If an individual can steal from the government willy-nilly and we find out many years later, and only after the fact, it means we have no checks and balances. Due to lack of checks and balances, the nation has become a prison where everyone is trying to escape.
Why was it easy for a former South-South governor to use state money for his campaign? What was the role of the members of the State House of Assembly? The primary responsibility of the members is to have oversight duties. They failed in this primary duty and the state is shortchanged.
This could have been prevented. Due to our military past, we have developed a culture of absolute power for the executive branch of government. The legislators see their roles as that of onlookers. They have a responsibility to devise checks and balances that will prevent executive lawlessness.
Finding out someone stole money only after they left office is a sign of timidity and lack of prerequisite for their positions. No one should have absolute power in a democracy. Executive arrogance, legislative incompetence and citizen apathy have become the standard practice in Nigeria.
It is difficult to prosecute such a person in a country with a rickety judicial system like Nigeria. The thieves have become the law and the nation is one big prison where all the inmates plan to escape.
The role of democracy is to develop checks and balances that will prevent such occurrences. Democracy demands preemptive and proactive measures to prevent such occurrences.
Nigeria is still practicing military dictatorship. Wherever power resides in Nigeria, it is always absolute. It is not placed under check and scrutiny.
From local associations in the village to the highest places in Nigeria, those who have power become absolute and behave recklessly.
Just look at what the police and soldiers do at checkpoints. They have absolute powers. Any person in uniform can order a person into an unmarked vehicle and that is the last we see of that person. This is a clear and present danger.
It is our duty to safeguard public safety by subjecting these actions to scrutiny and interrogations that are needed in a democracy.
Our failure here is due to years of military dictatorship and outright brigandage. That is the micro representation of Nigeria. Those complaining about the stealing now will not be different if they are given those positions. The reason is that the probability that they will get away with the abuse of office is one hundred percent.
A former governor in North-West made an allusion to this fact in his interaction with his most strident critic in Kaduna. After one abrasive criticism from this man, the ex-governor decided to invite him. He sent a cab driver to pick him up, asked the taxi driver to wait and take him back home. After the meeting, he gave the journalist about one hundred thousand (this figure may not be accurate) and fifty thousand for the taxi drive. The critic was told to give the driver 50,000. The Journalist was full of praise and ebullience. The journalist left. He gave the taxi driver N5, 000 and kept the rest of the money. After they exited the gate, the security stopped them to say the governor has one last discussion. When they arrived back, the governor asked the taxi driver how much was given to him by the journalist. The driver said he received only N5, 000.
This is our conundrum. The governor only wanted to make a point but people praised him for his wisdom.
I am not fooled. If the governor actually was interested in solving the problem, he would give the driver his money directly in the presence of the journalist. That would have been better news but he decided to entrap the journalist.
Wherever power resides in Nigeria, it is absolute. Nobody questions it. This behavior is antithetical to democratic norms. This is a carry-over from military dictatorship. We only knew late head of state stole money after he died. What about a former head of state from the North Central? How come no one talks about him? No one does because his power is absolute.
Democracy has to do with checks and balances at all level. Everyone in a democracy is a servant of the law. The opposite is true in Nigeria. Everyone is a servant of those who rule in Nigeria.
Those who hold power must be interrogated. The people in power in Nigeria are like kings and manors. Elected officials are not responsive to those who elected them. They behave as if they got to their present position through a coup. They are arrogant and distant from those who elected or rigged elections for them. They have no sense of justice and anything they say is considered the law by the oppressed. They bellow orders to Nigerians.
Where leaders of advanced democracies would tip toe around thorny issues, the Nigerian governor will come with a bulldozer and loudspeakers to intimidate the citizens. There is no intellectual application in finding solutions to problems because they consider themselves the law. The undeserving voters have surrendered and they just watch as those they elected violate and brutalize them.
If someone challenges these absolute monarchs, they pass an edict to make the illegal legal. They have supporters who they whip into emotional frenzy and use as an army of thugs to intimidate those who think otherwise.
No one personifies this arrogance than the governors in Nigeria. These people are dictators who have no understanding or respect for the rule of law.
Now let me settle on the whipping boy, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. This is not because he is the worst; it is because he has the enviable position of being the governor of Lagos State which is a microcosm of Nigeria. Any action in Lagos State is under the microscope. If not for the seriousness of what he does, this man gives me comedy relief.
Apart from his demolition crusade in Lagos, there are things he does that are so funny and outright absurd. He has been sitting on the Supreme Court Judgement that told the people of Magodo to vacate and leave the place for the real owners. This man actually told those who won the case on national television that he is looking for an alternative place so that they will leave the oppressors to enjoy their stolen land on Magodo. This is wrong. These people should vacate the place as ruled by the Supreme Court.
The governor refusing to surrender Magodo to those who won is a gross and severe violation of the law that he should be cited for contempt of the Supreme Court.
The time to negotiate with the original owner was before the court made a ruling. Any negotiation after the court ruling is a violation of the court order and continued abuse of his powers. You don't mediate after a ruling has been made by the Supreme Court. He must be called to order on this.
Sanwo- Olu never stops to tickle me. There was the case where he saw a soldier going the opposite way in a one-way street. This was a comedy of errors and was very hilarious to watch. Sanwo-Olu confronted the man, arrested him and put him in one of the convoy cars for violating the law. The soldier immediately protested and told Sanwo-Olu that he is a soldier and as such that one way rule does not apply to him. The governor told him he doesn't care, nobody is above the law. He is right with this statement.
Let us scrutinize what happened there. The soldier believes he has a right to violate traffic law. Sanwo-Olu believes he has a right to arrest and detain this man because the man violated the law. Both are wrong. Sanwo-Olu does not have the power to arrest any citizen. He is not the DA or the police. He, like any other citizen, can only make a complaint to the appropriate authorities. The soldier is wrong for violating the law. No one is exempted from the law.
In a democracy, that soldier can sue Sanwo- Olu for wrongful detention and imprisonment. If that car moves from that location with the soldier still inside, the governor will be arraigned for kidnapping.
This is the level of idiocy of those in power in Nigeria. Their horizon is very narrow and they have egos that are unchecked. They have no respect for the rule of law because they think the law doesn't apply to them and their followers agree.
Nigeria is a big theatre of the absurd. We need to restructure so that we can get away from this big tent of idiocy.
Any time I watch the robust debate of parliaments in other countries, I whip for Nigeria. In the midst of all the killings and centrifugal forces tearing the nation apart, why is the National Assembly so quiet?
Since the inception of this democratic order, there is no quotable quote from any of these Senators or representatives. There is no debate. The president is now the one that makes laws and no one is asking any questions.
Democracy requires vigilance and continuous interrogation of the status quo. Democracy dies when the citizens fall asleep. We must wake up to keep our democracy alive. Everyone has a role to play. Democracy is not a spectator’s sport. Everyone must be a participant. Any attempt to shirk this responsibility of citizenship is an invitation to tyranny.
Another election time is upon us and we are being inundated with an election by automatic ticket. There is no democracy if people are automatically selected. Democracy means the voters have to re-evaluate those they elected periodically. Any deviation from this is an assault on the will of the people. Any deviation from this is not a democracy but a bad omen that will truncate the rights of the people to choose.
Credit: Dr Austin Orette Writes from Houston, Texas
