Pini Jason
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Last Friday, in the tail piece entitled: THE SENATE AND LOCAL GOVT ALLOCATION, I deprecated what I considered an unconstitutional call by Senator  Fidelis Okoro of Enugu on the President to order a seizure of financial allocations to Enugu State local governments because, in the distinguished senator’s view,  democracy has collapsed at the local government level in the state. My intervention was purely on the ground that Senator Okoro’s motion was unconstitutional.

Moreover, the Supreme Court in the Attorney General of Lagos State vs Attorney General of the Federation (2004) 12 SCNJ 1, had so ruled that the President was  in violation of the 1999 Constitution in withholding the local government allocation to Lagos State. I got many text messages, some from people who were primarily  out to feed their malice and prejudices than to see the point of law and the effect on our democracy and true Federalism to which some of us subscribe.

Ironically, the problems that plague this country derive from what could be the easiest thing to do, but which has remained the hardest thing for us to do—obedience  of the law! People break the law to make exceptions for themselves or simply to avoid the rigours of sticking with the laid down rules. Such behaviour promotes  anarchy and stultifies our democratic growth.

The recently defeated Third term bid by the President was one of such deviation from the law and it nearly sent the nation into a spin. Some of the Third termites did  not have great opinion of those who opposed it in the National Assembly, arguing that some opponents of Third term were mere proxies of some other vested  interests with equally sinister agenda. However, Nigerians still hail the abortion of that illegality, no matter how it came about. For the same senate to be goaded into  another unconstitutionality will be unfortunate and people must see the issues at stake far and above private motives. What is the position of the law?

Section 162 (5) provides for the establishment of the “State joint local Account” in each state “into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government  Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State. Section 162 (8) expressly and exclusively empowers the State House of  Assembly to prescribe the terms and in what manner the amount in favour of Local Government Councils shall be distributed among the councils. I am aware that  many people have reservations about this provision. It was one of the sections slated for amendment in the Third term bill that was thrown away wholesale.

As for today, that is the position of the law. Until it is amended, neither the National Assembly nor the Senate has the right to legislate on or supervise the  disbursement of local Government allocations. It remains unconstitutional for the Federal Government to withhold Local Government funds for whatever reasons. That  is a settled issue, as far as the Supreme Court is concerned.

Another red herring from Senator Fidelis Okoro touches on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the requirements of the Commission to submit its  annual reports to the National Assembly. Sections 34 (i) and (ii) and section 35 concern the funds of the EFCC and has nothing to do with the report of its  investigations into the finances of states. Section 36 requires the commission to “not later than 30th September in each year, submit to the National Assembly (not the  senate only) a report of its activities during the immediate preceding year and shall include in such report the audited account of the Commission”. This clearly means  the Commission's financial activities and must be read as such and not used as subterfuge by senators to get at their state Governors.

They can take on their Governors without orchestrating a violation of laws. The EFCC has been getting enough flak from people on whose toes it seems to have  stepped. Senators like Fidelis Okoro do not help the credibility of the much-criticized Commission by trying to use it to score local political point. It is ironic that while  people are clamouring for the observance of true federalism, some senators would seem to be promoting over-centralisation where the senate would usurp the  functions of the State Assemblies.

Tomorrow, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Chairman of EFCC, is expected to appear before the Senate in connection with the report of the Commission’s investigations of  the Vice President, which the President sent to the senate. I can imagine some senators using that opportunity to demand reports of the EFCC on their states. Indeed,  Senator Okoro did so when he was touting his unconstitutional motion on his home state. I wonder what will be Nuhu Ribadu’s reaction to such request. Ribadu must  not allow himself to be goaded into a double standard.

I say so because Enugu State is not the only state the EFCC has investigated. Ekiti is one of such states that have been investigated by the EFCC. On Wednesday,  September 20, the EFCC presented its report to the Ekiti House of Assembly (Thisday, September 21) and not to the senate. When the Commission investigated  Plateau State, its report was turned over to the Plateau House of Assembly, not to the senate. I am aware that there is a problem getting the states Assemblies to take  their oversight functions seriously.

But the answer is not to compound the problem with further violation of established procedures. Corruption, which seems to be the bane of our development efforts,  is itself a violation of laid down laws. That is why I said earlier that it is very easy to sort out our problems, but unfortunately, that easy path is the most difficult for us  to walk. We must not be too easily exasperated as to sidetrack the law.

When politicians take positions, especially as we approach 2007 elections, they should try to avoid putting their personal interests above the welfare of the people.  When President Obasanjo withheld the allocations to Lagos State local governments, even after the Supreme Court ruling, PDP elements like former Minister of  Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe (who wants to be Governor of Lagos State) were prancing about, rejoicing. But it was ordinary Lagosians who suffered that  infraction of the law. Local Governments were crippled.

Salaries of LG workers were not paid. Lagos was overwhelmed by refuse, as LGs found it difficult to provide basic services. As a result LGs resorted to extorting all  manner of levies on Lagosians. Innocent drivers were lured into traps and fined for unknown traffic violations. Tempers rose to boiling point, almost resulting in  breakdown of law and order. Meanwhile, the authors of that unconstitutionality were happy! To them, it was politics.

Senator Okoro, and all those who think like him, must remember that it cannot advance anybody’s 2007 political fortune to impose a similar hardship on Enugu State  citizens. Moreover, it is an embarrassment that when Ndigbo are wondering why their legislators in Abuja have not found the voice and courage to speak up against  Obasanjo’s de-listing of Abia and Imo from the windfalls lined up for NDDC states, all that Senator Okoro can offer Enugu people is to call for the seizure of their  local government fund. What kind of politics is that? What kind of representation is that? Most Abuja politicians are at loggerheads with their home Governors. But  they must not sacrifice on the altar of ego and pique the larger interests of the people they went to Abuja to represent.