Ige political red herring

Ige's Political Red Herring

As the Supreme Court prepares to sit and ponder over the true intent and meaning of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution or "Resource Control" as dubbed by the national press, there remains a continuing flurry of speculation as to what really prompted the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige (SAN) to take the pre-emptive step of filing suit No SC 28/2001 against the 36 states of the federation in the first place.

Although the legal process will focus on the onshore/offshore dichotomy and the rights (if at all) of the coastal states to insist on the derivation principle/formulae applying to natural resources found in the nation's territorial waters to which their states are bordered, the principles of international law, law of the sea as well as international conventions and treaties (some obligations of which have been incorporated into our domestic laws) have conspired to ensure that the states of the federation will almost certainly lose the ensuing legal tussle.

Even if as expected, the Supreme Court rules in the Federal Government's favour, that ruling will not necessarily solve this highly charged political issue. If any thing, the agitation by the South-South states for constitutional reform will almost certainly grow stronger and reach a crescendo. So what then is the purpose or thinking behind filing the suit? Would it not have been more expedient for the Federal Government to continue to dialogue and reach a negotiated accord on the matter rather than go to court? Section 162(2) of the Constitution requires the President to obtain the advice of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission and thereafter table before the National Assembly proposals for revenue allocation from the federation account. The Obasanjo-led Federal Government has never done this since being elected to office. Would it also not have been wise to have at least settled this constitutional provision before embarking on court action?

To further compound the issue, the Federal Government has also been accused of double standard by back-pedalling on Sharia while asserting its authority over "Resource Control." As one South-South critic put it, "this is an afront to the political integrity of the people of the oil producing areas."

The Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige has already responded to this criticism and was quoted in the press to have said that Sharia is constitutional. He nevertheless maintained his stance that there is an urgent need for constitutional clarification by the Supreme Court on the true meaning of Section 162 of 1999 constitution hence the need to file suit No SC 28/2001.

This justification may indeed be true but I sense a much deeper underlying reason for bringing this suit in the first place. The need for Supreme Court clarification on Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution to me does not appear compelling and in any case is too simplistic an explanation. I for one will not be hoodwinked into accepting this Iame excuse. I am convinced that the entire suit is a deliberate red herring, it is a practical political matter conveniently disguised as a constitutional suit. Only Ige could have the effrontery and impudence to devise such a scheme. He wants us to succumb to what may in due course be seen and remembered as a piece of political mastery. In any case, I am of the view that he perhaps deserves to succeed.

Over the years, the people of the South-South states have traditionally (except for a few) voted along with the conservative North. This was apparent in the Second Republic with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and very much the same pattern persists today with the PDP. Ige is certainly not unaware of this voting trend and traditional alliance and has perhaps cunningly set in motion a process whereby which the South-South states will have to ask searching questions about themselves and the North in general. The South-South states may well be on an unstoppable collision course with the North. Some Northern states such as Gombe, Yobe and Kebbi are already beginning to show their apathy towards the entire suit. On the other hand, the Yoruba and Ndigbo states are giving total support and backing to their South-South counterparts. From their standpoint, they have nothing to lose.

If as expected the South-South states lose the legal battle for "Resource Control," they will no doubt need the support of all the other states in the federation to effect a constitutional amendment. Signs are already emerging as to how the Northern states will react to such an amendment. The Southern Yoruba and Ndigbo states will almost certainly back such an amendment even as they clamour for separate demands of their own. The South-South states will however, need the backing of the northern states to effect the much needed two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly. One thing is certain, whichever way the suit goes, its outcome will have a significant on the current national debate on re-structuring the Nigerian federation. It is in effect an irrelevant distraction to the North, a red herring to be precise.

The much respected "Resource Control" advocate Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark is already beginning to look ahead of the suit to another general election by stating that "henceforth, the South-South will make the issue of resource control and electoral matter and supporting anybody in future elections will be dependent on the candidates belief on resource control." Bola Ige has therefore either consciously or unwittingly through this suit set in motion the process of re-aligning all the Southern states towards a common goal; perhaps even into one unit, a single powerful suit. This has never happened before in this country since independence was achieved in 1960. The Southern states may for once be in a position to speak with one voice and with a common goal or interest to actualise true federalism through re-structuring. More importantly, the South may also be in a position to divide the North like they had hitherto done before.

Political organisation has always been the North's strength. They have had to be politically astute to survive in the federation. The late Sardauna Sir Ahmadu Bello knew this and shunned power at the centre so as to instil organisation and thought into the rank and file of generations of his Northern countrymen. Seasoned Southern politicians like Ige are equally beginning to learn from the Sardauna's legacy but they still have to contend with divisions amongst their ranks largely brought about by the astuteness of the conservative North and their own narrow blinkered outlook brought about by not being astute enough to gain popular support outside their traditional enclaves.

In the twilight of his career, Ige has at last found himself at the centre for the first time since he started politics and I sense in him a steely determination to leave his imprint on the government and people of this country as a whole. He desperately wants to put his political experience to good effect. He knows he will never get a better or second opportunity.

Wisely, Ige is not taking anything for granted. He has engaged some of the best legal brains in the country and placed them in his legal team so as to make double sure that the law will not be turned on its head so to speak. I must be understood that for him, the South-South states need to lose this suit for all Southern forces to be re-aligned.

Ige's critics and detractors who question his participation in government and his commitment to the political ideals he has long espoused down the years better think again. Ige is perhaps a lot closer to achieving his political objective than he has ever been before and I doubt whether he can now be checkmated. It is too late in the day to stop him. If he succeeds (and I think he will) it will be a significant political achievement and a vindication of his decision to serve in Obasanjo's PDP-led Federal Government.

Although a small political masterpiece, Machiavelli would have been proud to have the Cicero of Esa-Oke as a grandchild. Not that Ige minds anyway, for him being called "Arole Awolowo" is by far more pleasing and apt.

Prince Kola-Balogun is a Lagos based attorney.