NIGERIA MISSED OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFE TIME

In 2006, the OBJ administration made a spirited effort to put to rest the nearly imperfect constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That period was actually going to be a significant period in the anal of Nigeria history. The National Assembly aborted the much debated Constitutional Review Bill which at the time synonymous with Third Term or Tenure Elongation Bill. The strangulation of the Bill on the floor of the Senate was received with a thunderous applause and backslapping, consequently the Anti-Third Term apostles became heroes of democracy overnight.

However, while the distinguished Senators received encomium from the aftermath of their successes, one wonders if the then celebrated victory was actually for the masses of the Nigerian nation or for a selected few whose political fortunes are tied or disconnected from the success or failure of Third Term agenda.

As a student of contemporary political theory and comparative federalism, there is no doubt that changing the rule midway into the game is not only inconsistent but also dubious; “for those who come to equity must come with clean hands”. Again, there is no doubt that Nigeria Federal Constitution has been patterned and tailored to conform with the centralized Military Command Structure, no thanks to the long years of military rule. In addition, as such, the Nigeria Constitution as presently composed consists of several clauses, which are antithetical and inimical to the practice and operation of a true federation. Better still the constitution is long overdue for amendment.

The constitution is the peoples’ charter, it is the soul of a nation that gives legitimation to socio-economic and political structure of society, and when such a document is conflictual with societal aspiration then it need be overhauled. Restructuring arises in a political system when existing structures fall short of the expectation of goal; when it fail to meet up with the yearning and aspiration of the people. More so, in a federation like Nigeria where the tendencies are towards centrifugal and disintegration, restructuring could bring succour and promote sense of justice and fairness necessary for co-existence if not survival of a federation. That was why Ibrahim Mantu led Constitutional Review committee identified 118 fundamental principles to be reviewed in the constitution.

On one hand, while it can be constructively argued that usurpation of the constitution for political aggrandizement of an individual is a vice, on the other hand, strangulation of the entire Bill to stop political ambition of a person cannot be consider a virtue. This is where logic comes to play, in analytical political theory the emphasis is on logic rather than quantification, this is because quantification is a difficult task in the social sciences and to emphasize quantification at the expense of logical analysis is to make futile attempt equating the social sciences on equal basis with pure science or better still equating one (1) principle of tenure elongation with the remaining one hundred and seventeen (117) principles that needs amendment in the constitution.

Quantification in the pure sciences can permeate a condition if proved where (1) is greater than or equal to (117) i.e. (1 > 117) However, it is not so in political analysis or rather in socio-political realm that one (1) principle is greater than or equal to (117) others. It is illogical to say that tenure elongation has pre-eminence over other salient principles such as derivation, resource control, appointment of judges to supreme court, independence of the judiciary, legislature and the local government etc that constitute the remaining 117 others. One would have thought that the distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House will use discretion and logic to rubbish Tenure Elongation clause in favour of other salient areas, knowing fully well that all the upheavals and crisis in the convoluting federation are due to constitutional lacuna. The evidence of this deficiency can be seen from the militant in the Niger Delta to the abject poverty and unprecedented official and private corruption at all levels of our national and social strata.

For instance, if we examine the conduct of the Lawmakers by applying large scale hypothesis, we might as well asked, what is the motive of the pro-third term viz a viz anti-third term? INTEREST. Of course, their interest could not have said to have any fundamental difference in principle and comparison, rather interest is the dividing and unifying factors that aligned them on the Pro-Third Term and Anti-third Term axis, two sides of the same coin.

But instead of making use of the opportunity history bestowed on them to restructure and resolve once and for all the inherent contradiction in the convoluting Nigerian federation, in their zeal they threw away the baby with the bath water.

I wish to assert here that there are many structures of conflict bedeviling the Nigerian federation that had brought the country to the brink of disintegration on many occasions. However, Tenure Elongation through constitutional manipulation was a recent phenomenon in that order and has never been a major determinant of our survival as a nation.

Constitutional Review is not everyday event, it take government with strong political will to pull through constitutional reform in any society, because of the interests of those benefiting from the existing order and those that are not. Hence our distinguished lawmakers missed the opportunity of a generation to chart a new course of destiny for Nigeria, perhaps the black man. The American founding fathers did it for their country in 1787 in Philadelphia, the Australian in 1900, but for Nigeria the rest is history.

At this point, I conclude by saying that constitution is a sacred document and should not be doctored or manipulated for the purpose of a few but should reflect our deep-rooted values and foresight of our founding fathers. The glorification and promotion of the Third Term to the detriment of other salient issues that needs restructuring to say the least was a de-service to the Nigerian people. Perhaps, if Third Term had succeeded many of our lawmakers would have been on their way to political obscurity. However, the celebration and wine toasting that signaled the end of that attempt to review the constitution has now become history, only time will tell if the victory over the Third Term had been indeed for all of us or for themselves.” Hypocrisy they say is the tribute vice pays to virtue”. We are about to start another constitutional review jamboree, the same set of people are at work again, only time will tell if this administration has the gut to pull through a constitutional review process. Other views are welcome.

At this point, I conclude by saying that constitution is a sacred document and should not be doctored or manipulated for the purpose of a few but should reflect our deep-rooted values and foresight of our founding fathers. The glorification and promotion of the Third Term to the detriment of other salient issues that needs restructuring to say the least was a de-service to the Nigerian people. Perhaps, if Third Term had succeeded many of our lawmakers would have been on their way to political obscurity. However, the celebration and wine toasting that signaled the end of that attempt to review the constitution has now become history, only time will tell if the victory over the Third Term had been indeed for all of us or for themselves.” Hypocrisy they say is the tribute vice pays to virtue”. We are about to start another constitutional review jamboree, the same set of people are at work again, only time will tell if this administration has the gut to pull through a constitutional review process. Other views are welcome

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I think you are the hypocrite here as you were not able make clear your position.

Having said that, i dont really care whether the anti third term apostles had a hidden agenda or whether they were dubious or embarked on a mission of self interest. It was very clear to Nigerians that any move to go further with the constitutional review must still have a way of getting third term in it or causing a big time civil unrest. So the best way to avoid it was to suspend the whole process.
Who knows, the missed golden opportunity may have been a big time chaos Nigerians avoided.

Any day nigerians decide to work for themselves, they will do it perfectly without being pushed. Right now, our greed and wickedness makes us not so ready.

@nuzo,
Your post revealed the shallow understanding of the import of this post, which am not ready to debate with you, but I will just ask you a few questions, by the way, am not an hypocrite, this is an academic discourse with sound theoretical base so only enlightened people could contribute meaningful to this post. Well, am not an apostle of third term but do not support the way the honourable chicken out of the whole process, they should ve been more courageous and use their discreation.

The basis of Nigeria is the constitution, anyone familiar with Nigeria constitutional development will obviously have noticed so many fundamental errors in the document. The is the foundation of Nigeria nation, however, if your house is standing on a faulty foundation and under threat by raging storm of militancy, would you wait till a convenient time to fix the structural deficiency? What if the house collapse before a convenient time? Do you know militancy and the attendant crimes are all outcome of a constitutional based injustice? If they moved a step further and decide to seccede from Nigeria would you still wait for a convenient time? Or would you come out of your hidout from the far east to enlist in the army to fight in such a war? Am sure you will only send your goodwill message to your brothers and sisters at home. And by the way when is a convenient time after almost 50 years of independence.

SegzyJoe:

@nuzo,
Your post revealed the shallow understanding of the import of this post, which am not ready to debate with you, but I will just ask you a few questions, by the way, am not an hypocrite, this is an academic discourse with sound theoretical base so only enlightened people could contribute meaningful to this post. Well, am not an apostle of third term but do not support the way the honourable chicken out of the whole process, they should ve been more courageous and use their discreation.

The basis of Nigeria is the constitution, anyone familiar with Nigeria constitutional development will obviously have noticed so many fundamental errors in the document. The is the foundation of Nigeria nation, however, if your house is standing on a faulty foundation and under threat by raging storm of militancy, would you wait till a convenient time to fix the structural deficiency? What if the house collapse before a convenient time? Do you know militancy and the attendant crimes are all outcome of a constitutional based injustice? If they moved a step further and decide to seccede from Nigeria would you still wait for a convenient time? Or would you come out of your hidout from the far east to enlist in the army to fight in such a war? Am sure you will only send your goodwill message to your brothers and sisters at home. And by the way when is a convenient time after almost 50 years of independence.

Shallow understanding of what? Infact, you are the one viewing it from a shallow point of view. One even begins to think whether you really knew what the heat was like in 06/07.
Never mind though, we know how to fish out hypocrites like you out of their hide-outs.

Convenient time? . . . . . it was yesterday, today and even tomorrow, but unfortunately, nigerians from a certain quarter will never allow that dream come true. Hypocrites also make this dream impossible.

nuzo

Hypocrites, hypocrites, I wonder what is hypocritical about this post. This post is a of critique of the role of lawmakers at a critical time in our country's history which ordinarily a right minded person can review as lesson learnt from the past. I really do not know what is hypocritical about this. I observed you asked what is my Position in your first post, I think an intellectually inclined person will see my post as a critique rather than taking positions on nothing. Maybe you think am a politician or a PDP member, some people just like to attack others even when they lack competence on the topic under discussion.

Well, I know many people like you whose only source of information is on nairaland, yet you claim authority to know what you don't know. I suggest you move on to the romance section because that's where you belong. Enough of this ignoramus ranting, excuse me please, I don't like responding to unintelligible post like yours. take care.

You are one hell of a funny and confused dude. Who cares if you reply my post?
You seem to be the one attacking me because i have a different view about your lame and unintelligent review. And secondly, because i easily noticed your hypocrisy.
In issues like this, criticizing people's positions without making clear where you stand yourself is hypocritical.

Ofcourse, i get so much information from nairaland, but its not my sole source of information. Where do you get yours from, or were you one of the lawmakers at that time?
Listen, i witnessed the third trem/consttutional amendment saga first hand and i can authoritatively tell you that majority of Nigerians felt that if the amendment had gone ahead, OBJ would have found a way to smuggle the third term bill in it. So the best thing to do was to suspend the whole show.

This is the simple truth about the situation at that time.