Scoring The Tinubu Led-Administration Feom The Lens Of The Constitution -By Joseph Aliu

The 2027 general elections is creeping in and politicians or rather, political parties have began to do what they know best to do, lobbying, sweet talking, extending mouth-watering sums of naira to the masses to cast their votes at the polling booths in their favour.

The unfulfilled promises made by these politicians/political parties during their campaigns and at the polling booth calls for serious concern and should spur the decision of who to vote for in the next election.

Just like every other politician/political party prior to the 2023 presidential election had done and did during their campaigns and lobbying for votes, Tinubu and the All Progressive Congress (APC) made several promises to the old, young, weak, strong, rich, poor, tall, short, big, small Nigerians.

Taking it further, the constitution which established and gives legal backing to the formation of the political party and with which the Oath of office was taken, was sworn to be jealousy regarded, revered and every salient wordings related to a society that works for all, to be strictly given life to.

By virtue of Section 1(1), 1999 CFRN as amended, it holds that the constitution is supreme and shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This only means that even the president is subservient to the Law.

What do we have today under the Tinubu administration; we have persons who show total disregard for the rule of law marked with impunity, flagrant defiance and disobedience of court orders.

The tale of the Nigerian Governor who stole public funds to pay the school fees of his children yet unborn, comes to mind. As at the time of writing this rather controversial article, this Nigerian Governor continues to parade the streets of Kogi state freely without any form of sanction for first throwing into the gallows the confidence reposed in him to lead the good people of Kogi state, secondly, for stealing public funds and converting same for personal use.

If you ask me, these as serious criminal offences that no one anywhere should be allowed to get away with, and should never be swept under the carpet, however, under the Tinubu administration, a political thief roams the streets freely and feels far higher than the law. This should not happen in a sane society. It is a rude slap on the face of the law and a mockery of the democracy that we practice.

The recent granting of bail by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to El-Rufai despite subsisting court order remanding him pending hearing of his bail application in court is another dethronement of the rule of law, flagrant disregard of the court and the Judiciary institution, which serves as a check and balance institution of governmental powers. A government that knows what it is doing and has the interest of the society at the centre of what it does should never permit such public mockery and ridicule of the court which is under the third arm of government.

More instructive under the 1999 Constitution as amended, is Section 14(2) (b), the fulcrum of any government, which holds that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

Amongst other insecurity issues bedevilling the country, particularly the Northern state, it has never been this bad, that an external government did not only threaten to fight the terrorist in Nigeria as a result of the unending massacre of Christians, but in fact did make the move. One thing is very lucid, the Nigerian peoples are not secured in their own country, first for the fact that terrorists could just come out of the bush, kidnap citizens and cherry pick whom to unalive, secondly, for the fact that an external government could access the den of some of these terrorists and make a move at them while we have a sitting president and a government. As it stands, Nigerians go to bed with their two eyes wide open.

A government that cannot provide security for its people has failed the people already. Security is the threshold of any society. Without security, the people are on the run for their lives, they are afraid to go to their various places of work, and where the people cannot go to their places of work, the consequences of same is that the people cannot afford their basic necessities such as food, clothing, housing, thereby impoverishing the people, this in turn takes a down tow on the economy of the society.

In the core North, as admonished to Christians in 1 Peter 5:8 to be alert and of sober mind, as the enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, the people have had to fled their homes, leave their business and whatever they must have acquired in their sojourn in that area just to save their lives from the roaring terrorist seeking whom it may devour.

The annexing word to security under section 14(2)(b), 1999 CFRN is WELFARE of the people. To make it clear, according to the Black’s law Dictionary, 8th Edition at page 1625, “Public Welfare” was defined as “A Society’s well-being in matters of health, safety, order, morality, economics and politics”. It is resources and conditions needed for healthy and comfortable living, government support for members of society who are disadvantaged.

To go by the sequence of what welfare is according to the Black’s Law dictionary, it is mind troubling that even the head of the current administration, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have to always travel out of the country for Medical treatment, this alone tells a whole lot about the pathetic state of the health sector in the country, if the leader would have to travel out for medical treatment, what happens to the poor, hapless, hopeless, marginalized, denied and cheated citizenry who cannot even afford meagre transport fare to their place of work, talk more of applying for a visa and booking a flight ticket to travel out of the country for medical treatment, not for vacation.

Just as I had stated in preceding paragraphs, the safety of the common man in his own country is in his ability and skill to run. If the common man wants to see the next day, he must continue to learn how to run. Where he cannot run, his life is at the mercy of the roaring terrorist.

Shockingly, uniformed men are not spared. The recent unaliving of a Brigadier General in the Nigerian army speaks volume of the insecurity in the land. What should have called for serious public concern- a military officer, not just of any rank, not a common man on the street, unalived by so called terrorist- is left unattended to. What then is the hope of the common man who roams the street in search of daily bread?

What is the order of the day? Broad day light extortion by police officers and other government bodies, abuse of governmental powers and offices, bribery, corruption, nepotism, irredentism, tribal and ethnic sentiments, religious bigotry and extremism, injustice, inequality, disregard and flagrant abuse of the law.

The economy is nothing to write home about. Many Nigerians can barely feed. They struggle to eat at-least once a day- survival mode. To make ends meet is by connection. Money paid as salary is swallowed by transportation. Citizens have to spend so much on fuel to power their generators due to the epileptic electrical power supply. Beneficial economy policies have refused to be implemented.

Totally disheartening is the current political structure in Nigeria. Under the current administration, politics is structured in such a way and manner that only the extremely wealthy and connected can involve themselves in politics. You have to know and have one godfather somewhere, pay monthly allowances to such godfather once you emerge winner, listen and abide to the dictate of the godfather at the detriment of the betterment of the people.

As it stands, the current electoral law excludes professors, lecturers, lawyers, teachers, and bankers, from vying for the office of president, how? Under the electoral law, you need to have the sum of 5 to 10 Billion naira before you can show interest in the office of the president.

This current administration has failed at making the society an egalitarian society, a peaceful one, one flowing with justice, tolerance, mutual respect for one another, rule of law, equity and equality, a safe abode, an economical viable society, all coming under the instruction of the constitution.

If security and welfare was not so much of a big deal, the constitution may well not have stated it as PRIMARY purpose of government. But then, the drafters of the constitution knew very well that for a society to thrive, the very first thing that must be handled is the security and welfare of the people, and every other thing comes secondary. It presupposes that any government that fails at its primary purpose as instructed by the constitution as already scored a big zero as it will be deemed that such government has done nothing.

We cannot continue like this. Silence is no longer an option.

JOSEPH ALIU is a Lagos-Based Human Rights Lawyer, Social Crusader, Public Affairs Analyst, and can be reached via 09131704196, 09085773212, aliujoseph085@gmail.com