Form of Government

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3 years ago

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

Furthermore, by analogy, the proposed provision is even justifiable on purely technical grounds. Freedom of association is one of the fundamental rights of a citizen. He therefore has the right to float a private limited liability company or promote a public one if he so desires. But there are certain obligations which the law imposes upon anyone who desires to incorporate and run a private or public limited liability company. He must meet such obligations or go without a limited liability company together with the advantages which flow from owning and operating such a company. Similarly, anyone who is unable, in association with others, to fulfil the conditions whereby he could exercise his right to stand for election, should uncomplainingly allow the law to have its course.

It will be seen, therefore, that to place a ban on independent candidates is legally justifiable, and will not work injustice on anyone. On the contrary, such a ban will help to instill in Nigerian public men that sense of discipline and adherence to great ideals which the country’s political leaders lack – and need very badly.

Local Governments serve the dual purpose of being the foundation on which the Regional and Central Governments rest, and the agencies through which the Regional Governments, and occasionally the Central Government as well, touch the lives of the people most intimately. They do more. At their level, the practice of democracy is much nearer the ideal than it is at either the Regional or Central level. The Local Government ward is, in most places, small enough for its entire membership to meet and confer regularly, and for a conscientious Councillor to have personal contact with every man or woman, boy or girl. Furthermore, Local Governments provide so many arenas for training in public management for, and afford opportunities for participation in public life to, many more public-spirited citizens than would ever have a chance at or even reach the Regional or Central level.

In short, the importance of Local Government in fostering a democratic way of life, in promoting good Government, and in sustaining the Regional and Central Governments, cannot be overemphasized. It is imperative, therefore, that it should be strengthened and democratized wherever it is known to be weak and undemocratic. We would be deceiving no one but ourselves if we imagined that there are some magical political tricks by means of which we could make an autocratic or oligarchical Local Government set-up serve as a sure foundation and lasting support for democratic institutions at the Regional and Central levels. We would end up either with a rickety and crooked superstructure or with a catastrophic collapse of the whole edifice.

One of the evils which plagued our lives under the First Republic was the existence of feudalism in Northern Nigeria. Education, modernization of agriculture, and full employment, will in time kill this evil. But we would considerably hasten its demise by making provision in the constitution now that not less than three- fourths of the members of every Local Government Council should be directly elected.

The experiences of the past have shown quite clearly that it is unsafe and not in the interest of democracy and public order, to vest the Central Government with the power of suspending a Regional Government or the latter with the power of suspending or dissolving a Local Government Council. We now know that such power has, more often than not, been used not for the public good, but in furtherance of the narrow partisan interests of the political party in control of the superior Government. Consequently, the action of suspension and dissolution has always been regarded by the people affected as a blatant affront, and a derogation and subversion of their right and authority to elect the people of their choice, to form and run their Government. In the controversy and recriminations that have invariably followed, the most rabid bitterness and hatred have been engendered between the rival political parties involved, leading eventually to violence, and sometimes bloodshed and death.

If a Regional Government or Local Government Council is bad, it should be left to the responsible electorate to so declare at the next election. It is most improper, on all counts, for an extraneous body, however highly placed it may be, to substitute its own arbitrary judgment for the will and wishes of the electorate. In every instance to which one can point, when a Regional Government has been suspended or a Local Government Council has been suspended or dissolved, it is crystal clear that far more mischief and inconvenience has been brought on the people than would have been the case if the Regional Government or Local Government Council had been left severely alone till the next election.

In the event of a grave threat to public order arising from the action or inaction of a Regional Government or Local Government Council, it is our candid opinion that the superior Government should and can devise other means for coping with the situation without recourse to the arbitrary and xtremely provocative procedure of suspending the State Government or dissolving the Local Government Council concerned.

Apart from all we have said, it is a gross violation of the principle of federalism for the Central Government to deal in such a high-handed manner with a Regional Government. It destroys the very essence of co-ordinateness which ought to exist between them.

It should, therefore, be provided in the Constitution:

(i) that the Federal Parliament or Central Government should not have the power to suspend or perform the functions of a Regional Legislature or Government in any circumstance, save when the Federation is at war; and

(ii) that the Regional Legislature or Government should not have the power to suspend or dissolve a Local Government Council in any circumstance, during the Council’s statutory term of office.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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