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This is the last in the series during which I have pointed out that followership failure has led to leadership failure in our country. I have also stated that we have not, one and all, performed satisfactorily the duties assigned to us by the Office of the Citizen. It is this failure, according to my thesis, that has led to our country looking like a saloon car that has been smashed to smithereens by a trailer.
Today, we are looking at how our State Governors have contributed to the wobbly nature of our democracy and country. One, some Governors have formed the habit, a bad habit, an illegal habit, of routinely dissolving democratically elected local government councils before the expiration of their tenures. After the dissolution, they engage in another bad habit by handpicking caretaker committees or sole administrators. This is a violation of section 7 of the 1999 Constitution. But do they care? No, they don’t because they know that if anyone is foolish enough to take the matter to court it will sit there unresolved for 10 years or longer. Two, there are State Independent Electoral Commissions (SINECs) in all the States of the Federation. But the Commissions are independent only on paper, not on performance. The Governors in all the States, yes, all the States, put these Commissions in their front or back or breast pockets to ensure that the local government elections are declared one hundred percent in favour of the ruling party in the State. The slogan in some of the States is always “one hundred percent,” and everyone who lives there gets the message. In some States, some Governors who are friendly with say a Senator in an opposing party may dash him one or two local governments in his Senatorial District to give the impression of a free and fair election. But that is if the Governor is compassionate. The ruthless ones don’t care.
They just collect all the local governments to align with the accepted philosophy of one hundred percent. No one can name any State in Nigeria since 1999 where an opposition party has won many of the local government seats in that State. So what is called grassroots democracy is a sham, hogwash, an illusion that is more illusory than illusion. Three, since 1999 State Governors have formed the horrid habit of either withholding part or simply hijacking all the federal allocations meant for the 774 local governments. It is called State-Local Government Joint Accounts but the State Governors are fully in control. They only dole out to the Local Governments whatever they want on the day that they wake up on the right side of their beds. This practice has starved many rural communities of development eventhough they receive, on paper, huge sums of money from the Federation Account. It is this vile practice that led to a landmark Supreme Court judgment in July 2024 that declared the withholding of Local Government funds unconstitutional. Inspite of this judgment many States, if not all States, still find creative, administrative bottlenecks to utilise in retaining funds that ought to go to their local governments. And if those states have the same colour of flag as the centre the appropriate federal authorities that ought to intervene find it convenient to look the other way. This illegality often puts all states of the federation in the eye of a tornado at the end of every month when the money is supposed to flow into the wallet of the Local Governments. But no Local Government Chairman has ever gathered the guts to challenge the withholding of the funds except he wants to be ostracized or declared a pariah, or worse. He will rather lie down with the dog and wake up with a flea. He does know that if he coughs in opposition to what the Governor has done the man will pummel him with gloves removed. In that kind of situation no local government chairman will want to be a hero because he knows, instinctively, as Graham Greene said that “heroism stops where politics begins.” He prefers to stay where he is and wrestle not with the Governor but with sorrow. For him comfort is more important than confrontation. He believes, according to an Arab saying that “the hand you cannot bite, you should kiss it.” So this attitude of nonchalance by the Local Government officials and their constituents has reduced virtually all the local governments in Nigeria to big containers with little content.
Four, most, if not all, of the State Houses of Assembly have largely failed in their duties of providing checks and balances or significant legislative oversight. That is why there are bare-knuckle fights between some Governors and their Speakers and legislators. These fights occur when the Governors have not succeeded in making the State Houses of Assembly rubber stamp parliaments whose bills and motions they can tuck under the carpets of their well-appointed offices. Of course, the State Legislators that refuse to polish the Russel and Bromley shoes of their Governors sometimes do get impeached “quick-quick.” Others get the message that there could be fire on the mountain and they then run into the open arms of the Governor.
Five, all Governors have immunity from civil and criminal prosecution during their stay in office. Some, if not all, of them use this immunity under section 308 of the Constitution to do whatever they want with “security vote.” These security votes are not accounted for so there is room, ample room, for diversion into illegal pockets that have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the governance of the State. There is ample evidence that a lot of that had happened in the past because some of the Governors have been jailed. If we had a fairer system than what we have now, many more would have been in jail. But the smart ones have so far escaped because they are smart enough to know how to escape. And if you don’t know how they escape, I can tell you free of charge: “I chop, you chop.” That is the escape route.
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Six, some Governors have been able to use state machinery, administrative, tax agencies, security and even political thuggery to harass and intimidate political opponents, media personnel, youth groups and other groups critical of the performance, or lack of it, of their governments. Some Governors have even demolished buildings belonging to their political opponents giving all kinds of silly excuses for that insane action. Such extreme steps represent a niggling guilt of their inadequacy.
In a state where there was a serious disagreement between the Governor and the State House of Assembly, the parliament was locked up and security men planted there to prevent entry by the legislators. The parliamentarians then decided to hold their meeting under the shade of a tree. Don’t doubt it. It is a true story. In matters of impeachment there have been some bizarre scenarios too. One Governor was impeached by his State Legislators at 5 am in a hotel in another State. In another instance, a Deputy Governor was impeached for breeding chickens in his official residence while the Governor who was behind the impeachment was breeding pigs in his official residence. No impeachment, because what was good for the goose was not good for the gander. So over the years the extreme punishment of impeachment has been weaponised senselessly in our democracy. Even at the Centre there have been attempts or threats of impeachment but none has yet succeeded.
The question that arises from these excesses of some State Governors is this: Why are we then asking for more powers to be devolved to them? Good question because as Edmund Barke said: “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” The answer is that our country, a huge country, cannot function efficiently and effectively with the concentration of too much powers at the Centre. It cannot. That is why it has not. If we do not move away from the present high level of centripetalism, we will continue to have stunted growth. One question. For example, how can the Federal Government be the owner and manager of solid minerals in 774 local governments? It cannot. That is why thieves thrive in that sector. Another question. How can the Federal Government manage insecurity in all the villages of Nigeria? It cannot. That is why it has failed in that sector. That is why it has now accepted the idea of State Police. So moving a lot of powers from the Centre to the States is a must but it must come with checks and balances; it must come with the awareness of the citizens that they have an important role to play in curbing their excesses. If the citizen performs the duties of his office well, the leaders will do their jobs well and the country will win, not wilt.
• Series concluded
