The Remaining Task Before The Adamu Chiroma Committee

It was last Thursday the 13_th of January that the People's Democratic Party nominated its presidential candidate at a National Delegates Convention held at the Eagle Square in Abuja, with a crushing victory by the incumbent president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, what transpired before, during and after the convention have been subject of media interest and discussion, regarding the fairness, forthrightness and corrupting nature or otherwise of the whole purported democratic exercise. However these challenges to the credibility of the delegates elections would not be the primal context of my discussion in this article, rather my interest on the issues raised by the results of the convention fall within the realm of the core interest of the north as a political force and the new mantra of the ultimate demystification of the northern political block as relevant player in the Nigerian political system, also it will be a deep examination of the long held belief on that demise of the myth or reality of the concept of a monolithic north.

I know most of the readers of this write up would be under the erroneous impression and mistaken belief that I am referring to the geographical north, actually the context of my discuss lie within the confines of a concocted contraption cloned for the convenient purpose of political expediency called the Northern Political Leaders Forum, that assigned to itself the task of finding a northern leader through the means of an consensus that would be graciously availed to the Nigerian nation, of course those members of the Group of Nine would have secured and cemented their everlasting mortality, by ensuring that North Nigeria was able to produce a leader even though what the region needs is responsible governance rather than perpetual leadership, yet right from the leadership of the committee and down to the membership of the self appointed amalgam, this period of political party primaries had been a time of unveiling of their chronic irrelevance individually and collectively as a group, the man endowing leadership for a whole region could not bestow a miserly number of delegates from Yobe State, in fact his political god son in the person of the former minister of police affairs Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, lost out at the state People's Democratic Party primaries under the watch of the chairman of the committee, unfortunately the other membership of the consensus outfit did not fare better in terms of availing the grace of their influence at other states party primaries.

The arithmetic of a committee of nine that purports to represent a geographical entity and conglomeration of twenty one states would be hard to calculate, because any effort at mathematical projection must be undertaken as a speculative forecasting of how the group represents the north, perhaps had the membership claimed representation based on statehood we could easily ascribe two states per each member, yet that scenario would have still not add up as a division a twenty one does not result in the total sum of nine, thus may be geography is not a factor in membership of the committee rather it is belonging to the fold of the People's Democratic Party, but it is a known fact that it is not all members of the forum that could claim lineage to the so called largest party in Africa. Thus lies perhaps the intrinsic root of the problems and challenges of actualization of the core objectives of the regional political forum, which has these major deficiencies yet it was able to set and determine the electoral agenda of the 2011 general elections, because while a significant number of Nigerians derogatively sought to belittle and sometimes ignore the body, however most of the political discussions and strategies preceding the presidential primaries of the People's Democratic Party and indeed the main opposition political parties, was determined by the pronouncements and even the silence of the nebulous political forum.

However with the completion of the nomination processes of the presidential candidates of all the political parties in Nigeria, it seems the primal objectives upon which the forum was set up to attain has not been realized, thus the burden of expectation over the claims by the committee that it was a patriotic duty of finding the right balance of leadership for Nigeria, should not die with the dreams of ordinary Nigerians regarding issues of failed development of Nigeria as a nation. But could a real consensus arrangement be premised upon intra political party primaries that is a preliminary process of finding leadership, rather than the inter party and candidacy stage that has institutionalized representatives of the political parties as presidential candidates, as at now among the major political parties the Congress of People's Convention has General Muhammadu Buhari a former head of state as a candidate, the Action Congress of Nigeria has its candidate in the person of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, while the All Nigeria People's Party has the incumbent governor of Kano State Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau as its candidate, surely this is a crowded field for any region seeking to right the wrongs of abandonment of zoning arrangement and contesting against an incumbent with the massive advantage of state power.

Thus any consensus arrangement or agreement that could not find a means of making these three candidates to collapse their individual ambitions is a deficient project. However the main problems afflicting the Nigerian state are not issues of heritage or lineage of the political leadership. Rather it is the issue of individuals seeking contrived relevance through perpetual search of high political office, of course to satisfy their innate personal and family interest thus every household, hamlet, village or town must enjoy the grace of zoning, thus political power is shared among the component parts of Nigerian nation while the nation state is deprived the compendium of good governance, meanwhile issue of producing and baking the national cake is left to the vagaries of natural endowments such as crude oil and natural gas.

The Right of First Refusal: Myth or Reality

The term right of first refusal has recently been introduced into political lexicon, stating that a representative or senator of the federal republic of Nigeria, while seeking re election to his or her office should be given ascending right of re-contesting the office over other contestants and other seekers to such office are availed the right of contest only when an incumbent is refuse the right to seek for re election. This concept of nomination process is attributed to the system of democracy in the United States of America, that it ensures that there is continuity and experience in the legislative arm of the government.

Thus to understand the position of the concept in the United States of America, we have to do an exploration on the principal document establishing American legislature. Article 1 of the United States of constitution provides that the congress shall consist of a house of representatives and the senate, establishes the manner of election and qualification of members of each house, and outlines their legislative procedure and enumerates the powers vested on the legislative branch. Finally it establishes limits on the powers of both congress and states.

Under section 2 clause 1 of the same constitution dealing with the composition and election of members "The house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature."

The second clause of the same section 2 provides that "No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen." Section 3 of Article 1 of the same constitution, dealing with the composition and election of senators stated that "The senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state. Chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote."

Clause 2 of the section 3 dealing with classification of senatorial vacancy duely stated that "Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies."

Clause 3 of the same section, dealing with the qualification of senators stated that "No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen."

From the foregoing provisions, it is evident that the concept of the right of first refusal, was never recognized as a right in the context of the united states constitution, nor was it acknowledged as a privilege that the supreme document could take notice of, thus if it ever existed in fact rather than at law, it falls within the prism and mechanism of internal political party arrangement, where a political party confer the choice of giving preference to an incumbent, and denying same such right to an aspiring seeker of public office, such a reality should not be legitimatized with the nomenclature of a right.

The format, context and settings of the enacting provisions of the united states constitution, was so organized and crafted that membership of the congress of the united states of America, would be a continuous process, while elections and ascension into the chamber of the second arm of government is in different batches, that ensures that legislature is never populated by new entrants and people lacking the requisite experience in functions of the law making activities.

The perception and contention of what constitutes a right, is usually an entitlement that where it to be deprived upon an individual, grave harm would result to the interest of such a person, as in the case of fundamental rights enshrined in our constitutions, while in the case of infringement of other rights, injury would subsist on the surrounding situations of such parties, thus the denial of a privilege that other parties are also entitled to, could not a create an infringement upon a right.

The process and procedure of our electoral democracy, should be tailored to be in conformity with our norms, values and surrounding circumstances, in the case of the united states of America, different dates for elections were set to create a condition of continuity, the federal republic of Nigeria could model its own system, in a way that could suit our special needs and circumstance.

Are Party Delegates Our New Electoral College

It was on the beginning of this January that we witnessed an affirmation of the predicted departure of the Nigerian electoral system, from all the known norms, character, values and tradition of the carnal context of the democracy as a people's approval project, yet the activities of the representative and candidacy elections has also confirmed the generality of Nigerian people as willing accomplices in the subversion of all accompanying processes that must be available for stable democracy to exist and blossom, though the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could claim ignorance to this allusion of guilt on them, however the individuals basically accused of these chain of electoral and indeed moral infractions are the disclaimer delegates of the various political parties, that have constituted themselves into an impromptu electoral college, thus while the people could claim ignorance of the delegates as their status as their representatives, the executives of the amalgam political parties and indeed the colluding favored aspirants of the political parties, have bestowed upon them the eminent status of representative agents without of principals, for while the Nigerian people seemed to have been deluded into giving them representative power by presumptive acclamation of the treacherous party executives, as there is usual silence of the graveyard on the whole charade which is easily misconstrued as acquiesce and an approval of the subsisting situation.

According to The Wikipedia, an electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important people whose wisdom, ideally, would provide a better choice than a larger body. The system can ignore the wishes of a general membership. The origin and genesis of the concept of an electoral college, could be traced to the Germanic Law were it stated that the German King led only with the support of the nobles. Thus, a Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming the King of Asturias, and so did Pepin the Short by Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian King. Though later most Germanic nations had to develop a strictly hereditary system due to the need for self preservation of lineal dynasties. However Holy Roman Empire could not follow the trend as the King of the Romans, who would become Holy roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect was selected by the college of price-electors from the late Middle Ages to until 1806's.

The concept of an electoral college is usually an indirect representative mode of choosing a person to represent a certain interest, either at an elective office or a through representation at a constitutional congress or conference, thus the elected delegate to that position of a representative in an electoral college must attain that position and status through the of grace of popular vote, in an election that is conducted for the generality of all citizens of an area requiring an electoral college representation, unfortunately the Nigerian political party delegates do not fall within the category of people that were elected to their positions of representatives, as even the members of their own political parties find them as merely the products of imposition by party leaders and their elected principals. Even in the context of an ideal situation where a properly constituted electoral college is regarded as the legal norm like the case of the United States of America, it was found to be inadequate, archaic and undemocratic and susceptible to creating the swing vote syndrome, where election results could be predictable manipulated to arrive at a particular form of verdict, indeed after the 2000 American presidential elections conundrum between President George Bush and Vice President Al Gore, a 2001 Gallup article so stated: "a majority of Americans have continually expressed support for the notion of an official amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that would allow for direct election of the president."

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 has clearly stated that elections into governing offices must be through a direct form of voting, however in a circumstances and situation where all the political parties conspired to unveil an electoral college, through the fielding of favored and incompetent candidates by manipulating the process of nomination for political offices, the inherent constitutional right of universal adult suffrage of the generality of the Nigerian people in determining who accesses leadership positions would have been stolen or at most subverted, whereupon lie the legitimate right of the Nigerian people to graciously confer political power and positions to any individual that desires a governing mandate in an electoral democracy such as ours, the basic cardinal context of democracy anywhere in the world is the grace of free choice, that ensures an electorate is not precluded from getting the type of leadership it so wishes, thus the idea is if a particular party or rather a group of parties made a bad decision of fielding an undesirable candidate, that electorate have wherewithal to exercise their franchise of not voting them, however in a situation where all the parties conspiratorially field unmerited candidates what happens to our inalienable right of choosing competent leaders.

Tea party as a substitute to triumphant presidency

To the Obama's and indeed the Democratic party, it started as the Boston Tea Party of 2010 as a united states senate special elections in Massachusetts, held on January 19^th in order to fill the vacant Massachusetts class 1 united states senate seat for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013. The senate seat was won against all odds by the republican party candidate senator Scott Brown, the vacancy that prompted the special elections was the eventual death of the democratic party senator ted kennedy on august 25^th 2009, the seat was held until the elections by the an appointee senator Paul Kirk, a nominee that did not have the wish to contest the seat for the special elections.

The seat vacated by the late Senator ted Kennedy regarded as the lion of the senate, was considered as a political birth right of the democratic party, because the senator has been on that seat since 1962 after taking over from his brother and former president of the united john Fitzgerald Kennedy, thus to have conspired to lose such a safe seat was a monumental act of political miscalculation, because the hard earned victory of 2008 was been subverted by the internal fighting and bickering for spoils of office.

The unexpected victory by the republican party coupled with harsh economic environment and the persisting unemployment in the American labor market, embolden the far right fringes of the republican party in the mould of the tea party, to tap at the disenchantment of the American people who have been promised so much yet only delivered more taxes and less tangible results. These is the origin and genesis of the tea party as a grassroots political movement, that is a conglomeration of disparate groups united by a common cause that seeks for a change in politics of Washington, from a big over bearing federal government that hardly listens to small people with their core values and interests.

It started with the attempt by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevic to sell the senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama as a trade off to the presidency, the nominee candidate being Valerie Jarrett a close associate and confident of the president, that the controversial senate nominee later worked with the president at the white house raised a lot of suspicion, more so as there were later evidence that president Barack Obama actually corresponded with Andy stern and Thomas Blanoff, the two union officials implicated as the facilitators of the deal that led to the eventual impeachment and conviction of governor Blagojevic.

The seed of distrust was eventually sown on the American populist, highlighted by the activities of the unofficial spokeswoman and arrow head of the group Madame Sarah Palin, basically the tea party is a movement that does not have a single leader nor does it have a concretized policy option for the American people, rather it is a collective that is united by a common enemy that is represented by an Obama presidency, thus the first battle of control and the eventual victory was obtained over middle of the center republicans, after which with the aid of hardliners like the republican leader in the house congressman John Boehner concretized the dominance of the tea party collective over the republican party.

The position and status of the tea party as a primarily a grassroots movement created a problem and a challenge to the obama presidency, as it was so under estimated and in some instances ignored by the white house strategist, because the democratic party as an institution found it very hard on the ways to confront a leader less movement populated by desperate house wives, thus the party strategies and officials sought to ignore the movement as a collection of hard liners that are unelectable to the American people, in fact the former democratic chair of the party Howard Dean found it as derogatory to compare the tea party as a similar grassroots movement, to the movement for change in America that swept president Barack Obama to the white house.

The evident tyranny of the majority that lend itself to complacency, aided in no small measure the Democratic Party's and the white house under estimating the strength and capacity of the party to confront the tea party challenge. The party in power was blessed with having a single party controlling the first and second branches of government, as apart from being in control of the white house the democratic party also has the majority in the capitol hill, which are the senate and congress of the united states of America.

The apparent sense of history and efforts at comparison with past great American presidents, especially the president that survived the great depression in the person of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, further assisted in beclouding the sense of judgement of the president and his officials, by deluding their foresight at the extent of challenge posed by the tea party collective, more so as the president is a man that is aware of the value of legacy to the history and persona of the individual holding the office of the president of the united states of America.

 

Professor Aminu and the Law of Karma

It was during the past week that the senator representing Adamawa central senatorial zone and chairman of the senate committee on foreign affairs Professor Jubril Aminu, stated that his heart weeps for the People's Democratic Party and that he is living the platform upon which he is serving in the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria, what caused this gargantuan disclosure was the witnessing and participation in the impromptu delegates congress and elections of the senatorial candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, where he described the whole exercise as nothing more than a mere sham and a rape on the content, character and values of democracy. His contention was that due to the undemocratic nature of the contest that was only set to affirm the anointed candidates of the governor, a lot of valuable and important members of the party were leaving the People's Democratic Party, which included the current Nigerian ambassador to South Africa Brigadier General Buba Marwa and a host of other important members of the party, that have been disenfranchised by the present factionalized leadership and executive of the party in Adamawa State, though with the active support and connivance of Governor Murtala Nyako and the government of Adamawa State.

It was the belief of diplomat senator that the elections if allowed to stand, holds dire consequences for the People's Democratic Party in Adamawa State and indeed in within the greater Nigerian nation, as according to him the People's Democratic Party seems unwilling and unable to reconcile itself with the basic tenets of democracy, more so as the party seems unaware of the fact that in Nigeria there are other political parties, that could offer an alternative platform to any disenchanted and marginalized yet willing aspirant with political aspiration for leadership. My first reaction was to join the able senator as a paragon of political virtue, in his homily and disappointment with the perilous turn democracy has taken within the ambit of the greatest political party in Africa and indeed all other political parties in the federal republic of Nigeria, with regards to the belief in compliance to the dictates and adherence to the concept of internal democracy.

However, my first issue with the virtuous admonishing of the distinguished senator, lie within the context whether it only his political party that is guilty of the lack of internal democracy within its fold, as the other parties during the congresses have been exhibiting similar trait of character, in fact the Nigerian opposition political parties have never failed to show their admiration of the ruling party, in the way and manner it is conducting its affairs, as they always try to exhibit exceptional mode of democratic thinking, for while the Peoples Democratic Party adopt the delegates model of choosing candidates, the opposition political have been adopting the consensus option of electing its representatives in the general elections, that is even less democratic in orientation to the adopted model of the ruling People's Democratic Party, thus even though the opposition political parties are always quick to criticize the Peoples Democratic Party, in the way and manner it is governing the Nigerian nation, yet they always seem happy to join the conurbation called the government of national unity.

The fundamental context of my encounter with mystery and confusion regarding the contentious character of the latent opinion and position of the senator diplomat, lie within the legal confines of the equitable dictum that states: He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Professor Jubril Aminu is a founding member of the People's Democratic Party, a high ranking member of the Nigerian senate and most importantly a grand beneficiary of the previous 2007 general elections, that was adjudged as neither free nor fair and subjected to so much international derision and opprobrium within the comity of democratic nations of the world, in fact some of the election monitors at the voting exercise went as far as ascribing to the elections, the tag of being the worst elections ever in the whole wide world, thus howb could a presumed winner in such an anomie of an elections find cause of deficiency in any kind of elections, whatsoever the level separation from the realm fairness and justice as the basic necessity of democratic norm.

It is of note that the distinguished senator from Adamawa central senatorial district, despite all the international condemnations of the 2007 general elections, continued to attest at the efficacy, sanctity, legitimacy and legality of the whole exercise, that a significant percentage of the election results were nullified by the courts, was merely a conspiracy against the successes of the People's Democratic Party by the judiciary, in fact during the reign of Professor Jubril Aminu recent friend, confident and a new conscript to democracy the insufferable Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it was them that conspired to de-register some members of their own political party, their belief then was that a political party striving for unity and contrived greatness, should not tolerate dissent among the constituents of its followership, thus anybody having a different opinion to the position of the leadership of the party, should seek for another platform to express his or her views, in these context the question that confuses the mind is how could a profiteer in the abridging of democracy expect to enjoy the grace of its fairness.

The concept of democracy is more than a mere event that is confined within the context of elections, as what constitutes a democrat include the believe and belief in the contents of democracy, which are fairness, justice and respect for difference in opinion and most especially playing the game according to the rule, thus certainly precluding a bout of crocodile tears from a senator experiencing a carnal fact of nature, which is that what goes around shall certainly comes around.

The 1999 Constitution: What Manner of A Grundnorm

The history of constitutional making and development all over world, either of the unwritten pact as in the case of England or the written document as in the case of united states of America and of course Nigeria, is supposed to encapsulate all the norms, values, traditions and beliefs, that have been agreed upon and resolved to bind the people's hopes, dreams, aspirations and projections of what it entails to be either a subject of the queen as in the case of the united kingdom or rather to be a citizen as in the case of a republican conglomeration of a federal nation of united states of America or Nigeria. In the case of the Nigerian federation, such a status of citizenship confers upon, certain rights and privileges that creates a lineal patrimony of patronage and patriotism.

The 1999 constitution as a document is supposed to be our collective grundnorm. According to the father of European model of constitutional review, the Austrian jurist and legal philosopher Hans Kelsen regards the basic norm as the order or rule that forms the basis for a legal system, his belief is based upon the need to find a point of origin for all law on which the basic law or the constitution can gain its legitimacy, the binding effect of the legal norm is premised on the science of mind that accepts what ought to be, as a against what shall be done. Thus this theory believes that the constitution as the supreme document, needs not to contain and codify every required norm of rights and responsibilities expected of a citizen of a nation state, rather its role is only highlighting fundamental guidelines of values and conduct that should be contained in the supreme document.

A constitution as a binding norm does not have to contain every presumption and assumption of goodwill, as it not a document that should contain what is proper and what is right in terms of our inherent behavioral character, as that expectation shall fall within the realm of social norms of ethics and etiquettes. Dates, timelines, moral codes, patriotism and other modes of behavioral patterns are things that cannot be enforced by mere insertion into the binding document of 1999 constitution, rather only codes of general rules and guidelines that directs the extent and extant of rights and responsibilities between individual citizens themselves and their collective relationship with the Nigerian state should form part of the provisions of our grundnorm.

By the nature and heritage of our constitution combined with the intendment of the originators and framers of the supreme law, in its content and context it is supposed to be a rigid document that should contain provisions, that makes it very difficult to seek and perform the tedious act of amendment, thus as a written document within the realm and classification of constitutional stratification, it is expected that only circumstances and situations of monumental importance that could warrant such exercise of an amendment, also because of the expected hardships that should be associated with changing the provisions of the constitution, the rapidity of embarking upon the act would be so curtailed to the level were only extreme necessity would create the need to seek an amendment of the binding norm, unfortunately this is not the subsisting situation of today's Nigeria.

A constitutional document is nothing more than a mere body of binding agreement, that is agreed upon by the generality of Nigerian people, to guard, guide and direct their affairs, thus as part of the fundamental characteristic of any agreement pact is the terms, signatory parties and most especially the framers of the agreement, the constitution being the supreme law of the land confers upon the individuals that create it with the title of lawgivers, who by their eminent status are expected to poses certain unique qualities that placed them above their normal peers, in terms of character, condor, foresight, soberness and calmness, these is to enable them to produce a document of lasting legacy and quality that would withstand the test of time, unfortunately in the case of individuals and personalities performing the function of amending Nigeria's constitution, the ideal situation is not available as the reputations of our lawgivers is subject of debate.

The binding nature of the 1999 constitution confers on it the need for the Nigerian people to have loyalty and identification with the supreme document, thus issues of credibility and sense of belonging associated with the origin or lineage of the pact, reduces its impact and effect upon the individual citizens it is formulated to serve, because the perception by the Nigerian people that the document belongs to them, further establishes its sanctity as the ultimate code of guidance and direction to the Nigerian federation.

Due to the important nature of the constitution to the lives and future of the Nigerian nation, issues pertaining to its origin, processes relating to its amendment, situations that afflict at its perception and circumstances that question its lineage, should be handled with the utmost gravity that befits its eminent status.