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Another game of revolving doors has begun. It borders on the interminable process called constitution review. As always, the National Assembly is at the centre of the drama. We are already used to the concert. We have had a surfeit of it since the advent of the Fourth Republic. Nothing remarkable has come out of any of the exercises.
But nothing can be more farcical than the ongoing show being enacted by Ahmed Lawan’s Senate. Lawan, by the way, is the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Like the others before this one, the leadership of the national legislature is giving us the impression that the Constitution is about to be amended. They are mobilizing Nigerians, through public hearings in various zones, to submit memoranda on what they want infused into the Constitution. As should be expected, Nigerians of different persuasions are falling over themselves in their bid to make submissions to the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review. They are doing so, based on experience, with reservations. But there are groups and individuals that have dismissed the exercise as sheer waste of time and resources. The sceptics are guided by the fact that we have gone through this route before. They have not forgotten that the outcomes have always been nothing more than mere tokenism. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, has not undergone any significant alteration, regardless of those attempts at a review.
The crux of the matter has always been the foundation or fundamentals of the Constitution. Nigerians who want a better Nigeria frown on the fraudulent label that has been placed on the country. They argue that Nigeria is neither a republic nor a federation. Yet, our Constitution makes bogus claims and pretensions about both. Discerning Nigerians are ill at ease with a Nigeria that is being dressed in borrowed robes. They want an end to this fraud. Their worries and concerns are yet to be addressed.
Like others before it, the present leadership of the National Assembly has called Nigerians out. The whole idea is to keep them busy and, possibly, divert their attention from the burning issues of the moment. It is a mind machine, which political actors always deploy to withhold reason and manipulate the thinking faculties of the people.
Ibrahim Babangida as Nigeria’s military president used it as a tool for the manipulation of the transition programme he put in place. By the late 1980s, Babangida had set 1990 as the year that his transition programme would terminate. But he needed to keep the people busy with other matters. That was how he came to set up the Politburo. With it, Nigerians were asked to come up with a political system that would suit their needs and circumstances. In the end, nothing came out of the exercise. It was merely diversionary. That is the tactic that our National Assembly has always employed on matters of constitution review. But to what end? That is the question to ponder.
Coming at the time Nigeria is practically on fire owing to the agitations for separatism and restructuring, the effort at constitution amendment may well be a ploy to give the impression that something is being done to address the concerns of the people. But that tactic is suspicious, especially in the light of the questionable democratic credentials of the leadership of the National Assembly. Lawan, the chairman of the National Assembly, has been described as a stooge of the Presidency. Nigerians are aware of the way he was anointed for the office. That was after he failed in the 8th Senate to clinch the position. He lost out in 2015 because the leadership of the Senate at that time emerged through a democratic process. But this time, Lawan was merely selected by the President. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that he is doing the bidding of the President. Lawan is trying to show gratitude to the President through his constant dramatization of nauseating loyalty.
When, therefore, Lawan charged at southern governors for calling for restructuring of the country, we knew what drove him into that frenzy. The President he serves does not want a restructured Nigeria. The President that anointed him has reduced Nigeria to a fiefdom. The President that Lawan is beholden to has serially violated all known principles of federal character. Lawan’s benefactor has made nepotism a state policy. Under the President that Lawan serves, Nigeria has become a killing field. In all of this, the Senate could have checkmated the President and called him to order. But that would not happen under Lawan’s leadership. He must do whatever the President says, however ridiculous. This is the Lawan that is telling Nigerians that his Senate will amend the Constitution to give them what they want. And we ask again, constitutional amendment to what end?
Nigerians cannot trust a Senate President who berated elected governors for calling on the President to convoke a national dialogue that will bring about a restructured Nigeria. These governors, to all intents and purposes, are concerned Nigerians who are genuinely interested in an arrangement that will make the country work. Their call was, therefore, borne out of patriotism. But Lawan, blinded by blind loyalty, misconstrued what the governors stood for. He told them that elected leaders are not supposed to call for restructuring or advocate for national dialogue. Nothing can sound more bizarre than this outburst from Lawan. The illogic in his statement beats the imagination. If those elected by the people to serve them cannot help the people to realise their wishes and aspirations, then we do not know who should.
The disposition of the likes of Lawan is pitiable considering the fact that they are the real problem that Nigeria has. When a country is in crisis, those who love the entity would do everything within their power to arrest the slide. That is love for country. The situation that Nigeria is facing at the moment is a challenge to the leadership. Leaders who mean well for the country would normally dissect the issues and proffer solutions that can work. That is what the southern governors have done. But the likes of Lawan want the old order to remain. Yet, this is the order that has led to the present disorder. Who should we trust between those who are advocating a change that will work and those insisting on an existing arrangement that has crippled the country?
From what we already know, we can say without fear of contradiction that the ongoing attempt by the National Assembly at constitution amendment is a well-rehearsed gimmick. It is not so much an effort at giving us a constitution that will meet our wishes and aspirations as a diversionary tactic aimed at dousing the welter of agitations for a restructured Nigeria. But the ploy will not work this time. The mind machine has run its full course. Its hoots and howls served their purpose then. But they have now petered out. The real sounds and soundbites of statehood have taken over. The leadership must identify it as the clarion call that will usher in a new and workable Nigeria. Dwelling on the jaded and discredited old order can only deepen the woes of the country.
