Efe Wanogho: Kudos to the Ondo People Commentariat | Efe Wanogho | July 25, 2013 at 9:44 am MUSINGS! Our public space has, in the past few days, been inundated with an unprecedented furore over the fallout of the bid by the Senate to amend parts of the 1999 Constitution. The issue was no other than the retention of Section 29 (4) (b) of the Constitution by the Senate, having failed to garner the required two-thirds majority required for its deletion after a vote was taken. Note that the section in question was generally about citizenship, and the eligibility of any Nigerian to renounce his or her citizenship. The contentious subsection provided that any woman who was married, shall be deemed to have come of age, and can legally renounce her citizenship. The implication of the inclusion of that provision was not lost on Nigerians, as the connection was made between it and a subtle and tacit endorsement of Child-Marriage. The grouse of Nigerians, and rightly so, is found in the words: “ANY WOMAN WHO IS MARRIED SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE COME OF AGE”. A provision which clearly speaks for itself. In other words, once a woman was married, irrespective of the age she was when the marriage was contracted, she shall be considered to have come of age. The clause itself, is a veritable source of controversy, but more controversial, was Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, of Zamfara, who objected to the deletion of the clause, and caused the infamous vote to be taken; as he is the husband of a child bride and makes no pretensions about it. The foregoing isn’t the crux of this piece, as the details of the Senate proceedings on the date of the vote, are in the public domain. What this piece is about, is the well-deserved opprobrium, or anger, if you like, that the people of Ondo Central Senatorial District visited on Senator Ayo Akinyelure, for being part of those who voted to retain the clause, and the teary-eyed apology rendered by the Senator, who said he voted in error. It is fitting to commend the people of Ondo for refusing to be indifferent about the conduct of their Senator on the floor of the not-too-hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. It is also fitting to laud the Senator for owning up to his error and being humble enough to tender an apology. What he did is an uncommon rarity among the ranks of Nigerian politicians. Whether a man who makes such a costly mistake with the mandate of his constituents, deserves to be in the Senate, is a matter for the people of Ondo Central Senatorial District to decide. Having said that, we ought to note that the details of how each Senator voted, only came to light because of the electronic voting method that was adopted by the Senate. Had it been the normal manual voting or the rancourous voice vote of the “ayes” and “nays”, it would have been difficult to tie the figures to each Senator. One then wonders, why the House of Representatives is unable to replicate the use of electronic voting in it’s proceedings. Isn’t all this talk about late arrival and malfunctioning of electronic tablets, a smokescreen to veil the votes from the eyes of the Nigerian public? Does it make sense that voting proceedings of the highest paid legislators on the face of the earth, cannot be captured electronically? What the child-marriage brouhaha on the floor of the Senate has shown to keen observers is that, slowly but surely, Nigerians are increasingly becoming more interested in the actions of their public office holders and are making their voices heard on key issues of national importance. That is a laudable revelation. What is needed now, is to transform this interest from a reactionary one, to a proactive and anticipatory one. When that is done, Nigerians wouldn’t have to cry over already spilled milk, but would instead, take steps to prevent the milk from spilling. Also, the Senator’s apology, however unnecessary and ill-timed it may be, as he cannot undo the deed; goes to show his recognition of the true power of a vigilant electorate and constituents, who would not have to hesitate to exercise their right to recall an errant representative. Further, the child-marriage connection of the contentious Section (4) (b), has further emphasised that the 1999 Constitution is a document alien to Nigerians. Contrary to the provisions of its preamble which state that Nigerians freely gave it to themselves, the Constitution is an imposition by the military on hapless Nigerians. Nigerians couldn’t have given to themselves a document as sacrosanct as the Constitution, without having scrutinised every clause contained therein, in a popular referendum. Thus, it is understandable that not many citizens are aware of the provisions of the Constitution. Seeing that the Constitution has a faulty foundation and is riddled with contradictions, the question arises as to whether what is required is an amendment of the existing Constitution, or the writing of a fresh one. It is my thinking that a whole new process of Constitution-making be instituted that would address the many inadequacies of the present one. The acceptance of any law by the people, is largely a function of the degree of participation of the people in the process of the making of the law. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and to be legitimate and binding, must have the buy-in of an overwhelming majority of the citizenry. We do not have to wait for a piecemeal process by a handful of lawmakers whose election to office where characterised by controversy, and apathy on the part of those who they purport to represent. We must save Nigeria while we still can. I am @efewanogho, on Twitter.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 09:11:33 +0000
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