By Emeka Alex Duru
We are fast receding to the French society of the 17th and 18th centuries, when King Louis XIV was said to have declared himself the ultimate authority, in his controversial L’etat c’est moi’ (‘I am the state’). His reign of 72 years and 110 days was seen as the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history. But more importantly, France under him, was emblematic of the age of absolutism. This is an uncanny analogy for Nigeria – a democratic state with established rules on acquisition of power and duration of office. The offices in Nigeria are not hereditary and are not held for life. There is a constitutional time frame.
But the country under President Muhammadu Buhari is gradually sliding into a modern fiefdom, where his words are becoming the law, his disposition, the way to live. This is perhaps, the best way to describe the President’s casual dismissal of the invitation by the House of Representatives, basing his action on constitutional provisions.
The House of Representatives, had last week, passed a resolution summoning the president over the rising insecurity in the country. On the basis of the invitation, a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, had announced that the President would appear before the National Assembly on Thursday. But on Wednesday, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, stated that the National Assembly has no constitutional power to summon the President.
According to the Minister, “the National Assembly has no Constitutional Power to envisage or contemplate a situation where the President would be summoned by the National Assembly on operational use of the Armed Forces.” He proceeded to advertise the President’s achievements on the war against terror, claiming that he has recorded tremendous success in containing the hitherto incessant bombing, colossal killings, wanton destruction of lives and property that bedeviled the country before attaining the helm of affairs of the country in 2015.
Malami’s claim flies in the face and he knows it. Nigeria under Buhari could be making other achievements but certainly not in winning the war against terror. There can be not better proof of the country’s failure in this regard than its continuous ranking among terrorized nations alongside Iraq and Afghanistan for years running. How even could the Minister be deluding himself with being on top of the situation, when the country is yet to get over the horror of the recent massacre of over 60 rice farmers in Borno State?
The Borno incidence is one in recurring encounters in which more than 37,000 people are estimated to have died since the Boko Haram sect unleashed its murderous campaigns in the north east and other parts of the country since 2009. Why the Minister chose to overlook this biting truth, baffles. If anything, we are rather at the mercy of insurgents and armed gangs. The problem with the unprincipled stance of the Minister is that it feeds the president with a false sense of performance. There is also the obvious agenda at creating friction with the National Assembly and distracting Nigerians from the sorry state of affairs at hand.
The fact is that Nigeria in currently on all fours and needs all hands to get it back to its knees. On moments as this, regimentation and strict insistence on provisions of the constitution, may not really be needed. What is required is synergy of efforts to ensure national security. Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, are correct, in their book, ‘How Democracies Die’, that all successful democracies rely on informal rules that, though not found in the constitution, or any laws, are widely known and respected.
Democracy, they argue, works best in countries where written constitutions are reinforced by their own unwritten rules of the game. These rules or norms serve as the soft guardrails of democracy, preventing day-today political competition from devolving into a no-holds-barred conflict. They are expressed in mutual toleration and institutional forbearance.
These are incidentally the major ingredients lacking in Buhari’s presidency. Since his coming to power in 2015, there has been this exhibition of inexplicable sense of entitlement suggesting that Nigerians owe him for electing him their president. This arrogant disposition manifests in his condescending attitude to the National Assembly and the country at large. This is a president who Nigerians, his employers would literally go on their knees to beg to address them on occasions of national emergency. And when he accedes, he does so, perfunctorily.
In the instant case, there is no reason for the President to hide under the cover of the constitutionality to evade the invitation by the House of Representatives. A meeting with the lawmakers to find a solution to the lingering problem of insecurity in the land would not have diminished him or his office in any way. The danger in the president easily buying into unpatriotic advice by his sycophantic aides, is that he unwitting lends credence to insinuations that he is not in charge. From whatever angle it is viewed, this is not good for the country. Leadership entails working beyond the regimentations of formality and getting things done.
Part of what has been holding Nigeria down under Buhari is the assumption that it is only those who grovel before him that mean well for the country. That cannot be so. Democracy is about divergence and convergence of views, hence the saying that in it, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies but of interests. It is a game of compromise and consensus.
Our president is yet to appreciate these principles. His understanding of leadership is that of a General in a battle field who brooks no contrary views from his subordinates. There is no how Nigeria can achieve much under this mindset. Going forward, the President needs to come down from his axiomatic high horse and engage other minds on how to get the country out of the woods. His trademark rigidity has proven unsuccessful in the war against insurgency. There is need to change tactics.
*DURU is the Editor of TheNiche Newspapers, Lagos (08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)