The legislative coup against democracy

With stealth powered by effrontery, the Nigerian federal legislators have been and are doing their best to erode the foundations of democracy which Nigerians are trying to build on.

Quietly within the cyclone of noise about zoning, election dates, the back and forth between the National Assembly and the INEC chairman and governors who were not supposed to be governors and whatever else is being thrown at the public, the legislators have been chipping away at the Constitution and the Electoral Act to ensure they find a way to entrench themselves in power.

A few weeks ago they wanted a quid pro quo; to have a ‘right of first refusal’ to their positions as legislators in return for giving the President of Nigeria the right to use his assistants as ‘delegates’ during the party convention. Because legislators have no term limits, this right of first refusal means that once a person has been granted the God (since everything in Nigeria is done in the name of God) given right to ‘win’ then as long as he wants to contest that seat, no one in his/her party can contest for that seat. The American’s we ‘borrowed’ our presidential system from do not have this clause in their constitution or electoral laws but when it comes to mangling the democratic process, no one can beat Nigerians on innovation. Somehow, that story died down and no one is quite sure why or how. Did the story die because the legislators realized this was something they would not be allowed to get away with, or did the story fizzle back into the crack it came from because it was already a fait accompli?

Now they are back again with another trick. This time, they have tinkered with Section 87(4) of the 2010 Electoral Act to secure the opportunity to blackmail their parties into giving in to their demands. According to the new provision, all political parties must have a national executive committee which the legislators are automatic members to (along with former presidents, vice presidents, presiding officers of the National Assembly etc.). How is it that the nation’s Electoral Act is so concerned with the internal workings of political parties that it goes into detail about the quorum for decision making at these party national executive committees which of course give our legislators an advantage? This is a round about way of getting their ‘rights of first refusal’ because on the party level they can always vote as a block to ensure that they get ‘re-nominated’ even if members of their own party do not want them. How is that for democracy?

To be fair, they have a rational explanation for this inclusion: it is about time they did something to checkmate the president and the governors who use appointees as delegates during party primaries. If you have ever wondered why presidents and governors have so many special assistants and advisers – the mystery is solved – these special assistants and advisers turn into delegates who usually vote exclusively for their benefactors at party primaries. For these well meaning legislators, the fact that they will be able to vote to secure their candidacy is secondary – the realobjective is to strengthen democracy by protecting her from god-fatherism.

The Legislators also want to insert a clause in the 1999 Constitution in order to compel the executive to implement allmotions passed by the National Assembly. All. Absolutely no qualifications regarding the number of legislators who passed the motion or any review as to the practicality of the motion. This means that if the legislators in their wisdom decide to pass a motion to ensure women are dressed ‘decently’ and our upright policemen are given enforcement powers, the executive would have to execute. With their well-deserved reputation, earned with their utterances, shenanigans and antecedents, do we feel safe letting our legislators wield these types of powers? Apparently the reason behind this particular insertion is to counter the problem created by the fact that the executive often ignores motions from the legislators. For instance, the National Assembly says its motion regarding a landslide in Kwande Local Council of Benue State was ignored until some of the communities in the area were affected by a volcanic eruption. So there is a legitimate sense of frustration that their initiatives are ignored…but our legislators and indeed all arms of government should realize that the checks and balances in our system of government are meant to ‘slow’ certain things down and ensure that policy, directives, regulations are well thought out before they are implemented.

So the question for us regarding our legislators is Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? ‘Who will guard the guardians’? A key purpose of the presidential system of governance, with three separate arms of government, is to get all three to check each other and balance out the powers that they have. However, as legislators grant themselves all sorts of powers – who will check them? This is no idle question because in addition to these amendments and insertions the legislators have again, devoid of the drums and whistles which usually accompany their work, recently increased their powers by giving themselves a direct line in the budget so that they no longer have to go through the executive arm for funds…even the judiciary –whose independence should be the most fiercely protected as the last hope for the common man, does not have this privilege. What have our legislators done to deserve this?

Like many Nigerians, I am tired of the excruciatingly snail-like pace at which we are developing positively especially when we leapfrog into sophistication when it comes to detrimental actions such as kidnapping, smuggling and corruption, however I would rather institutions and processes are designed properly to provide the necessary restraint than have our legislators take on so much power. They are barely controllable as they are. Where is civil society when you need them? Where are those who have sworn to act as guardians of the guardians when powers are being concentrated in one place? We need to call attention to this silent, deadly coup on democracy being waged by our not so honorable legislators.