What Chief Obafemi Awolowo said about the future of Nigeria when on Friday February 28,1986, JS Cookey, a professor of political science, asked him for his views on the search for new political order.
Cookey who had just been given an appointment by then military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, wrote a letter requesting the sage, Pa Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo, to avail the Nigerian state the benefit of his wisdom, he (Cookey) did not bargain for what would be the response.
Babangida had promised the Nigerian nation that he would enthrone a new social order by doing away with the politics of the past, bring in new breed politicians and change the political landscape. And since he was not going to wave the magic wand, he sought and got Cookey to chair a Political Bureau.
That Bureau was saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out, after due consultations with Nigerians via memoranda and public presentations, a new political order.
It was in the pursuit of this mandate that the professor wrote to Pa Awolowo, requesting his participation and views.
To that request, Awolowo wrote the following:
“Dear Sir,
“I received your letter of February 28, 1986, and sincerely thank you for doing me the honour of inviting me to contribute to the National Political Debate.
“The purpose of the debate is to clarify our thoughts in our search for a new social order.
“It is therefore meet and proper that all those who have something to contribute should do so.
“I do fervently and will continue fervently to pray that I may be proved wrong.
“For something within me tells me, loud and clear, that we have embarked on a fruitless search.
“At the end of the day, when we imagine that the new order is here, we would be terribly disappointed.
“In other words, at the threshold of our New Social Order, we would see for ourselves that, as long as Nigerians remain what they are, nothing clean, principled, ethical, and idealistic can work with them.
“And Nigerians will remain what they are, unless the evils which now dominate their hearts, at all levels and in all sectors of our political, business and governmental activities are exorcised.
“But I venture to assert that they will not be exorcised, and indeed they will be firmly entrenched, unless God Himself imbues a vast majority of us with a revolutionary change of attitude to life and politics or, unless the dialetic processes which have been at work for some twenty years now, perforce, make us perceive the abominable filth that abounds in our society, to the end that an inexorable abhorrence of it will be quickened in our hearts and impel us to make drastic changes for the better.
“There is, of course, an alternative option open to us.
“To succumb to permanent social instability and chaos.
“In the premises, I beg to decline your invitation.
“I am yours truly, Obafemi Awolowo”
The New Search for a viable Constitutional Order
Since the coming into force of the Independence constitution of 1960 which came into being by the1958 Constitutional Conference, several other constitutional conferences have taken place by successive governments to bequathe a crisis free and acceptable constitution for Nigeria which has been moving from one form of political instability or the other due to its diversities which were never accepted as the core problem of the nation.
While it is important to note that several nations have had to go through various constitution processes towards attaining stability for ultimate development and progress, Nigeria has been one sort of one step forward,several steps backward in its journey to democracy.
After the collapse of the first republic and the take over of the country political leadership by the military, the nation was plunged into civil war as a result of the fall out of the counter coup which terminated the first republic.
It is important to point out that the inability of the then ruling government at the centre to maintain a neutral position on the personality political clashes between the leadership of the party led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy,the then Premier of the region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola who was disposed to a working relationship to the ruling NPC government at the centre deepen the ideological clashes in the region, which grave outcome led to the political upheaval at the centre.
This allusion is necessary in order for us to understand that the inability to allow practice of federalism to prevail by the ruling Northern Peoples Congress,NPC which wanted to take over the control of the Western region in spite of having an alliance with Dr Nnamdi Azikwe of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens,NCNC .In contrast Chief Awolowo and other party members and tendencies were opposed to alliance of the then Action Group with the then ruling party at the centre and this led to schism which made Akintola invite the NPC to assist him to rule the Western region effectively.
In other words, with the relative peace on competitive good governance in the then three regions before and after the attainment of independence led by the three dominant parties- the NPC in the Northern region led by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the NCNC in the Eastern region led by DR Michael Opara and the Action Group enable relative progress which is yet to be matched today all over the country.
In the Western region led by both Chief Awolowo and later Chief Akintola, the Parliamentary system of government clearly fits into the political diversity and dynamism of the people and so was the NPC able to hold the North under one umbrella except the minimal influence of the Northern Element Progressive Union,NEPU, of late Mallam Aminu Kano.
In the East ,the republican nature of the people clearly fits into the policies and ideologies of the then NCNC led by Dr Nnamdi Azikwe.
Hence, it could be said that the different regions were ruled by the dominant cultural and political tendencies unique to them.
However, since the end of the first republic ,the country have had four national conferences which had reviewed in vain the nations constitutional framework .
It is important to note that after the decision to adopt he Parliamentary system of government inn 1979,the Presidential system tailored after the United states of America had been used to replace the Parliamentary system and since then,three other conferences have been held to address the imperfections of the Presidential system which was recommended to the military by the Chief Rotimi Williams led Constitution Drafting Committee in 1978.
The adoption of the Presidential system by the Constituent Assembly set up by the Obasanjo government was also marked by as the clamour for adoption of Sharia caused a deep division among the members.
The point has to be noted that the seed for instability of the political system was compounded by the Presidential system borrowed from the United states which with the benefit of hindsight proved to be full of more expensive to maintain especially in the light of recent developments.
After the termination of the second republic by the military junta led by former head of state and later President Muhammadu Buhari, the self- styled Ibrahim Babangida government also set up a Political Bureau in February 1986 as part of his searach for a new political order for the country.
The response of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo reproduced above served as the propehtic declaration of what is to come years later when the new political order ushered in a new set of politicians wand the 1989 Constitution which was itself a semblance of the 1979 constitution but which as time and unfolding events proved was not to be used as a result of the political stalemate which greeted the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential election by Babangida who was eventually pushed out of office by his military colleague as a result of the civil unrest.
Babangida’s successor in the person of boardroom guru, Chief Earnest Shonekan had no time to tinker with the political process as he too was shoved aside by the civil clamour and replaced by another military dictator, General Sani Abacha who also commenced a five year transition which eventually terminated with his death July 1998.
Before his death, Abacha also constituted a National Conference which task was to work on the 1979 Presidential system of government which had proved to be the graveyard of democracy in the country.
After much debate at the national conference which was held even as the country was at the edge of the precipice because of the annulment of the election which in itself triggered the call for a new constitution, a brand new constitution put together without input from the civilian populace but based on the recommendations of a few military inspired appointees was foisted on the nation by the General Abubakar Abdulsalam government which replaced the late Sani Abacha’s government. He did not have the luxury to hold a conference or subject the new constitution to citizens approval.
It is significant that the modifications to the 1979 and 1989 constitutions which brought the now obnoxious1999 constitution is more retrogressive and unitary in nature such that has compounded the nations problem and the problem which constitutional review is meant to achieve. In other words all the four constitutional conferences held after the collapse of the first republic also failed to achieve the minimal tenets of true federalism which the republican constitution gave the polity.
The attempt by President Olusegun Obasanjo to give a new constitution to the people was alsmarred by the strange smuggling of a third term clause to the 1999 constitution .
The failed project itself gave rise to the deep suspicions in several circles that being a military leader with Unitary mindset, no progress could be in terms of governance in the country until a new structure which would give more powers to the federating units is evolved. It also reinforced the need to ensure that u new structure similar to or beter thantthe1963 republican foisted on the country that would reduce to the barest minimum which in itself was a death knell to the clamour for true democfracy based on the letters of the constitution which was more of a Unitary constitution for a diverse nation like Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan who also gave the country an opportunity to get a new constitution via the 2014 National Political Reforms Conference attended by eminent personalities made significant provision for the diversity of the country; devolve more powers to the federating units,introduce fiscal federalism which is the crucial aspect of federalism and gave more attention to the nations adversity.
But since President Jonathan wasted time in ensuring its passage into law by the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari which took over from him in 2015,never touched the document in spite of the wide clamour for its adoption to confirm his Unitary mindset and indeed the belief that the Northern political establishment prefer a Unitary constitution since it favoured its advantaged position over the rest of Nigeria.
Thus,when the Committee of Patriot made up of influential Nigerians led by a former Commonwealth Secretary General ,Chief Emeka Anyaoku paid a visit to President Bola Tinubu and raised the issue of a new pluralistic constitution to address the yearnings of the people, much expectation was raised.
Though President Tinubu himself a long time advocate of Federalism promised to work towards a new constitution, his decision on the time that Restructuring will take place only after he has fixed the economy was seen as pushing the cart before the horse.
With a government just coming out of the nation wide protest that took place in the face of dire economic and governance problems, many believe President Tinubus position is informed by need to ensure relative stability before conducting far reaching political reforms
The various re-organisation of the government departments, agencies and commanding heights of the economy which had aided corruption, ethnicism and religious bigotry in the last eight years is an indication that unless a serious tinkering is madeofthe1999 constitution, the documents remains a potent weapon in the hands of any nepotist and religious inclined despot like former President Buhari will reverse in the twinkling of an eye.
Changing of guards in various government agencies and departments will never effect any fundamental change in service delivery to the masses until the system and structure that gave birth to and strengthen the large-scale corruption and ineptitude which had assailed the county and made it a sorrow on the life of the ordinary people by it systemic pauperization and a big for nothing country in the eyes of the a fundamental world .
While his attitude to holding the conference now may not be against his inner feelings, the nature and scope of the recent regime change protest in the Northern part of the country which had been a beneficiary of the defective nature of the 1999 constitution may inform Tinubus change of tactics and strategy to address the fundamentally defective structural problem of which he at every fora has promised to reform.
But the question remains, can any economy survive the parasitic nature of the political system and its operators?
As it appears now except the Strucutre,size, nature and ideology of the nation is tampered with no economic restructuring could succeed taken into consideration the diverse composition of the different nationalities in the country which had compounded its woes.
There is no doubt that opposition against restructuring is not from the masses of the people but the ruling political elite who feared that their hold on the poor citizenry will stop the moment far reaching autonomy is granted the country and each region face its internal problem of economic development and curbing insecurity compounded by bad governance.
Examples abound all over the world that the inherited political legacies of departing colonialists have always been readjusted by the people after independence .
Nigeria with over 250 ethnic groups and several nationalities cannot be a different .India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and of late the United Kingdom .
Today there is relative development and peace in those countries which have decided to recognise and appreciate their differences and work towards enacting harmonious recognition of those differences in their structural and political set up.
There is no doubt that no amount of tinkering with the economy and reordering of the social order could address the fundamental problems good governance which itself was a product of the Structure of the country a contained in the 1999 constitution which till date is far away form the aspirations of the diverse segments of the country than any of its predecessors since the death of the 1960 and 1963 republican constitution.
But then, referring to what late sage Chief Awolowo told the Cookey political bureau,[see above] no amount of tinkering and rewriting of a new constitution would address and assuage the feelings until the citizens and emergent leadership have a change of mind ,attitude and disposition to corruption which has been the most potent hydra- headed problem afflicting the country.
The furore which greeted the Supreme court decision of granting financial autonomy to local government in its judgement last July points to the failure of the ruling political elite in all the political parties to address the real problem of the country.
Since almost all the governors are guilty of seizing local government funds, it is only sensible that no amount of freedom the new constitution gives to the various regions in the country would work until elected representatives have a change of mindset and work for the interest of the people they government irrespective of the name such government is called.
Finaly, Presildent Tinubu has to realise that his avowed commitment and determination to evolve fiscal federalism can only work if far-reaching autonomy is granted the diverse country such that each will devise ways of contributing to its well being and overal development of the nation.
It’s 38 years now that Awo wrote this letter.
It is clear in my mind that this sage and deep thinker saw into the future as time continues to validate his thoughts.
Nigeria may have inadvertently chosen the alternative – “permanent social instability and chaos”. Otherwise, how else does one explain what has been happening in Nigeria?
Until urgent steps are taken to address the above postulations, the country may continue to drift aimlessly and remain a potential on paper.
The time to Act is Now.
