By Tochukwu Ezukanma<\/p>\n
Recently, President Mohammadu Buhari took a verbal swipe at the
\nagitators and proponents of restructuring. He characterized them as
\n\u201cna\u00efve and ignorant\u201d. The president\u2019s scoff at restructuring and
\nits advocates irked many Nigerians; and elicited their criticisms of
\nhim. The generality of Nigerians are passionate supporters of
\nrestructuring Nigeria. Without much understanding of its significance
\nand specifics, they are singing its praises, extolling and touting it,
\nas something of a panacea to all our political and social problems.<\/p>\n
The restructuring of Nigeria will not provide a solution to our
\ninnumerable and immeasurable problems because the wellspring of our
\nproblems is attitudinal, not constitutional. It is our perverted
\nattitude towards the law \u2013 our entrenched penchant for breaking the
\nlaw \u2013 that is the hemlock of the Nigerian society. Most of our
\nnational problems and maladies are direct consequences of lawlessness.
\nAnd they can only be resolved or significantly reduced by an attitudinal
\nchange towards the law, not by endless tinkering with the constitution.
\nWith our culture of lawlessness, any constitution, irrespective of how
\nexquisitely written, and the ideals it embodies, will be violated and
\nabused. So, until Nigerians learn to respect the rule of law, no
\nconstitutional arrangement can work effectively in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Our law books abound with magnificent laws. If we obey these laws, our
\npresent constitution, even, with its obvious flaws, provides the basis
\nfor building a peaceful, democratic, secured and just society. With
\nobedience to the law by the generality of Nigerians, the political class
\nwill seize to be corrupt, fraudulent, election-rigging, grasping, and
\nmoney-stealing panjandrums. They will become public servants, completely
\nsubject to the will and legitimate aspirations of the people.
\nInevitably, Nigerian citizens will rise from pawns and stooges in an
\nelite power game to become the focus of the interest, concern and
\nactions of their elected and appointed government officials and every
\ninstitution of government. Are these not the essence of a democratic,
\nsecured and just society, irrespective of the specifics of the
\nconstitution?<\/p>\n
While there is a need to restructure Nigeria, we have placed much
\nemphasis and misplaced hope on it. The devolution of more powers and
\nfiscal responsibilities to the states will not automatically elevate our
\nsocietal morals and ethics. \u201cCharacters are not so easily changed as
\nlaws\u201d. So, a restructured Nigeria will not automatically relieve our
\nmoral and ethical surrealism; our moral squalor and ingrained proclivity
\nfor lawlessness will persist.<\/p>\n
All tiers of government will still be run by the same iniquitous
\npolitical clique matchless in their official brutality, arrogance of
\npower, and buccaneering despoliation of the country. Invariably, the
\nsystem will remain what it has always been: anarchistic and unjust.
\nWithout an attitudinal shift towards the law among Nigerians, no
\nconstitutional arrangement will appreciably improve the Nigerian
\nsituation. She will remain a disorderly country steep in corruption,
\nsocial injustice, official brutality and mass poverty.<\/p>\n
However, it is somewhat perplexing that President Buhari unequivocally
\ndenounced restructuring. After all, it is one of the planks of his
\npolitical party\u2019s (All People Congress) platform.\u00a0 It is obvious that
\ndespite their lip service to restructuring, the Nigerian power elite are
\naverse to it. The former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is now a
\nfervent advocate of restructuring, did not restructure Nigeria in his
\neight years of presidency. And our Christianized, congenial, gentleman
\npresident, Goodluck Jonathan, also failed to do it.<\/p>\n
The yarn that with the exception of those from the Northeast and
\nNorthwest geo-political zones, the senators are all for restructuring is
\nsuspect. With three senators from every state, the four geo-political
\nzones that supposedly support it have a majority in the senate. Why have
\nthese senate aficionados of restructuring, with their majority in the
\nsenate, not started the legislative process to restructure Nigeria?
\nSimple, irrespective of tribe, religion, zone and party affiliation, the
\npower elite do not want to restructure the country. They are very
\ncomfortable with the status quo; and will not countenance any momentous
\nchange to it.<\/p>\n
In the same speech that he condemned restructuring, the president made a
\nstrong and pertinent case for the financial independence of local
\ngovernments and state judiciaries. In their greed and hypocrisy, the
\ngovernors are opposed to these because they want to continue to
\nemasculate the local governments, expropriate their funds, and
\nmanipulate, and even, scuttle their elections. They also want to retain
\na financial choke on the state judiciaries, and continue to bend them to
\ntheir personal wills.<\/p>\n
From the dishonesty and equivocation of the Nigeria political class on
\nrestructuring, President Buhari stood out: he stated his unambiguous
\nposition on the matter. Secondly, against the opposition of state
\ngovernors, and even, the federal legislators, he is resolutely advancing
\nthe financial independence of local governments and state judiciaries.
\nUnfortunately, his demonstrated virtues of honesty and courage are
\nanathemas in the unpromising conundrum of Nigerian politics.<\/p>\n
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tochukwu Ezukanma Recently, President Mohammadu Buhari took a verbal swipe at the agitators and proponents of restructuring. He characterized them as \u201cna\u00efve and ignorant\u201d. The president\u2019s scoff at restructuring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n