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Recently, a legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola, suggested the setting up of an interim national government for a period of six months to address some of the issues affecting the country. This is due to the seeming uncertainty concerning the 2023 elections. Chief Babalola fears that using the current Constitution to conduct another election will engender the same faulty leadership and system the country is currently grappling with.
He advocated that the proposed interim national government, which will consist of all retired presidents, vice presidents, governors and some selected people, would discuss a new constitution which should provide for part-time legislators and non-executive president. “Moneybags now control the lever of powers. If we allow the present constitution beyond 2023, what we will be getting is recycling leadership who will continue the old ways,” he said.
As expected, his statement attracted lots of criticisms. For instance, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, said Babalola’s proposal would truncate the country’s democracy. Saying it was too late to call for the suspension of the 2023 elections; Adoke noted that setting up an interim government would go against the constitution.
According to him, democracy is sustained by periodic elections where the voters express their preference on who should govern them. He noted that the 2023 elections were around the corner and the electorate was already primed to exercise this power. Hence, he noted, it would be an anti-climax for them to be left on a cliffhanger.
No doubt, Babalola was right when he said that the preamble to the current Constitution which states that it was made by the people of Nigeria was a lie and that it was imposed by the military. We agree with him too about the high rate of insecurity and other malaise plaguing the country. The exchange rate of the naira to dollar, as he lamented, was high and the level of the country’s external debts was outrageous, as the country was already bankrupt.
But, we disagree with him that there can be no other way out and that the nation is jinxed if Nigerians fail to agree with him. It is even curious that Babalola suggested drafting former presidents, vice presidents and governors to form the interim national government. Did these former leaders drop from the moon? Were they not the same former leaders who brought Nigeria to its current sorry state? What difference will they make to change the narrative? And what legal framework do we use to legitimise the interim government contraption?
We believe that in spite of the challenges facing the country, setting up an interim government is not the solution. It will be an invitation to chaos. We have had an interim national government before and it didn’t solve any problem. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s military government imposed the one headed by the late Ernest Shonekan to complete his transition programme. It was short-lived as the late Gen. Sani Abacha seized power and started his own transition programme. We don’t think that the proposed interim national government will do half of what a democratically elected government can do.
Moreover, interim government is undemocratic as well as unconstitutional. Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) stipulates that the country will only be governed in accordance with the constitution. It is only during war time or when the country is unable to conduct an election that an interim government will be contemplated.
Since power abhors a vacuum, everything must be done to ensure that the 2023 elections hold. We are hopeful that the elections will be better than the previous ones. Our democracy is still evolving and we are making progress by the day. A few months ago, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the newly amended Electoral Act 2022 into law. A major clause in that Act is the electronic transmission of election results. We believe this will go a long way in checking rigging and, if well implemented, will help to enthrone credible leaders in 2023.
Before then, let the government muster enough will to curb the pervasive insecurity in the country. We have lost many precious lives and property. It is not enough to issue weak orders that end up not solving any problem. We had previously given suggestions on how to tackle the spate of insecurity in the country. Government can also look into the report of the 2014 national conference and find a way to implement some of its noble recommendations.
Politicians, on their part, must sit and chart the way forward for the country. They must enthrone internal democracy in the parties and ensure that the process of electing candidates for various offices is transparent and credible.
Interim national government must not be contemplated at all. Nigerians sacrificed a lot to get the military out of power in 1999. It will be foolhardy to indirectly bring back another undemocratic era to the country.
