Drug test for political aspirants

RECENTLY, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) requested the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to include drug test in the screening process for aspirants to become nominees of the party for elective positions in government. The chairman of the agency, Buba Marwa, who promised to make a similar request to the other parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the major opposition party, stressed that Nigeria required a mentally stable set of leaders to pilot its affairs. He recommended that all aspirants to elective or appointive offices in government should take such tests. He pointed out that some state governments, like Kano State, were already conducting drug test for politicians and government appointees.

However, the proposal to political parties to make drug integrity tests part of the screening requirements for aspirants seeking to contest various political offices in the 2023 elections on their platform was immediately challenged by some of the political parties. A coalition of 18 political parties under the aegis of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) “rejected the proposal, describing it as outrageous and a deliberate attack on the sensibilities of lovers of democratic governance” in Nigeria. The national chairman of IPAC, Yabagi Sani, maintained that the proposal portrayed politicians as drug addicts who must be certified fit to run for various elective offices by the NDLEA. He declared that it was unfair to target politicians who are working assiduously to build a strong, virile, united, progressive, egalitarian and decent democratic nation for drug tests. Others have also opposed the proposal, insisting that the Nigerian constitution and electoral law do not require drug test for candidates.

While it is the case that neither the constitution nor the Electoral Act specifies drug test for public office-holders, these legal instruments demand high standards of integrity from those who seek to hold public office.  In several provisions, they specify a list of qualities expected of public office-holders. For instance, Section 137(1)c of the Constitution states that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind.  A person may not be qualified for the position if he is under a sentence of imprisonment or fine by a court or tribunal for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud. These provisions, while not explicitly requiring a drug test, expect those aspiring to such offices to be free of hard drugs.  Thus, what the NDLEA’s proposal has brought to the limelight is the fact the no effort has been made to ascertain that those who aspire to public offices are people of sound mind ab initio by subjecting them to integrity test.

Marwa’s prescription has foundation in the experience of governance and the behaviour of certain public officers. It is a fact that Nigeria has a drug problem. The behaviour of certain public officers has provoked calls for psychological and psychiatric evaluation to ensure that they are of sound mind. Behaviours such as the quest to amass stupendous wealth by dipping their hands in the public till, public utterances that are unbecoming of a leader with sound mind, and violent behaviour against family members and official assistants show the need to ascertain their psychiatric state.  Thus, a general health assessment, including psychiatric test and drug integrity test, may help to fulfil the requirements of the Nigerian constitution.

Section 144 of the constitution also stipulates infirmity of mind and body as a ground for impeachment. Health fitness issues should be taken seriously and considered a ground for stopping persons from contesting elections. We are of the opinion that aspirants should be subjected to a comprehensive fitness test, the result of which should be made public. It is an appropriate thing to do because those in government as leaders should demonstrate and model good behaviour for others to emulate.

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