We have been very surprised by the open fracas of
the last few days between the President and his Vice President.
However, we are of the opinion that in order for a firmer ground to be
constructed for the future mitigation of conflicts between future
Presidents and their Spares, some truth must be told. We have
attempted here to examine the needed truth based on the following
initial boundary assumptions:
-
The Nigerian Constitution is close enough to the
one from which it was copied, i.e. the US Constitution, and that the
copy was complete in the area relevant to this editorial.
-
Those who now comment on how the spare (Vice
President) should
behave in office relative to the President also understand the
working of the original relevant portion of the copied constitution.
-
Divorce of ourselves from our own ethnic and
political prejudices in favor of making the system work without
re-inventing the wheel which was the reason why we copied the
American constitution in the
first place.
Based on the first assumption, we believe the Vice
President has minimum constitutional role to play, and therefore, flourishes
only at the pleasure of the President. Examining the order of succession
in the British royal arrangements, the spare to the Prince of Wales
plays almost the same practical role, and the Prince of Wales, no
matter how fast he wants to ascend to the throne knows he has to devote
himself to supporting the Queen by playing designated roles conferred on
him by the Queen. By the virtue of the second assumption, we need not
over-emphasize the way it is in the US. The
wisdom that brings in the "spare" merely wants the spare to be a
standby person to take over in case of national emergency. The design
deliberately gives no meaningful role to the Vice President because of the understanding of human
nature and our proclivity for connivance. Some Vice Presidents in the
United States who were denied meaningful roles (because of lack
of trust?) were consigned to the role of attending funerals on behalf
of the President during their tenure.
It is our belief here at the NigerianNews
that Vice President Al Gore was at a pain to publicly support
President Clinton during the Lewinsky trial given Mrs. Gore's crusade
against pornography in the society, but private feelings and
making an institution work are two different animals. So, Al Gore
supported Clinton very vigorously during the impeachment trial as all other
democrats, but once he was able to be his own man, he attempted to separate
himself from "Clinton's morality". This however might have led to his
electoral failure. He probably lost Arkansas and one or two other states for this
political naivety, but was the chance he was willing to take.
It is very important that we the commentators
should have the stability of the system in mind rather than exuding our biases in
running our commentary. We have made comments here at the NigerianNews so
many times against our biases and popular will, and this editorial will not be an
exemption. As a matter of fact, our stands have been made known in some
of our past comments on the Vice President. We have for example
intimated that, individually here at the NigerianNews, we would not
want for a Vice President, the man who did not resign first but declared
himself a suitable bride who could go the either way during the second
term primary election contest. Our studies of the original copy and practices in the
United States fail to show where a Vice President tortures the
President like this one does and still expect a pat at the back by the
same boss. We understand that the so-called Mandela option which we
thought was absurd at that time, was this Vice President brain child. We must confess that Obasanjo's open outburst in his
Nationwide Television program was not dignifying. However, usually the Vice President who exists at
the auspices of the President is morally expected to be loyal to the end of the presidential
term. In case of disagreements, the spare is morally bound to honorably
step aside so that the president can carry out the program for which
he is elected or some may say selected.
If the Vice President wanted to become a desired
bride like he proclaimed in the primary election leading to the second term,
he needed not to humiliate the man who chose him to run with him. We
are made aware that he was merely acting to forestall his being dumped
by Obasanjo as is running mate, but even then, good
practices required for him to resign first and then support an alternate
candidate or even himself. Any holder of this office must
always realize that although the constitution stipulates a Vice
President, there is no outside constraint on the personal selection by the
presidential nominee on who he ought to select. The Presidential nominee with the stipulation
and the requirements of the constitution selects the one person who he
thinks will be a team player. The Vice President supporters have
labeled the President an ingrate because according to them, the Vice
President, by making the PDM available to Obasanjo, was the reason why
he became the President. We disagree with this assessment. We disagree
because we believe the military controlled and influenced that election and the
outcome was predictable. A Vice President is normally selected based
on the added value he brings to the presidential nominee. It is our
assertion in this editorial that Vice President Atiku's added value in the
1999 election was of no consequence because of the military reason and
the events leading to that election.
Therefore, the whole question of who added value,
Obasanjo or Atiku becomes the case of the chicken and the egg, which
exist first. In this instance it is clear to us that it is necessary
to be there at the beginning to know the winner! The man who enhanced Atiku was the man who rescued him
from the obscure position of the Governor-elect of Adamawa to the
guaranteed position of the Vice Presidential candidate, a position by
hook or by crook he was destined or guaranteed by the military to win.
Atiku was selected by Obasanjo against many preferred would-be Vice
Presidential hopefuls. Obasanjo thought then that Atiku would be a
selection who was likely to play the role designed for the Vice
Presidency - the role of a spare.
Since the role is only made meaningful in accordance
with
the will of the President, this is why, except for one or two cases in
the history of the United States, a Vice President voluntarily
acquiesced to the role of "be seen but not heard" The exceptions to
this rule or where a Vice President flexed muscle always ended up in
disaster. However, a good relationship between the boss and the vice
almost always guarantee a flurry of responsible assignments for the
vice. Vice President Gore was a good example of a good team player
rewarded with lots of assignments. These assignments are always
targeted so that the recipient can prove to the nation that he/she can
be a president when called upon to do so. On the other hand, Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson was a typical Presidential spare (Sorry
Prince Harry). If
fortune had not intervened on his behalf, he would have been destined
for no more role than tend to his ranch in Texas after the presidency
of Kennedy. Robert Kennedy had such a suspicion of him to the extent
that he was going to be a mere museum relic at the end of the
presidency which he served. Vice President Johnson
was marked for "be seen but not heard" position during the anticipated
Kennedy's second term.
For those who had read what we wrote about Vice
president Atiku in the past, we had said here at the NigerianNews
that individually, if we were to have a Vice President like Atiku, we
would have asked him to resign or be impeached. We still stand by this, but this time we now also add
that if we were to be Atiku, we would also resign. We say this for
these reasons: At the beginning of a new Presidential race, there are
always many candidates. Each candidate proposes to the primary
election audience what he would do for the nation and in particular,
his party if allowed to carry the party flag. Note that at this point,
there is perhaps no running mate in mind until the candidate secures
his/her party nomination. As you can see, in theory and in practice, it
is the Presidential candidate who is the designated representative of
his/her party at the poll. When a presidential nominee selects a running mate, he
selects someone who he thinks will be loyal to him, with the ability
to carry on the battle should anything happen to him. The Vice
Presidential candidate is thus morally bound to support a man who
selected him - the man who wins the primary election. While the Presidential hopeful is elected at the
primary, the Vice Presidential hopeful is selected at the end of the
primary. It has been said that a vice president was also elected
to uphold the constitution and by the same constitution that elected
the president. This seems to us like half truth and, again, we are
back at the question of which exists first, the egg or the chicken and
again being there at the beginning helps in knowing the winner. If the presidential nominee has not selected the
vice presidential nominee, he would not even get near the constitution
he now flaunts as the reason for being a vice president.
It is a shame despite the anthropologically hidden
meaning of tribe, today, our elites talk in terms of "tribes" and
"detribalized". Of its own, there is nothing wrong with referring to
ourselves as tribes, however, we notice the "first world" refer to
themselves as "Ethnic" and consign our existence to that of "Tribes".
In case there is a good reason for this attitude of the "first world"
referring to themselves as ethnic, we at the NigerianNews
will go ahead and borrow the "first world" choice of the word ethnic
and repudiate forever the word "tribe". We are very good at copying
aren't we? Well, If it is good for them it must also be good for us.
This leads us to our leadership's shifting ground mentality. If we see
how the battle is drawn in the President versus the Vice
President conflict, you will see that ethnic alignment plays very prominent
role. In cases where this is not the case, you see all over the
landscape a situation of inconsistencies. The one who helped to remove
a Deputy Governor can now be found ingeniously quoting the
constitution as why Atiku can not be removed. Those tortured by the
memory of Omoboriowo and Omisore are not left behind in this
hypocrisy. Nigeria is filled with unprincipled leadership with the
ground they walk on shifting every minute they walk on it.
At the NigerianNews,
we take on a most difficult situation all the time not because we want
to. In most of the cases like in the Atiku case, we are in pain to
take the position we take. However, building a virile institution
requires making unpalatable decision on a daily basis. The relationship of a vice
president is akin to, for example, why the maker of your car
also gives you a spare tire in addition to the four tires already
fitted to your car. You use your spare tire only if there is a
problem with one of the four tires you have on. From the deputy
governors to the vice president, Nigerians don't play the role of the
"spare" very well. As soon as the deputy or the vice gets to
power, he starts building his
own separate structure culminating in a house divided against itself. Have we
forgotten the Omoboriowos of this political space? Did the Deputy
Governor of Osun state, Iyiola Omisore not erect his own structure?
Was there no life lost because of these insubordinations? We will
make a bold suggestion here that Chief Bola Ige died because he would
not allow this kind of insubordination. Despite all these past
anomalies, we find today, some close allies of Bola Ige are not coming out
to say that although the PDP helped to fan that embers of discordant,
what Atiku is attempting to do is an ill wind that brings no good to
any one, this they know by experience. Why is it that when we see something wrong, we only think in
terms of the benefit rather than the eventual ill wind? We have been
very disappointed lately by some leaders we greatly admire but see
politics of retribution in their choice of words. One leader who is very
conversant with the workings of the institution of the Vice Presidency failed to call a
spade a spade. Another ill informed leader even cited the "conflict"
between Clinton and Gore. How mentally lazy we are! During the
Lewinsky trial, although Gore and his wife subscribed to "different
morals" than Clinton, they stood by Clinton. They played the role
designed for the Vice Presidency until they were assured of having the
grip of the proverbial sword firmly secured in their hands (As the
Nigerian adage would say) before starting to inquire the "nature of
death of their relatives" Al Gore wrote Clinton out of his campaign, and
this was Al Gore's campaign and not Clinton's. We all remember how that
ended. We hope our brother with the half truth will go and check the
record.
From what we know of Atiku, some swear by God that
he is a nice man, and we agree. However, this is not about a nice
versus bad man but about the stability of our institution and country.
A good Vice President makes the job of his boss easier by constant
support of the policy for which they have been elected. When support becomes impossible, and in the interest of the
nation, a "nice" Vice President resigns, freeing himself from the
"immorality" of his boss. This "nice" Vice President has not done that.
We cannot expect the President who is the reason for the selection and
eventual election of
the Vice President in this instance to be the one that resigns.
We have heard the vulgar proclamation of the party
elders brazing to make settlement. The only good settlement is the
reconciliation arranged by the two combatants, the Vice President and the President. It is obvious
even if Atiku wants to reconcile, he has many protégé who will consider
that a let down. We at the NigerianNews
have followed the utterances of one such protégé, Hon. Bugaje. We
understand this man in the House of Representative is perhaps too
immersed in hatred of the President to play any useful role on behalf
of his mentor. This guy has been quoted as using the word "ingrate" to
describe the president. However, the word ingrate in the way the Vice
Presidency is designed fits Atiku more for the reason that we
proffered above.
Has all our articulations above absolved Obasanjo
of any wrong doing? Of course not, however, this is Obasanjo's
presidency. When historians write about this presidency, the only name
history will remember is Obasanjo, for a Vice President is only a
SPARE. A spare has meaning only if the real part is wrecked, in other
word, no longer usable. Atiku would have deserved the blessing of his
boss when he decides to run on his own, however, it is our conclusion
(without concerning ourselves with the immediate and remote causes of
their lack of confidence in each other) that we would have asked the
Vice President to resign or face impeachment if we were to be in doubt
of his loyalty. A nation is greater than an individual, no matter how
good the individual is. However, there is NO statesman/patriot in the National
Assembly, an Assembly reportedly made up of people who have
commercialized the running of the institution with its attendant
exchange of Ghana-Must-Go as the only value of interest. So, Atiku who does not see his
staying put in office immoral may perhaps weather the weather.
However, if Nigerians do not lay this problem of the "spare" to rest
once and for all, in an ethnically quilted together country like
Nigeria, this could result in civil war one of these days. If you do
not believe us, a lot of people lost their lives in the former Ondo
State in a mini civil war when Omoboriowo contrived a fraudulent way
to remove his boss. The same in Osun state, and in both cases, some
leaders outside of these states engineered and fuelled the discontents. In mature
democracy, the only channel of redress for the "spare" who disagrees
with his boss is resignation. A resignation, rather than having a bad
connotation, reinforces the moral values of the man who answers that
call.
