Road to Political Reforms Still Thorny

Vanessa Obioha reports that the public lecture on reforming Nigeria by renowned lawyer and activist Muiz Banire (SAN) at Niran Adedokun’s book launch leaves little hope for the country but some stakeholders at the panel discussion argue otherwise

A lot is at stake for Nigeria in the 2023 elections. It is one election that many believe will alter the political landscape either for good or for bad. However, that outcome dependst on the present action of leaders and the people. At least, this much was gleaned from the paper presentation by renowned lawyer and activist Muiz Banire (SAN) at the book launch of lawyer, journalist and PR practitioner Niran Adedokun. Adedokun’s book ‘The Law Is an Ass’ is his third book and a collection of short stories that plumb social ills and the legal system. The book launch was in commemoration of Adedokun’s 50th birthday.

At the public lecture, Banire tackled the topic ‘Reforming Nigeria: People Vs Structure’. His argument was premised on ideologies behind the emergence of Nigeria as a country and as a people.

Banire traced the current issues facing the country to the amalgamation where he noted that the division of the country into southern and northern protectorates in 1914 was a clear indication of the ethnic divides visible in the country today.

“Whilst the colonisation of the South was done through the missionaries and traders, with the adoption of western education as a potent tool, the colonisation of the North was largely executed through military conquest. This is the categorisation often referred to as direct and indirect rule.”

He argued that through the lens of history, Nigeria has never been a united race and therefore, continuous conflict will remain a perpetual reality.

“Historically, the North would appear to have been an economically unviable structure in the arrangement, the administrative imperative of which compelled the amalgamation.”

This arrangement, he said, made the promotion of nationalism almost unachievable, as seen in the First Republic.

“From late Awolowo’s perspective, factors such as ‘gross incapacity and utter lack of honesty and comprehension on the part of those who directed and administered the affairs of the Federal Government; abnormal imbalance in the constituent units of the federation; total absence of correct ideological orientation and of courageous and unselfish leadership at all levels of our governmental activities, but more especially so at the federal level; tenacity of office, that is, overpowering an obsessive desire on the part of our political leaders to stick indefinitely to public offices by all means, fair or foul’ were responsible for the fall of the First Republic. These failures he attributed to both the deficiency in the Constitution and the human propensities to evil-doing. All these are still very much with us a nation. Suffice to say that the situation, rather than improving, is degenerating vastly by way of the promotion of our diversity.”

However, in addressing the agitations to reform Nigeria, Banire has a pessimistic view on the reality of that agenda. As far as he is concerned, the desire to reform Nigeria will still remain a mirage given the leadership and structural deficits in the country today.

“While virtually all the major challenges, ranging from insecurity, political instability, economic downturn, pathological corruption, etc. would appear to have solutions, the reality that always stares one in the face is the incapacity to advance the ultimate solution, which is the right leadership. Thus, as the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo put iit, the sources or harbingers of the problems are both human, (people) and structural, (the Constitution). The solution, where feasible, will, therefore, revolve round the reorientation of the people as well as tinkering with the structure.”

Banire argued that good leadership will be dependent on the electoral system because where the electoral system is not corrupt, then the people will be motivated to choose the right leaders. In his perspective, both the leaders and the followers are the necessary change agents.

“The reformation of Nigeria will remain a mirage until the leadership recruitment process of the country is capable of producing leaders that are sincere, focused, visionary and missionary. The present electoral system cannot give birth to such leaders. Thus, as important as the people, in terms of leadership is important, the emergence remains a challenge. The role of the people, as in the followers, will also remain illusory until such time we are able to make their votes count and full participation actualized.”

The activist didn’t shy away from criticising the National Assembly that has kicked against electronic transmission as suggested by the electoral umpire.

“The latest introduction of the electronic transmission of results is being resisted by the National Assembly for obvious reason of rigging elections. This could have enhanced the result transmission process and save it from manipulations such as forgery and alteration, defacement of result. Victorious candidates are often raped of the results earned at this level of transmission. To worsen the situation, the election petition Tribunals are not that helpful in enthroning electoral justice. Even, the minimum qualification threshold is too low to produce the enigma we are searching for. At the end of the journey, what we witness is garbage in, garbage out. This is the product of the extractive political structure that we have retained in the nation that is making political and economic advancement of the people impossible.”

On voter apathy experienced in the last elections, Banire said over 70 percent of voters who participated in the election are ignorant.

“Those who could not connect their votes to their lives. They don’t know why they are voting, much less knowing the reason they are voting a particular political party or candidate. They often treat their votes as a product for sale and which indeed, in a lot of instances, are/were sold. Apart from this, where they vote voluntarily, they vote on the basis of parochialism dictated by sentiments of nepotism, tribal affiliations, township loyalty or other primordial wishy-washy considerations often aided by desperation to ensure victory for the preferred individual or party. Hence, at the end of the ballot exercise, not only do the outcomes not reflective of the genuine will of the voters/electorate, they are often torpedoed by sharp practices which enable the incompetent lots to be declared as winners and by implication, the leaders of the people. This type of leaders cannot drive the process of reformation of the country as they are ab initio out there for their selfish reasons of personal aggrandizement and material acquisition.”

He also condemned the lackadaisical attitude of the elites and middle class

“They neither vote nor even help in enlightening the ignorant electorate who determine their leadership for them and by so doing, endanger them.”

In terms of restructuring Nigeria, Banire suggested that there is a need for structures to be midwifed into institutions. According to the lawyer, the present structure “breeds injustice and unfairness. It discourages competition and promotes dependency of the constituent parts on the center. The centre is completely over centralized and largely concerns itself with what ought not to be its business. All these constitute an impediment to the progress of the nation and an albatross to the reformation campaign. That forms the basis of the campaign for the regionalization of the country, particularly along the dictates of the erstwhile 1963 Republican Constitution which encouraged competition and productivity. That was when regions were substantially autonomous.”

He argued that institutions must not be subjected to the whims and caprices of human beings. He said institutions are meant to respect the laws establishing them only, laws of the land as corpus juris and not individuals.

“What obtains, however, in practice is to act on the directive of individuals. The net effect of this is that in Nigeria, the system continues to build strong individuals as opposed to strong institutions. It is the midst of all these confusions that one may inquire into the way out of the quagmire. Certainly, from the above, it will appear that both the people, in terms of leadership and the structure, where it is able to be developed into institutions, are essential ingredients of a new Nigeria.

Banire also touched on promoting nationalism, instilling moral values as well as overhauling the constitution. He captured it this way: “The constitution itself is not only an unduly voluminous document, it is full of contradictions and various complexities. It contains so many unintelligible and controversial provisions. It addresses several issues that ought not to be in the document. It is one of the most voluminous constitutions I have ever come across.”

As much as Banire’s outlook for Nigeria is not too bright, the former Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala-Usman believes that the Nigerian problem is fixable. In fact, in the panel discussion moderated by THISDAY Backpage columnist Simon Kolawole, she argued that the 2023 elections will be a test to our democracy.

“I believe that 2023 is a test to our democracy because in 2023 you will have a platform where everybody will literally bear their father’s name. We will have a dynamic within the polity where the narrative around this person is from my area or will do this for me has been thrown out of the window. You see the 2015 elections which dealt around ethnic and religious lines which we spoke to the issue of having a northern candidate that will protect us and fast forward, the north is riddled with banditry. So for the northern electorate, the issue that it has to be my person that resolve my issue is literally out of it. The same applies to the southern region with some of the narratives that is our turn are issues that we need to recognize and link it to competence.”

She also spoke on the ideologies guiding political parties.

“When you see people moving from one party to the other without any difference in ideology, it is literally speaking that there are no ideologies. It’s just an electoral platform to win an election. These are some of the discourse that we need to being to the table and solidify by having like-minded people within the political space that will define ideology of the party and sustain that ideology and concretise and actualise it.”

For the federal lawmaker Shina Peller, the 2023 elections provides an opportunity to achieve a new era in Nigeria.

“We have a country with enormous resources both human and natural resources. I believe it is the right time to achieve this but we cannot do this without preparing, and the only way we need to prepare is to identify the opportunity that we have in the system which is actually an opportunity to strengthen the institutions other than strengthening individuals.”

A common thread in the presentation of the speakers was the agreement on the need to fine-tune state institutions and make them strong enough to withstand individual idiosyncrasies. There lies the pathway to revamp all sectors of the Nigerian polity, while putting her on course for greatness.