INEC attended their activities as stipulated by law is to be ascertained. The most important thing is that Nigeria must change for the good, through our collective efforts. We should stop the old ways of doing things. If out of thousands of wards, 774 local government councils, hundreds of state assembly seats, 36 governorship positions, 109 senatorial seats and 360 membership seats of the House of Representatives, a party cannot secure one, then it is not worthy of being called a registered political party. It should become a political association or a non-governmental organization with an aim to assist good governance. That is better for them.
The failed parties should be man enough to accept their failure and give way for vibrancy in our politics. The era when families would wake up to form and register a political party should be over. Now that INEC is not empowered to share money to them, they resort to adopting one politician or the other, including even councillors for a reward instead of fielding in candidates of their own. It’s time we begin strengthening our democracy or we will continue to wait for no one to do it for us.
Also on a very serious note and concern, those who lost their elections or re-elections at the last April general polls should go back to their constituencies and plan well for the future elections. Voting them out by their own people signifies their unpopularity or non-performance in office, except if they claim to have been rigged out. As our democracy is growing, we all should stand against the imposition of these failed politicians on the people as their so-called godfathers represent them for appointments as ministers, board members or ambassadors.
Muhammad Ajah is a writer, author, advocate of humanity and good governance based in Abuja. E-mail mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk |