RAISED VOICES

“If you listen to the voice of thunder you will not be soaked with rain.” Ghanaian Proverb.

One of the most distinguished former Federal Permanent Secretaries, Alhaji Ahmed Joda last week lent his own elder’s voice in support of the initiative of President Obasanjo and Babangida to draw the nation’s attention to serious threats to the security and survival of the nation. Praising the two former Presidents for playing elders, he said the future of the nation is too important to be left in the hands of those who now hold political offices. He proferred his own views on the way forward, amidst on-going cacophony over whether Obasanjo and Babangida are even qualified to discuss Nigeria’s future; over the legality and propriety of Chief Edwin Clark’s accusation and demands that northern leaders like Babangida and Buhari condemn and put out the fire of the JASLIWAJ insurgency; over Alhaji Asari Dokubo’s fire-spitting threat that the south-south will destroy the north if this insurgency starts to resemble a war; over reactions of Femi Fani-Kayode to Chief Clark calling him a thief; over demands by pro-constitutional conference groups that this is the time to talk on their terms, and over Chief Clark’s invitation to President Babangida to a public debate to test who is more in control of his faculties.  

Several raised voice are threatening to drown out Alhaji Ahmed Joda’s contribution. Chief Doyin Okupe, the new aide on the block brought in to shore up the sagging performances of Dr Reuben Abati loudly lambasted Pastor Tunde Bakare and Malam Nasir el-Rufai, for their unceasing and scathing criticisms of President Goodluck Jonathan’s record in office. Both have also been taken up by the State Security Service on their comments, action which drew their own howls of disapproval for the administration’s intolerance and tendency to use coercive measures against expressions of rights to criticize.

Then the Governor of Kano State Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso resurrects the old frontline on on-shore, off-shore dichotomy, and says the north will challenge it because it is illegal, unconscionable and intolerable. Amidst all these, the leadership of the CAN writes a letter asking the US to label the JASLIWAJ (Boko Haram) insurgency as a terrorist group. Everyone was falling over themselves to influence the visiting US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton on how the US should see the insurgency. The lady herself spoke through another medium after the briefest of visits to say the US is looking for solutions beyond the application of force, and certainly far beyond the northern part of Nigeria. Worshippers were killed in churches and mosques in Kogi State, and in parts of Maiduguri, Bauchi and Potiskum, and the babble of accusations went up a notch higher.

Alhaji Ahmed Joda’s contribution made the case for a comprehensive review of the constitution as a key element in addressing the nation’s long-term structural and political weakness, but he does not trust the National and State Assemblies and the Presidency to understake this sentive job. He suggests the establishment of a Constituent Assembly made up entirely of elected members standing on non-partisan basis. The National Assembly would create the Constituent Assembly, while President Goodluck Jonathan, all former Presidents and Heads of Government and their deputies, former Chief Justices of the Federation, Presidents of Senate and Speakers of House of Representatives and one Governor from each political zone should draw up the agenda. This Assembly would, within one year, produce a Draft Constitution which would be subject of a referendum by the Nigerian people. If approved, it will be brought into effect by an Act of the National Assembly. The composition, procedures and outcomes of the Constituent Assembly would not be subject to any legal challenge.

It could be a function of a mindset which sees value in providing solutions to difficult problems, but Alhaji Joda’s proposals would not even leave the ground. When he questions the legitimacy and integrity of the national assembly to give the nation a new constitution that substantially addresses its weakness, and then demands that the same legislature voluntarily enacts legislation to bring into force a Constituent Assembly, his suggestion is literally dead on arrival. A constitution review or writing exercise which sidelines the entire executive and legislature in terms of its agenda, autonomy and output in a nation such as ours may be the best thing we need, but the reality is also that those who sit in leadership positions today will not let it see the light of day. The President will at least be involved in agenda setting, which is not a minor task in itself. But Governors and legislators will be required to stand aside, while ordinary Nigerians will be elected to produce a draft constitution that goes straight to the citizenry for assent or rejection.

People with elected mandates (even if largely disputed) and constitutional powers to make laws, including amending or re-writing constitutions will not just roll over and submit to popular clamour for another set of people to do jobs which is theirs. They will raise legal issues. They will ask what happens if the Assembly is deadlocked or inconclusive. They will ask why, as representatives of the people, they will have little say in the process, but ex-military rulers will set the agenda. They will ask what happens if the Assembly prescribes what they consider offensive or unacceptable to their own version of the national interest or their own interests. They will see a very thin line between the Constituent Assembly and a Sovereign Conference, because they will be powerless to override or tamper with its recommendations. All these arguments can be countered of course, and there are many radical and ingenious suggestions over how a new nation can emerge through a conclave, but all of them predicated on negating existing institutions and structures. 

Given its record since 1999, the legislature is not going to accept to surrender such vital powers it has such as law-making and constitutional amendment to a body they will create using the same constitutional powers they are not trusted with. Nor will this President who defined the boundaries of constitutional amendments as excluding “settled issues” even contemplate a radical option of creating an autonomous Constituent Assembly. The Governors also have deep, vested interests and immense influence, and they will scuttle any effort that creates a body which is not amenable to their influence to re-write our constitution.

Which is all to say that Baba Joda’s suggestions are doomed to fail if they are being contemplated under the current disposition of power and authority. The idea of an autonomous Constituent Assembly of elected people whose work will only be decided directly by Nigerians is feasible if a monumental struggle involving civil society substantially whittles down the resistance of the present executive and legislative arms, and succeeds in making the case that  a credible re-writing of our constitution is the most critical requirement for resolving the political, economic and security problems of the nation.

There will still be many who will argue that imperfect as they have been, our constitutions are not the basic problems of the nation. Our political system is fed by value systems which include the historic absence of accountability by leaders, structural and systemic corruption and progressively-declining levels of competence in managing political pluralism. These are problems which get worse by the day, and which no constitution has succeeded in addressing. Many Nigerians will argue that if you could have honest and competent leaders with a strong political will to enforce the laws of the land, the most pressing political problems of the nation will disappear.

Rather than challenge our current leaders with the duty to facilitate the emergence of a new constitution, or introduce new arrangements under which all Nigerians will feel sufficiently relevant and comfortable (a challenge they will not even contemplate), it may be more useful if Alhaji Ahmed Joda’s other suggestions are assessed in the context of debates about the current direction and challenges of the nation. Although he places his other prescriptions in the context of the proposals for a constitutional review, all of which have to be concluded before 2015, he suggests that President Jonathan should overhaul his cabinet to improve its quality. The President should work with the judiciary to diligently curb corruption; introduce an austerity budget and reduce waste; work hard to ensure that the 2015 election are free and fair; faithfully execute all awarded contracts; and become more involved in solving the nation’s security problems. Then the big one: the President should renounce any intention he may have of contesting the 2015 election, because this is the only way he can give the nation a credible and acceptable constitution, and a free and fair election.

These last few recommendations will place Baba Joda firmly among the ranks of prominent people who have drawn the ire of the President’s people as those who see nothing good in his administration, and who are the architects of all his shortcomings. Such is the deep division among Nigerians, with those who think the President is the biggest disaster to befall the nation; and those who think the disaster is the people who are bent on bringing him down, no matter what he does, that there are no neutrals. Perhaps Baba Joda will be spared some of the most virulent verbal assaults owing to his rather detached relationship with the political process, but it is doubtful it any ideas on improving our current situation which are founded on the registered incompetence, corruption and absence of vision of this administration will even attract the mildest of interest from it. Perhaps the real value of Alhaji Ahmed Joda’s intervention is not in the substance of his suggestions, but in the spirit behind them. This spirit says clearly that our nation is in very deep crisis, and only unconventional thinking and action can salvage it.