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| Barr Madaki |
The Local Government Election recently
conducted in Plateau state is a pointer to two things that could happen in
2019- Barr. Madaki
Adamu Izang Madaki is a private legal
practitioner based in Jos. Recently, he granted interview to African Drum and
spoke his mind on the just concluded Local Government Election in Plateau state;
the Executive Order and other sundry issues. Here are the Excerpts.
What is your take on the outcome of the
recently conducted Local Government Elections in Plateau State by the Plateau
State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC)?
Let
me start by commending the people of Plateau State in the 13 Local Governments
that witnessed the election. People came out in mass to cast their votes and
expressed their dissatisfaction in the process. But unfortunately, should I say
PLASIEC was not prepared or it was a deliberate ploy to thwart and frustrate
the mandate of the people as we have seen. Citizens and local observers have
seen that the wish of the electorates at the end of the day did not
materialize. So, we can say, it was a good turnout, people came out to elect
their representatives but at the end of the day, the decisions did not count.
Don’t forget, the local government system is a very fundamental aspect of
democracy, unfortunately, that was truncated
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Last year, the Plateau State House of
Assembly passed two Laws, (PLASIEC Law and the Local Government Law
respectively) which Governor Lalong assented to only the PLASIEC law but the
local government has not been assented to. What is the implication of this,
more so regarding to the local government election that was just conducted.
Very
important. The local government law is actually meant to be the law operational
to guide the local government system and local government administration in
Plateau State. So, if local governments don’t have a law it means people can do
whatever they want to do. And let’s not forget, the basis for law in the
society is to regulate human conduct so, when there is no law, of course people
can decide to do what they chose to do. It’s a very sad situation and of course
our governor should know better being a legal practitioner, that when there is
no law there is no way you can regulate human conduct. It’s an unfortunate situation
that the local government law has not been assented to by the governor and that
leaves a very sore taste in our mouths as far as local government administration
is concerned. Be reminded again that the local government system is the closest
to the people. And how do you nurture democracy? You start from the local
government level.
Those
of us who have been following constitutional development in Nigeria know that
the Supreme Court has held, particularly in that popularly case between
Attorney-General of Abia State against the Attorney-General of the Federation
and 35 others when the court simply said that it’s the state government that is
responsible for local government administration in Nigeria. That means, if a
state does not take local government system seriously, it means the local
government system has been hijacked. So, we without the local government law in
Plateau State that means the local government can operate at the whims and
caprices of personalities which shouldn’t be the case.
Now that the Local Government elections
have been conducted without a prescribed tenure for the representative since (there
is no law to that effect), what danger in your view do you think that portends
to democracy?
One
characteristic of democracy is periodic elections. so, if a tenure is not
given, there will be a problem because it cannot be a government forever.
Consequently, that has already caused an ambiguity because tenures are for
certain reasons so that those elected can measure, assess and evaluate
themselves and to also know they should render account to the electorates.
Again, we must also blame the legislature because can the law makers having
gone through the vigorous process of law making and it has not been assented to
and they all keeps mute over it. It’s very dangerous. Again, how could you have
worked and passed a bill that had no tenure? This raises so many questions on
the role of the legislature and even the executive. But just like I said
earlier, it’s unfortunate because even as we speak right now, they don’t have tenure
and of course you know what that means in a democracy.
Pundits have observed that PLASIEC’s
decision regarding the local government elections was a litmus test for 2019
general elections; do you share in this view?
Very
well. But the good aspect of it is that democracy is growing. The growth of
democracy first of all starts with the populists, the citizenry. The awareness
is high, participation is high and you can even see that people are orderly and
peaceful. They go to polling units to cast their votes and they are interested
in what is happening. But institutionally, we have serious problems. So, with
the electorates, we are seeing a growth, but with our institutions, it appears
we are not learning our lessons. If the Plateau State Local Government election
is anything to go by, we should expect so much in 2019. We are going to witness
two things; one, we would see what is called people power or people resolved.
People would make up their mind to go the way they want to go. Second, we are
going to see the intervention of the institutions.
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Now,
depending on interventions; if they are good, we would have a peaceful
elections but if the interventions are not good, then people power may actually
prevailed and we may have what is called a state of anarchy but God forbids
that. So, the institutions should learn to allow the system to run publicly.
Democracy is a government of the people so allow the people elect their
leaders.
What would be your advice to Governor
Lalong, who is your colleague regarding due process and observant to rule of
law.
The
legal profession has what is called Rules or professional Ethics. The Nigeria
Bar Association (NBA) constitution is clear. It talks about the cardinal
responsibility of every lawyer which is to defend and protect justice and the
rule of law. Any other thing is not allowed by our profession. So, my candid advice
to His Excellency, the governor of Plateau State (he has been a senior colleague
of mine) is that he should take into cognizance the fact that rule of law does
not only benefits the state but also benefits the citizens because it gives
them confidence in their government. Most of what we have witnessed in Nigeria was
as a result of suppression and injustice. People are tensed up so a little
spark of crisis you see the damage is so high because people are looking for
means to ventilate. But where there is justice, that is the rule of law, you
will discover that certain restive activities are minimized. So I am calling on
our dear governor to always call his foot soldiers to order because they are
the ones who are mostly overzealous, trying to do and undo. They should play
the game according to the rules.
What is your take on the executive order
by President Muhammadu Buhari which places travel ban on about 50 Nigerians?
Well,
my take is just similar to what my learnt Senior Advocate of Nigeria; Femi
Falana stated few days ago that it was needless. Why is it needless? Every
political exposed person standing trial for one corrupt allegation or the other
is first of all,( going by the constitution), presumed innocent until proven
guilty. Now, by effecting a travel ban or whatever they called it, what are you
trying to say? Invariably you are saying the person is guilty. Second, all of
them submitted their travel documents to the registrars of the court
prosecuting them. They cannot travel except the court grants them that permission
and that it is why we are saying it is needless. All that needs to be done is
to strengthened the judiciary, strengthened the institutions that fight
corruption and you will see the system running perfectly. To me, this is one
way of trying to frustrate Nigerians or to gag them. The average Nigerian
should be concern about this because the 50 people under reference are either
our relations or friends. So, for instance one of them decides to assist you
with money for your child school fees, the next thing you hear is that you have
received money from somebody who is corrupt. So, it’s going to be a very funny
situation. Allow the court to do its job. What we should be talking about
should be things like special court; court handling corruption cases should not
longer go on vacation. Yes, things like that aids fast tracks the process, but
when you place a travel ban, it certainly gives cause for concern.
You
can see that many people are saying that it is renaissance of decree 2 of those
days. Whatever the case, the constitution guarantees freedom, of though;
freedom of association and even freedom to own property in any part of Nigeria
and the government should be able to preserve those freedoms.
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