By Tochukwu Ezukanma
Recently, President Mohammadu Buhari took a verbal swipe at the
agitators and proponents of restructuring. He characterized them as
“naïve and ignorant”. The president’s scoff at restructuring and
its advocates irked many Nigerians; and elicited their criticisms of
him. The generality of Nigerians are passionate supporters of
restructuring Nigeria. Without much understanding of its significance
and specifics, they are singing its praises, extolling and touting it,
as something of a panacea to all our political and social problems.
The restructuring of Nigeria will not provide a solution to our
innumerable and immeasurable problems because the wellspring of our
problems is attitudinal, not constitutional. It is our perverted
attitude towards the law – our entrenched penchant for breaking the
law – that is the hemlock of the Nigerian society. Most of our
national problems and maladies are direct consequences of lawlessness.
And they can only be resolved or significantly reduced by an attitudinal
change towards the law, not by endless tinkering with the constitution.
With our culture of lawlessness, any constitution, irrespective of how
exquisitely written, and the ideals it embodies, will be violated and
abused. So, until Nigerians learn to respect the rule of law, no
constitutional arrangement can work effectively in Nigeria.
Our law books abound with magnificent laws. If we obey these laws, our
present constitution, even, with its obvious flaws, provides the basis
for building a peaceful, democratic, secured and just society. With
obedience to the law by the generality of Nigerians, the political class
will seize to be corrupt, fraudulent, election-rigging, grasping, and
money-stealing panjandrums. They will become public servants, completely
subject to the will and legitimate aspirations of the people.
Inevitably, Nigerian citizens will rise from pawns and stooges in an
elite power game to become the focus of the interest, concern and
actions of their elected and appointed government officials and every
institution of government. Are these not the essence of a democratic,
secured and just society, irrespective of the specifics of the
constitution?
While there is a need to restructure Nigeria, we have placed much
emphasis and misplaced hope on it. The devolution of more powers and
fiscal responsibilities to the states will not automatically elevate our
societal morals and ethics. “Characters are not so easily changed as
laws”. So, a restructured Nigeria will not automatically relieve our
moral and ethical surrealism; our moral squalor and ingrained proclivity
for lawlessness will persist.
All tiers of government will still be run by the same iniquitous
political clique matchless in their official brutality, arrogance of
power, and buccaneering despoliation of the country. Invariably, the
system will remain what it has always been: anarchistic and unjust.
Without an attitudinal shift towards the law among Nigerians, no
constitutional arrangement will appreciably improve the Nigerian
situation. She will remain a disorderly country steep in corruption,
social injustice, official brutality and mass poverty.
However, it is somewhat perplexing that President Buhari unequivocally
denounced restructuring. After all, it is one of the planks of his
political party’s (All People Congress) platform. It is obvious that
despite their lip service to restructuring, the Nigerian power elite are
averse to it. The former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is now a
fervent advocate of restructuring, did not restructure Nigeria in his
eight years of presidency. And our Christianized, congenial, gentleman
president, Goodluck Jonathan, also failed to do it.
The yarn that with the exception of those from the Northeast and
Northwest geo-political zones, the senators are all for restructuring is
suspect. With three senators from every state, the four geo-political
zones that supposedly support it have a majority in the senate. Why have
these senate aficionados of restructuring, with their majority in the
senate, not started the legislative process to restructure Nigeria?
Simple, irrespective of tribe, religion, zone and party affiliation, the
power elite do not want to restructure the country. They are very
comfortable with the status quo; and will not countenance any momentous
change to it.
In the same speech that he condemned restructuring, the president made a
strong and pertinent case for the financial independence of local
governments and state judiciaries. In their greed and hypocrisy, the
governors are opposed to these because they want to continue to
emasculate the local governments, expropriate their funds, and
manipulate, and even, scuttle their elections. They also want to retain
a financial choke on the state judiciaries, and continue to bend them to
their personal wills.
From the dishonesty and equivocation of the Nigeria political class on
restructuring, President Buhari stood out: he stated his unambiguous
position on the matter. Secondly, against the opposition of state
governors, and even, the federal legislators, he is resolutely advancing
the financial independence of local governments and state judiciaries.
Unfortunately, his demonstrated virtues of honesty and courage are
anathemas in the unpromising conundrum of Nigerian politics.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.