LEGISLATIVE DICTATORSHIP AND HUBRIS During the regime of OBJ,he was accused of being an executive dictator especially in his relationship with the National Assembly(NASS). Now we have a reversal.The NASS in trying to assert its powers is making a gradual and unconscious slide to dictatorship.Three cases are of particular importance to me.First,the non-budgetary allocation to SEC.On this,I have perused the constitution and I couldnt find anywhere it is stated that the NASS has powers to withold appropriation to any MDA of govt.Hon.Gbajabiamila at the heat of the matter even arrogantly and ignorantly said that "the money is for us(NASS) and we determine how it should be spent".I leave this for another time. Second,the House of Reps some weeks back sought to amend section 143(5) which states the role of the Chief Justice of Nigeria in the impeachment of the President.The House wants to exclude the CJN from having any role to play in the impeachment process.They want the process to start and end with them.Their argument is that being an appointee of the Pres.,the CJN cannot be trusted to be impartial in the discharge of its role in the process.This argument is not only hogwash,but also derogatory.It shows the hubris of the legislature and its disrespect towards the judiciary and the office of the CJN.I want to ask the House,didnt the Supreme Court rule against the FG in the suit filed by Lagos State Govt over fund of the LGs witheld by the former?The House simply wants to be the accuser and the judge in its own case.I challenge them to pass it and see if it would stand. The third and the most recent of the dictatorial hubris of the NASS is the issue of the State of the Union address(SOTU).As far as am concerned it is unnecessary because section 81(1) already covers that aspect as the Pres.annually presents the appropriation bill before a joint session of the NASS and on such occasion,he usually delivers an address on national affairs and making statement on the policy of govt.While the section does not compel the Pres.to appear in person to do this,the Senate wants to intoduce a separate SOTU which the Pres.MUST appear in person to deliver.What a dictatorial move! No Arm of govt can compel the other to make an appearance. In the US where Senate seems to copy this from,there is an ongoing debate on the importance of the SOTU and the physical appearance of the Pres.Historian Louis Gould,a Hill-White House analyst for decades wrote:"it is time to end the meaningless annual ritual of the SOTU". Some Americans also believe that since it is NOT A MUST for the Pres. to appear,he should just make do with a letter.Qouting Doug Mataconis,a political scientist and an Attorney,"Article 2 of the constitution vaguely mandates that the executive communicates(I hope we understand that communication can be through many ways) with the legislature.A nice letter would do.A Tweet might even fit the bill.Washington and Adams read their speeches to congress but Jefferson discontinued the practice,viewing it as "too monarchical". It seems our lawmakers need to take courses in Organs of Govt,Separation of powers and Checks and balances.They need to know that no arm is greater than the other and if any harm could be said to be greater,it is the executive because apart from its De Jure powers,it also has the De Facto powers.While the Legislature also has the former,it doesnt have the latter.And in contemporary realpolitik,De Facto power counts.An example might suffice:In 1993,President Boris Yeltsin was facing impeachment by the Congress.In retaliation,he declared the parliament dissolved.There was a shut down of Govt.Finally,the Army decided to back their Commander-in-Chief against the Congress.I hope our democracy doesnt snowball into this. If the NASS went ahead to fulfill its interests on the three issues I have stated here,I expect the executive to approach the Supreme Court for interpretation.This would further strenghen our democracy and give us new practical knowledge of the spirit and letters of our Constitution.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 12:03:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015