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Governor and his deputy are party seedlings

By Victor C. Ariole
14 April 2022   |   2:40 am
The common law Nigerians admit they are practicing is based on convention, not on a written constitution, and the House of Commons – the original setting of common law – legislates on common law

It can only be a miracle to plant a yam seedling and to find out cocoa-yam stem sprouting out of it.

Parties are instituted on an ideological basis whether Nigerians and their law or constitution admit that or not.

The common law Nigerians admit they are practicing is based on convention, not on a written constitution, and the House of Commons – the original setting of common law – legislates on common law, like laws that ought to be common to the expected Commonwealth of Nations.

To Winston Churchill, in England all is allowed except if banned; in Germany, all is banned except if allowed; in France, all is allowed even when banned; in USSR all is banned even if it is allowed. And in Nigeria, laws are interpreted to suit the rich and to protect their “ass lickers”.

The first premier of Northern Ireland or Wales cannot cross-carpet from their parties to any other party just because in the House of Commons they are divided between what the leading party and the shadow cabinet party proposed on a bill. Or is it possible for a Democrat elected president in USA to jump to Republican Party because the mid-term election depleted Democrat’s congressmen/women. A Governor in Nigeria’s adapted processes of political power is the head of the party that brought him/her to power based on the ideology supported by the people he/she “applied” to govern. The “seedling” is the Party of origin’s manifesto and it must be tendered to germinate to the best of the tendering possibilities.

Given the poverty endemic in Ebonyi State, it is very clear that they must have fallen for a one-man staged consensus ploy to move from the party they all agree provided the seedling that must mature in 4-year tenure with a scorecard to present like performing an AGM.

No referendum was conducted to show that the majority of Ebonyians are set to dump the ground the seedling is growing to replant on another ground a different type of seedling with a pre-destined premature outcome as 4-year tenure seems truncated.

Nigerian constitution says that a Governor and his Deputy are immune from litigation or actionable by law while in office, it didn’t say that when they incur the wrath of the platform that shields them that the platform can die and allow them to live in isolation of the platform like saying that a shark, the biggest fish, could decide to leave the ocean and stray to a shallow river. Such an act consciously or unconsciously carried out, destroys the terms of immunity bestowed on the shark by the value of the water it strayed in. “Noblesse oblige”, that you remain faithful to the oath you swore which includes protecting also the party that brought you to power as a legal personality, if you like, a spirit recognised by law.

The Governor and his Deputy seem not to have respected the platform they swore to stand on and provide the dividend of democracy as expressed by their manifesto or the ideology that made them acceptable to the people. Protecting the constitution obliges keeping an eye on the letters of the law as well as the spirit of the letter, hence the spirit that led the Governor to belong to a party cannot be seen as a deceitful spirit whence it flows with it to win power. It could be seen as getting married on the deceitful ground, and when detected the deceiver, this time the person who got power through the party should be seen as a fraudster; and Nigeria must not allow fraudsters to lead the States or even the Nation.

By Nigerian law “419” is obtained by deceit and when a leader cross-carpets without subjecting his/her reasons for cross-carpeting to a referendum, it must be seen as 419. And 419 as seen in Nigeria is predicated on so much so injustice that pervades all the rungs of the social ladder in Nigeria.

At the highest level of political power contest, most observers know that elections show how injustice reigns in Nigeria as Kano, Borno and Rivers could be seen as how such injustice reigns in Nigeria. And for 80 million registered voters to be so apathetic that only less than 15 million votes accounted for the winner of a National election, it could be seen as people being helpless as injustice reigns like insecurity turns the people helpless as today.

And on Maupe’s programme on Sunday evening, the Youth leader of APC and a trustee board member Ismeel Ahmed admits that when people are not empowered from the LGA levels to have input on how they are governed or choose the national leaders, they could express some helplessness that could give room to voters’ apathy come 2023.

Like Ebonyi people seem to have just relied on the Governor to provide the “yam and knife”, hence as he defects or cross–over, they avoid the wrath of the knife and prefer the portion of the yam he could offer, as poverty makes most of them “ass lickers” as Chimamanda expresses in Americanah, “You know, we live in an ass-licking economy. The biggest problem in this country is not corruption. The problem is that there are many qualified people who are not where they are supposed to be because they won’t lick anybody’s ass, or they don’t know which ass to lick or they don’t even know how to lick an ass. I’m lucky to be licking the right ass”.

Ebonyi Governor used to claim that because he decided to “lick the right ass” Ebonyi became prosperous. And, so! Are Ebonyians going to accept to be ass lickers in the distribution of national wealth? God forbid! Nigeria should not be a country where people could claim prosperity on the basis of ass licking.
Ofo is a symbol of justice in Igboland and it rejects ass lickers hence the need to weigh morality alongside just mere letters of the law. The party that a Governor used as a platform to come to power is also a person in law and it must be respected in the oath-taking process as worthy of being protected, otherwise, the ass-licking process could be endless in Nigeria.

Ariole is a Professor of French and Francophone Studies, the University of Lagos.

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