MY #SUBMISSION AT THE 10TH #HOUSE OF #REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON #CONSTITUTION #AMMENDMENT CONSULTATITIVE FORUM ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL REFORM
Yesterday I joined the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Ammendment to discuss the burning issues around Local Government Reform.
Earlier i had received a letter from the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon Ben Okezie Kalu to be one of the panelist to thrash out the issue of “Credible Elections At Local Government Level”. which Everyone knows and agree is greatly flawed, some would even say that what we usually have at that level are no elections, from my experience it is called “#Gbetan” i. e #CARRY #IT #ALL!!
Before our own panel got on the podium , a panel of former Governors had taken the stage to discuss the July 11 judgement of the Supreme Court expressly granting Local Government councils in Nigeria Financial Autonomy.
This Supreme Court landmark judgement is SIX months old but had not been complied with! Six months later! By who?
This judgement is the answer to the agitation of 21 years by well meaning persons who believe that local Government is a tier of Government in our Federating experience and not an appendage of the States, but some believe otherwise, and have argued that a federation should be two tiered , just Federal and State Governments. I differ based on the structure established by the constitution as at today.
Local Government Councils had gone through several experiences from the days of Lugard who on arrival in Nigeria adopted and relied on the existing local set up of administration adopted by the Obas in the South West, Obis in the East and Emirs in the north.
But over the last 50 years plus, different panels and commissions instituted by different administrations had tweaked with the Local Government particularly Murtala, Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida Abacha and all doing one thing or the other till this day that we are left with the 774 councils.
The spectacle today though is that the councils need serious revival and the stage was set for this by the landmark judgement for which the present administration of President #Bola #Ahmed #Tinubu must be given sterling credits , but curiously, the judgement has not been complied with, curiously indeed.
As I posited yesterday, now that Financial Autonomy would appear to be out of way, the issue of composition and structural administration of the council has moved up on the list of priorities, and that has pushed up the issue of credible elections, which the 10th House of Representatives committee must be given credits for the efforts to get a good ammendment of the relevant sections of the constitution to correct the seeming anomalies and maladies observed with regard to these important aspects of the local government administration as it exists today.
For me yesterday, I took a different path yesterday by focusing on the fact that we can attempt to cure the deficient realities via ammendment of the constitution, but we have also seen many instances of gross violations and abuses of the constitution i.e where the constitution is obeyed in breach! So how does that help us ultimately?
Even from the recent example of the resolution of the financial Autonomy issue via the Supreme Court judgement, it’s been Six months, it has not been given effect.
It was a “declaratory” pronouncement of the Apex Court with “immediately” as the “operational” word, but what has happened? Not forgetting that the interpretation of the law by Supreme Court and the judgement therefrom is as good as an ammendment of the constitution. As Former Governor Orji Kalu also affirmed yesterday.
Secondly, let’s take the trending and manifest issue of “vote buying”, which is the most vivid negative feature of our elections today, captured in the electoral act as an offence, for which many has been arrested, but for which no one has been punished, so what have we achieved with the inclusion of that clause in the constitution, a recent ammendment too?
The fastidious view of many that Governors will always have advantage because they appoint the #STATE #INDEPENDENT #ELECTORAL #COMMISSION [SIEC] CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS, is not the sole issue, why local Government elections cannot be credible, No, because comparatively President of Nigeria appoints the Chairman INEC, after screening by National Assembly as State Assembly would do for SIEC.
But we have had an INEC Chairman who had tried to do the right thing in the person of Professor Attahiru Jega, today a lot of people believe that level of isolation and insularity that Jega tended to display seemed to have waned.
However, we cannot build a nation without serious efforts in the direction of a political culture that wants a systemic change that all of us will fully commit and subscribe to, that is a sine qua non .
I believe we the practitioners i.e MUST START NOW the process of a #POLITICAL #ELITE #CONSENSUS which unfortunately cannot be captured and driven in the direct sense by constitutional Ammendment.
We can do all the constitutional ammendments, but if we do not find a way to institute firm political elite consensus and not engendered, constitutional ammendments may just be reduced to optics with superficial in effect.
If we agree, that we need a political system and culture where the practitioners agree that “opposition” does not mean “evil ” and not seen as bad while conversely the ruling party is perceived as the only good one, then we can start a political culture that will tolerate dissention.
We can have all the constitutional ammendments but without a political culture where practitioners are not driven by incurable greed and advantage taking of the system mentality, that prioritises the need to and strives for a society and system that works for us all because it’s a good system that can defend us all, since we cannot be political position holders for life!
A diseased womb rarely would deliver a healthy baby!
With a new serious political elite consensus that i canvass for, we must take far reaching decisions that will enjoy the buy in and the concurrence of all, then we can institute a regime where the constitution will truly be Supreme and enabled to deliver, this is contrary to what we have today, where there are people who are more powerful than the constitution, even in the literal sense.
I am pleased to hear Senator Adams Oshiomole talk about and EMPHASISE “CHARACTER AND VALUE” the political class” and a number of people spoke about the need and the timeliness to build strong institutions and not strong individuals, this is reasoned to be the panacea to the challenges that we see today in our political development.
As i also submitted, it does not matter who is made to conduct the local government elections , wether INEC or SIEC, or indeed angels recruited from heaven to conduct our elections, granted the system we have in operations today, it will be doubtful if the elections will be as credible as they should or are expected to me be it at the local government elections or others.
So It is not about who conducts the election, what of the roles and the huge number of other state and non state actors that also have roles to play in the conduct of our elections ?
How do we return the electorates themselves back to the days where their votes have a the required “ring of sanctity” that it used to have, where the electorate realise that election is not an event but their lives over the next four years as the case may be?
I reminded the audience that my Father, Chief F.A Daramola was a Local Government Chairman, Oye Local Government , elected on the banner of NRC in a state that was SDP and worked harmoniously with our reverred father His Excellency Bamidele Olumilua’.
My father was pulled out of retirement as a retired Principal of a Secondary School to contest the election with little or no big wallet! Yet he won landslide!
So my view is that constitutional ammendment efforts can attempt to do good to the constitution, and even try to prescribe stringent conditions to make the system and society better through the introduction of proactive clauses or the best of technology aimed at making our elections better, but it will not enjoy the deserved support from the practitioners as it should, because today, it will be deemed to be a case of committing class suicide or self imposed political “fatwa”,
My submission may not resonate well with a lot of people, and that’s fine, but we need to be real and true with ourselves, as a people and a nation, as it is said, to thyself be true.
We have a nation to build and it’s a collective effort. And we can not cut corners or look for short cut, we must go the whole hog.
In the meantime, I commend the efforts of the House Committee on Constitution Ammendment under the Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon #Ben #Okezie #Kalu, no doubts with the vast consultations that preceeded the yesterday event, i believe the committee is well intentioned just like all the assemblies before this 10th House of Representatives.
I must also thank Dr Ben Nwankwo of PLAC for the consistent good work that that entity had done with the parliament over the years, in conjunction with other foreign partners.
Dr Nwankwo is a patriot indeed using his skills and contact to advance the cause for a better society. He deserves to be celebrated for this consistent commitment
My worry though is how far this will go in the desired reform that is aimed at making not only the Local Government administration better but indeed our society ultimately.
I thank the Committee for the invitation to share my thoughts on these fledgling issues.
Long live the People’s Parliament.
#Congressman #Bimbo #Daramola
3rd December, 2024.