Unelected and unaccountable

There are only 45 of them, 39 men and 6 women. All except one did not stand for any sort of election. They are not accountable to anyone except the man who put them in office and he is now in a hospital bed in Saudi Arabia in a vegetative state. Yet the destiny of 150 million Nigerians rests in their hands.

The Executive Council of the Federation, also known as the Federal Executive Council (FEC), made up of the Vice President, Ministers, Head of Service and the Secretary to the Federal Government are the group of people mandated by our constitution to begin the process of resolving the political and constitutional quagmire we have found ourselves in.

There are three sections in the constitution that deal with the circumstances under which the president can be removed or hand over power to another. Section 143 makes provisions for removal due to reasons of misconduct. That section is not applicable here although there are those who may argue otherwise given the general lack of direction from President Umaru Musa Yar’adua since he assumed office and his failure to respect section 145 which says he is required to hand over to his deputy during his absence by writing a letter to legislators informing them of this decision.

If the rule of law had been respected, section 145 would have saved Nigeria its present troubles. As things stand, no such letter has been submitted to our lawmakers, although there have been reports that the letter does exist but was willfully kept away from legislators.

Finally, there is section 144, which basically says if the president is permanently incapacitated, two thirds of FEC can declare him incapable of governing. The senate president is then mandated to put together a medical panel to verify the declaration. Once that is done, the constitution stipulates that the Vice- President takes over to the end of the current term of the government and new elections.

Section 144 therefore provides the solution to our current crisis. But there is a catch: in a country where the quickest way to fame and political relevancy is through political patronage and appointment into government, those who drafted the constitution were at best too optimistic about our ability to do the right thing even when it goes contrary to our personal interests.

Constitutional reform is therefore a priority. Surprisingly, the agitation for reforming our laws country has mostly centered on electoral reform and issues such as land use. These are all very critical areas and reforming the rules of engagement on these issues will help us build a vibrant democracy. But what the present troubles have brought to the fore is a need for us to go through the constitution with a fine toothcomb. It would appear that there are many more laws that need to be overhauled apart from the obvious faulty ones. Our current political fiasco also has highlighted the vagueness of the constitution on who has ultimate authority to swear people into important offices like that of the Chief Justice.

According to Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli ‘‘it is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.’’ We must have a constitution with enough checks and balances to ensure we cannot be held to ransom by an individual or a cabal. That we have two different bodies, one for the Senate and the other for the House of Representatives doing two separate constitutional reviews does not auger well for the process or suggest that it will be thorough and efficient and produce laws that our nation deserves.

As we now struggle to disentangle the mess that is our national government - and we do need our eminent jurists to find loopholes that can save us, in case the FEC continues to protect personal interest over and above that of the nation - legislators must be forced to do the job for which we pay them obscene salaries. Can our real leaders please stand up?