impeachment: So, what constitutes ‘gross misconduct’? Every time I’m in a quandary, as to what to make of the special brand of democracy we practise in Nigeria, I fall back on a lesson I picked from former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The old fox had pointed out that any public servant, who had done as much as 48 hours in an executive position would have, either by omission or commission, already accumulated enough offence to put him or her in jail the very next day. It was supposed to be a joke but, like all such OBJ jokes and utterances, it is loaded with native wisdom. So, any time any of our executives falls into rough waters, I fall back to the grand old man’s theory and everything suddenly falls into place. Of course, I supplement this OBJ public service theory with another theory that Nasir el-Rufai propounded for us a few years ago at the Nigerian Guild of Editors conference in Benin, Edo State. The accidental civil servant had posited that whenever two top public servants are at each other’s throat, ignore whatever they are talking about and follow the money. According to him, beneath all that talk about processes and procedures, professionalism and all the other sweet- sounding semantics, is the repugnant smell of filthy lucre (who controls what budget, who gives approval to spend and who corners what chunk of the appropriated and unappropriated cash largesse). As long as we seek to understand each and everything that goes on in government circles from the standpoint of these two theorists (who seem to have mischief and patriotism in equal measures), nothing in government would take us long to decode. That is why it is possible for two governors to take the same action and one is roundly applauded while the other is roundly condemned – with his neck on the impeachment chop-board and his entire body viciously wrapped in a gross- misconduct strap-tape. So, if anyone were to ask me what amounts to gross misconduct or impeachable offence, my answer would be: it depends on the political correctness about whoever is doing the committing. It all depends on how well, for instance, the offender ‘federates’ with the lawmakers and all the other power blocs. If, for instance, PDP had allowed APC succeed with taking the majority at the National Assembly, I’m sure that by now, we’d be feasting on a delicacy of Jonathan’s ‘gross misconducts’. Tufiakwa!! So, my own naïve definition of what constitutes gross misconduct in our clime can be viewed from two standpoints, viz: A. It is not a totally bad idea if a state governor decides to go to the bond market to raise funds for the development of his state. However, it amounts to gross misconduct if the ‘foolish’ governor fails to factor in the fact that a percentage of the money so raised ought to be shared by his lawmakers and select party chieftains. In fact, such a governor could be served an impeachment notice that very day. There can be no worse form of gross misconduct. B. It is gross misconduct if a governor chooses to decamp to another party without taking members of his state House of Assembly with him. It is even more gross misconduct if the governor in such dire straits suddenly develops diarrhea of the mouth and begins to grandstand like some cowboy (claiming to forgive people whom he should actually be begging for their forgiveness). Now, that is not only gross misconduct, it is actually suicidal – like Boko Haram. That is the reason the likes of Rotimi Amaechi and Aliyu Wammako are waxing stronger and stronger while Murtala Nyako has bitten the dust and Tanko Al-Makura is threatening to do likewise. Yes, this position might sound partisan but I doubt if Nyako would be in nearly as much trouble as he is today if he had stayed in PDP with his lawmakers – or taken them with him to join APC. Of course, that is not saying the PDP leadership or the Presidency contributed to Nyako’s woes. No! Saying so would amount to saying the truth in a country where we don’t like to tell ourselves the truth. Or was that not the reason we invited foreigners to scrutinise the books of the NNPC, even when it is clear to every fowl and goat out there that the people at the crude oil corporation are not exactly serving us to the best of their ability? Are we not still denying to ourselves that money is missing at NNPC? And now that media attention has shifted from it, are we not too willing to forget the report of the auditors? And while we are still waiting to hear what the auditors found, have we not invited another group of foreign inquisitors to probe the romance of our big men with Boko Haram? Whoever said there were Boko Haram people in high places? Was that not why attack dogs went after President Goodluck Jonathan when he confessed that there were Boko Haram supporters in his government? The truth is clear to everybody today. But, since it is not from my mouth that people would hear that the bishop wears trousers under his cassock, I will join everyone else in believing that no politician, businessman, cleric or top functionary has any links with the insurgents. It is just that it is a little confusing when these same people infiltrate the ongoing National Conference determined to use the insurgency, as bargaining chip to attract more financial allocation. Is it not also in continuation of our living a lie that those of us in Lagos are reluctant to agree that Boko Haram has arrived Lagos, even when the insurgents have confirmed on video that they are right there with Lagosians? Of course, we would wish they were not here but wish is one thing, reality is another. The danger, however, is that instead of taking proactive steps to check the insurgents now at this early stage, we would keep living in denial until it becomes too late. Of course, this practice of living a lie is not only a PDP syndrome. About two days ago, I was watching the Ekiti State chairman of the APC justify his party’s decision to go to the tribunal to challenge last month’s governorship election in the state (which, of course, was not free and fair, because APC lost). I wouldn’t know if he convinced himself with the reasons he tried to adduce but he didn’t convince me. The impression I got from his body language was that of a man, struggling to nobly deliver a slave’s errand that had been imposed on a freeborn. All is, definitely, not well in APC. Something appears to be snapping around its centre. Something seems to be slipping ahead of 2015. But that’s matter for another day. Source THE SUN NEWSPEPPER
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 02:18:28 +0000
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