A recent editorial by TEMPO Magazine fantastically deconstructing President Obasanjo's "woolly" "no-two-sovereigns" argument against the Sovereign National Conference (SNC) is a wonderful testament to the powerful logic that some writers in our Nigerian media can muster, logic which is captured in these memorable words:
"The SNC, according to the president, is another sovereignty. The president concludes that since there cannot be two sovereignties in the country, a Sovereign National Conference is invalid.......But what is disturbing and odd is that, on one hand, the president recognises that the people should be allowed to decide, and on theother hand, fails to recognise this by raising "his sovereignty" above that of he people in order for him to be able to decide for the people.
This is what we believe is self-serving, patronising and self-justifying. Mr. President is NOT the state. It is unacceptable. Put simply, if Mr. President sincerely believes in the sovereignty of the people, the people should be allowed to decide whether or not they want a conference."
There are other both sad and sinister sides to this sordid argument.
First, it sadly shows that the President has not availed himself of intelligent advice to steer him away from elevating his anti-SNC stance - which he has every right to - from this alarming view of himself as being at the same both ABOVE the people and BELOW the people. This Janus-like approach to leadership is bound to lead to nothing but chaos in the land if it permeates decision-making.
The sinister aspect reminds one of General Abacha, when back in 1994 he imprisoned Chief MKO Abiola for declaring himself president, because as he (Abacha) was the then sitting head of state, there could not be "two sovereigns." Thus, by the same analogy, it is not a stretch to presume that the new underlying assumption is that all those of us who are advocating for SNC are actually at the threshold of committing a treasonable felony.
I hope that it never comes to that.
With respect to the state or local police, the TEMPO article retorts in another simple but stellar fashion:
"The argument that state police force can be used for politically partisan purposes works both ways. If state police can be used for partisan purposes, then federal police can be used for such purposes too. But the president simply assumes without any argument or reasons that federal police cannot be politically misused."
Case ALMOST closed, for by focusing ONLY on one phantom fear, the president and those who share that fear INSIST to learn a wrong lesson ONLY from their past, and refuse to learn a RIGHT lesson from others elsewhere in the world.
Take for example the United States, the exemplar of federal systems in the world. Not a perfect place by any stretch of the imagination, but having practised the system for so long, and refining it as she has gone along, it is incumbent on those countries like Nigeria practising a "federal" system to ask how it is working in the US, or how it is not. It is not to ape it, but at least to learn it.
But we should not just ask the government officials, or just read the US Constitution: we should ask the people.
Well, a number of American people were asked recently. A survey of 1,830 randomly selected US adults was conducted between October 25 and November 18 of 2000 by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, a civic research organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administerd by the
University of Richmond. Here are the results, reported in the Washington Post of Thursday, February 1, 2001. It is reproduced below:
TABLE 1:
The Percentage of Americans who say each organization plays an important role in solving social problems in their communities
Labour Unions
21%
The Federal Government
28%
Civic or service groups such as the Rotary Club, LINKS, and the Lions Club
33%
State government officials
33%
Local news media
35%
The local school board
38%
Neighbourhood organizations
39%
Community foundations and local funders such as the United Way
39%
Local government officials
43%
Parent-teacher associations at local schools
47%
Friends and neighbours
51%
Non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries and Habitat for Humanity
53%
Local churches, synagogues or mosques
56%
The local police department
58%
Yes - the local police department ranked more than twice the rate of the federal government, just less than twice state government officials and 15 points higher than local government officials!
In short, Americans can so insulate their police from government influence to such an extent that they are considered pretty important by the populace in solving social problems - not as an instrument of government coercion. Why can we not do the same? Is it not clear that the many
layers of civil society - faith-based, voluntary organizations, PTAs, even friends and neighbors etc. - all of which we also have - can provide a layer of insulation from the such government-sponsored abuse? Why are we so stuck with the past fears?
In conclusion, these two issues of "sovereignty" and "state police" are related: the existence of several layers of security, particularly of the local kind, is consistence with the devolution of power in a truly federal system. Such a truly federal system can only be guaranteed via a
constitution owned by the people. If we are not to fritter away our chances to become a great nation, the construction of that popular constitution must be through a sovereign national conference.
Excerpt President Olusegun Obasanjo's working visit to Oyo State has produced useful insight on the understanding of Mr. President on some fundamental issues of governance in the country. While in Oyo State, the president objected to a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), the creation of state
police and he articulated his position on the notion of sovereignty. We have strong reasons to disagree with Mr. President on these issues. These we shall state shortly Read the complete article
Excerpt President Olusegun Obasanjo revisited, yesterday, agitation for a sovereign national conference in the country, vowing never to surrender to anyone or group in the name of a conference, the sovereignty entrusted in his care by Nigerians.
He also dismissed calls for state police and kicked against violence in the South-West. President Obasanjo spoke at a civic reception in his honour at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan on the first day of his visit to Oyo State. Read the complete article