Of Sovereignty, Treason, Federalism and State Police
by
Burtonsville, MD, USA
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 the other hand, fails to recognise this by raising "his sovereignty" above that of the 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 theywant 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 practiced the system for so long, and refining it as she has gone along, it is incumbent on those countries like Nigeria practicing 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 administered 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
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% Neighborhood organizations........39%
Community foundations and.........39% Local funders such as the
United Way
Local government officials........43%
Parent-teacher associations.......47%
at local schools
Friends and neighbors.............51%
Nonprofit organizations such
as the Salvation Army......53% Goodwill
Industries and Habitat for
Humanity
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!
an important role in solving social problems in their communities
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.
And sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria.
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REFERENCES:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200102020333.html
Obasanjo Damns State Police, National Confab
Vanguard Daily February 2, 2001
http://allafrica.com/stories/200102020026.html
Obasanjo Rejects Sovereign National Conference
Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) February 2, 2001
http://allafrica.com/stories/200102150121.html
Of Sovereignty And Obasanjo
Tempo EDITORIAL February 22, 2001
http://allafrica.com/stories/200102140363.html
Akinyemi Tackles Obasanjo On Sovereign Confab
Vanguard Daily (Lagos) February 14, 2001
http://allafrica.com/stories/200102120461.html
Afenifere Faults Obasanjo On National Confab
Vanguard Daily (Lagos) February 12, 2001
http://www.ngex.com/snc/default.htm
SNC website
http://www.ngex.com/personalities/voices/fe102000baluko.htm
FRIDAY ESSAY: "Why Can A State Not Really Have Its Own Police Force?"
October 20, 2000
The Nigerian Police and Our Political Twilight Zone
http://nigeriworld.com/feature/publication/maluko/monday_q/0321400.html
MONDAY QUARTERBACKING: How many policemen do we actually need?
For the Washington Post Report of social problems in the US:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10329-2001Jan31.html
Nonprofit, Faith-Based Groups Near Top of Poll on Solving Social Woes - By Richard Morin Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 1, 2001; Page A19
For the Pew Report:
http://www.pew-partnership.org/newsroom/new_survey/table_of_contents.html
Ready Willing & Able Americans Tackle Their Communities: A Survey for the Pew Partnership for Civic Change
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Of Sovereignty And Obasanjo
Tempo
EDITORIAL
February 22, 2001
Posted to the web February 15, 2001
Lagos
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.
Nonetheless, we welcome the very fact that the president has publicly joined the conversation on these basic issues of governance for it allows the civil society to know specifically how we are governed and the reasons
we are governed the way we are governed. The premise on which the president canvasses his objection to the SNC is the notion of sovereignty. For him, the executive/legislature are sovereign, even though impermanent.
They derive their sovereignty from the people. 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.
The president's argument is formalistic and therefore, untenable. Mr. President's argument begins and ends with the form of the conference and not the purpose. This is specious for the president conveniently forgets
the purpose of the conference. Yet, the purpose of a thing is as important as its form. The president ought to address the purpose of the conference in his objections. Secondly, and very important, is that the president
recognises the people as the permanent repository of sovereignty. It follows that the "sovereignty" of the executive/legislature or that of a national conference is derived from the people and thus impermanent and
temporary.
The most crucial and constant factor here, therefore, is the people and their needs, and not the temporary sovereignty of the executive/legislature or President Obasanjo's mandate. Given the nature of the transition from military dictatorship to civilian rule the president's mandate, the sovereignty of the executive/legislature is a narrow one. It is a narrow mandate for a transition from dictatorship to civilian rule.
The point is that, the narrow contract between the executive/legislature and the Nigerian people was circumscribed from the very beginning by (i) the nature of an imposed Constitution and (ii) the Abubakar regime and the
nature of the Constitution. With due respect, we believe the president's argument in Ibadan is self-serving and an exercise in self-justification. This is the case for two reasons. First, suppose it is conceded that
legislature is sovereign (even if temporary) and Mr. President's mandate is popular, is the Constitution (which is the ground norm for any serious country) with which the executive/legislature govern, a popular document,
or is it a product of the sovereign decision of the people? The answer is no.
This is one valid reason for a conference to produce a Constitution that is a product of the sovereign decision of the people. Secondly, this shows that there are larger needs (beyond Mr. President's narrowly constructed mandate) as determined by the Nigerian people whose sovereignty is at issue here. Our position is that, if a national conference is one of those needs, then the people should be allowed to decide. We are pleased that the president himself recognises this.
But what is disturbing and odd is that, on one hand, the president recognises that the people should be allowed to decide, and on the other hand, fails to recognise this by raising "his sovereignty" above that of
the 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.
The case for a national conference rests on a new Nigeria that is more efficient economically, politically and administratively and which is restructured on a sound, distinct and clear federal principles. This is
why the creation of state police, local control of resources, fair and equitable VAT regime, recognising differences and diversity in unity are issues for that efficient and restructured Nigeria on federal principles.
For example, the president's objection to the creation of state police is
too weak and inert to be held onto. The president believes that state and local police can be used by local and state officials for politically partisan purposes.
This argument is weak for the following reasons. First, is that a decentralised police force is more efficient in a vast and populous country like Nigeria more than a centralised police force. So, the issue
is about efficiency. Second, is the patronising, personalised, and self- righteousness of Mr. President's objection. 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.
If the president thinks he can rise above partisanship, why does he think state governors and local state officials cannot rise above partisanship? Mr. President's position is too subjective. We believe the crucial thing
to do is to depersonalise the arguments by making clear rules and regulations our ground norm with which to prevent the misuse of either a federal or state police force. Finally, apart from Mr. President's
implausible argument about sovereignty, the president needs to state
concretely his position on the national conference vis-a-vis its main objective: a clear and distinct federally restructured Nigeria.
Is Mr. President against a new, efficient and just Nigeria restructured on distinct and clear federal principles backed by a Constitution which will be a sovereign decision of the people? Is he for such new Nigeria but
against the Sovereign National Conference as a means for achieving such new Nigeria? Or is he simply against a sovereign national conference regardless of its objectives? The president needs to be less woolly and
come out clear on all these, for the need for a national conference on these issues of governance is becoming popular across the geo-political regions. The president's indisposition to the conference may end up being
negative, for it can only be postponed. A major decision that will
overhaul the structure of the Nigerian state.
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Obasanjo Damns State Police, National Confab
Vanguard Daily
February 2, 2001
Ibadan
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. The President dressed in a blue agbada with a black cap to match declared: "The sovereignty of this country belongs to the people of this country. It does not belong to any of us individually but it belongs to the people of this country.
"Through the act of election, the people of this country put us or gave us the custody of the sovereignty of this country.
"The sovereignty of this country is in the hand of the executive at all levels and the legislative arms at all levels, and there can not be two sovereignties. It's either, by virtue of the constitution and the right of the people of this country to vote. They surrendered the custody in my custody, temporarily of course, and I can not surrender it to anybody else.
"The only thing I can do is to give it to the people who have surrendered it to me. So when you talk of sovereign national conference, I really wonder what your sovereignty means. Of course, you can talk of national conference but I have said it before and I will say it again.
"I have the custody of the people of this country, I will not surrender the sovereignty which has been given to me. "Of course, we can have a national conference but sovereign national conference, I can not understand and I will not subscribe to it, I repeat I do not subscribe to it."
His host, Gov. Lam Adesina had called for a sovereign national conference. Commenting on the insecurity of lives and property in the country, President Obasanjo said "one of the things that give me concern day and night in this country today is security. When my friend, Chief Layi Balogun was tragically shot down at the prime of his life, Mr. Governor, I told you we would do everything humanly possible to find out the perpetrators of that heinous crime and we have lived up to that.
"Our security agencies can do what is right if we encourage them to do what is right and I do not believe the answer is a local government police or a state government police."
The answer, he said was to "strengthen to help, to educate, to act and equip all the law enforcement agencies to be able to perform and that I assure you, we will do."
On education, President Obasanjo said if not for education, he would have "ended no where than in the garage........
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