Constitution review: Nigeria already restructured – Part 1

A fragile state about to fail betrays four symptoms: First, the ruling elite corners all the wealth and state privileges leaving the vast majority poor. State capture, perpetuated with dubious foreign profiteers, becomes the order of the day as service delivery suffers.

Second, society is polarised into two adversarial camps- the suspicious haves and hostile haves-not. Discontent from the latter soon leads to open rebellion that usually starts outside the capital city. Third, rather than sanction the predatory rulers, state institutions censor the everyday speeches of everyday people for seditious materials. And fourth, corruption weakens the military’s ability to win war.

Just before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August 2021, the country was true to the above terminal syndrome. The West thought Afghanistan could be purged of Islamist vestige by drafting and adopting a new constitution guaranteeing human rights and democracy. It sponsored negotiations in a general assembly where grassroots representatives agreed on a new constitution.

The document favoured multi-party presidential system and was signed into law in 2004. In October of the same year, a presidential election was held and Hamid Karzai, 2001-2014, was elected the first president of Democratic Afghanistan; though he had been ruling Afghan since 2001. But democracy thrives only among men and women with integrity and not brutes and bandits. Tribalism, wife beating, political brigandage, etc, flared up once more. But it was under Kaizai’s successor, Ashraf Ghani, 2014-2021, that corruption reached a frightening epiphany.

For years, President Ghani, his top generals and their tribesmen in positions of authority stole billions of dollars flown into Kabul in Nato cargo planes. It came to a point where there was no cash to pay the newly recruited American-trained Afghan soldiers. Hungry and demoralised, they simply refused to fight the highly inspired insurgents in remote mountains.

On being sworn in as American president, a realistic Joe Biden announced he was pulling his troops out of Afghanistan. To prove his point, he signed a truce with the Taliban to enable him evacuate. On their part, the Taliban agreed not to allow extremist groups operate in territories under their control till American troops were out.

The final battle between the Taliban and Ghani’s military was decided even before the August 6, 2021commencement of American evacuation. One by one, the provincial capitals fell to the insurgents as disgruntled senior civil servants, owed arrears of salaries, simply switched sides. Soldiers threw down their weapons and walked long distances to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as refugees. Their generals and political leaders, whose families relocated abroad, had abandoned them.

With his capital surrounded, Ghani loaded $145 million into his presidential jet for life in exile. Hours later, and surrounded by family and friends, millionaire Ghani watched on CNN from abroad as the Taliban entered Kabul. His frightened countrymen hung on taxiing planes only to be swept off midair to an imminent death by powerful air stream. Corruption and official racketeering killed Democratic Afghanistan.
Like Afghanistan like Nigeria

One, a 2024 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRE) claimed that the Nigerian government in 2023 allowed the Boko Haram terrorist group to kill Christians in Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Adamawa and Benue states. Some 8, 222 Christians were killed.

Two, the Abuja-based Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited also stated in its April 2024 report that at least 2, 583 Nigerians were killed and another 2,164 kidnapped in the first quarter of 2024. On the average, some 28 persons were killed and 24 kidnapped daily.

Three, the May 4, 2024 Vanguard newspaper published a list of 58 former state governors who stole a total of N2.187 trillion. The looted money was equivalent to the 2024 budgets of Lagos State at N2.25 trillion and the entire South East States at N2.29 trillion. It was more than the N1,89 trillion and N1.60 trillion being the 2024 budgets of the entire states in the North Central and North East. The figure was obtained from the record of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on cases being probed, fully probed, charged and successfully prosecuted from 1999 to the present.

Four, on March 26, 2024, The Guardian published an editorial titled, “That N3.7tr Budget Padding Scandal at National Assembly.” It condemned the looting of the national coffers by members of the legislature, “The 10th National Assembly’s fraternal efforts to whitewash alleged malfeasance in the 2024 Appropriation Law are shameful in all ramifications. While the routine dishonesty about common patrimony is oddly familiar, the Senate has taken budget buccaneering and heist to an uncommon height.”

Senator Abdul Ningi, Chairman of Northern Senators Forum, alleged that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion. This humongous amount was laundered in questionable projects without locations; to be withdrawn in cash by the patriotic legislators the moment the budget is signed.
To be continued.
Akamande is Leader of Thought of Izon Ebe. He can be reached via:[email protected].