By Nwokedi Nworisara
After what you called Presidential elections one of the fall outs has been
the reported call by a Political Party in Lagos to Igbos to leave Lagos to
their “own states” if they fail to vote her candidates .There are reports
of harassment of traders by “area boys” loyal to a political godfather in
Lagos and debates and suggestions of “mass exodus to develop the east”
This situation is cumulation of past intrusions of religion and tribe into
politics leading to avoidable clashes.
Well this article is coming to call to caution those who think they can
just separate or impose their own vision on others without further ado. It
is not as simple as that. While power devolution may be worthwhile for
sustainable developmental ,we must also understand its dynamics and be
ready to obey laid down rules some of which are not apparent. We must tell
ourselves the home truth.
First that Nigerian citizens have equal right to live anywhere in the
country including within their own native soils and no one can legally
prevent anyone from performing their legitimate tasks and that includes
voting for a candidate of their choice. Only a federating Unit can grant
the powers that “Lagosians” are trying to appropriate.
Unfortunately it seems that today ignorance of the Constitution is so
pervasive that people now forget that the State is not even a federating
Unit. The 1999 constitution does not accord States the kind of powers
that the original three Regions had and does not even give it to the newly
created “zones “because it simply does not possess the legal powers to do
so being only a “caretaker constitution” like that of 1979. The above is
so because these documents were merely extensions of military
contraception’s of 1966 and 1967 that enabled it rule Nigeria at a time of
crises. There was no democratic process which should first settled the
historical problem of constitution making but chose to ignore it. The
makers of these constitutions assumed wrongly that Regionalism and the
1963 constitution was abrogated but not knowing that it was only suspended
awaiting normalcy to return. So they went ahead in an attempt to change
it! In the learning process not being able to achieve their aim,they
proceeded to accord permanent engagement to the interim military and only
succeeded in making permanent the crises the military had come to
remove.Today it has grown to a colossus as you can attest.
So the “Yoruba” if there truly exist such now does not have powers to
order out the Igbos if there is too such a homogeneous tribe to leave
Lagos to their “own State” if indeed also there is such a State now. These
were conceptions that preceded independence and no longer exist in the
same sense going by the 1963 constitution. Nigeria as a nation recognizes
only Regions as units of its democracy not States nor local councils nor
zones. That is why you cannot have a State police legally. That is why you
do not have citizens of states but you did have citizens of Regions which
now stand suspended awaiting its return when Nigeria overcomes the
“crisis”or as Gen. Ironsi put it” restores law and order” and this is what
brought the Military as caretaker to govern. Legally you cannot move
forward until you restore a status quo in a political structure that was
suspended. That is why the six geopolitical zone is unworkable and cannot
be empowered by law to act on its own. That is why the states are comatose
and cannot even grow politically. All these military experiments a la
diarchy has failed too. The “no -go areas” that perpetuates our military
influence in governance cannot be backed by law even if you make them Acts
of the National Assembly and no matter the number of “civil rules” you
have had or constituent Assemblies or constitution you cannot empower the
State or local government to grow independent of your monthly allocation.
When indeed some of them attempt to find novel ways to do so the problem
of the whole will drag them back.
So my friends don’t even begin to think that you can one day drive the
Igbos back to their states because there is nothing like that. We are all
Nigerians and upon that basis we live and work anywhere in Nigeria
awaiting when this merry go round will more properly delineate our
subunits in accordance to the only credible law that derives from the
Masterplan of Nigeria as contained in the 1963 constitution. This can only
happen when we lift the suspension of the 1963 Constitution in whole. Only
then can each Region on its own as legal Federating units decide to create
States or Zones or retain the present ones or even merge them.
You see we suspended a constitution that remains nevertheless the basis of
our legal system. Unfortunately we have continued to use the same legal
system even when virtually disabled until today we begin to see that the
law no longer give justice in due time without extra padding or what you
call corruption! We continued to manage all other institutions emanating
from the constitution we suspended expecting no distortion in outcome but
truly the circle cannot close and we cry about corruption forgetting that
we had spiritually corrupted everything ourselves. Now you need the army
to fight ballot box snatchers compared to the early sixties when the
police is equipped with only a baton and they can arrest anyone anywhere
and lead the person through lonely bush paths to prison. All they need to
quote for you is a portion of the law and they receive your obedience. It
is just the effect of a properly aligned political structure whereby the
constitution is in sync with the flag,coat of arm and the national Anthem
which goes along to produce stable and lasting institutions. Ie where the
votes add up and two plus two makes four; where the citizens count,not
where there is always a discrepancy as to the number of the dead and
living.
So for those who think they are indigenes of a State and are swollen
headed to residents they need to know that they have no more right than
the ones they oppress since the only recognizable status is the Nigerian
citizen and nothing else.
But if we need to change things or we have to recognize any other thing
then we have to lift the suspension on regionalism first. Then we can
organize and reorganize from that solid legal basis whatever we want to
be,whether we want to live in trees or build skyscrapers or we want to
build walls all must be according to only one law,the 1963 constitution
and nothing else. To get there I have said it many a time,there is a
simple way. Make simple declarations of purpose. Say that Nigeria is no
longer in crises to enable the Military disengage properly. Then return
Nigeria to the status quo of 1966. To do so we must understand that the
military has no right nor capacity to speak for Nigeria. That the military
was an aberration only a stop gap measure to restore law and order and
that until we can agree indeed that law and order has been restored the
military cannot disengage. Also to recognize that the military has not
disengaged because their task has not been completed despite the many
civil rules (1979-83;199-date )which have all but now ended in disasters
being only based on an imbalanced structure and laws .Also that you do
not change something which was suspended. If you desire changes you must
return to the status quo and then make changes according to the only
widely acceptable law still existing. Whatever you built up outside this
law is null and void because it cannot endure.
For those who yearn to make laws that befits only their tribal brothers
they also have to wait until the suspension is lifted and then they gather
in Regional Assemblies to pass their new laws which in essence must be in
tandem with the 1963 constitution. So don’t rush to eject other tribes for
you cannot even achieve it and cannot defend it. It is a furtive exercise
at this time.