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  • Further thoughts on Ekiti polls

    Further thoughts on Ekiti polls

    The primary vocation of the intellectual is the pursuit and advocacy of truth no matter how distasteful or bitter. Paul Baran, the late American political economist, insisted that the intellectual must ruthlessly criticise everything under the sun with the determination and courage to pursue rational inquiry to wherever it may lead irrespective of the consequences. In a famous lecture at the University of Jos, the late Professor Aaron Gana, the eminent political scientist, linked this to the famous admonition by Jesus Christ that “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free”. The journalist is no intellectual. The nature of the profession gives little time for the kind of detailed and rigorous research undertaken by the intellectual. Journalists are said to write history in a hurry. Yet, we are no less bound by a commitment to truth as the intellectual. That is why it is said in the profession that while comments are free, facts are sacred.

    Last week, I joined in the effort to make sense out of the June 21 governorship elections in Ekiti State, which saw an incumbent, Dr Kayode Fayemi, perceived to be high-performing losing comprehensively to a populist, theatrical and controversial Ayodele Fayose with a tainted record as an impeached former governor of the state. Like most other commentators, including the famous Professor Niyi Osundare, whose satirical poem, ‘A rice O compatriots, thy stomach’s call obey’ has gone viral on-line, I interpreted the outcome of the election as a vote by the Ekiti electorate for instant and transient material gratification rather than enduring development; an endorsement of crude distribution of food and cash to the people rather than initiating and pursuing projects and programmes to uplift them out of poverty.

    In his thoughtful public ruminations on the Ekiti polls, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) has raised pertinent questions, which have been misinterpreted as insulting the Ekiti people. Like the Governor, I also wondered if governance should be about distributing money to the poor or empowering them to be self-reliant through development projects. I wondered how an incumbent governor could have lost in his own home town and ward in a credible election. Well, given the overwhelming responses to my column – phone calls, text messages, and emails – mostly from Ekiti indigenes, I am afraid I was dreadfully wrong. I reacted cognitively and logically to the Ekiti polls without a proper appraisal of the empirical realities.

    Yes, the excessive and intimidating militarisation of Ekiti before and during the election was unwarranted. The partisan use of security agents by the Minister of Defence, Musliu Obanikoro and Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan is contemptible and condemnable. The intimidation of APC political leaders, abridgement of the freedom of movement of APC governors and teargasing by mobile police of the Governor Fayemi’s convoy negated the creation of a level paying ground necessary for free and fair elections. Yet, from the feedback I have received, the truth is that Mr Ayodele Fayose would still have won without all of these abuses. Indeed, it appears to me that violence would have broken out if, for any reason, Fayemi had been declared winner. It was that bad.

    Is it possible that Dr Fayemi could credibly have lost in his own home town, Isan-Ekiti? A reader from the town sent me a text message that he voted against the governor because he always insisted he was the governor of the whole of Ekiti State and not of Isan. Thus, they did not enjoy any special privilege from the fact of their son being governor. This may have been ethically right on the part of Fayemi but it was politically suicidal for him at home. Another response to my article was that Fayemi had built an imposing country home in Isan within his first year in office while most of the people remained immersed in poverty. The Fayemi government never successfully refuted the widespread rumour that the First Lady, Bisi Fayemi, allegedly built a higher institution in Ghana during his tenure. Thus, it is not that the people did not see and appreciate the massive infrastructure projects of the Fayemi administration. However, the construction of these projects were perceived as financially empowering a few in Fayemi’s inner circle many of whom were of no significant economic status before his emergence as governor. Thus, the quite natural and understandable insistence of the people that what is now popularly called ‘stomach infrastructure’ must be democratised and not restricted to the governor and his friends.

    A lecturer at the Ado-Ekiti University told me that most of the staff and students of the institution voted against Fayemi. If a Phd holder could not connect with his own academic colleagues, what are we talking about? And at the same time Fayemi was completely disconnected from the grassroots lumpen elements that were swept off their feet by Fayose’s populist antics despite the latter’s well- known flaws. Similarly, a national legislator of the APC from Ekiti State told me of how Fayemi had become inaccessible and alienated from the legislators at both the state and national levels and even many members of his cabinet. I am told that while many of Fayemi’s commissioners and special advisers could hardly boast of one million naira in their bank accounts, those in his inner circle had reportedly become stupendously wealthy. The Chief of Staff, Yemi Adaramodu, reportedly rude, arrogant and snobbish was a key factor in Fayemi’s loss. An APC chieftain in Ado-Ekiti recalled how Fayose and Opeyemi Bamidele reached out to him morally and financially when he lost his mother while his own governor did not even give him a phone call. This illustrates how alienated the Fayemi government was even from his own party that was consequently demotivated from working for his re-election with passion and commitment.

    Otunba Niyi Adebayo reportedly had two commissioners in Fayemi’s government including the commissioner for works; his 22 year old son was Special Adviser on Diaspora Matters (whatever that means) to the governor and Adebayo had five cousins appointed at various levels of the administration. This was in addition to unrefuted reports of the former governor handling several contracts.  Yet, many of those who fervently supported Fayemi intellectually, morally, financially and logistically during his three and a half year struggle to reclaim his mandate, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu were kept at arms –length by Fayemi. The same Tinubu has stood valiantly by him following his June 21 defeat. Otunba Adebayo who could not even deliver his polling unit to Fayemi has remained thunderously silent while another of Fayemi’s cherished ‘godfathers’, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), who publicly supported Fayemi before the election has come out after the polls to say that Ekiti cannot afford to be in opposition! It is stunning that a highly respected SAN cannot appreciate the critical, indispensable necessity of opposition for healthy democracy and good governance. That, however, is a matter for another day.

    I hate to write these bitter truths but have no choice but to honestly put out the feed- back generated by last week’s column. Dr. Fayemi is my friend but I deliberately refused to visit Ekiti throughout his tenure. I never requested for, nor was ever offered even a bottle of coke by his government. All I have written in support of his government and re-election have thus been based on principle and the facts as I saw it. But what I can now surmise is that an ordinarily brilliant, humble and unassuming Kayode Fayemi became transformed by power into a haughty, hubristic governor almost contemptuous of his party and people. It is ironical that a student of power like Fayemi turned out to be so inept in its usage and management. There is no way, for instance, that an astute politician would have allowed Opeyemi Bamidele, who played such a key role in his emergence as governor, to become such a bitter opponent.

    The outcome of the June 21 election in Ekiti was a massive rejection of Fayemi’s style of governance and not necessarily of the APC. But the APC is suffering the consequences of condoning and ignoring the excesses of the governor. If Fayemi had got his politics right, a million bags of rice or a battalion of soldiers could not have delivered Ekiti to the PDP. Luckily for the APC, in Osun, Ogbeni Aregbesola is a solid grassroots politician; his lifestyle and attitude have not been perverted by power; he is a fervent and passionate party man; his massive development projects are integrated into the local economy and where he has inevitably had conflicts with interest groups, he has bent over backwards to explain his motives and resolve the issues. The loopholes that facilitated PDP’s victory in Ekiti do not exist in Osun. If the Ekiti elections reflected the will of the people, then it is very good for Nigeria’s democracy. This means that given his appalling non-performance, President Goodluck Jonathan is a very vulnerable incumbent in a credible 2015 election.

  • Thoughts on Nigeria’s constitutional development

    George Herbert (1593-1633), the English clergyman and metaphysical poet, stated in Jacula Prudentum (1651) that “I had rather ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me.”

    This rather sound advice on pragmatism is one that was heeded by General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) when he inaugurated the Ad Hoc Constitutional Conference of September 12, 1966, which was intended to resolve the evolving political crisis and end the bloodshed and disorder that had overtaken the country since the bitter disagreements over the results of the federal general elections of 1964. In his opening speech to the conference, he had suggested that the conferees may even propose an entirely new form of government for Nigeria which is “yet to enter into any political lexicon.” Unfortunately, this conference, which was well on its way to resolving the political impasse (it had produced an interim report), was wrecked by the fresh outbreak of large scale violence in the Northern Region on September 29, 1966.

    As we once again approach our rendezvous with destiny at the coming national constitutional conference, one can only hope that the conferees will, in similar vein, not limit themselves to merely tinkering with the existing political edifice, but also seriously consider whether the form of representative government long practised in the advanced societies of the Western world are, in reality, suitable for our own relatively backward societies. It is undeniably, except to the wilfully blinkered, that the quality of our politicians and the nature of our politics has considerably worsened since Sir Kitoye Ajasa (1866-1937), a pioneer lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1893, uttered the following prophetic words in Lagos in 1921: “ …An election constituency is composed of men of questionable intelligence, experience and true patriotism, and is guided mostly by enthusiasm, prejudice, selfishness and sham patriotism….” (See The Nigerian Pioneer, April 22, 1921). A few months later, this former leader of the Nigerian Bar and patriot of the highest integrity, stated that “…The people are not ready or ripe enough to appreciate or benefit under any new and foreign system of electioneering ….” (See The Nigerian Pioneer, February 24, March 3 and 10, 1922).

    Instead of trying to keep up with the “Joneses” in the West who are at an entirely different stage of development, and therefore mulishly clinging on to a system of government that has not delivered – and may never, on the basis of the evidence emerging, the conferees would do well to break the mould and seek an accommodation with reality. A form of government suitable for our very peculiar circumstances should be our goal. Alternative forms of government should be looked at, even if they do not accord with current Western political thought, concepts, and practice. One political model, to take just one example, that commends itself to Nigeria in particular, is some form of corporatism and technocracy which is adapted to the Nigerian environment. Corporatism is the theory and practice of organizing the whole of society into corporate entities subordinate to the state. According to the theory, employers and employees would be organized into industrial and professional corporations serving as organs of political representation. According to the proponents of this political concept, it is a system of social organization that has at its base the grouping of men according to the community of their natural interests and social functions; and as true and proper organs of the state they, through their representatives, direct and coordinate the affairs of the state in matters of common interest. Its chief spokesman was Adam Müller (1779 – 1829), court philosopher to Prince von Metternich, who conceived of a “class state” in which the classes operated as guilds, or corporations, each controlling a specific function of social life. This idea found favour in central Europe after the French Revolution. A technocracy, on the other hand, is the government or control of society by technical experts.

    In our case, this political model has the great merit of completely excluding the professional politicians and political adventurers, who are, and have always been, the bane of our society. Under this political system, the federal and state legislatures would be composed only of the elected representatives of registered professional associations and labour unions, such as the Nigeria Bar Association, Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Nigerian Medical Association, National Association of Nigerian Students, etc. Service would be on a part-time basis, and only sitting and travelling allowances, etc., would be paid. The legislatures, in turn, would act as the electoral colleges (as under the Lebanese Constitution) that would elect or nominate the members of the executive – i.e. the president/prime minister, governors/premiers, and ministers/commissioners.

    The conferees would also do well to put the creation of states on a rational basis, rather than in the haphazard, emotionally-driven, uneconomical, and ultimately unsustainable, fashion that has guided us for far too long to our own detriment. States/regions should be established along the major linguistic lines, as was done in post-colonial India by Jawaharlal Nehru. Under this formula, there would be 10 states/regions for the 10 major ethnic nationalities. These would be Hausa-Fulani State; Kanuri State; Nupe State; Tiv-Jukun State; Yoruba State; Igbo State; Edo State; Urhobo-Isoko State; Ijaw State; and the Ibibio-Efik-Annang State. There would also be seven multi-ethnic states/regions for the remaining minority ethnic nationalities: Bauchi State; Adamawa State; Plateau State; Central State; Niger State; Ogoja State; and a state for the non-Ijaw ethnic nationalities in the present Rivers and Bayelsa states. Most of the powers and authority of government should be transferred to these states/regions. The federal government should deal with matters of common concern to the federation, e.g. foreign relations, defence, etc. States/regions should have the power to draft their own constitutions within the framework of the aforementioned political concept of general corporatism and technocracy. States/regions should, in consonance with elementary justice and fair play, control most of the resources that they have been endowed with by nature. States/regions should, on the principle of equality of the ethnic nationalities, and regardless of population, have equal numbers of representatives in the federal legislature (as obtains in the U.N. General Assembly, but without the invidious veto powers given to the “superior” permanent members of the Security Council).

    It is worth noting that China’s unprecedented growth in the last few decades was primarily due to the Communist Party’s good sense in finally opting for a pragmatic, rather than doctrinaire, solution to their country’s monumental problems. By so doing, China’s leaders measured up to Walter Lippmann’s (a notable American journalist) definition of the rational man in his book, The Public Philosophy (1955): “A rational man acting in the real world may be defined as one who decides where he will strike a balance between what he desires and what can be done.”

    It is a definition that one hopes that the conferees at the national constitutional conference will similarly measure up to for all our sakes.

     

    •Ajose-Adeogun, is a Lagos-based lawyer.

  • Thoughts on the New Year

    SIR: This is a season of joyous celebrations, goodwill and renewal of hope. About a week ago, Christians all over the world celebrated Christmas, in remembrance of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, more than 2000 years ago. Now another festivity: the New Year. In the twinkling of an eye, 2013 has gone with all its up and downs and 2014 has arrived with expectations and individual resolutions.

    Having gone forever, we should now forget about the pains and disillusionment of 2013, if there was any, and move on in the New Year with unflinching spirit of hope, optimism, perseverance, equanimity, resolve and determination in order to change things for the better. We should not continue to lament over our predicament(s) or pander to fatalistic resignation or self-pity, which rarely solve any problem but create more confusion and uncertainty. Rather, we should count on divine help through earnest prayers, with clear conscience, while being upbeat and maintaining a momentum of grit and courage to survive and overcome, even in the face of great adversity.

    We should see 2014 as a year for a new thinking. Therefore, we should rethink individualism, selfishness, personal aggrandisement, greed, covetousness and avarice. Apart from undermining or destroying inter-personal relationship and imperilling both our moral and ethical values, these retrogressive factors are also responsible for the upsurge in crimes like corruption, fraud, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, human trafficking, prostitution and crude oil theft.

    To make 2014 eventful, we should compassionately consider the plight of the less privileged in our society – especially the unfortunate victims of deprivation, privation, poverty, alienation and economic austerity. That the level of squalor among a vast majority of our people is spiralling out of control today is not an overstatement. Those in the corridors of power at all levels in Nigeria are besought to respond swiftly and vigorously to this worrisome development through good governance and delivery of dividends of democracy by way of provision of infrastructure and social services, as well as articulation of safety nets of poverty alleviation, skill training and social opportunities.

    It is impossible to conclude without mentioning the great significance of 2014 for our fatherland. It is exactly 100 years this year that the Northern and Southern protectorates were amalgamated by the erstwhile British colonial administrator, Sir Frederick John Jeatry Lugard. Regardless of the painful twists and turns the country has undergone since its formation as a political entity on January 1, 1914, as exemplified in bloody civil war, minority uprisings, political upheavals, military interventions of the mid-1960s through the 80s and intermittent communal pogroms, there is still hope for the future. If anything, such traumatic events and those subsisting should be seen as part of the birth pangs of our nationhood, which other countries had passed through and came out more stable, united and peaceful.

    This is not the time to equivocate on the future of Nigeria; it is time for outlining grand vision for progress in all aspects of our national life. Basically, our centenary calls for good governance, leadership accountability, democratic consolidation, relentless campaign against corruption, dutiful citizens, dynamic political class that upholds national unity and is attuned to the needs of playing according to the rules of the game, coexistence among our complex and diverse groups on equal terms, social justice, growth-oriented and inclusive economy and sustainable development.

    • Okechukwu Emeh, Jr

    Wuse 2, Abuja

  • Fashola’s thoughts on LG autonomy

    Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State will go down in history as one of the very few public officers in contemporary Nigeria who excels in not just building mortars and bricks but also in farsightedness. Fashola thinks profoundly and has the courage of his convictions. He could have chosen the path of populism by continuing the tradition of making tuition at Lagos State University practically free—without minding if the graduates would ever be employable because of the poor quality of instruction and the awful lack of critical facilities arising out of scarce financial resources —but he opted for the trajectory of sustainable development through a review of tuition fees. When a large army of political actors in the South-west were playing to the gallery by denouncing Chinua Achebe’s There Was A Country, a personal account of the Nigerian civil war, Fashola attended an Achebe event in the United States where he positively reviewed the novelist’s oeuvre, declaring that his (Fashola’s) generation of Nigerians is not held hostage by the error of the past. The governor once again displayed the courage of his convictions when at the 80th birthday anniversary of former Works Minister Femi Okunnu held on February 4, he eloquently argued that the concept of constitutionally guaranteed autonomy for local governments in the country is fundamentally flawed.

    It has become fashionable since 1989 when Sam Orji was removed by the Federal Military Government as chairman of the Enugu Local Government for the media, activist groups and even academics to demand a constitutional provision for LG autonomy. After all, argue the protagonists, there are three tiers of government in Nigeria and the constitution has ensured that states are independent of the central government and vice versa. Indeed, it amounts to extravagant use of language to declare LGs the third tier of government. A federal system everywhere is composed of only two government tiers, namely, the federal government and state governments (which are called provincial governments in Canada and regional governments in Nigeria until 1967). The United Kingdom has a local government system all right, but the country runs a unitary system of government. LGs are more of administrative units than political entities. This is why LGs do not have the judiciary, a vital arm of government. Fashola appropriately calls them development centres.

    It is a supreme irony that socio-political activists who spearhead the campaign for constitutionally provided autonomy for LGs are the very elements campaigning against the inclusion of LGs in the constitution on the ground that it should be the prerogative of states to decide whether to have LGs in their territories and the number as well as the structure, based on peculiarities of the states and their development needs. The present national uniform LG structure, a concomitant of the 1976 LG Reforms carried out by the General Obasanjo military government, is counterproductive. The current structure does not recognize differences between LGs in cities and those in rural communities. Hence, it provides, for instance, for a supervisor of agriculture in Lagos Island Local Government Area which does not have one single farm!

    Much as LGs are in theory development centres, the development quotient in their creation has been abysmal; rather, the overriding consideration has been politics. Lagos has the highest population of all states in Nigeria. Yet, it has a mere 20 constitutionally recognized LGAs, in sharp contrast to Kano, which has 44 LGAs. The reason is not difficult to understand: the last LGs were created by the central government during the Sani Abacha military regime. Abacha, a Kano indigene, made sure that the number of LGs in Kano and Jigawa (which was carved out of Kano in 1996) is about all LGAs in the South-east geopolitical zone combined!

    When it is considered that LGs are allocated huge revenues monthly from the federation account, the political economy of Abacha’s LG creation exercise becomes clearer. To address some of the far-reaching implications of the imbalance in local governments across the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as Lagos governor, created additional 37 LGs in one fell swoop which he called local development centres, bringing the total number of LGAs in the state to 57. In a swift reaction, the Kano State government increased the number of its LGAs astronomically to overwhelm the new number in Lagos. In other words, the nation is in a rat race with itself because of the inclusion of LGAs in the present constitution and the consequent allocation of resources from the federation account. The removal of LGAs from the constitution will end this debilitating brand of politics.

    The 774 constitutionally recognized LGAs are too unwieldy for the nation. They are, at best, cost centres and, at worst, cesspools of graft and duty dereliction. I have been to a number of local government offices in recent years, and for some reason never met the legislators who are called councillors. The councillors go to the office only at month end to collect salary and share whatever remains of public resources with other senior officials. Most Nigerians do not know that every LG has, among other key officers, a secretary to the government, a head of service called head of personnel management and supervisors who are like commissioners or ministers. Each appointee is on a heavy pay and has a retinue of aides. Worse, some states have gone ahead to create local development centres (which are LGs in disguise), and they share the monthly resources from the federation account on an equal basis with constitutionally recognized LGs. Instead of having one chairman in a given LGA, there are now about four. This has great implications for the public treasury. Far from these centres being catalysts or vehicles for development, they are avenues for partisan mobilization and provision of jobs for politicians and hangers on. How long can we continue to toy with the destiny of an otherwise great nation?

    Gov Fashola has provided us all with food for thought as regards the place of local governments in our constitution and our federal nexus. He presents his arguments with so much thoughtfulness and admirable courage. He is a thoroughbred developmentalist, in the mould of South-east Asian modernizers like Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Developmentalists are, according to new social science theorists, political leaders who genuinely regard the well-being and future of their people as inviolable and place the radical enhancement of the living standards of the citizens above politics and all personal and primordial considerations. With people like Fashola and immediate past Central Bank of Nigeria governor Chukwuma Soludo in Nigerian politics, there is still a ray of hope for our people.

    • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.