THE ETHICS OF THE GOV. JOSHUA DARIYE IMPEACHMENT
Society for Ethics in Nigeria
Various legal and constitutional arguments have been advanced over the
impeachment of the former Plateau State governor, Chief Joshua Dariye.
We however by your leave, wish to explore the ethical angle and truly
identify those issues, which made the impeachment such an unsavoury
experience in our fledging democracy.
Everyone including the erstwhile governor is aware that the Office of
the Governor of any State in Nigeria is a high and lofty office that
demands the highest level of integrity from the occupier, and respect
from all else in the state and beyond. Yet he chose to desecrate that
office by indulging in illegal activities abroad and thereby getting
arrested. As if that was not enough, he decided to cast opprobrium on
our collective integrity by jumping bail in the U.K and attempt to
return to that same office.
Back home, he was accused by the EFCC of misappropriating N1.7billion
Ecological Fund belonging to the Plateau State Government, he refused
to allow the EFCC to arrest his co-conspirators. Since he has immunity,
he manhandled their officials and generally made Plateau State a no-go
area for the organization.
Rather than chastise him, Plateau State leaders went to plead on his
behalf for re-instatement at the end of the emergency rule then in
force in the State with President Olusegun Obasanjo, who actually at
the end of the emergency rule was having a second thought about
allowing the Governor back in office. The President under this
pressure, agreed and Dariye was re-installed.
The question we would like to ask is, what sort of people are we, when
we allow a politician, who had breached his oath of office, desecrated
the Office of the Governor of Plateau State and humiliated his country
abroad to come back to power without protest from a single individual,
organization or government? Herein lies our guilt. Have our collective
psyche so inured to such acts of corruption and impunity, that all
moral and value obligations have been jettisoned? Have we become so
ethically deficient that people like Joshua Dariye now impose their
contaminated value-system on us, and we are forced to accept them as
the best way of life?
It is on record that Governor Joshua Dariye could not have survived so
long in office but for the support he got from citizens of Plateau
State. The fact that many, including Leaders of Thought in the State
fought for him to be returned to power, speaks volumes of the need for
this generation of Nigerians to be wary. We need to be aware of the
threat to our survival as a nation state by the so called elder
statesmen who are mostly yesteryears politicians and their acolytes in
our midst, who had never benefited us and will stop at nothing to
feather their nests. These groups of people are so inept and morally
bankrupt that mortgaging the future of their community, state, and
indeed the whole country means nothing to them. Their greed is such
that they will rationalize anything, and justify any act so as to
remain relevant in government, where their easy moneymaking schemes are
guaranteed. In order to checkmate them, Nigerians need to develop
practical safeguards for our social, economic and political structures
and interests, such that will guarantee non-interference from these
self-styled leaders and their cohorts. And we are not speaking of
Plateau State alone.
Representatives of the people are supposed to reflect the culture,
values and the wish of the community or group they represent. In the
case of the Plateau State House of Assembly, the Legislators had the
chance of removing the erring Governor, but chose instead to rubber
stamp a known rogue. This action alone shows the level of irrationality
usually exhibited by office holders in our democracy. A people sent to
oversee the actions of a Governor and curb his excesses sold their
independence and birthright for a plate of porridge and instead decided
to loot the treasury with him. Their submission to the Governor is not
through the exercise of force or savvy on the Governor's part, but
through a collective penchant for refusal to do one's duty. A trait
often exhibited by the Nigerian while in his home country. This among
others has basically been responsible for the systemic failure, which
has characterized our existence these past years. This seeming lethargy
has been so endemic that nowadays, we no longer even bother to think of
how to awaken institutions and make them work, we simply sell them to
the highest bidder. Even crucial social institutions like Government
Secondary schools. Our work ethic has gone so bad that we now feel the
human performance factor, which is so very important in every project
has gone beyond redemption. Rather than explore ways of re-orientating
and re-engineering this factor, we have deliberately chosen to ignore
it to our national peril.
What transpired in the Plateau State House of Assembly is a pointer to
what obtains in almost all the States in the Federation. People
entrusted to do their duty simply refused to do so, but rather chose to
pursue and market their own interest. After falling foul of the
constitutional provisions that stated leaving their party for another
means losing their office, the group of fourteen legislators feigned
ignorance of this constitutional provision, (another trait of
dishonesty) and are the first to call the governor's impeachment an
illegality. Their only reason being that someone defected somewhere
before and did not lose his seat. Are they as lawmakers expected to
perpetuate an illegality? What moral standing would they have to make
laws if they lack the integrity required of their office?
In conclusion, S.23 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria is a single statement, it states inter alia: " the National
ethic shall be Integrity, Discipline, Sense of Duty, Religious
Tolerance, Patriotism..etc." By this we understand that these virtues
are crucial and are to be observed and exhibited at all times by all
Nigerians. The Government and the officers in the three tiers of
government, who have sworn to defend the constitution, are therefore
expected to uphold these virtues. Any deviation therefore is supposed
to be viewed as a breach and treated with all the seriousness it
deserves.
Unfortunately, there are no ethics laws in Nigeria presently (at least
the writer is not aware of any) that seeks to punish an officer of
government or anyone who behaved in an unethical manner, especially
where such a behaviour or act is legal and within his constitutional
right. The decision of the Plateau State House of Assembly to return a
verdict of not guilty for Dariye was a travesty of justice. But they
were only doing their job as they saw fit and are constitutionally
empowered to do so. These same scenarios were played out in the Ekiti
and Anambra State impeachment sagas, though with variants.
We believe that acts such as these do not bode well for the future of
this great country. There is need to curtail office holders who are
ready to compromise their positions and sell our birthrights. There is
need to promote an ethics culture, build ethical structures and enact
ethical laws that will make office holders responsible for decisions
that, though legal and constitutional, are morally deficient and
ethically unjust. That way, we can be sure that many will be obliged to
re-examine where they stand before making decisions that affect our
lives and assault our sensibilities as a nation.
We believe also that the time to start building the structures is now.
Whiskey, Isaac U.
President/National Coordinator
This article was originally meant for publication in a newspaper,
therefore it was abbreviated. We could have made the arguments much
more detailed than this, but we felt we had better let you have it
unedited. Hope you enjoyed it.:
NB.: