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No to Babalola’s interim government

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Many Nigerians may still be wondering at what really prompted elder statesman and legal luminary Afe Babalola, SAN to proffer a six-month post Muhammadu Buhari administration’s interim government and suspension of next year’s general elections as panacea to the nation’s current socio-economic challenges barely one year to the end of the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal government.

 

Though hard he laboured to justify the imposition of such an illegal interregnum, his proposal is not entirely new and should therefore be completely disregarded. We consider his suggestion unconstitutional, provocative and capable of derailing the steady democratic journey which commenced since the return to civilian dispensation on May 29, 1999 and had witnessed the conduct of elections five times by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

 

In specific terms, section one subsection one of the 1999 Constitution as amended clearly stipulates the illegality of such recommendation. “This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Therefore we found Babalola’s proposition very dangerous and say no to the setting up of an interim government and  suspension of the 2023 polls for any reason by the INEC for whatever reason.

 

And the commission’s recent assurance that the forthcoming elections would hold notwithstanding the current security challenges confronting the country is most welcome and heart warming and implore the federal government to release to the electoral umpire all the budgeted funds required for the smooth conduct of next year’s elections.

 

Defending his controversial position earlier, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), explained that an interim national government be set in motion by the current administration because the security, economy as well as the entire machinery of government had collapsed insisting that the current Nigerian Constitution which had been in force for 23 years remains a fraud due to its imposition by the military.

 

Continuing, he called on the Buhari administration and the National Assembly to organise and put in place a temporary government which shall oversee the enactment of a new Constitution, even as the senior lawyer noted that the current administration has failed woefully in its duty to ensure that the security and welfare of Nigerians remains its primary purpose of existence as stipulated in section 14, 2(b) of the Constitution.

 

The interim government, he contended would comprise persons nominated by various professional groups like the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), with all living past presidents and selected governors as well as ministers should be part of the new arrangement that would midwife a new Constitution for the country.Similarly, election into the body should be conducted on a zero party basis and should include bankers, journalists, medical association, among others, who will not be paid for their services to the nation.

 

In addition, the legal icon made a strong case for a shift to parliamentary system of government from the present presidential form with a part time unicameral legislature at the federal level as part of measures to reducing the present huge cost of governance and make more resources available for socio-economic development at the state and local governments levels. Simply put, he insisted that Nigeria could no longer afford to pay the bills of 109 senators and 360 members in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively.

 

Having addressed several letters to the relevant authorities on the matter, Babalola declared that the time had become imperative to go public and pressure the government to do, what he considered right and desirable. “In this country, there’s regime collapse now. We do not want war, we do not want another Biafra. We do not want the ordinary people to rise and revolt. We do not want students to go on the rampage.

 

“Common sense dictates that now that there’s collapse of the economy, collapse of security, collapse of the naira which was one to one (US dollar) when I was young, these people should know that they have failed. They are failed leaders, failed to comply with what the Constitution says they should do: the welfare and security of the people. They on their own ought to say, let us have an interim government when we are going, since we cannot do the job,” he was quoted as saying, adding that many nations of the world who found themselves at similar crossroads at a point in their history,  had instituted interim governments to salvage their fatherland.

 

He further suggested that the current National Assembly should enact the law that would empower the interim government to run the affairs of government until Nigeria has a new Constitution and a new set of leaders who will emerge based on merit stressing that, “This regime has failed the country politically, economically, security wise and so on. So , let them leave a legacy that shows they are still interested in the people. It is very easy. It has been done in other countries, ” he contended.

 

Expectedly, the legal icon had come under severe fire from a cross section of Nigerians for his controversial position, which came on the heels of another successful round of constitutional amendment by the National Assembly. For instance Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state described the call as an open invitation for anarchy.

 

Speaking in similar vein, Mr. Innocent Lagi, a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Nasarawa state argued: “The Constitution is very clear, no matter how defective it is, no matter how unacceptable it is, it is very clear that in section 1(1), it forbids governing of this country in any other way except as the Constitution itself provided.

 

“We’ve had elections from 1999 till date with the same Constitution, we’ve had good government and bad government but it has never been the problem of the Constitution that we are having this bad governance, I mean we just have bad people in government. So to now say remove the Constitution, what is the yardstick that is going to tie this very diverse nation together to accepting whatever composition of the interim arrangement?

 

Innocent further queried: Who is going to head it and what is the guarantee that we can deal with the security situation in Nigeria that we’ve not dealt with in Jonathan’s 6 years and Buhari’s 7 years in 6 months that is?

 

From the foregoing therefore, we totally agree with the submissions of vociferous opponents of the proposed interim government even as it should be noted that the attitude of public office holders and not the Constitution, had largely been at the root of the nation’s socio-economic and political woes.

 

Truly, in case Babalola had forgotten, a case for urgent restructuring of the country especially for the devolution of powers from the federal level to states, that would have also legalized an increase in the derivation principle from 13 to 50percent (as was the case in the First Republic) and the creation of State Police had been some of the major demands of Afenifere, pan Yoruba apex organization as well as Southern and Middle Belt Leaders since 1999 but which unfortunately, fell on official deaf ears.

 

Indeed, we strongly believe that the restructuring option should be embracedfully as national emergency and can be achieved in a record time for Nigeria to address her current challenges in insecurity, economy, education, health, restiveness in different parts of the country through amendment of the relevant sections of the Constitution rather than adopting the contraption advocated by the eminent lawyer.

 

In our candid view, the federating units or zones should be statutorily empowered and given as much freedom and leverage to develop themselves without formal recourse to the government at the centre as this would enable the regional governments in the East, West, North and South develop at their own pace. At the federal level also, the country should retain the Exclusive Legislative List comprising a common currency, Immigration service, Customs service and a national Army among others, while every other power should be divested to the region or zone. No doubt this will engender genuine competition among the regions and accelerate meaningful development.

 

We firmly believe that Nigeria’s current precarious situation is not totally irredeemable if the right leadership is enthroned at the federal and state levels during next year’s general elections who will not only listen to the yearnings of citizens including the cry for restructuring, but summon the courage to appoint tested and energetic hands purely on merit while constituting their cabinets that will deliver more democracy dividends to the people.

 

In our opinion also, a return to the parliamentary system without first addressing the current imbalances between the northern and southern Nigerian created by successive military regimes which allocated states and local governments to the North without relevant demographics would reintroduce dominance of leadership at the federal level by that section of the country which had led to the adoption of federalism (that gives everybody a fair share and some rights) as opposed to parliamentary system that was practiced in the First Republic.

 

Since it is apparent that most Nigerians don’t have much problem with the Constitutionas amended but the way that they are being  governed, the next election should focus on the manifesto by political parties and their candidates to effect the necessary amendment that will create power for restructuring of the country after May29 next year. The only legal option open to the electorate is to wisely exercise their franchise during the forthcoming polls and elect a new set of leaders in a transparent, free and fair process.

 

We further recall that a proposal for restructuring was among the recommendations of the National Conference constituted by the former Goodluck Jonathan administration but which unfortunately, the Buhari government bluntly refused to implement till date on the ground that it didn’t participate in it despite the huge resources spent on the gathering. The incoming administration should therefore summon the needed political will to implement the conference report to achieve the desired national unity, social, economic and technological development rather than contemplate an interim government that will do the country no good.

 

 

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