Autonomy for local government, state legislature, and state judiciary

Source: wikifarmer.com

Dangling! Dangling! Dangling! It's dangling right before our eyes, like an orange in an orange orchard. Many thanks to the National Assembly and all stakeholders. However, if we make no effort to protect and harvest the orange, birds will peck at it for food and destroy it. It has dangled before, with many thanks to the previous National Assembly and all stakeholders, but birds pecked and destroyed it because we went to sleep when the orange was getting ripe.

Once again, the National Assembly has passed a number of bills towards amendment of the 1999 Constitution. These include the ones that grant autonomy to the local government, state legislature, and state judiciary. If we keep silent and go to sleep again, history may forgive us for being docile as usual but history will not forget to write our names in unattractive colours for future generations to see.

Now that the ball of autonomy is in the court of Sate Houses of Assembly for consideration before final constitutional amendment, we need to start putting our state legislators and state governors under pressure. It would be helpful if many of us, as responsible individuals and groups, could get their phone nos. to let them know where we stand on this important and progressive issue of autonomy. In addition, we can use print, electronic, and social media to showcase our inalienable standpoints. As much as possible, we can also organize town hall meetings at the LGA and/or state levels, with or without the hon. member(s) present, and send written and audio-visual reports (if available) of the meetings to the respective legislators and governors. Stakeholders must be encouraged to take proactive action. Civil Society Organizations have critical roles to play and must not stop their interventions at the level of the National Assembly.

Any hon. member of a State House of Assembly who argues or votes against autonomy for local government, state legislature, and state judiciary in defiance of his/her people's wish is neither a democratic nor a progressive representative. He/she should be recalled, or denied another term, or blacklisted against future political offices.

In the very likely and usual event that the voting is done secretly, the governor of any state where the proposed autonomy fails or is not considered at all by the state legislature should be held responsible for twisting the voting hands of state legislators. Civil Society Organizations, pressure groups, political parties, and individuals must mobilize to deny him 2nd-term (where applicable), or blacklist him against senatorial ambition or future political offices. The governor takes responsibility because, under normal circumstances as we all know, there's no reason why legislators will, at the very least, not vote for their own autonomy except that they're forced to kowtow to the wishes of a paymaster. Little do the legislators learn from the experience of others that sheepishly doing the bidding of their governor does not guarantee automatic ticket to return to the house or succeed in some other political aspirations. The typical governor, as a strategic political animal - who operates based on his enlightened self-interest and gross selfish interest - can and will in the morrow dump you who consider yourself as his political friend today in favour of his yesterday's or today's political enemy. 

In our society, we have an undemocratic, unproductive, and unhelpful culture of giving our executive and legislative representatives excessive latitudes of power to do and undo like kings and emperors in the olden days. We sometimes forget that they are supposed to work for our collective interests and not for their personal political or economic interests. We sometimes do not remember that they are expected to be answerable to us as electorates. We oftentimes do not realize how powerful we can be as a people if we mobilize and deploy our collective powers against 'democrats' profiting from democracy but working against democracy and the people.

Under the supreme sovereignty and power of God who rules over the affairs of men, we the people are the owners of sovereignty and power. As development-conscious human beings, patriotic citizens, committed change agents, and progressive democrats, we must begin to work towards making things happen for us and not just allow things to happen to us.

Onward ever: federal, state, and local governments! Onward ever: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary! Backward never: Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Bolaji Oladejo