The toothless bulldog, otherwise known as the
National Assembly or the impeachable offence enumerator, now has an
opportunity to face the job of the nation with malice to No one! When
the State of Emergency in Ekiti comes for debate tomorrow,
the question to ask the sender is; where is this emergency? Does an
elected democrat sack another elected democrat unless on a serious
ground? We are afraid our brothers and sisters in the National
Assembly will either pass the bucks at the end of this important
debate by assigning the blame on someone else or just consign the
Ekiti anomaly as one of those impeachable offences which at the last
count would be numbered 129 ( or is it 130?)
What is wrong with our country? We dare suggest
dishonesty is the bane of our time and democracy! Democracy is the
worst form of government except for the others so goes the cliché.
This simple saying is based on the assumption of a democracy not
midwifed behind the scene which never survives. It is our believe that
everyone failed in the Ekiti saga. Everyone who should work behind the
scene to make sure that the Ekiti Chief Judge understood the
importance of his assignment, made premature commitment to "democracy"
the way they understood it. So Belgore, a man who should have worked
behind the scene as the Chairman of NJC made what seems to give a life
line to Fayose's proxy, Bamisile the Chief Judge. The Chairman of NBA
who should have worked behind the scene with the Ekiti Assembly and
Fayose's Lawyers to guide them to acceptable constitution of a panel
to look into the impeachment, went to town with the Chief Judge who
seemed to have been appointed as a proxy for the governor in
anticipation of possible future impeachment.
The President in Abuja (Baba?) saw another
opportunity to flex muscle. The President knew that it takes 2/3 of
the National Assembly to impose a State of Emergency, but without
verifying to see if he had the number, he declared a State of
Emergency any way. Never mind, with enough Ghana-Must-Go, he perhaps
figured he could bulldoze it through the National assembly any way!
What a wasted opportunity!! Everyone counted as
responsible individual failed. The judiciary failed to act behind the
scene to find a way to get the panel going. Some principal actors, and
these include the Chief Justice Of the federation who should have
carved a big role of interpreting the constitution the way it is
intended to function in case it gets to him, chose to become a
premature hero. Obasanjo who should allow the young democracy to
thrive by allowing all actors to exercise their constitutional rights
saw an opportunity where no opportunity should exist. It does not
matter to Baba that a State of Emergency was never formulated to be
applied recklessly, especially where elected representatives of the
people who have not been violent in their deliberations were
unceremoniously dismissed by another elected representative of the
people. Never mind the role the judiciary played in this saga, but the
constitution specified how this third branch of government can play an
interpretive role. We at the NigerianNews
sincerely believe the suspension of a Chief Judge could be done by
either of 2 bodies: 1) NJC and 2) Ekiti Executive and the Legislature,
but if you heard people talk during the debate, you would think only
the Governor can suspend a Chief Judge, the 2/3 of the legislature was
often put as an afterthought. Our friend Agbakoba saw the whole issue
in black and white, however for the benefit of some of us who saw some
gray area, shouldn't we allow a vibrant judiciary to interpret whether
this part of the constitution was written for an errant Governor who
is the accused, and so the object of impeachment? If we concede that
the law was not written for an accused Governor to be the decider
through proxy of who judges him, should we not be allowed to let
the trial judges render opinion on that? Is dishonesty so acceptable
as to allow a Chief Judge who had earlier betrayed himself in an
earlier judgment to further pack a panel with the Governor's friends
and relatives? What about his panel declaring the governor innocent
even without the guidelines they needed from the legislature? Will
Agbakoba and Belgore enlighten us on this? If they are so partisan and
they couldn't, wasn't their exuberance the reason why Baba
nonchalantly declared a State of Emergency where there is no emergency?
The rest of us can be forgiven for our ignorance,
however, the actors and actresses in this saga should cover their
faces in shame. If the National Assembly does not see an opportunity
to separate themselves from this sordid act in Ekiti, you can be sure
history will accept the name of a toothless bulldog as proposed by us
above as well deserving.
It is a shame this is being tied to the case going
on in Plateau or the absurdity in Anambra, however, we see NO
comparison. INEC said there are only 10 members left in the Plateau
Assembly by the virtue of Part II section 109(1)g of the 1999
constitution, the other 14 members having declared for ACD/AC without
relinquishing their seats in parliament, an affront on the 1999
Constitution which expects them to forfeit their seats (the proviso of
a division in their original party fails to work once INEC declares
their seats vacant, for only INEC seems to be competent of making this
declaration through the certificate they issue to the political
parties). The counter argument is that PDP started this, and we agree.
That the people at the National Assembly did not enforce this part of
the constitution does not tie the hands of EFCC once it receives a go
ahead from INEC. This law is still in the book regardless of who
started it, and the National Assembly knows very well they were
accomplice in this unconstitutionality of the past. We can only blame
the 14 former members of the assembly in Plateau for not playing an
Atiku!! Atiku knows the same law would have been applied against him
if he were to be dumb enough to voluntarily leave PDP on his own
before his term expires. You cannot wield a power you do not have.
There is a court of competent jurisdiction somewhere in Nigeria, this
is where this case belongs without tying the hands of the Plateau
legislature from performing its duties by violating the separation of
powers concept. Some irresponsible judges in Nigeria are notorious for
dragging indefinitely serious cases that require prompt attention
thereby depriving the legislature the opportunity of playing their
constitutional roles. Again, lack of honesty!!! In other democracy, a
judge knows when he or she has no jurisdiction. It is our believe that
those 14 MPs are not likely to win in any court of competent
jurisprudence, but eh, we are talking of Nigeria where anything goes,
including emotions. The constitution as it is currently written no
longer sees these 14 MPs as bona fide members of the House. Same goes
for all the past members anywhere in Nigeria who crossed carpet if
someone would enforce the law and the concurrence of INEC in
overcoming the rider aspect of this relevant section of the
constitution is secured, and we know the National Assembly or the
state Assembly can refuse sitting those who violate the constitution.
But people blame the presidency without caring to place the blame
where it belongs - the various Assemblies. The president simply do not
have any right, in the constitution, to dabble in the affairs of the
various Assemblies. However, this one in Plateau can be enforced
because the remnant of the Assembly acted with the cooperation of
INEC, and so let it serve as good lessons for the powerless who claim
emotions as their only ruling passion, a study in Atikuism is needed
for this set of people.
Let it be known that the National Assembly has more
power than they would let people know, and same goes for the
Judiciary, but it is very convenient to blame all on the president, as
theirs is to count numbers of impeachable offences where they should
take action of their own. This National Assembly can stop this rape on
democracy in Ekiti, and by so doing solidify the fledging democracy in
Nigeria by declining Obasanjo's Greek gift to the people of Ekiti. The
National assembly must let Baba know that the people of Ekiti elected
those people thrown out by him. In any enduring democracy, superior
elected officials are not ever reckless and are reflective in throwing
out another elected officials since they both derive their powers from
the people who elected them.
In no way do we see all the effort of the EFCC as
anything but innovative ways of catching the thieves in our political
space. Immunity and the bogey of a rampant president have been a
weapon used cleverly by thieving governors, but with EFCC innovation,
Dariye can now tell us why a free and innocent man would run away from
the law in London. We dare say Dariye cannot say this has anything to
do with the third term debacle, nor should the law let him go because
he gave N100M to PDP. Are we such a Nation of shameless people? We can
only ask EFCC to keep on with its innovative ways until the last of
the crooks is caught and thrown into jail.
We do not see the hands of the EFCC in the
unfathomable Anambra absurdity. It seems to us these Anambra MPs,
determined to impeach a governor on absurd charges, will eventually
fall flat on their own faces. We hope the people of Anambra will rise
up and free themselves from these cabal of exploiters once and for
all.
What the National Assembly needs to do is to find
strength in their constitutionally endowed power by rejecting this
unjustifiable State of Emergency tomorrow, and it must not be done
leaving a void. The Ekiti Assembly must be helped to restart the
impeachment afresh in a constitutional way. But this restart must be
brokered behind the scene in a way where people of independent and
honest minds are seated as panel members as intended by the
constitution. In order to achieve this, Chief Judge Bamisile should do
the honorable thing by recusing himself in constituting this panel. We
dare say that was what he ought to have done when the Ekiti House of
Assembly saw him as less than honest in the first place. The Ekiti
Legislators must be made to know they hold the big stick with their
power of writing unambiguous guidelines to help the new panel in its
deliberations in establishing the guilt or innocence of the governor.
"What
the National Assembly needs to do is to find strength in their
constitutionally endowed power by rejecting this unjustifiable State
of Emergency tomorrow, and it must not be done leaving a void. The
Ekiti Assembly must be helped to restart the impeachment afresh in a
constitutional way. But this restart must be brokered behind the
scene in a way where people of independent and honest minds are
seated as panel members as intended by the constitution. In order to
achieve this, Chief Judge Bamisile should do the honorable thing by
recusing himself in constituting this panel. We dare say that was
what he ought to have done when the Ekiti House of Assembly saw him
as less than honest in the first place. The Ekiti Legislators must
be made to know they hold the big stick with their power of writing
unambiguous guidelines to help the new panel in its deliberations in
establishing the guilt or innocence of the governor."
