Bogus democracy in Benue State, by Tonnie Iredia

Last week, I took off a few minutes from my present preoccupation of establishing a tertiary institution to review latest events across Nigeria in line with the dictates of this column. News reports tended to point at Benue as a busy state until it became clear that all events appearing under the state were restricted to the flexing of muscles by state legislators over cosmetic matters that were blown out of proportion. Nothing about governance! Not even the selfless governor Hyacinth Alia was spared as he was diverted from his development-oriented posture into focusing on denials of being part of a plot to remove the Speaker of the State House of Assembly from office.  

The most popular news reports were the suspension of some legislators accused of being part of the plot to remove the speaker and the unending struggle of legislators to overwhelm the executive branch of government.  I was particularly astonished by the decision of the Assembly to suspend four law makers over issues that are not offensive at all. They were alleged to have attempted to mobilize other colleagues into removing the speaker. What is wrong with that? Is there a law against the removal of a speaker by the same members who earlier selected the same legislator to preside over the Assembly as a speaker? If four members thought it was time to remove the speaker, what other legal methods would they have employed than persuading others to support the plan? 

To suspend legislators because their attempt to change their speaker failed equates the attempt to a coup. In reality however, the failed attempt merely underscores the beauty of democracy which is based on majority rule rather a punitive system of government. The point being made is that the Benue State House of Assembly is not a military regime where coup plotters are severely punished. The failure of the attempt to remove the speaker establishes the point that the four accused law makers, essentially a minority group had their say while the majority who rejected the attempt had their way. By suspending the planners of the failed attempt, the Benue State House of Assembly presented themselves as draconian leaders who cherish the criminalization of political dissent. 

It is worse that the Assembly inflicted on the four members a punishment which exceeds the powers of a legislative body and which the judiciary has always determined to be illegal. If, however, the Benue legislators were unaware that they had no such powers, this is probably a good junction to restate the story of the leading case on the subject. The case involved one Hon. Rifkatu Samson Dannas who was suspended in 2012 by the Bauchi State House of Assembly because she objected to a proposal to relocate the Tafawa Balewa Local Government headquarters from Tafawa Balewa to Bununu.  The House ignored her wise counsel that the headquarters of local governments listed in the constitution cannot be changed without constitutional amendment. 

The Assembly sought to silence Rifkatu by immediately placing her under suspension. But she went to court to challenge her suspension which the court declared as illegal and unconstitutional. The House appealed but both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court ruled in her favour and quashed her suspension.  All other cases since then including those that happened in the National Assembly have all suffered the same fate making it obvious that the state of the law in Nigeria today is that it is illegal for a legislative House to suspend any member – a position that is quite persuasive because a legislative House is not the employer of legislators that can hire and fire its employees.  In addition, to suspend a legislator amounts to depriving the relevant constituency of representation. 

Whether the period of a purported suspension of a legislator is long or short is irrelevant. It should not happen in a country where judicial decisions are respected. Unfortunately, law-making bodies in Nigeria both federal and state have continued to suspend their members without regards for the principle that has been so clearly enunciated. It is however a different matter if the legislature makes rules to discipline an erring member such as removing personal privileges accorded the member by the House. But the fact that the legislature as an independent arm of government that can make its own rules does not obviate the relevant provision of Section 4(8) of our constitution which states clearly that, “the exercise of legislative powers by the National Assembly or by a House of Assembly shall be subject to the jurisdiction of courts of law and of judicial tribunals established by law.”

Another disturbing news which came out of Benue was the fight for supremacy by the House over the executive. Legislators in Benue state do not appear to fully know their powers and limitations. For example, they don’t seem to realize that the constitutional directive which mandates a legislative House to confirm certain executive appointments is not discretionary. Accordingly, a state Assembly cannot say it won’t confirm nominees sent to it by a governor. To do so, is a grave offence as it breaches the highest law of the land. What legislators can do if they choose to be immature or petty is to deliberately fail such nominees. The impunity of saying they won’t honour any request by a governor for whatever reason shows they are not democrats. It is worse if their grievance concerns self-interest.

Indeed, news reports confirmed that Assembly members in Benue state had accused Governor Alia of failure to address several issues presented to him by the legislative arm. As a result, they reportedly resolved at a plenary presided over by Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, not to honour any request from the Governor until their grievances were addressed. But soon after the governor was pressurized to meet their personal interests, they did not just confirm all four nominees presented for clearance, they actually asked each nominee to take a bow and leave. If such favour was extended to the nominees because they had served in the state executive council that was dissolved a few weeks earlier, why were they not initially cleared?

What makes the above point unacceptable is the realization that the Benue legislators only imitated their colleagues nationwide who are always able to abandon their constitutional mandate because some governors had not given some or all of them some type of official vehicles. It is also unfortunate that the Benue Assembly members did not bother about the public knowledge that their resolutions are advisory and by no means a dictation or an order to the governor. Yet, part of why there was some conflict of recent between the 2 arms of government in Benue state was the inability of the governor to implement the resolution of the state Assembly for certain state officials to be suspended. 

Why do Benue legislators so much cherish suspensions? Is it to send a signal to citizens that law makers are the most powerful state actors? If so, they got it wrong because they were elected to serve, not to function as overlords. Besides, whereas the resolutions by legislators that some agency heads should be suspended are usually influenced by the inability of such agency heads to meet certain illegal requests, the governor as chief security officer of the state has more information which counter the resolutions of the legislature. As a matter of fact, there is no evidence that resolutions of the Assembly are usually based on empirical evidence or even the rule of law; a good example being the decision of the Assembly to pass a resolution for the removal of the state chief judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese. 

Although the resolution to remove Ikpambese was reportedly done to please the governor, the Assembly showed it had no intention of respecting the limitations of its powers. The lawmakers ought to have known that a chief judge cannot be removed from office without the consent of the National Judicial Council NJC. They did not only seek to favour the governor but also to cow a stern judicial officer whose position on the provisions of the Electoral Act may make election rigging difficult. As if that was not enough, the assembly proceeded to suspend as many as 13 law makers who declined to support the removal of the chief Judge. The speaker announced 3 months suspensions, but those purportedly suspended disclosed that by their own rules, the maximum period of suspension is 2 weeks.

Nigeria is supposedly a democracy where the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people. Let’s us hear more about efforts made to rehabilitate victims of mindless attacks in Benue communities such as Otobi-Akpa, Emichi and Utonkon. We have heard enough about over-pampered legislators.

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