Festus Eriye
THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been handed an unnecessary political and moral dilemma due to the unforced error of Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and the House of Assembly, crudely forcing out erstwhile Deputy Governor, Simon Achuba.
Against the backdrop that in a little under four weeks it goes into a tough gubernatorial contest, it defies logic that they would manufacture a needless controversy over an issue that has been simmering harmlessly forever.
Achuba who had been neutralized politically by Bello, would have disappeared into the sunset as the first term ebbed away. So what was the mad rush to oust him? In what way was his humiliation going to be a plus at the November 16 polls?
Now Bello has handed the opposition a negative talking point that they can bang on about until voting day.
APC’s national leadership must be squirming in embarrassment over the morality and legality of what has been done in Lokoja. This is a party that sold itself as the platform of ‘change.’ It was going to do things differently from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which it has consistently defined as the authors and finishers of impunity.
But even in the annals of dodgy impeachments, what the Kogi State House of Assembly has pulled off stands out.
We all howled when in October 2006, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration superintended the impeachment of then Governor Joshua Dariye by just eight members of the 24-man Plateau State House of Assembly.
Earlier in January that same year, the PDP regime executed a similar stunt in Oyo State, when then Governor Rasheed Ladoja found himself out on his ears after a minority of the state’s legislature ‘impeached’ him. The brazen illegality was quickly enforced by the police under orders from Abuja.
Ladoja troubles began after he boldly advised Obasanjo to perish the thought of seeking a third term in office.
The courts would later upturn the so-called impeachments, to the shame of the former president and his PDP government. But the example they set has been copied a couple of times since by politicians who want to achieve a certain end.
In Edo State, APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, finds himself locked in a political arm-wrestling match with Governor Godwin Obaseki. The most recent expression of the conflict was when nine members of the 24-man state legislature gathered together at night to elect a new Speaker.
The bone of contention remains the legality of the governor’s undated proclamation letter which also didn’t specify a time. The pro-Oshiomhole group argue that it was clearly designed to outsmart them and allow Obaseki’s choice for Speaker to emerge.
The APC chairman has not stopped complaining about the ‘illegality’ of the process – even talking about being ashamed of what was playing out in the party in his home state.
With the party facing a dicey contest in Kogi would Oshiomhole and other APC leaders find the voice to denounce Achuba’s unusual ouster in the same vociferous manner they have condemned events in the Edo legislature?
Even more surprising is the fact the Chief Judge agreed to provide legitimacy to a questionable process by swearing-in erstwhile Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja, as the new Deputy Governor.
He may argue that he hasn’t been asked to adjudicate on the legality of the impeachment, but simply to execute the duty placed on him and other judicial officers to administer the oath of allegiance and the oath of office by Section 185 (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
But surely as a judicial officer he understands that everything proceeding from a non-existent foundation would collapse under legal scrutiny.
Section 188 (8) and (9) of the constitution clearly states that the impeachment process dies in its tracks if the panel raised by the Chief Judge doesn’t find against the accused.
So on what basis did the assembly proceed beyond a desperate need to please the governor who wanted his deputy removed by all means?
I am sure the Kogi legislators understand the import of Section 188 and its likely implication for their action. But they still went ahead and broke the law. In this case the desire to please one man became more compelling than fidelity to the constitution they swore to protect and uphold.
It has often been said that impeachment is largely a political process, although the procedure for bringing it to pass is clearly spelt out and must be followed scrupulously if it is to stand.
The legislators who lent themselves to do the governor’s bidding would have cynically reckoned that even if the courts void their action, Achuba would have been long since gone. At best he would get his outstanding entitlements to salve his wounds.
In the past, nothing ever happened to those whom the courts found have violated the constitution. This is because there is no specific legal provision for punishing this very grave offence.
Obasanjo did it in the case of Dariye and Ladoja and got away with it. He is still walking free, pontificating about democratic best practices!
Bello may be re-elected and he, too, would be parading himself as a “progressive governor.” All the members of the state assembly complicit in this embarrassing episode would also continue making ‘laws’ for others to obey.
The Kogi case is one of the clearest illustrations of how some governors transform into tin pot despots who cobble together state assemblies they can put under their thumb.
If the Achuba impeachment is left to stand, another power-drunk individual would be tempted to try an even greater outrage soon. The initiative, however, lies with the one who has been injured to seek legal remedy. Thereafter, the federal legislative must step in.
If our democracy is to grow, the National Assembly should amend the relevant sections of the constitution with suitable deterrents to check governors and presidents who think they are bigger than the constitution.
As for the APC, it must speak against what has happened if it is retain the moral right to call PDP names. It must also find a meaningful way to censure all who participated in the funny ‘impeachment’ as a signal that it doesn’t approve of this constitutional rape.
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