The Nigerian general elections have come and gone. Baring litigations and other incidentals, in June this year, a new set of National Assembly members would be sworn in. Interestingly, the ninth Assembly would boast of a huge number of past governors and other past public officers. Whether this would be a plus or minus remains to be seen.
It is remarkable that most of the elected Senators have worked as executive governors of their states at different times within the last twenty years of Nigerian democracy. Unfortunately too, some of them are currently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) It would be interesting to watch how their cases would go but as it is, the country’s constitution sees them as innocent till proven guilty by the law courts.
The legislative arm of government is a strong pillar in the tripod that holds democracy. However, it does seem that given the all comers type of politics practiced in Nigeria, most people elected into the legislature at both the state and federal levels often display a great sense of ignorance about the duties and roles expected of the legislature in a democracy.
More often than not, we notice that the executive at all levels seem to exert some sense of superiority above both the judiciary and legislative arms of government. However, the great political philosophers who fashioned the three arms of government in a democracy also mapped out distinct roles for each arm, bearing in mind the fact that power concentrated in one arm defies all democratic norms and therefore subjects the people, the mandate givers, to the whims and caprices of an all-powerful executive.
The legislature has three distinct roles; as law makers, as chief lobbyists for their constituencies and to mount checks and balances on the executive. Very few of those elected as legislators in Nigeria have a good grasp of these roles.
It is disheartening that more often than not, party loyalty and to individual godfathers and party chieftains often override loyalty to the country and to legislative duties. So the result? We often have executives at both the states and federal levels manipulating the very pliable legislature that should be the representatives of the people that ought to protect their interests.
This warped display of ‘loyalty’ by the legislators to the different levels of the executive has been the bane of the Nigerian democracy. We have seen the executive at various times seemingly intimidating the legislature and blackmailing them into dubious compliance to individual political nuances. This is symptomatic of very weak systems and ignorance about both legislative duties and the core tenets of democracy.
In this next assembly, the people deserve to be represented by people who truly understand what it means to be in the different legislative buildings. We want law makers who must get themselves the right information by all means even if it means hiring the best hands to get them through.
Giving the puerile excuse of the nascent democracy in the country might not hold water anymore. The people are tired of those who just go to the legislative houses as ‘professional’ politicians without any visible means of livelihood. It is one of the causative factors of a docile legislative arm.
The elected members must grow beyond party and individual power blocs to truly serve the people. Other nations with virile and viable democracies often boast of very strong legislature that can curb the excesses of often power-drunk executive.
It is time for Nigeria’s democracy to be deliberately operated in ways that the country begins to see the true workings of democratic governance not on paper but in action. The global political climate has so grown that each political player must know that the political awareness is at an all-time high and the people are ready to step in at any time to ask that their welfare be protected by those they elected to represent them. Taking the people for granted and taking the odious old path might just be an ill-wind that blows no one any good. One hopes that given the preponderance of former governors in the next assembly, the overbearing and lethargic attitude that were their hallmarks in the past would give way to a more productively vibrant legislature. We hope and watch!
Last Line: one year after, Leah Sharibu and other women and girls are still in captivity!!!
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