In the Kogi case, rather than remain in the market-place, listening to the voice of the mob, INEC should have rushed overtly – not covertly – to the Supreme Court to obtain a lasting interpretation of the situation. That’s how a country’s Constitution grows. Every other interpretation would be biased or seen to be so.
By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan
One major problem with Nigeria is that there is hardly any respect for specialization. Everybody dabbles into every area, with the result that as we engage in the business of others, we ignore ours and in the end, everything suffers.
We have an avalanche of eminently qualified people – sound economists and financial experts – who are well paid for the sole purpose of managing our economy.
But the impression one gets is that our major economic policies are made on our streets and at the market square.
For example, during the President Ibrahim Babangida era, Nigeria needed money for development. The critical debate on the desirability or otherwise of applying for the International Monetary Fund, IMF, loan was thrown to the market-place and it became the business of everyone.
As would be expected, the issue was overwhelmingly voted down because nowhere do citizens ever encourage public borrowing as they already have a mindset that it provides another opportunity for graft.
The funny aspect is that the public was no longer informed before the loan was taken, perhaps ten times over. The rest is now history.
Our energy sector has been the worse for it. Suddenly, everybody seems to possess the panacea for our electricity problems.
At the street corners, in our offices and, indeed, everywhere, even those who have never seen the four walls of any classroom, discuss mega-watts, voltage and other electrical jargons with greater dexterity than the experts in the business.
Our action is largely a function of instability and under-development. In a normal clime, if a man returns from work; at the touch of a button, light comes up; and when he wants to sleep, at the touch of a button, light goes off, what would be his business with mega-watts and the rest, when there are thousands of experts who are paid to take charge of that business?
See how we have bungled the Kogi gubernatorial election? Suddenly, everyone has, so to say, migrated to Lokoja because of the demise of Prince Abubakar Audu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the recent gubernatorial election in that State.
In a manner of speaking, Audu died intestate politically because before he passed-on, a day after the election, he led in the vote count with 240,867 votes compared to his closest rival, Captain Idris Wada, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who scored 199,514 votes. That was a margin of 41,353 votes.
The election was, however, declared inconclusive because the total number of voters captured in the 91 polling units where voting had been cancelled was 49,953, a figure higher than the difference between Audu and Wada.
For a country that is still developing its democratic institutions and processes, there was no immediate precedent to fall back on if a candidate dies at the middle of an election.
The framers of our Constitution foresaw a situation where a candidate who has been duly elected could die before the date of his inauguration. They provided in Section 181 of the 1999 Constitution that his running-mate should be sworn in when he has picked a new Deputy.
Again, the National Assembly foresaw a situation where a duly nominated candidate could die before the date of the election. Provision was made under Section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2010, for the affected political party to produce a replacement.
Because we did not do the needful, we allowed partisan interest to completely dominate the political climate in Kogi State. We forgot that the hanging-victory in the Kogi election did not belong to the late Audu alone; but it was largely a victory for the APC.
By our acts of omission or commission, we have allowed the Kogi situation to degenerate into wanton destruction of lives and property.
By the literary theory of our Constitution, the National Assembly makes policy which is implemented by the Executive branch; while any matter of interpretation is referred to the Judiciary. In this scenario, we find no role for the mob.
In the Kogi case, rather than remain in the market-place, listening to the voice of the mob, INEC should have rushed overtly – not covertly – to the Supreme Court to obtain a lasting interpretation of the situation. That’s how a country’s Constitution grows. Every other interpretation would be biased or seen to be so.
True, Kogi State now has a governor-elect. We congratulate him. But that is still palliative. In the absence of a definitive statement from the Supreme Court, which can be cited as an authority hereafter, there will be resort to self-help and people will continue to proffer interpretations that suit their purpose.
See how Wada rushed to the court, asking to be declared winner of an election he had lost. And see how Hon. James Faleke, Audu’s running mate, also demanded that the court should declare him an automatic replacement for Audu.
On a moral ground, there may be some merit to Faleke’s demand because as a younger person, there is no telling how much value-added votes he brought into the ticket and the hanging-victory.
The truth remains that he did not participate in the primaries, which is a condition-precedent for contesting the election and the best he could get would be to remain a running mate to Yahaya Bello who came second in the party’s selection process.
Essentially, Faleke saw the Promise Land but could not enter. At Audu’s death, the election had been won and lost. With less than 38,000 voters who collected their permanent voters’ cards in the 91 affected polling units; more so in an election with less than 50% voters-turnout, there was no way the APC would have lost.
But by the letter of our Constitution and available laws, that is immaterial. Only a timely pronouncement from the Supreme Court could have changed all that.
Shall we return to William Shakespeare? “Honour and shame on no part arise; act well your part and there the honour lies”. This, we commend to Nigerians.
Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com
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