Suitable Constitution

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

IN CHAPTER 5, we have noted different forms of Government. .ln the same chapter, we have also asserted, with reasons, that the best form of Government is democracy. This, however, does not mean that, at any given time, Nigerian leaders are barred from choosing any of the other forms of Government. But it does mean that they will be doing so with their physical eyes open, and with’ their inner eyes blinded by excessive ambition, morbid love of power, utter indifference to the welfare of their people, and mad disregard for worthy, well-established, and well-vindicated political precedents. It does mean also that once they have eschewed democracy in favour of say oligarchy, autocracy, or tyranny, they must be prepared to accept the ineluctable and inseparable consequences of their action.

In this connection, they must be reminded that any form of Government other than democracy is evil because its motive forces are greed and utter disregard for the rights, welfare, and happiness of the people. Unless it is exceedingly benevolent (which is rare), or the masses of people concerned are primitive, ignorant, and disease-ridden, an oligarchical, autocratic, and tyrannical regime can only be sustained by fraud, intimidation, or violence. At the same time – and this is the incontrovertible verdict of history – it is more often than not changed by soulless intrigue, satanic terror, or extreme violence. This should not surprise us. In its cornmon form, oligarchy, autocracy, or tyranny in any State automatically generates its own antithesis which, through dialectic processes, produces change which may be evolutionary or revolutionary, bloodless or bloody. In contrast, however, since a democratic Government is installed by the free consent of the majority of the people, it is equally alterable by similar consent – sans intrigue, sans terror, sans violence.

Therefore, if we want to behave like wise men, we must learn from the valuable experiences of others; we must be guided by the principles which ~e have expounded in Part II, and follow, with the utmost fidelity, the now well-charted path of democracy. But as we have noted in Chapter 5, there are more ways than one of practising democracy. Hitherto, we have, all of us, indiscriminatingly and unscientifically followed the British democratic practice, as if it was the best method, and, in any case, because our British masters had taught us to believe that it was the only method worth emulating. But we now know better. From the exposition which we have made, it is quite clear that the American method is better than the British, and that the French method under de Gaulle is better than the American. In the proposals which follow, we will try to adapt the best in the French and American methods and introduce our own innovations. To this end, we will formulate a series of basic principles which, in our view, are concomitant to democracy, compatible with the raison d ‘etre of a State, and indispensable to the liberty, well-being, and happiness of individual citizens. When we have stated these principles, we will comment on them as and where necessary, for purposes of explanation and clarification.

(1) There should be a Head of State and a Head of Government for the Federation of Nigeria, who would be designated President and Vice-President, respectively. The Head of Government for each Region would be known as Governor.

(2) The office of President should be purely ceremonial, and should be held in two-yearly rotation by anyone not being under the age of 55 years, selected by a simple majority of the members of the Legislature of the Region concerned. The selection shall be formally ratified by Parliament. The rotation among the Regions should be on the basis of population, in descending order of magnitude.

(3) The Vice-President and the Governor should be directly elected by an absolute majority of the registered electors of the Federation and of the Region respectively, voting at the election. Where there are two or more candidates and no one candidate secures an absolute majority, there would be another ballot within, say, 30 days, between the two candidates who secured the highest votes during the first ballot.

(4) The Vice-President or the Governor should not be a Member of Parliament or of the House of Assembly. But each should be free to appoint the other members of his Executive from outside, or from among the Members of Parliament and Regional Legislature, as he pleases.

(5) The tenure of office of the Vice-President or the Governor should be five years; but no one should hold either office for more than four consecutive terms. Some people hold the view that there should be no Head of State as distinct from Head of Government because, according to them, the duties of the former can and should be performed by the latter. They contend that the office of Head of State is more or less a sinecure, and that the expenses incurred in maintaining it could be usefully saved. They contend further that it is derogatory to give the title of Vice-President to the Head of Government who, under these arrangements is called upon to bear the very heavy burden of the day-to-day administration of the affairs of the Federation, whilst the gentleman who does practically nothing in this regard goes by the revered and pre-eminent title of President.

For our part, we beg to differ. We are strongly of the opinion that the office of the Head of State is essential not just because it is fashionable to have one – usually to compensate a retired elder statesman – but because we believe that it is in the interest of the country that such an office should exist.

Headships of foreign diplomatic missions in Nigeria, as in other countries of our size and importance, change hands and increase in number, from time to time. By diplomatic etiquette, the old and the new incumbents are required respectively to bid farewell, and to present their letters of credence, to the Head of State. On such occasions, it is conventional for short speeches to be made.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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