In Garba v F.C.S.C (1988) 1 N.W.L.R. (Pt.) 449, SCN, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held inter alia: “Under our constitution we have opted for separation of powers among the three arms of government – The Executive, The Legislature and The Judiciary. It is contrary to the letters and spirit of the Constitution that any of the three arms should interfere with the other in the performance of its functions. If that is allowed to happen, it will lead to chaos, lawlessness and destruction of the Constitution” (emphasis mine). In my view, such interference is worst, when those who bear arms to protect the constitution, use it, to shoot at it.
The invasion and barricade of the National Assembly by the Police, an arm of the executive, about a fortnight ago, is one such interference, which should be deprecated by all. The head of the police who triggerred the flagrant resort to self-help by some legislators, the IGP Alhaji Suleiman Abba, tried to justify the barricade, on the lame excuse that the police wanted to prevent the protesting members of the All Progressive Congress (APC), from gaining access to the National Assembly, as they had allegedly threatened. But he has not explained why some of the legislators from the ruling party had free passage, when their colleagues from the opposition party, were locked out.
The IGP Abba also tried to justify his action, on the ground that Honourable Aminu Tambuwall, the Speaker of the House of Representatives has lost his mandate, on the ground that the courts had held that there was no division in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to justify his decampment to the APC, under section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Appearing before the House committee on Police Affairs, the IGP who recognised that the dispute is subjudice, however refused to recognise Tambuwall as Speaker, despite an order of a Federal High Court, that status quo ante, should be maintained. Just like his unilateral withdrawal of Tambuwall’s security, these conducts amount to self-help. As many have correctly argued, President Goodluck Jonathan bears responsibility for the actions of the police, including the IGP.
Unfortunately, in reaction to the unlawful barricade of the gates of the National Assembly, which appeared to have been targeted primarily at preventing the Honourable Speaker, Aminu Tambuwall, from gaining access to the House, some notable opposition lawmakers, clambered over the gates of the national assembly, to forcefully gain access to the chambers. Without gainsaying, such conduct is disgraceful, and also a resort to self-help. As things stand, two principal arms of the democratic tripod, the legislature and the executive, seems to have resolved that self-help, is the surest way to gain an upper hand, in their desperate contest for power. This is a recipe for constitutional breakdown.
As held by the Supreme Court, per Justice Obaseki (rtd), in Governor of Lagos state v Ojukwu (1986) 1 NWLR Pt. 312, at p. 636: “In the area where rule of law operates, the rule of self-help by force is abandoned. Nigeria being one of the countries in the world, even in the third world, which proclaims loudly to follow the rule of law, there is no room for the rule of self-help by force to operate”. Again in Agbai v Okagbue (1991) 7 NMLR Pt 204 at p. 417, Nwokedi JSC (rtd) held: “Self-help by itself, in circumstances such as this, is a prmitive remedy capable of causing a breach of the peace. If the respondent had resisted the invasion of the defendants or himself applied self-help … there must probably have been a breach of the peace, the magnitude of which no one may conjecture”.
For the avoidance of doubt, the combatants and those sympathetic to their unlawful conducts, should examine the adroit comments of learned Justice Godwin Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, in a paper titled, “The Relevance of the Judiciary in the Polity in Historical Perspective”, quoted by Ese Malami, learned author, in his book “The Constitutional Law” at page 27; that: “A constitution is incontestably a legal document and it is the fons et erigo of all rights within the polity… By its very nature and composition, this country will prefer a written constitution which will spell out the suitable political, economic and legal arrangment for its peole. Such a document will constitute the fons et origo of the exercise of powers, the enjoyments of rights, discharge of obligations … The powers of government in a democratic state governed under a written constitution are entirely expressed in the constitution. Similarly expressed are their rights and duties and the limitations of the organs of government…. The purpose is to subject the government to the laws under the constitution. Constituional government is government by law”.
Unfortunately IGP Suleiman Abba, precides over a police, whose reputation as an unbiased national institution, is in tatters, as far as a significant portion of the Nigerian public, is concerned. Regrettably also, Speaker Aminu Tambuwall presides over a House of Representatives, whose reputation as diligent law makers, is assailed by unpatriotic compromises and corruption, in the eyes of a significant portion of the public. In essence, the abuse and unbridled context for influence and power, between the legislature and the executive, is somewhat akin to a context between brigands, as far as a critical segment of the Nigeria public, is concerned.
The recent tirade by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which this writer substantially agree with, impugning the intergrity of the national leadership, particulalry the national assembly with respect to the unconstituional constituency project, is a further confirmation of the abuse of power by public officials, across the board. Such acts of brigandry in the exercise of public power, becomes even more dangerous, when there is resort to self-help, by critical state actors.
