WHEN
GOVERNORS BECOME EMPERORS
I
had almost gone to bed on the eve of 2016 Christmas when a phone call filtered
in from Germany, to engage me in an informal chat as usual. The caller, who
happened to be my old-time friend, actually called to express his bitterness
over what he observed on the television regarding one of the Nigeria’s
governors.
According
to the buddy, Kunle, he had on that very day watched a governor of one of the
states in the Southern Nigeria commissioning a Christmas tree worth over half a
billion naira whilst the leader in question was reportedly owing workers and
pensioners in the state for several months. I laughed in French and therein
told him that such show of shame had become common among most serving governors,
hence the need for him to get use to the aberration.
I wish Mr. Kunle would someday meet with my
dad whom I often refer to as a political philosopher. The old man – a well
experienced octogenarian – one day informed me unequivocally that some states
across the country were suffering from economic epilepsy, thus needed to
undergo holistic lobotomy. His seeming candid view was informed by the way and
manner in which some sitting governors invariably act as if they are not
accountable to anyone.
To
assert that currently some governors operate not unlike an emperor isn’t in any
way an overstatement, and such weird custom is not peculiar to a particular
state or region in the country. It suffices to say that virtually all the
governors have, in one way or the other, been found guilty of such bilious and
nonchalant lifestyle.
For
clarity’s sake, an emperor is a man who solely rules a certain empire. An
empire, on its part, could be described as a society of people that is being
controlled by only one person. In summary, an emperor is a person, male
individual precisely, who singlehanded controls the day-to-day activity of a
particular society and stands not to be questioned by anyone whenever he errs.
With the above definitions, it has
become clearer that truly most of our so-called leaders are presently operating
like emperors in their respective jurisdictions. Take for instance, a situation
where a governor would refuse to conduct the Local Government (LG) election in
his state and such scenario would linger till he leaves office. In most cases,
he would put up a façade in the name of an election towards the expiration of
his tenure, perhaps to prove to people that LG polls were eventually conducted
under his watch.
Why wouldn’t such governor be rated as an
emperor when every other official in the affected state such as the legislators
cum judicial custodians would remain a rubber stamp as the unfortunate scene
prevails? Funnily enough, when a court orders the governor to without much ado
conduct the long awaited LG polls, he would rather regard such legal directive
as baseless.
On a monthly basis, the Federal Government
(FG) would release funds accruable to the third tier governments via the
various states. In the process, the said allocation would be hijacked by the
governors and such funds would never be utilized on the projects for which they
are meant. Instead, they would be channeled toward the implementation of non-feasible
projects.
The judicial system in the states
suffering from such unruly behaviour is vulnerable, to assert the least. I have
often times witnessed a situation whereby an injunction is issued by a court of
competent jurisdiction to stop a governor from taking a certain intended action,
yet the latter would overlook the order with the notion that he alone is in
charge of the state.
The vulnerability of the lawmakers in
such states cannot be left out. Rather than act as independent elected
officials, the legislators would be reduced to mere aides of the governor thus
would be left with no choice than to operate as they were instructed by the
latter. It’s indeed a pathetic circumstance. What is left for this set of
governors is to fence their states in order to possess it as their personal
asset.
As the uncalled ill lingers unabated,
it’s noteworthy that the FG has a very vital role to play with a view to
addressing it. There is a compelling need to, by law, scrap the various states’
electoral commissions. By so doing, the conduct of the LG elections would
become the sole duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This signifies that it would no longer be the responsibility of the governors
to determine when and how the said polls would be held in their respective
states.
In
the same vein, it’s high time the electorate woke up from slumber. They need to
fully acknowledge that they possess the constitutional immunity to recall any
lawmaker who is not living up to the expectations. Similarly, they needn’t be
reminded that it’s equally their right to say enough is enough whenever the
impunity of their governor goes to extreme point.
All in all, we must bear in mind at all
times that he is an elected governor, not an emperor. Think about it!
Comrade FDN Nwaozor
Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri
__________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
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