LEKAN SOTE FROM PUNCH
Practically everyone that holds any political power in Nigeria as president, governor, local government chairman, legislator, minister, state commissioner, councillor, board member of any parastatal or government-owned enterprise, or political party official, is in a conspiracy against citizens of Nigeria.
Elite consensus in Nigeria is actually an elite conspiracy against the interest of the poor masses. It’s the most cunning scheme to convert the commonwealth of the country to the advantage of a few.
The first weapon of the political elite against the people is section 2(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state…” This gives state actors the impression that the maintenance of the state is their main assignment, so they pay scant regard to the welfare of the people.
So the biggest portion of every annual budget is devoted to the maintenance of agents and agencies of the state because the state is considered to be more important than the people – the way the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was superior to the people of the Soviet Union.
No wonder Nigeria’s equivalent of city fathers, many of whom were military officers and beneficiaries of the Nigerian state, insist that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, though the state is not working for the masses.
The second shot against the Nigerian people is section 6, the ouster clause of the 1999 Constitution that says you cannot compel the government to guarantee democracy; social justice; federal character; economic development; freedom, equality and justice; and to also guarantee equal and adequate educational opportunities; promotion of national interest; and protection, preservation and promotion of Nigeria’s culture and national ethics, all as enumerated in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution.
This ouster clause completely castrates section (14)(2,b) of the 1999 Constitution that pretentiously “declared that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
In order to ensure that the worst of Nigerians can easily become president, governors and legislators, the political elite introduced sections 65(2), 106(c,d), 131(c,d) and 177(c,d) into the 1999 Constitution.
These sections say, “A person shall be qualified for election (into any political office) if (a) he has been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent; and (b) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party.”
To further water down qualifications for elective offices, section 318(g) asserts that “school certificate or its equivalent means (a) a secondary school certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (b) education up to secondary school certificate level; or (c) primary six school leaving certificate or its equivalent.
