CIVIC...our citizens enlightenment series (2) Greetings to all Platformers and Fellow Citizens! Welcome to CIVIC! CIVIC is an acronym for Citizens Ideology for Values, Information & Change. We hope to be able to help you know more about your rights and duties as citizens of Nigeria, towards contributing meaningfully to the development of the nation. Last week, I started by looking at the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as the very foundation of citizens rights. We considered the Supremacy of the Constitution, and how this protects your rights against abuse and violation by any government. As hinted last week, today you will get to know how the Constitution has given the supreme power to the Nigerian people from whom government through the Constitution derives all its powers and authority. First, it is important to know what sovereignty means. In this way, you dont keep digging for meanings like Manchested United digging for oil on the Premier League table! Simply, it means the supreme power of a state. With such power, the state can carry out its mandate without any form of external interference. You will not be wrong to say that the sovereign is master of his fate. Little wonder section 2(1) of the Constitution states that: Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Now the question is: who has the sovereign power in the Nigerian state? Is it the President, the National Assembly or the Judiciary? Could it even be Patrick Abba Moro, the Minister of Interior who blames everyone but himself over the NIS recruitment tragedy and still remains in office? Again, could it just be Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Petroleum Minister who appear to owe no one no explanation over NNPC affairs. Well, its certainly not Stella Oduah since having been fired she obviously has a sovereign over her, and getting to see her these days may be like looking for the missing MH370 Malaysian plane. Well, some of us would be surprised to know that the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary have no such sovereign powers. The President is no master, but the highest in the rank of servants to the Nigerian people. Thats right! Governors are servants in their states, just as Chairmen are also servants in their Local Government Areas. Wonder why they are called public servants? So how come these servants have become masters over us who gave them the mandate to serve? It doesnt just make sense, right?! Our peculiar political system and the poor level of political awareness on the part of the Nigerian people in terms of how government works are some of the factors that have led to such wrong and unhealthy perception of public servants as masters. It is the people who elect their leaders into power to serve the people on behalf of the people. Remember Lincolns government of the people, by the people, and for the people? Its not just a brilliant quote, but for REAL! Dont mind how politricians have rendered it a meaningless cliché only to steal your votes. So if the sovereign is not any of the offices and institutions above, who is then the real oga at the top? The sovereign is YOU and ME. Yes, the soverign is the Nigerian people. Are you wondering what gives us the Nigerian people such powers over our political leaders? Are you wondering how a helpless and hopeless people have such supreme powers over our leaders whereas it is the same leaders who treat us like poor servants while they treat themselves to our commonwealth? Well, it may be because the master has refused, neglected or failed to exercise his powers as given to him by Constitution. Yes, the Nigerian people are largely not even aware of their sovereign status in the nation-state. The Constitution gave you and me the power to be masters, and not servants as we now are. Read the lips of the Constitution, particularly section 14(2)(a): 14. (1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice. (2) It is hereby, accordingly, declared that: (a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority. Now you know what Im talking about! Its high time we started reminding our public servants to be loyal, faithful and honest in their service to the Fatherland as pledged and sworn before they took up office. Its high time the Nigerian people started working together to secure the future of our nation by acting like the sovereign. Its high time the Nigerian people stopped compromising our collective future as a nation for personal gains and interests of today. Its high time we stopped stooping for crunches from the dinning table, and begin to dreams and walk talks like the masters that we are as a people. One banana pill has been that sovereignty belongs to the Nigerian people collectively. What that means is that when the people are divided by the lines of religion and tribalism for instance (as we now are), we become weak and helpless as the sovereign. This results in the servants becoming the masters of our fate, since divided we stand, united we fall. To reclaim what we have lost in reality, we must UNITE as ONE people with a common VISION of a greater Nigeria where there is equal opportunities for all to realise their full potentials. If we however remain divided as we are now, these servants in power will continue to be masters over our fate. NOW is the time to STAND as one Nigerian People. One Sovereign nation. And One vision. Lets do this again next week when CIVIC hits you again! CIVIC...citizens ideology for values, information and change. Believe in You! Believe in Nigeria! Follow us on Twitter: @theplatformnig The Platform https://facebook/groups/1378898485709969/
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:16:47 +0000
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