All hail our emperor-governors

Emperors in ancient times – Medieval or Renaissance era – were very powerful. They exercised absolute powers in political, legal, financial, military, and religious matters. They were said to hold both imperium maius (supreme power of command) and tribunician potestas (tribunician power).

In Rome during the period of Emperor Augustus, the tribunician power permitted him to dictate to the civil apparatus and preside over as well as dominate the Assemblies and the Senate. The Emperors of Old were the state and they were second only to God. That is why in Oriental civilizations like Japan and China, they were referred to as “the Son of Heaven”.

Among those who enjoyed such absolute, imperial powers were Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire (1162 – 1227), Augustus Caesar of the Roman Empire (63 BC- AD 14), Ashoka the Great of the Maurya Empire (India) (c.268 BCE – c. 232 BCE), Charlemagne of the Carolingian Empire (c. 742 – 814) and Kublai Khan, also of the Mongol Empire (1215 – 1294).

Why am I dwelling on the Emperors of old and their immense powers? What relationship did they have with Nigeria of today where we are supposed to be practicing American-type democracy founded on liberty of the citizen, separation of powers, checks and balances, adult suffrage system, and rights of the citizens to elect and remove their leaders?

Well, it is because, since the return of democracy in 1999, Nigeria has gradually descended into producing Emperors, particularly at sub-national levels who rule with absolute powers like the aforementioned emperors of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. Most of our state governors elected since 2007 have been governing like emperors in their respective states.

In the first eight years of the present republic, Governors were under strict check by the strong personality of the then Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, an army General. While Obasanjo was accused of being too autocratic, his strong-arm tactics curbed the excesses of the governors to a large extent. Since his exit, the governors have risen above the laws in the various states.

Like the Emperor of old, our state governors have a strong control of the purse of their respective states and they spend the money the way they like. They exercise powers like the tribunician potestas (the tribunician powers) as they have subdued the legislature and the judiciary. The governors determine the leadership of the state legislature and remove Speakers of their respective state Houses of Assembly at will. No member of the legislature can speak against the governor and survive, politically.

The governors make the legislators feed from their palms and the legislature do their will at all times. In some states, lawmakers elected on the platform of the opposition parties as opposed to the ruling one in the states are given persona non grata treatment. In some cases, they are denied the privileges and other perks of offices extended to their colleagues who belong to the ruling party. They are harassed, suppressed, oppressed, intimidated, and forced to either defect to the ruling party or become pliable to the wishes of the governor.

Also, one can hardly get the state high courts to give any ruling or judgment against the state government or its emperor-governor, no matter the merit of one’s case. The Emperors have extended their meddling schemes to the judiciary. No institution is so sacred as to escape the interference of these omnipresent Emperors.

The traditional and religious institutions are frequent victims of the rampaging Emperors. The governors could order the suspension, removal, or interdiction of any traditional ruler who fell out of favour. Even, journalists are not exempted from the long arm of the Lords of the Manor. Nosy and prying journalists are detained or imprisoned on the orders of the governor. In some states, few journalists have been murdered and there have been no trace of the perpetrators.

These modern-day Emperors in Nigeria brook no opposition. Members of the opposition or their estranged friends are served a dose of their raw anger. Some of such hapless people have their landed property demolished on the orders of the governors to cripple them economically. The Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) on the choice properties owned by the opposition elements or aggrieved friends are revoked. Those in this category who have one business or the other that require government approval would have to wait in vain or pray for regime change when they probably will fall on the favoured side. Such opposition elements have their businesses denied government patronage and if they have any pending money owed them by the state government, they should just forget about it. These men of power use their posts to settle personal scores and family feuds.

Governors have become so careless that they order their security aides to assault or maltreat other citizens for “making noise” while the Emperor was talking at a public event. Such ‘unruly’ citizens would be fortunate to only suffer some slaps and kicks and not be further thrown into detention for speaking above the whisper in a gathering where the Emperor is present.

Our governors prove they are the state like their predecessors in the Byzantine era by spending state money the way they like. They live large by using state funds to hire aircraft which they fly to places that have nothing to do with state functions. Some of the governors during their tenure build personal estates or houses where they display ridiculous opulence. They spend money lavishly in a manner that they could not have dreamt of doing if they had not been elected as Governor.

The state money is the Governor’s money. No House of Assembly could dare activate the provisions of the constitution to query the governor’s

profligacy. The governors do not stop the misuse of funds belonging to the state government. They have also appropriated the funds from the federation account due to the Local Government Areas (LGA). Governors spend LGA funds the way they like and if any LGA chairman dares speak out, he will get the boot. Either his councilors would be induced to remove him or the State Legislature is used to suspend him.

It is the reason why across the 36 states, the candidates of the opposition parties do not win chairmanship seats during LGA polls. The state electoral commission whose members were appointed and controlled by the governors would simply write the results and announce that the Emperor’s party has won all the seats. That is the trend across the country.

When a new governor who belongs to a different party from the past governor under whom the current local government officials were elected assumes office, one of the first decisions he takes is to suspend all the elected LGA officials. That is another violation of the constitution and a demonstration of the fact that a new Emperor has taken control of the Empire. He then appoints caretaker chairmen and councillors to take over. Another aberration. Why must the governor who would, rightly so, refuse the control by the president dictate to the local government chairmen and councillors? It is the emperor’s mentality. The emperor is a totalitarian. He is a conqueror.

The new Emperors in town see their deputies as their errand boys. Any Deputy Governor who proves to be clever or has any sense will bite the bullet. He will be removed by the subservient House of Assembly which sometimes bends the law to achieve the impeachment of the deputy as desired by the governor. A lucky deputy governor may just simply be sidelined and reduced to a newspaper-reading, indolent office worker. Another illegality that is frequently perpetrated by the new emperors.

Incumbent Governors now single-handedly select all candidates contesting for seats in the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, LGA chairmanship, and councillorship on the platform of their political parties.

Even under the military, the governors did not have the type of control that these current elected governors appropriate and exercise. Military governors were then subjected to control from the Supreme Headquarters. They report to the Deputy Head of State then known as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, or the Chief of General Staff. Their crucial decisions needed approval and could be vetoed. The present governors in Agbada report to no one. They are all in all. They are supreme rulers and ‘Sons of the Heavens’.

The control to which the military governors were subjected indicated that this totalitarianism we now witness at the state level has not always been so. In the Second Republic, the elected governors could not toy with members of the House of Assembly. Each of them played different roles and where they were members of the same party, the governor could not unilaterally deny a member his return ticket. In Ogun State, a state legislator, Hon. Muftau Ajibola, openly dared Governor Olabisi Onabanjo and told him only the electorate in his constituents could stop his re-election. He won his seat at the general election before the governor even won his own.

In the same Second Republic, deputy governors like Chief Akin Omoboriowo of Ondo State and Chief Sunday Afolabi in then Oyo State challenged their governors for the gubernatorial tickets at the party primaries and they were not impeached. They voluntarily resigned when they wanted to get the tickets of rival parties to enable them to stand for election in the 1983 polls. Also in May 1983, when Alh. Muhammadu Rimi left the PRP and got the gubernatorial ticket of the NPP, his deputy, Alh. Abdul Dawakin Tofa did not follow him and was not impeached. He simply replaced Rimi.

In 1982, during what is known as the Day of the Long Knives, then Oyo Governor, revered Chief Bola Ige (of blessed memory) and his deputy, Chief Sunday Afolabi stood for hours before the disciplinary committee of the Unity Party of Nigeria during the NEC meeting of the party in Maiduguri to answer charges of indiscipline because they allowed then General Olusegun Obasanjo who was regarded as an enemy of the party to intervene in their feud. That was the period of the supremacy of the party. When the governors were only senior members of the party and subject to the party constitution, organs, and control. Today, what you have is the supremacy of the governors. The Governor, like the ancient Emperor, is now the party in their respective states, except in a few cases like Lagos State where there is an overriding godfather.

Well, most of these emperor governors forget they will leave office one day. And when they leave they find it difficult to adjust to life after power. The few ones who managed to get elected into the Senate find out they cannot call any shot in the 109-member assembly. They are just one out of the lot. There has been a case of a former governor who got elected into the Senate alongside the police officer who served as his Aide-De-Camp (ADC) while in office. If he had not been good to the ADC, it would have been very odd for him to sit side by side as a colleague of the man who used to carry his file around and saluted him now and then.

A few of the ex-governors got appointed as Ministers and had to now report to many line bosses in the Presidency before they could get to the overall boss, the President. The majority of the ex-Emperors ended up as ordinary men. Of course, they are rich after they have cornered state wealth. Yet, they no longer enjoy the attention and relevance they used to have.

The bid to remain the centre of attraction after their tenure most times set the former governors against the new Emperors, and their successors, who they enthroned by all means, to ensure and assure their continued control of state affairs. The clash with the reigning emperors usually make past emperors become more ordinary and pitiable sights. It usually results in more humiliation and more trouble. After all, a Yoruba adage says nobody gives way to the man who rode the horse yesterday and walks the street today like every other person.

These governors who have turned themselves into oppressors of the people, bad managers of state finances, and riders of the high horses should remember that they will end up leaving the exalted office. For example, among the 1999 set of governors, except for the likes of Chief Olusegun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande, and Chief James Ibori, how many of them still command national attention as they did while in office? The case of the incumbent President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was also part of the 1999 set is a special one.

When these Emperors leave office, they cease to board private jets. The operators of the commercial planes they resort to traveling with do not delay flights to await their arrival at the airport as they used to do when the governors were the reigning emperors. Also, as former governors, nobody will delay public functions to await their arrival. If they are unlucky to lock horns with their successors, that is when they will realise how bitter nemesis can be as they are made to swallow the poisonous pills they forced down the throats of their predecessors.

The main reason why our country is not developed is because of the misplaced priorities of its state governors. Instead of focusing on development issues, the governors expend so much energy and time on the display of raw power, demonstrating how they are the all-time conquerors, the unquestionable ruler, and the ones to whom all others must submit.

I have always believed that if all our governors become genuine, honest, and humble servants of the people who devote more time to serving the people, searching for solutions to problems confronting the people, the country will become developed and the people will become happier. The state governments will be engaged in healthy competition with Ideas and initiatives that will solve daily problems confronting the people. If the various states are doing well for their people by providing good governance, then the majority of the citizenry will be happy.

Also, I believe we just need governors in ten states working so hard and making lives meaningful for the residents of their states. The multiplier effect will be felt in the remaining 26 states. The ten states where the government is effective would be good models for others to emulate. The initiatives and ideas behind the success of the government in one state can be copied and replicated by the other states. We experienced this in the First Republic among the three regional governments.

Where we have people with ancient Emperor mentality in our various Government Houses, what do we expect other than a state of anomie and inertia as defined by Emile Durkheim?

Olaniyonu writes from Abuja.