THE NATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012
21
EDITORIAL/OPINION
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HE fact that a country with such a vast land mass and consisting of ethnic nationalities with disparate backgrounds, languages and cultures could not live under a unitary government for too long was not lost on the British colonial administration, especially from the time of Governor Arthur Richards. At the various consultative forums, especially the Ibadan General Conference of January 1950, preparatory to the promulgation of Macpherson Constitution of 1951, the question on the structure of Nigeria was pointedly asked and discussed: “Do we wish to see a fully centralised system with all legislative and executive powers concentrated at the centre, or do we wish to develop a federal system under which each different region of the country would exercise a measure of internal autonomy?” But it was not until 1954, following the crises generated by the motion for self-government by Anthony Enahoro in 1953 and the constitutional conferences that resulted from them (London Conference of 1953 and Lagos Conference of 1954), that the inevitability of a federation or federalism finally dawned on everyone. And so there is no gainsaying that the federal arrangement bequeathed to Nigeria both by the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 and Independence Constitution of 1960 was a compromise between the centrifugal and centripetal forces that inhabited the disparate regions of Nigeria. Our founding fathers like Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello settled for a full-fledged federation as the basis of our existence as a nation in 1954. In 1954, the Federal Republic of Nigeria was born. It is most regrettable that today, Nigeria seems to be a federation only in name, as all powers appear to be concentrated at the centre, thus making all roads lead to Abuja. Governor Ibikunle Amosun, for instance, cast a reflection on the current state of affairs while declaring open the recent Zonal Advocacy Workshop on Economic Diversification and Enhanced Revenue Generation,
‘We need to make Nigeria a truly federal republic. In a proper federation, all roads cannot lead to Abuja. The centre cannot collect so much as revenue to the detriment of the states. For a start, I personally recommend a revenue formula that will give at least 1.5 per cent to each of the 36 states’
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HE recent exertions of the Code of Conduct Bureau which culminated in the trial of former Lagos state Governor Bola Tinubu has in an uncanny way brought to the fore the issue of the role of lawyers in the dispensation of justice in Nigeria. Believing that it had a water tight case against Tinubu, the CCB hauled him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Daniel Yakubu Umar. He was charged for allegedly operating sixteen foreign bank accounts between 1999 and 2007 while he served as governor. However, in his ruling Justice Daniel Yakubu Umar held that the charges were defective and incompetent. He accordingly quashed all the charges after holding that they did not establish a prima facie case against the accused person. Established under the Third Schedule of the Constitution, the CCB is to ensure compliance with and enforcement of the Code of Conduct for public officers as enshrined in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. CCT, established under Paragraph 15 (10 of part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, is empowered to try offences committed under the Code of Conduct. The CCT operations are guided by the provisions of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, Chapter 56, Laws of the Federation (LFN) 1990. The powers of CCB include: receive declarations by public officers made under paragraph 12 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to this Constitution; examine the declarations in accordance with requirements of the Code of Conduct or any law; retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe; ensure compliance with and, where appropriate, enforce the provisions of the Code of Conduct of any law relating thereto; receiving complaints about noncompliance with or breach of the provisions of the Code of Conduct or any law in relation thereto, investigate the complaint and, where appropriate, refer such matters to the Code of Conduct Tribunal; appoint, promote, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over the staff of the Codes of Conduct Bureau in accordance with the provisions of an Act of the National Assembly enacted in that behalf; and carry out such other functions as may be conferred upon it
Tinubu’s usual resort to tested and capable lawyers in weighty politically induced legal tussle is a throw back from an eventful past. Leading lights of the second republic politics like former President Shehu Shagari, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chiefs Jim Nwobodo and C.C Onoh had cause to engage the services of the likes of Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN, Chief G.O.K Ajayi, SAN, Chief Rotimi Williams, SAN and Chief Gabriel Onyiuke, SAN.
Federalism and Nigeria ‘s quest for regional integration By Soyombo Opeyemi organized by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC): “Without doubt, this issue has brought to the fore, once again, structural weaknesses in our federation, particularly fiscal federalism…” Indeed, I find it very odd, just like Senator Amosun, a revenue allocation formula that gives 52 per cent to the Federal Government, 26 percent to the 36 states and 20 per cent to the local councils. What this means is that each of the 36 states collects 0.7 per cent from the federation account while the Federal Government collects a whopping 52 per cent! Haba! Is this federalism or unitarism? All over the world, regional integration has gained currency. Nations are collaborating, so are states within federations in order to derive maximum benefits from the power of synergy and economies of scale. The South-west of Nigeria is doing everything within its power to integrate and re-enact the development witnessed in the Western Region of the pre-independence and immediate post independence era. The South-east, Southsouth and North are on the same path. But there are serious challenges to overcome in order to see the lofty dreams come to fruition. The South-west states, for instance, may wish to embark on a railway project to connect the region – and this is key to any industrialization programme. But railway is on the Exclusive List (Item 55) of the 1999 Constitution. Today, there is a President Jonathan that may encourage such a project since it’s ultimately in the overall interest of the entire country. But a myopic central government may wake up tomorrow after billions of taxpayers’ funds must have been sunk into such a project and invoke the constitutional provision to force it to halt. Again, Ogun State, for instance, has mineral resources such as limestone, tar sand, bitumen, gypsum, feldspars, quartz, phosphate, mica, glass sound, clay, high quality granite stones, gravels, decorative stones, kaolin, etc. These mineral deposits can be exploited to turn the state into Eldora do. But you have to look at the body language of the man in Abuja before you can reap any benefits from such exploration and exploitation. And once Abuja is not interested, even though
CCB: Lessons from Tinubu’s triumph By Chris Egbuna by the National Assembly. The 1999 Constitution further provided for a comprehensive Code of Conduct for public officers to be administered and enforced by the bureau. It particularly states: “The President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers of the Government of the Federation and Commissioners of the Government of the State, members of the National Assembly and the House of Assembly of the states and such other public officers or persons, as the National Assembly may by law prescribe, shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria”. The tribunal reportedly arrived at its decision after faulting the amended charges on several grounds. First, the prosecution (the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB) failed to seek and obtain the court’s leave to proceed with the amended charges, after the original one-count charge was withdrawn on September21, 2011. Second, the CCB failed to properly invite the accused to hear from him before commencing the trial, contrary to Section 3 of the Code of Conduct Act. Third, the CCB failed to provide any summary evidence, backed by an affidavit, to substantiate the amended charge, contrary to the mandatory requirements of criminal law. In fact, Justice Umar disclosed that the CBB did not avail even the tribunal of the amended charges, which he said got to their notice only at the courtroom. This, he said, was not a normal procedure, for “Justice cannot be done by way of ambushing”. Summarizing the implication of the prosecution’s failure to back the charges with the required proof of evidence, Justice Umar declared that “where a court discovers that its rules and procedures have been abused, it is bound to dismiss the suit, and not strike it out”. The case has added to the long list of judicial victories Tinubu has recorded in recent time. Perhaps, more than any other Nigerian in the current civilian dispensation, Tinubu has shown better appreciation of the need to always hire a crack team of seasoned lawyers. In all the cases he is believed to have inspired especially in Ekiti and Osun States, he spared no cost in assembling a team of very experienced lawyers. In the particular case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal his legal team consisted of nine senior advocates led by the inimitable Wole Olanikpekun, SAN, past President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, another past president of NBA, Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, a former AttorneyGeneral of Lagos State, Deji Sasegbon, SAN, renowned for his outstanding law books, Emeka Ngige, SAN, Niyi Akintola, SAN, Turaki Kabiru Tanimu, SAN, Dele Belgore,
the mineral deposit may be right in front of your house, you can’t do anything because “Mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas” are contained in Item 39 on the Exclusive List of the 1999 Constitution. You see! Everything is Abuja, yet we say we are a federation! What about electricity? Ordinarily, each region, state or local council should be able to generate, transmit and distribute electricity from different energy sources (wind, water, solar, household waste, etc) but, practically speaking, little can be done without the authority of the Federal Government despite the fact that Electric Power is on the Concurrent List of the constitution. Again, the current president will most likely support the efforts of any state government to ameliorate the power situation in the country but what happens when another man holds court in Aso Rock? Therefore, it is important to enact a constitution that is truly federal and self-fulfilling, which does not have to depend on the goodwill of Abuja. There is urgent need to go back to the federalism bequeathed to us by our founding fathers. There are also federal roads which are key to development but cannot be constructed or rehabilitated by willing state governments, even though the state of such roads impact heavily on the socio-economic lives of the people of those states. The Benin-Ore Road and Lagos/Ibadan Expressway are good examples. The state governments of Ondo and Edo, for example, would certainly have prevented the daily traffic snarl on the Benin-Ore Road and the attendant socio-economic losses. Ogun and Oyo could certainly make the commercially-vital Lagos/Ibadan Expressway a model, at a lower cost than funds that will move first from Abuja, to a regional office, to the states and from there to the roads. Governor Amosun, for instance, said recently that Ogun, in partnership with the private sector, could make the highway a model in a record time and end once and for all the miseries of commuters and humongous economic loses to the state and Nigeria. There’s need to accord a serious thought to this offer from the government of Ogun State. We need to make Nigeria a truly federal republic. In a proper federation, all roads cannot lead to Abuja. The centre cannot collect so much as revenue to the detriment of the states. For a start, I personally recommend a revenue formula that will give at least 1.5 per cent to each of the 36 states. Proper federalism will promote regional integration, which will lead to healthy rivalry among the regions - the type witnessed in the 60s. Let’s recall that Nigeria was on the path of an economic medium power before the brutal termination of the First Republic by the military on January 15, 1966. This happened because Nigeria was a federation both in word and deed. It is time for a true Federal Republic of Nigeria. •Soyombo writes from Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta. SAN and Charles Edosowan, SAN, are the other members of the team. A peep into the biodata of some of the members of the carefully chosen legal team indicates that Osinbajo is a renowned legal scholar and public ethics advocate. His publications include Cross Examination: A Trial Lawyer’s Potent weapon; Annotated Rules of the Superior Courts of Nigeria, with Ade Ipaye, Unification and Reform of the Nigerian Criminal Law and Procedure Codes, the Citizens Report Card on Local Governments with Omayeli Omatsola, Nigerian Medal Law, and Cases and Materials on Nigerian Law of Evidence, Integration of African Continent Through Law, among others. Sasegbon, with over three decades of legal practice, is a notable legal researcher and publisher. His specialty is commercial and company law, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, criminal practice and civil case, trademarks and copyright as well as legal publication. His publications under the aegis of his ingenious DSC Publication Limited include; Nigerian Supreme Court Case (NSCC) in 38 volumes, Legal Desk book, The Nigerian Companies and Allied Matters Law and Practice (6 volumes) and Sasegbon’s Law of Nigeria (A Judicial Encyclopedia of Nigerian Law and Practices in 30 volumes). Akintola served as the Deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, 1992, Member, Presidential Committee On Review Of The 1999 Constitution. He is a Fellow, London Court Of International Arbitration and Chartered Institute Of Arbitration, UK. Turaki Kabiru Tanimu SAN who holds the traditional title of Dan-Masanin Gwandu is a respected attorney who specializes in Arbitration, Notaries Public, Chartered Secretary, Solicitor Practice, Advocacy, Legal Consultancy. Emeka Ngige SAN, a member of the National Executive Committee, Nigerian Bar Association since 1999 specializes in both Commercial Law and Electoral Matters. Another member of the team is Charles Edosowan SAN whose knowledge of laws regarding election matters is said to be prodigious. Yet another notable member of the team is Dele Adesina SAN, a former Secretary General, Nigerian Bar Association and former member, Governing Council, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria. He is a member of the Body of Benchers and the National Executive Committee, Nigerian Bar Association. Tinubu’s usual resort to tested and capable lawyers in weighty politically induced legal tussle is a throw back from an eventful past. Leading lights of the second republic politics like former President Shehu Shagari, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chiefs Jim Nwobodo and C.C Onoh had cause to engage the services of the likes of Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN, Chief G.O.K Ajayi, SAN, Chief Rotimi Williams, SAN and Chief Gabriel Onyiuke, SAN, who were the leading legal luminaries of the time. It is therefore a well laid out legal path that Tinubu now threads with accustomed dexterity. Little wonder that he continues to swim safely to the shores no matter how shark infested the murky waters of Nigerian partisan politics appear to be.