By Mike Ikhariale
Anyone watching the series of unpleasant events that have taken
place in Nigeria in the past few years cannot but conclude that this is a
country on a calamitous plunge. The sad part of the whole development is that
it does not appear as if the leadership and even the citizens themselves fully
appreciate the danger that is looming headlong like an onrushing train as
things have, to an exceptionally alarming extent, been treated in the habitual
lackadaisical manner of “business as usual” despite the increasingly
cataclysmic developments that are manifesting all around them and to which they
have no rational answers.
In a way, I feel as if I have the unusual misfortune of talking ceaselessly about the danger being posed to the polity by bad leadership and corruptive political culture with no one in a position to act positively taking notice of them. For those benefiting from the ongoing misfortunes and tragedies of the country, I might have already earned the sobriquet of an alarmist and possibly that of a prophet of doom.
However, being a patriotic citizen who is privileged enough to have been rigorously exposed to the fields and disciplines of constitutional law, governance practice and processes as well as nation-building, it particularly pains me that many citizens are seemingly oblivious to the enormous threat directly confronting them and ultimately the nation through the unending leadership failure that has in turn spurned several negative developments such as societal disunity, nepotism, insurrectional tendencies, disintegrative and parallel ethnic and unbridgeable sectarian universes in the nation’s landscape.Everywhere you look in
Nigeria today, there are tell-tale signs alarmingly indicating that the
nation’s ship of State is heading for the rock but there are just not many
individuals in leadership positions who can do something meaningful to avert
the disaster. Instead, they are all immersed in unpatriotic and nepotistic
political shenanigans, a rancorous rat race for political power who’s aura,
esteem and dignity have been devalued by mounting legitimacy questions
following their perfidious performances in office dominated by crass corruption.
For those who are not sufficiently equipped (no pun intended) to see this looming catastrophe intellectually, it might well be fatalistically okay for them as ignorance could sometimes be blissful but for those who are sufficiently equipped both educationally and conscientiously to undertake the necessary social x-rays of the nation’s body-politick, it is nothing but a recurring nightmare for them as they watch the country stumble from one mess onto another while nothing redemptive is being done to halt the slide.
Even though the general population may not fully see the
systemic anatomy of the polity in technical terms, they are however quite aware
that things are just not right as their lives have been severely affected by
faulty government policies that completely undermine the substratum of
Nigeria’s social order as there are abundant concrete and objective indicia of
an impending national implosion. They see the awful nation-wide insecurity,
economic doldrums, social dislocations and the palpable disposition towards
insurrection and the separatism now sprouting everywhere.
Perhaps the most telling of the all-pervading communal disgusts
for Nigerians is the Fulani’s triumphal misreading of other Nigerians’
contemporary society through the ancient (1804) jihad lenses all to the
annoyance of the larger constellation of communities within the federation, an
imperfect colonial contraption which began with the 1914 amalgamation while the
present federal government is pretending not to know the extent of the ongoing
Fulani irritation to other nationalities within the Union. So, no one can today
honestly claim ignorance of the fact that the country is dying.
In this connection, the
government is, within the ambit of its constitutional responsibility, supposed
to tackle this burgeoning challenge and then proceed to do the needful as far
as salvaging the disintegrating Union is concerned. Unfortunately, the
government is seriously self-handicapped because the man electorally charged
with the constitutional duties of leading the country especially under the
Presidential system of government is unable to do so due to illness. Otherwise,
whoever is elected President becomes the alter ego of the nation and it is by
nature a non-delegable and physically demanding constitutional assignment
unless when the VP is formally authorized to step in but certainly not faceless
cabals claiming to speak to the people on behalf of the ill-disposed President!
Ordinarily, it is odd for a leader of an independent country to
go to other countries for medical purposes. It is even odder that such a leader
would stay away for as long as we have seen Mr. President leave the country and
his office for months and months without following adequate constitutional
procedure. There is the larger issue of national pride and a personal sense of
patriotism for a leader to find it impossible to be treated for whatever ailment
he has within his own country.
It is my candid take that before a president finally decides to
travel out of his own country for medication, he must have experienced serious
debilitations that would naturally impair his overall capacity to govern robustly
and that would necessarily generate several unhealthy developments undermining
meaningful and productive governance. Under the constitution, a president
cannot be AWOL. Such prolonged absenteeism is not within the contemplation of
presidential constitutions.
An American President, for example, must physically be in the
news daily and this expectation which has now been constitutionalised through
the 25th Amendment is rooted in their history while some past presidents hid
their debilitating ailments from the public until it was too late. An absentee
president is a veritable clog to the nation’s constitutional process which, by
design, cannot afford undue stoppages within its operational orbit. A president
who takes delight in sending messages to all manner of mundane social events to
be rock silent over the wailings of citizens under Fulani ‘herdsmen’ banditry
has created the impression of complicity and that has not made him many
admirers.
But as I have always said, Nigeria started declining well before
Buhari came in. If Nigeria has been well-governed from inception, someone like
Buhari would not have had the slimmest chance for the presidency in a country
as complex and strategic as Nigeria especially at this digital age. Despite
that, he won the presidential election twice, both with substantial majority.
That tells a lot about the nation which at this day and age continues to select
its leaders through very faulty recruitment processes. Sadly, the system which
made Buhari election victories possible is still very much in place and the
next president could just be worse because our political system is presently
designed to produce such awkward results
The ongoing mayhem in some parts of the country wherein police
stations and other symbols of sovereign authorities are being wantonly
vandalised are reflective evidence of how far Nigeria has derailed from the
constitutional and political paths to national integration where everyone
dutifully sees the Republic as something to be patriotically defended. But when
several parts of a country feel continually alienated from the centre because
of the nepotistic tendencies of the leadership that believes it has no need to
promote national cohesion through inclusive governance and disbursement of
official privileges and opportunities within verifiable parameters of social
justice, rebellion becomes a tantalizing prospect for those so aggrieved.
The tragedy of Nigeria is that more and more citizens are
feeling neglected by the federal government’s reluctance to equitably assuage
their legitimate grievances as well as offer positive assurances. They are
therefore compelled to resort to violence just to make their presence felt. The
longer it takes to positively respond to these grievances, the deeper the
nation descends into the tragic path to disintegration.
*Ikhariale, a professor of law and public
intellectual, could be reached at amicusconstitutional@gmail.com
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