The position of deputy governor confers honour and prestige on the occupant. But the number two position has also been described as an incurable frustration, judging by the power relations between them and the governors. Can deputy governors get more powers and specified roles during the amendment process? Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU provides insight.
THE Constitution amendment process set in motion last year appears to have thrown up new possibilities. There are open agitations by interests to make changes to the grundnorm. One interest group, however, that has not embarked on open campaign for changes considered necessaries are the deputy governors who were once described as spare tyres.
Unlike the Third Republic when deputy governors pressed for more powers under the constitution, the 36 deputy governors in this dispensation are somehow indifferent to the proposed constitution review. The Deputy Governors Forum served as the platform for coordinating the agitations of the number two citizen in that dispensation has now become an aberration. Deputy governors now merely exist and function based on the whims and caprices of their principals with whom they share joint tickets during the election.
It is a hallowed position, nevertheless. Many politicians lobby their parties to get it. Under the presidential system, it commands respect among party followers and general public. The deputy governor, at least, is the nominal second-in-command to the governor. Whenever the governor is not around; either he is on sick bed or annual leave; the deputy governor is permitted by the 1999 Constitution to deputise for his boss. But there ends his power. Unlike commissioners and special advisers, he is not assigned any constitutional roles. Thus, observers deride the portfolio as a spare tyre. The constraints are overwhelming. It is an attractive portfolio, but it is endowed with elusive powers. What makes an office that is often despises as spare tyre important is that, in a rare period of emergency when the governor is impeached or dies in office, the deputy governor instantly becomes the governor.
Since the idle deputy governors merely warm the seats in the executive chambers, there is usually friction between them and the chief executives. Whenever they raise eyebrows, they are shoved aside by impeachment, the weapon wielded by powerful governors who have domineering influence over the respective Houses of Assembly.
Throughout the history of presidential system in Nigeria , governors and their deputies have not always maintained cordial relations, despite being active politicians and political leaders in their respective constituencies.
In the Second Republic , the friction got to a crescendo in Oyo State . The governor, the late Chief Bola Ige, had to withdraw the roles assigned his deputy a the feud and crisis of confidence between them festered. Even, at a time, the deputy governor’s allowances were withheld by his boss. Both the governor and deputy governor were members of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Federal Executive Council. When the crisis escalated, their mutual friend, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, waded into the crisis. The two of them were nearly expelled by the party at the Yola Congress.
It was worse in Ondo and Bendel states. In Ondo, Deputy Governor Akin Omoboriowo was invested with power by Governor Adekunle Ajasin, which he used to the detriment of the governor. When Ajasin later withdrew the powers, the vibrant deputy governor was left in the cold. A maverick, he rallied many key leaders and launched a virulent attack on the administration under which he served as number two citizen. It was worse in Bendel state where the deputy governor also challenge his boss to a duel during the governorship shadow poll. The cabinet presided by Governor Ambrose Ali was polarised for four years.
In Ogun, there was relative peace. Former Governor Olabisi Onabanjo sworn in his deputy, Sesan Soluade, as Acting Governor before he went on leave. Omoboriowo demanded for the same treatment, but Ajasin refused. Consequently, the second-in-command fought back and intra-party crisis erupted.
In Lagos State , sources said that Governor Lateef Jakande and his deputy, Alhaji Rafiu Jafojo, enjoyed cordial relationship because the party leader, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had sat Jafojo down and assured him that he would succeed his boss in 1987, after LKJ has completed two terms of eight years. At that time, Awori were pushing for power shift. The deputy governor was in charge of pools betting and few parastatals. But men of the State Security Services (SSS) were usually on his trail and briefing his boss about his movements.
In the aborted Third Republic , the new breed who served as deputy governors were impatient. There were signs that many of them wanted rob shoulders with their governors. The storm was gathering, but they could not hatch their rebellion before legitimate authorities were outlawed by the military putsch. However, between 1999 and 2001, many governors and deputy governors have resumed hostilities. Fed up with the recurrent personality clashes in the Southwest, Afenifere, the Yoruba pan-Yoruba socio-political group, advised deputy governors who could not cope with their bosses to resign from government.
At that time, former Governor Bola Tinubu and his deputy, Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, could not see eye to eye. When, impeachment dangled on her and she hurriedly vacated her seat. In Osun State , Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore was a thorn in the flesh of Governor Bisi Akande. When her cup was full, he was impeached by the House of Assembly. In Ogun, former Deputy Governor Gbenga Kaka always grumbled about being sidelined. He usually complained that former Governor Olusegun Osoba preferred to saddle the Works Commissioner, Segun Adesegun, with assignments that should ordinarily be assigned by the governor to him. He was imposed on the governor by the Afenifere mafia, although he preferred his erstwhile deputy in the Third Republic , Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye, as his running mate in 1999. Now, in Ogun State, many Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftains have complained that Adesegun is a political isolate in government who has adjusted to the constitutional limitations of his office.
In other states, deputy governors were emasculated by the governors and their agents. Recently, Taraba State deputy governor was initially prevented from becoming the acting governor, following the hospitalization of his boss who was involved in a plane crash. In Akwa Ibom, the deputy governor was kicked out for showing interest in governorship, which will become vacant after Governor Godswill Akpabio may have served his two terms of eight years. In Abia State , a deputy governor had to leave the government, following protracted feud between him and his ebullient governor.
Where wisdom had prevailed were Sokoto and Lagos. Under Attahiru Bafarawa Administration, Deputy Governor Ibrahim Wamakko was also Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. In Lagos, former Deputy Governor Sarah Sosan doubled as Commissioner for Education. Her successor, Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire, is in charge of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. In addition, she often represents Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) at important state functions. In Ekiti, Deputy Governor Funmilayo Olayinka is said to be in charge of local government, although the ministry has a commissioner and special adviser. She is also in charge of emergency situation warranting distribution of relief materials to disaster zones.
Deputy governors and Vice Presidents have always nursed the same predicament. There are indications that many deputy governors actually suffer in silence.
In the past, big shots avoided being nominated as presidential running mates. They believed the occupant wields a doubtful influence and his comfort in office is conditioned by the wish and preference of the power-loaded president. When the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was indisposed, few politicians in the land would want to be in the shoe of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. There was a big vacuum, but Dr. Jonathan lacked the constitutional power to fill the void. His frustration increased as he was enveloped in the heat created by powerful people who took cognizance of the prospects of a traumatized position underrated as second fiddle.
Many constitutional lawyers contend that Section 130 of the 1999 Constitution is to blame. It created the positions of deputy governor and vice president as an amoeba, a constitutional parasite without a meaningful shape and deep political root.
First Republic parliamentarian and Trade Minister Dr. Ozumba Mbadiwe had lobbied for the position in 1978, but the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) did not offer him. Later, he said there was no cause for regret. The ‘man of timber and caliber’ described the post of Vice President as ‘a repeater station of a major network’. A senior journalist, Eric Teniola, who had worked in the Presidency, agreed with this assertion. He captured the plight of the vice president when he stated that, though he is jointly elected with the president, he is just a part of the package; a sort of an appendage to the Presidency. “The only reason for keeping the office of Vice President is that it provides an automatic solution to the problem of succession”, he said. Teniola also stressed that no President and Vice President have ever trusted one another because their relationship is usually characterized by antagonism, envy, suspicion and jealousy.
Ironically, the President nominates the Vice President and the governor nominates his deputy and their fate are tied together on poll day. But, the romance ends there. Former Secretary to Western State Government, the late Chief Augustine Adebayo, said part of the jealousy between the two leading politicians stemmed from the fact that the deputy governor is constitutionally idle and has no security vote. He pointed out that, the African, by nature, has a pathological hatred for the idea of successor. When that office of a successor or heir-apparent to the throne is institutionalized into the system, the renowned administrator said it is a clear invitation to political disaster. He emphasised that the main function of the Vice President is to wait in the wings to be called upon to take over the duties of the Chief Executive. Waiting, analysts content, is burdensome and laced with anxiety. It is a serious matter in a vast and diverse country like Nigeria where the selection into the number two position is done for ethnic balancing. More often than not, it is the party that imposes the running mate on the presidential candidate.
The governor’s camp or kitchen cabinet often treat the deputy governor as an outcast or external force, if there is a feud or suspicion between the governor and deputy governor. The deputy governor is perceived as a dignified assistant without much to do, beneficiary of the fall or demise of his principal, an automatic successor in a situation of incapacitation of the number one citizen, and a threat to his boss.
In Nigeria , the Vice President enjoys office at the mercy of the President. His most important role, apart from deputizing for him, is the that of the nominal chairman of the Nigeria Economic Council (NEC). When former President Olusegun Obasanjo moved against Vice President Atiku Abubakar and withdrew his “enormous powers”, his life was full of tension. Endless reconciliation meetings failed to restore peace, trust and harmony. In fact, some notable politicians close to Obasanjo had warned that it was dangerous to allow his deputy to exercise sweeping delegated powers. Their calculation was that the deputy president could grow wings. Obasanjo woke up very late to this reality during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2003 presidential nomination. The retired General had to prostrate before his deputy to get his nod for re-nomination.
In the states, governors were wiser. They had emasculated the deputy governor’s office. “There were some states where the governors and their deputies were not on speaking terms’, noted Adebayo, who canvassed the abolition of the position of deputy governor, based on his Second Republic experience.
