The Danbaba Suntai dance of shame has since thrown up a host of commentaries, a congregation of views, and a line-up of various legal and political combatants, all arrayed on either side of the conversational divide, trying to drum up constitutional sympathies to strengthen their position, while the people of Taraba, who ordinarily should be the main issue, are shut out of the conversation, but rather condemned to the sideline, where they have always been, keeping vigil and watching with the common Nigerian resignation to fate. As usual, it has been a very interesting mix. It is needless excavating how Governor Danbaba Suntai came to find himself in this mess, it is a notorious fact. Our concern therefore would be restricted to the last few days, when what I have now come to style “Suntaigate” became the biggest issue in our polity. At about 1.10pm, Sunday, August 25, 2013, Gov. Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State suddenly appeared in the sky, aboard a Chartered Aircraft, after 10 months of medical treatment abroad following his October 25, 2012 plane crash. The arrival was packaged to be a fanfare and huge media stunt. To accomplish this mission, hundreds of Tarabans, and perhaps willing hands from outside the state were commissioned to strategically position themselves along the corridor that the ailing Governor would pass, ostensibly given instructions to masquerade as groups of ecstatic people of the state who could not hide their joy at the Governor’s return. Then the Governor appeared from the Aircraft, and when he appeared, the whole story was told. In the course of the drama, a certain hand appeared to have been raised by the ailing Governor, who from close observation clearly looked like a man staring absentmindedly, and then the said hand came down. That was all, and the man was whisked away, perhaps to rescue whatever was left of the whole arrangement from collapsing totally into tiny irretrievable pieces. Since then, its being one shenanigan after the other. A strange letter was later followed by a strange video, while Taraba State remained in the vice-like grip of desperate Power Merchants, who would do anything to survive. Having noted the solidarity of the Governor’s supporters, and the energy with which they have pursued their cause, the constitutionality or otherwise of Gov.Danbaba Suntai’s purported return to office via a letter, has being the biggest issue in the entire drama. Again the Constitutional Jurisprudence of our democracy is being invoked, as the Daniel that must necessarily and with alacrity come to judge, if we are to make some sense of out of something that should be a matter of simple commonsense, or if I am to use the words of Jeremy Bentham, something he would like to refer to as Nonsense upon stilts. On this ground, I propose to consider the relevant section of the Constitution. Section 190 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) As Amended, provides that, “Whenever the Governor transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Deputy Governor as Acting Governor.” It must be established that Gov. Suntai had fulfilled the first part of this provision, when he was about to leave for medical treatment abroad about ten months ago. To this extent, the reasonable expectation would have being for the other part to follow, the moment the encumbrance which occasioned his sending-in the first letter to the House of Assembly is discharged. The big question is, has that encumbrance being discharged? Proponents of the ailing Governor and legal minds alike have argued that since the Governor has fulfilled the second part of Section 190, which simply requests him to transmit a letter to the Speaker, that is all that is required of him, and the Constitution simply asks for no more. With due respect, I disagree. It is my submission that Section 190 of the Constitution, is not created to simply be an avenue of exchange of letters, or differently put, as a sort of letter-writing exercise. Every provision of the Constitution, by way of interpretation, has both the connotative import and the denotative intention. Under Section 190, it is the phrase, “Unable to discharge the functions of his office”, that necessarily precedes the transmitting of a letter, without which; there would have been no need to transmit a letter in the first place. Flowing from this, the necessary wisdom that cascades to the end of this provision is that another letter cannot be transmitted to the Speaker by the Governor, stating his intention to return to office, if the encumbrance that made him unable to discharge the functions of his office at the time he transmitted the first letter still subsists. It is important to say, that at every point when the provision of a law is to be interpreted, the intention of the Parliament in enacting such a provision must be sought. One of the basic principles of interpretation is the Mischief Rule, which considers the mischief such law was made with the intention of reversing. This is simply the spirit of the law. Simply put, the letters of the provision of Section 190 is that which deals with the procedure for transmitting of the letter signifying the Governor’s request to return to office, however, the spirit of that provision, which is more potent than its letters, and which captures the whole essence of the provision, I submit is one that runs with a deeper expectation that such a letter is ONLY transmitted when the Governor is not only seen, but is manifestly seen to be able to discharge the functions of his office. Where the reverse is the case, all of the action of the Governor in question, and his co-travellers is simply a nullity before the law. It is respectfully to my mind, that it cannot be the intention of the Parliament for an ailing Governor, dangling a strange looking hand in the air, who has not uttered verifiable words to the press directly more than five days after returning, and who can barely walk down a staircase of ten steps, to simply return to an office with huge responsibilities, riding on the back of a letter. If that sort of game-plan is to succeed, then no other words would capture it better than that which Jeremy Bentham referred to as rhetorical nonsense - nonsense upon stilt.
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:52:43 +0000
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