DESPITE OBVIOUS MALFEASANCE, THIS IS WHY BUHARI IS STILL IN OFFICE

The catalogue of misbehavior is never in short supply among African leaders, and if you are the leader of the most populous black nation on earth which expectedly is also the leading economy on the continent which a leader at one time said has no problem with money, only what to do with it, you are very likely to need help to not misbehave. The leaders of the nation since independence have never failed to live up to this bidding.

At several times, in office as the president of Nigeria, President Buhari has never hidden his bias for his northern folk. The appointments of the heads of various government establishments and agencies are particularly skewed towards the north, the service chiefs – whose tenures were recently extended, of a country that is challenged with insecurity arising mainly, painfully so, from one region of the country, are also drawn from that same region of the country, the President’s region – the Chief of Army Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Chief of Air Staff, the National Security Adviser, Minister of Defense, and even the heads of various para-military set-ups like the Customs, Immigration, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, etc are all from… you guessed right – the President’s north. The excuse that the north is three of Nigeria’s six regions is untenable. One of the three is simply a political north; the appointments favor mainly two of those.

In a disclosure made by the World Bank President a few months ago, the president’s irremissible love for his northern folk took precedence over other regions of the country – they voted the most for him, anyway. The president was said to have asked that the BrettonWood Funding Institution focus exclusively on the north in its programmes. Any normal person will need help to misunderstand where the president stands. This, in its elements, is an impeachable offense.

In a brazen act of utter disregard for the institution of the national assembly, the president, by executive fiat, ordered the purchase of up to $462m of Tucano jets from the US to fight insurgents who are on a killing spree in certain parts of the country, halted only by military men who put their lives on the line to so do, and these jets are expected to be delivered in, wait for it… the year 2020. The information to the house of assembly was made only after the payment had been effected.

The reckless abandon with which herdsmen are daily maiming and killing in central Nigeria, and the uninspiring reluctance in response by the president qualifies to be called the irony of the century. One wonders why the president kills some insects with insecticide and others with deodorants, as one member of the Nigerian Senate said. On the Fulani killings, there is too much sympathy from the president.

But why is the President still in office? Of course, he is not the only president in the world to have committed little offenses such as these. Maybe that’s one of the whys. But let’s look at other whys peculiar to Nigeria:

The section of the constitution that deals with the impeachment or removal of a president or vice from office gives room for escape or makes the process almost impossible. Section 143 of the 1999 constitution provides that the president or vice must be proven to be guilty of gross misconduct which is herein defined as “a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the National Assembly to gross misconduct.” A lengthy process commencing with a notice of allegation in writing signed by not less than one-third of the members of the National Assembly shall be presented to the President of the Senate specifying the details of the misconduct, and the President of the Senate, within 14 days, must ensure that the National Assembly resolves to debate the allegation. With two-thirds of majority of each of the houses of Assembly, and within 7 days, the Senate President shall ask the Chief Justice of the Nigeria to constitute a panel of seven persons who, in the opinion of the CJN are persons of unquestionable integrity and not members of the public service, political party or legislative house. The President or Vice shall have the right to defend themselves before this panel. Reports shall be submitted within three months to the National Assembly. If the reports indicate that the allegation has not been proven, there ends the matter, as no further proceeding shall be taken. Where it is proven, by a resolution of at least two-thirds majority of both houses, within 14 days, the holder stands removed from office. The deal is, the Nigerian national assembly will never be able to get a two-thirds majority to support the removal of Buhari from office. Not just because the majority of members are from the same political party as the president, of course, its open secret that that house is in disarray, but because of certain sentiments that pervades the Nigerian political space. Most members represent various agenda in the houses of assembly which are purely outside the parliamentary scope.

Besides that, so many members of the houses of assembly got into the house on the clout of “Buhari the man of Integrity” and other gimmicks that was sold Nigerians. Many of them couldn’t even believe they had won the election because they never prepared for it, didn’t have any political clout of their own, and anything at all that could have qualified them on their own strength to get people’s votes. Three years down the line, they still have nothing to validate their occupation of the seat. If you got into a position (such as they), you’d be a fool to not do everything in your power to perpetuate your support to your benefactor (who is still in position too), even when he is in greater error than you, and has committed more malfeasance than could be tolerated by any sane populace. Many northern occupants of these houses of assembly will readily confide in you that they could never become “Honourables” without Buhari. You don’t expect them to fight him. No. Not with the northern hegemony still in place.

In a clever political move, the president recently honored the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 election – Chief MKO Abiola with the highest national title in the land, and declared the day the new National Democracy Day. A move which is seen in many quarters as a palliative for all the pain – emotional and otherwise that came with that struggle, and a sign that the man who showed no sympathy for Abiola has now turned a true democrat. Whether that move truly alleviates the pain of the people in the current political dispensation, can be rightly seen on the faces of Nigerians on the street.