The opening words in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria reads: “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. It goes on to read that the people have resolved to provide the Constitution for promoting good government and welfare of all persons in Nigeria.
The events of the past few days on the #ENDSARS protests in Nigeria culminating in the attacks on unarmed and peaceful protesters by Government-sponsored and orchestrated elements, the Nigerian army and the Nigeria Police is a derision of the preamble to the Constitution. It makes a mockery of the sacred document Nigerians as a society have agreed to for good government and social welfare.
Are the protests valid? Yes. Do Nigerians have a right to protest? Yes. Are they entitled to security during protests? Yes. Is this right to protest guaranteed by the Constitution? Yes. The question that begs an answer is, if the people agreed to the Constitution and created it and are entitled to elect representatives to govern them, what happens if the elected representatives fail them? Because clearly the representatives elected by Nigerians to promote good government and welfare have not lived up to their responsibilities.
This morning, social media displayed a scene at the Green Chambers, the House of Representatives, where an elected representative was denied the opportunity to speak on behalf of his constituency. If a representative is denied the right to represent his constituency, his constituency is silenced and that defeats the purpose of representation guaranteed under the Constitution.
Quite a lot of Nigeria are not aware that the principle of hire and fire is not limited to employment law and labour relationships between employers and employees, it is a constitutionally-enshrined principle to ensure that the same electorates that voted for elected representatives can exercise their right to fire such representatives. This is called a recall.
All that is required for a recall is a presentation to the Chairman of INEC of a signed petition by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that representative’s constituency alleging that they have lost confidence in that representative. INEC is required to conduct a referendum within 90 days of the receipt of the petition which is to approve the petition by a simple majority of voters in that constituency. The same process applies within states.
Understandably, this applies to senators and house of representatives’ members; and the process is different for the removal of Governors and Presidents. A sitting Governor or President is required to be removed by a process of impeachment which is set in motion by elected representatives at the National Assembly or the State House of Assembly. In effect, good governance stands a better chance if the representatives of the people constituted in the National Assembly or State House of Assembly hold the executive branch of government accountable.
Interestingly, the process for recall of an elected representative is not as wieldy and cumbersome as the process involved in the impeachment of a siting executive. The responsibility to ensure good government and welfare of all is served thus rests on the electorates who can, with the votes used to “hire” their representatives, “fire” such representatives so that the proper representatives that will bring the welfare of the people to the fore can be allowed to hold office.
Let us make the preamble “We the People” make sense. Let us give it force. Let us exercise that right we have to “fire” wayward representatives who consider the welfare of Nigerians second to their comfort, high-end lives, fat pay checks and allowances. #ENDSARS is powerful but this right to determine who represents us at any time, before they are elected and while they are in office, is more powerful and potent. Make it count.
It is true a recall rarely happens and the one time the process was set in motion in Nigeria, it was truncated by the greed of electorates who would rather mortgage their future with “crumbs” from a representative to be recalled, and armed bandits paid to kill, maim and scare voters engaged in the referendum from voting for the recall of the representative. But that was in the past before the demand for good governance, security and welfare of Nigerians became non-negotiable as the events of the past few days have shown. If they represent themselves and a minuscule few, they do not deserve to be in office. Demand representation. Demand the welfare you deserve. Demand the good government you went to the polls to vote for. Elected representatives are “employees” who can be “hired” and “fired” at any time. It is not a process that can be marred by the Nigerian army. It is not a process that can be stopped by any structure or arm of government. It is a right protected by the Constitution to “fire” a representative not representing the constituency that voted them in office. That petition can begin today, even online, as the Constitution did not provide a particular manner or mode for a petition to be signed. All it requires is a signed petition by registered voters within a constituency. Let the recall process begin.
