Opinion I When Governors Become Emperors

WHEN GOVERNORS BECOME EMPERORS

       

I had almost gone to bed on the eve of 2016 Christmas when a phone call filtered in from Germany, to engage me in an informal chat as usual. The caller, who happened to be my old-time friend, actually called to express his bitterness over what he observed on the television regarding one of the Nigeria’s governors.

       

According to the buddy, Kunle, he had on that very day watched a governor of one of the states in the Southern Nigeria commissioning a Christmas tree worth over half a billion naira whilst the leader in question was reportedly owing workers and pensioners in the state for several months. I laughed in French and therein told him that such show of shame had become common among most serving governors, hence the need for him to get use to the aberration.

        

I wish Mr. Kunle would someday meet with my dad whom I often refer to as a political philosopher. The old man – a well experienced octogenarian – one day informed me unequivocally that some states across the country were suffering from economic epilepsy, thus needed to undergo holistic lobotomy. His seeming candid view was informed by the way and manner in which some sitting governors invariably act as if they are not accountable to anyone.

        

To assert that currently some governors operate not unlike an emperor isn’t in any way an overstatement, and such weird custom is not peculiar to a particular state or region in the country. It suffices to say that virtually all the governors have, in one way or the other, been found guilty of such bilious and nonchalant lifestyle.

        

For clarity’s sake, an emperor is a man who solely rules a certain empire. An empire, on its part, could be described as a society of people that is being controlled by only one person. In summary, an emperor is a person, male individual precisely, who singlehanded controls the day-to-day activity of a particular society and stands not to be questioned by anyone whenever he errs.

      

With the above definitions, it has become clearer that truly most of our so-called leaders are presently operating like emperors in their respective jurisdictions. Take for instance, a situation where a governor would refuse to conduct the Local Government (LG) election in his state and such scenario would linger till he leaves office. In most cases, he would put up a façade in the name of an election towards the expiration of his tenure, perhaps to prove to people that LG polls were eventually conducted under his watch.

        

Why wouldn’t such governor be rated as an emperor when every other official in the affected state such as the legislators cum judicial custodians would remain a rubber stamp as the unfortunate scene prevails? Funnily enough, when a court orders the governor to without much ado conduct the long awaited LG polls, he would rather regard such legal directive as baseless.

        

On a monthly basis, the Federal Government (FG) would release funds accruable to the third tier governments via the various states. In the process, the said allocation would be hijacked by the governors and such funds would never be utilized on the projects for which they are meant. Instead, they would be channeled toward the implementation of non-feasible projects.

       

The judicial system in the states suffering from such unruly behaviour is vulnerable, to assert the least. I have often times witnessed a situation whereby an injunction is issued by a court of competent jurisdiction to stop a governor from taking a certain intended action, yet the latter would overlook the order with the notion that he alone is in charge of the state.

       

The vulnerability of the lawmakers in such states cannot be left out. Rather than act as independent elected officials, the legislators would be reduced to mere aides of the governor thus would be left with no choice than to operate as they were instructed by the latter. It’s indeed a pathetic circumstance. What is left for this set of governors is to fence their states in order to possess it as their personal asset.

       

As the uncalled ill lingers unabated, it’s noteworthy that the FG has a very vital role to play with a view to addressing it. There is a compelling need to, by law, scrap the various states’ electoral commissions. By so doing, the conduct of the LG elections would become the sole duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This signifies that it would no longer be the responsibility of the governors to determine when and how the said polls would be held in their respective states.

        

In the same vein, it’s high time the electorate woke up from slumber. They need to fully acknowledge that they possess the constitutional immunity to recall any lawmaker who is not living up to the expectations. Similarly, they needn’t be reminded that it’s equally their right to say enough is enough whenever the impunity of their governor goes to extreme point.

       

All in all, we must bear in mind at all times that he is an elected governor, not an emperor. Think about it!

 

Comrade FDN Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri

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frednwaozor@gmail.com

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