ABSOLUTISM

Why should laws be applied equally to all? If a small cabal has political power and the rest don’t, it is only natural that whatever is fair game for the cabal should be banned and punishable for the rest. It is only when many individuals and groups have a say in decisions and the political power to have a seat at the table that the idea that they should all be treated fairly starts making sense.  – Why Nations Fail

Democracy by its very definition is the embrace of a pluralistic society. We should not entertain absolute power as it delays development and that is why we remain a developing nation today.  We must never allow our enthusiasm or loyalty for our party to contravene the very rules which we swore to protect in a democratic setting. We must create and strengthen inclusive political institutions, which will in turn support inclusive economic institutions that will empower a broad segment of society and make for a more level political playing field.

Our democracy was not the replacement of our military dictatorship by another absolute power. It was a broad coalition made up of all of us. We rose up against absolutism and the emergence of our various political parties was a consequence of this. The RULE OF LAW, in its true sense, also emerged as a by-product of this process. With many parties at the table sharing power, it is natural to have laws and constraints applicable to all of them, lest one party start amassing too much power and ultimately undermine the very foundations of pluralism. We should take care not to throw away the good that we have established. Protecting this ideology does not mean that you are against one party or the other. It means that you are protecting the very principles that some of us have died for. Those in the midst of this melee should be mindful of this and our Nigerian Bar Association should protect the spirit of the law for all.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party, is attempting to take us down a very dark path. They seem intent in crippling the opposition by hook or by crook and making Nigeria a one-party state. A party which has an unhealthy resentment for dissenting voices is paralyzing the democracy we all labored for.  PDP politicians talk about “capturing” this state or that state, but, actually, that is exactly what the party is doing (and plans to do) with its corrupt impeachment or pardon policy.  

The PDP wants to be all-powerful and kill a healthy opposition. What then is our democracy? How do you have a premier league without opposition? Football teams need rival football teams lest they do not get any competitive games and the sport will not develop. The issue is really as simple as that. A strong healthy opposition is crucial to any democracy. If we cannot learn from developed countries, then let us use India as an example. In this year’s general election, the world’s largest democracy demonstrated the beauty of a healthy opposition clearly evident in the electorate’s voting pattern.   

Ekiti has been “captured” and a former governor who was impeached though never arraigned for fraud has been reinstalled by the PDP’s old boy network. Adamawa has been “conquered”. The governor there dared to speak up against his protector and benefactor, and worse still jumped ship and joined the opposition.  Nassarawa governor’s impeachment process has already begun. The same show of force, suppression and inducement, which was used to guarantee success in Ekiti, is in full sway in Osun ahead of the governorship election there. We know that Rivers, Oyo, Kwara, Edo, Kano and Imo are all on the radar.  Subsequent impeachments might even be messier than that which toppled Murtala Nyako. Of course, the former governor wasn’t a saint in office, but this doesn’t justify why the rule by law – not the rule of law – was deployed to remove him. 

State Houses of Assembly are being bribed into using political imbalance in favour of the ruling party. The Adamawa State House of Assembly, which, in 2013, passed a vote of confidence on the then PDP Nyako, suddenly finds him culpable of impeachable offences.  He is now found guilty of financial recklessness dating back to 2007. The House has certainly indicted itself, because, if this is true, then why did they close their eyes to it when Nyako was their son?

      

It was Nelson Mandela, after a life long struggle with the apartheid regime, that extended his hand to a former foe and declared that they needed each other as united they could build the Rainbow Nation but divided would destroy their homeland. Our leaders would do well to learn from his words.