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Political Ideology and Law in Nigeria Joshua Olomo
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t is said that law is the legal expression of a political ideology. Political Ideology (PI) and law are mutually exclusive concepts however inextricably intertwined. Law is a system of enforceable rules governing social relations and legislated by a political system and is thus connected to ideology. When we refer to both legal system and ideologies as communist, fascist, liberal etc. we are saying the law is shaped by a peoples’ political beliefs. For example, take the Nigerian conservative stance on homosexuality compared to the liberal western stance, on the other hand, look at the wests conservative approach to underage marriage and the liberal Nigerian approach to the same issue. There is a disconnect between the people, its politics and the governing law - evidence suggests that the Nigerian populous do not know what their parties political beliefs are, whether they are ‘Left Wing’, ‘Right Wing’ or even ‘Centre’. Are we for the people? If so what sort of people? Or are we for the corporations, if so what sort of corporations? In addition to this, we are unaware of whether we have a naturalist or positivist legal approach to the enforcement of such ideologies. Somehow somewhere we have forgotten the very bedrock of a political party and its governing laws is its ideology, I guess its time to go back to basics. What is Political ideology? The French thinker Claude Destutt de Tracy coined the term at the turn of the nineteenth century in his study of the Enlightenment and felt ideology was the science of ideas and their origins, he believed it shaped what people think and was of the opinion that this view could be put to progressive political purposes. PI is also seen as an action orientated system of beliefs, according to Daniel Bell, this is to mean since it is action orientated its role is not to render reality transparent but to motivate people to do or not to do certain things. Amongst the various definitions John Schwazmantel put it aptly like this- ‘political ideology is a set of ideas which is normative, setting out an ideal, aiming at arousing support on a mass basis for those ideas, seeking to agitate in their favor.’ He explains ideology as totalistic as it presents at least in its fullest form, a broad range of views which cover the central aspects of how society should be organised, answering such questions as what the role of the state should be and in the widest sense ideology provides answers as to what kind of society is desirable. Party Origins Prior to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) there existed three main political groups; the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), the Action Group (AG) and the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC), with strong political ideologies. The NPC were very right winged in their style of politics, the AG due to its main head Obafemi Awolowo practiced neo-Marxism and democratic socialism (aka
Austromarxism) and the NCPC were liberal socialists. This was how they were identified and it was this cohesion that caused them to be vigorous and unmoving in a lot of their policies thus, creating cohesion and decamping was unheard of. From a legal perspective PI is like a company’s mission or vision statement. It tells us a little about the company. Then of course the article and memorandum of association are like manifestos, going into the detail of the policy of the entity; what they want to do, why they exist, who are its leaders and its plan for the future. The three above parties were distinguishable, there was no question as to what they wanted to achieve nor the future they wanted to create for Nigeria. Each group vehemently shaped by their beliefs, had ideas of how they wanted to run Nigeria i.e. the neo Marxist/democratic socialism AG that intended to spread the wealth and ensure education was limitless for the people regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds. Further the NCNC with their conservative socialism intended for integration and again a more meritocratic system of government. This was very evident in the sorts of laws they intended to pass. Law and ideology for these parties was not so disjunctive, they worked hand in hand. How do we identify P.I.? The manifesto and their social, economic and foreign policies give them away, further the types of laws that are passed is a huge hinter as to the system of government they intend to run i.e. if their policies tend to always favor the working class to the detriment of the bourgeoisie, or if they tend to favor white collar corporations etc., it is all suggestive of how they intend to run the country for the next 4years. Further, the name also gives it away, famous party names i.e. Labor, Democrats etc. tend to suggest a more socialist ideology however, Conservatives, Republicans tends to suggest a more capitalist ideology and so be rest assured their policies would follow the same. Nonetheless, there is no singular ideology within a party; parties tend to have several mixed ideologies based on their social values i.e. take the US Republican party. Its core ideals are founded on conservatism, however its economic policies are founded on economic liberalism and its social polices mirror that of neo-functionalists. This perceptibly shows a party can never be fully one sided, although a lot of its policies may show otherwise, it has to be balanced, most especially in a democracy and if that government wants to avoid mutiny. Hence the phrases a political party is ‘middle left’ or ‘center right’ show that parties willingness to meet half way with a lot of its policies adapting and evolving to meet the needs of the people it intends to govern. Evidence of lack of a political ideology in Nigeria is shown when we vote. Research has shown that the majority of Nigerians did not vote based on ideology but rather by the personality of the individual(s) running for office. So is the ‘Peoples Democratic Party’, left? And ‘All Progressive Congress’ Right? Or is it the other way round? Not so clear is it. Lets not be too harsh on this style of government, there is some political ideol-
ogy and there have been laws passed to that measure, as the Ektiti State Governor rightly put it ‘stomach infrastructure’ style of government (suggesting his very right wing style of politics). The president, on the other hand, has a zero tolerance approach on corruption, suggesting he is perhaps neosocialist (his empowerment of the Judiciary to help him fight it, recognising the law still as a powerful tool). Political ideology and its accompanying laws allow us to see what a leader looks like i.e. Soviet Russia with Stalin and Trotsky and their laws governing socio-economics ensured the ‘doctor’ was paid as much as the ‘carpenter’ (focus being that they are as important as each other); and of course Uganda with Idi Amin and his rules or lack of that severely damaged the country economically. If your politics is not clear, your policies won’t be clear either, and your laws will be left vague and ambiguous and subject to inept interpretation. There is nothing more chaotic and unfavorable to a state than a leader who is unsure of what his political beliefs are and what he can achieve with the tools given to him. What Schwarzmantel exclaimed was PI presents a picture of what the state should look like, the desirable society. So as the US Republicans are in a bid to get into power their beliefs/ideas tell us what that state will look like in the next 4years of their office. A basic example of a socialist ideal expressed by the US Democratic party was its policy on health – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as ‘Obama Care’. Why is political ideology so important? PI binds the party members to one cause, goal and belief. There is a lot of decamping in Nigeria. A deeply rooted “lefty” won’t swing to a deeply rooted right winged party, if he does, it would mean they really did not believe in that cause and would be recognised as phony, unless by some ‘Damascus experience’ he changes over. This is also applicable to the style of laws made or passed. A naturalist legal perspective cannot later pose as that of a positivist. In an ideal world the person would probably not lead that party and be given a key political position for fear his or her policies would be contrary to the party’s main aims and objectives. To put it more simply, a Marxist switching to become a Capitalist, like hot and cold, like water and oil, like light and darkness, they donnot mix, however these are extreme examples and are found mainly in autocratic regimes i.e. South Korea. Former state Governor of Sokoto, Alhaji Abdulahi Bafarawa stated ‘lack of political ideology (in Nigeria) was the reason politicians were
cross carpeting’ he went on to say “unless leaders of political parties form and maintain political ideologies on their stand, cross carpeting from one party to another will continue to exist”. Scharzmantel states that if PIs present a picture of the desirable society, then it is hard to see how they could be dispensable. He further states that it mobilises people in support of the political projects designed to bring about ‘that’ particular kind of society. It builds within society a sense of patriotism. Positivist/Naturalist regulations Emanating from this we can discuss the legal ideological points of naturalist and positivist law. A natural lawyer (their beliefs stemming from Thomas Aquinas), would argue law is dependent on morality, a moral criteria, it is in a sense “the way the law ought to be”, i.e. the fact that we donnot have any laws governing competition in Nigeria would be said to be immoral by natural lawyers. Nonetheless, John Austin, a positivist has argued that legal legitimacy of law does not depend on a moral criteria, another positivist H.L.A. Hart has extended this and said the laws of legitimacy can be determined by a moral criteria outside of the law that might recommend disobedience, for instance issues stemming from public policy (i.e. raising the minimum age of marriage to 18). What Hart is trying to say is what the law is (14yrs old as acceptable marrying age) and what the law ought to be (18yrs old) should be kept distinct. This begs the question, what sort of legal ideology influences the passing of our laws in Nigeria? Without digressing into legal theory, the point here is ideology, once acknowledged, brings cohesion. What next? PI is the bedrock of a parties ecosystem, without it the party ‘fly’s blind’ in the face of serious legal, economic and political issues. Knowing whether a party is left winged or right winged is pertinent to what we envisage for the country’s future. Its economic, social, foreign, defence, health, education polices are given further clarity by their ideologies. For instance, a party with liberal socialist ideals on war may not have a robust military. Further, their policies on justice are stemmed from their naturalist or positivist views of law. What we have in Nigeria that identifies our style of governance are ethnicity, regionalism and of course money politics. Quintessentially, we need to be re-orientated to how effective and efficient a system of government can be when it is aware of its political ideals and its proficiency in ensuring they are enacted. Joshua Olomo is a legal practitioner, based in Lagos.
ODINKALU URGES NIGERIANS TO SUPPORT BUHARI’S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 clothes those who perpetrate it with impunity.” He also berated public office holders who used their position to accumulate wealth, saying that such individuals betray public trust. “By so doing, they corrode the public authority and do incalculable damage to the capabilities of the state. In other words, grand corruption violates human rights on a grand scale and by ensuring impunity for those responsible for it, it also destroys the institutions of the rule of law and subverts the notion of equality before the law,” he asserted. He observed that “Nigeria does not have a choice between fighting corruption and respecting human rights. We must do both. The government has a responsibility to ensure that it does not throw legality overboard in its drive for accountability for grand corruption.” “Allegations of disobedience of court orders
have been well founded in some cases. This is unnecessary and counter-productive. The tendency to arrest first before investigating, which is prevalent in police operations, appears also evident in some of the work of the anti-corruption agencies,” he added. The NHRC boss, who described himself as a proponent of asset declaration stated that asset declaration saves one from all the lies and accusations against a public office holder, adding that whosoever does not want to declare his or assets should not go into public office. "The National Judicial Council should get ahead of the game and fish out and deal with corrupt judges before others do it for them. "It is no longer enough to merely retire judges caught with their hands in the till or to sanction lawyers who go about corrupting the judicial system. We need to put a few in jail.
"This said, the fight against corruption will not be won by merely brandishing the disciplinary or prosecutorial stick alone, as important and necessary as those are. This campaign must begin with running a competent and effective administration, a sound political economy and rebuilding the institutional capabilities of the bureaucracy.” Odinkalu urged. Former Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Samuel Omotunde Ilori (rtd), who also chaired the event warned the President against violating human rights in the fight against corruption. “The President has been fighting corruption and impunity since the beginning of this administration but he must do so within the confinement of the law and respect human rights,” Ilori stated. He also emphasised that educating Nigerians from secondary school on the provisions of
the law is key to fighting corruption. Sylvester Imhanobe, Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice highlighted measures the ministry is adopting in supporting the crusade against corruption, he stated that it had embarked on institutional and legislative reforms. Imhanobe, who was one of the Discussants noted that an administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee had been inaugurated by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed. He hinted that the prosecution committee had been set up comprising of 155 investigators, an established asset declaration committee. It provides compensations for witnesses as prescribed under the Witness Protection Programme Act and Whistle Blower Protection Law, among others.