Why the National Assembly is not considering Buhari’s impeachment now - Shekarau
Ibrahim Shekarau, a two-term governor of Kano State, a former minister of education and currently, a serving senator, in a monitored television interview, spoke on the recent massacre of farmers in Borno State; the call for President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over worsening insecurity in the country, Why the President should sack the service chiefs, why impeachment of Buhari is not on the card at the moment, among other issues. ZEBULON AGOMUO brings the excerpts:
Some people are saying that a young person should take charge of the country as the president in 2023. What do you think? You see, the question of a young person per se is not the issue. We should be going for reliably, competent people. Look at the antecedents of those who aspire to lead us. What was their performance in office; who were they? It is not just about the platform or the party. In fact, my principle is that it is not a question of where you are coming from, but who is he? Rather than talking North, East, West, it should be, who is it? What do you have behind you?
So, you don’t believe in zoning?
No, I don’t like to call it zoning. I would rather prefer some balancing. There has to be some sense of belonging. There is what I call Constitution of Common Sense. For example, the Constitution of Nigeria and the constitution of political parties did not say, if I am a presidential candidate from the North, my running mate has to come from the South.
It is not written. But if today I am a presidential candidate from Kano, and I tell you my running mate is from Bauchi, you will say that I am crazy. So, there is the common sense expectation of balancing; giving everybody some sense of belonging. Some sense of fairness. That’s what I work for.
What do you think about South East presidency in line with your principle of constitution of common sense? I don’t want to be too simplistic really to allocate; I don’t believe in just allocating?
You talked about balancing … Yes, this balancing is for example, the presidency has just been from the North for 8years; the common sense is that we should look the other side – Southern part of Nigeria. If you refuse to recognise the North and the South, this is elementary history.
We still have to recognise this balancing to work together. But in the process of identifying credible candidate that is fit we must also apply this constitution of common sense; that is allowing fair distribution in leadership. You see, perception is something that you have to carry along. If you continue to dominate; and you want to keep to your side; the perception, is ‘what about me?’ Even if it is one person in the community that raises his finger and says ‘Listen to me’, he has to be listened to.
Clearly, you are not running for presidency in 2023?
I don’t know about that…
But you talk about constitution of common sense?
Laughter … I don’t know about that. I think we have not gotten there yet.
So, are you saying you have not considered that?
I told you a little bit of where I am coming from, out of the agitation of people and so on. You see, my concern, honestly, is not me, it is about who leads us to the success story; it is about who leads us to address the aspiration of Nigerians, regardless of the political party.
Is it something you will give a thought?
I am already giving it some thought. I am in the political arena. I am a partisan politician. Many thoughts are going on. We are part of all these discussions in the process. You see, the selection of the right man does not have to begin in the last hour. It is part of the discussion now; sharing ideas; identifying the factors that will be guiding you; identifying the right person, the right fellow; whether he is from this part of country; the other part of the country. It is in the process of all these calculations that you zero down into where and who? There are two ways to do this – you either identify the personalities or go to the regional location; or you decide on the regional location and then use that platform to identify the personalities.
How would you react to the massacre in Borno State?
The massacre as you called it in Borno is very sad one. Very disturbing, very disappointing and very heart-touching. It is not just the killing; the brutality. We’ve had various cases of killing; going into a community, shooting indiscriminately, but this time, the impunity, cutting the heads; tying the hands and bringing the head to rest on the chest. In fact, it is terrible. I couldn’t bear watching the corpses being shown over the social media. It is so terrible and that shows that we are getting to a very terrible situation. And the challenge of insecurity is by the day mounting. The nation has to address this issue of insecurity, having challenges of insecurity is not new in any nation, but to see the effort; what is the government doing about it? We know there are lots of challenges within the security services – the number is there; the training is there, welfare is there- all of these things need to be addressed because they are key to the issue of insecurity.
The issue of intelligence and all that; 90 percent of security relies on information gathering, which seems to be failing. There has been the allegation of no proper synergy among the various security agencies and the story is there on the street. With this happening now; we are concerned to the point that my brother, the governor of Borno State seems to have given up to that foreign mercenaries should be hired.
Do you think that is a good idea?
I don’t think so. There is nothing wrong in getting assistance from outside, probably in the area you feel you need to be supported, but giving an impression that we need to rely on hired mercenaries is like giving up. To be fair to him, we have all seen how concerned he has been. He seems to be throwing his hands up and saying ‘since we have failed, why not bring in mercenaries?’ I pity him; I pity all of us. I think I can see a clear display of helplessness.
Really, the impunity is terrible. When this issue was placed on the two floors of the National Assembly, people were terribly enraged. You see the resolution being passed all over the place.
Some of those resolutions, what are they? Do they include sacking of the service chiefs?
(Yes; you see the issue of sacking of the service chiefs has been on for almost two, three years now. There is one point I think the presidency is missing and the public has not been brought on to it. Before you get to the question of whether the service chiefs are performing or not performing, there’s a question of rule of law. The military is one of the several public services. It is governed by law and scheme of service as we call it. In the scheme of service as it is in the public service all over, including the military; there are conditions on when to leave automatically – you either attain the age of 60; or put in service for 35 years; you are supposed to retire. None of them has less than 35 years. I think the Chief of Defence Staff has put in 39 years of service. Except the Chief of Defence Staff who is 58 years, all of them are over 60. The Chief of Air Staff has put in about 37 years. Chief of Naval Staff has put in about 41 years. So, what I am saying is that even if Mr. President has found them indispensible; allow them to retire, just like any other public servant as the rules specified; then hire them as Minister of Defence; adviser on Defence or NSA or whatever.
You see, there’s a difference between – you are still within the service period and the President can keep you as long as he so wishes; if you are 50, you have put in 25 years of service, which means you still have 10 more years to go. If you are a Chief of Army Staff, the president at his own pleasure can keep you on; but then automatically, if you hit 60 years, you must go; or you hit 35 years of service, you must go. This is in the scheme of service. So, as far as I am concerned, there’s rule of law; we must respect the rule of law before we begin to talk about whether they are performing or not.
From what you are saying now, is the president breaking any law?
Yes, he is definitely breaking the law. The law says if you are 60, you must go; so; it is automatic. If you have put in 35 years in service; you must go. In fact; they are not staff of Mr. President; they are staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a rule. It is just like in the civil service if you are an ordinary civil servant and you hit 60 years, automatically you should go; if you have put in 35 years of service, the President hasn’t the right to extend beyond what the law says. That’s the rule of law.
Is there nothing the National Assembly can do to compel the President to obey the law in this case?
You see, there is a process, before you use the word compelling! The process between the executive and the legislature - it is one government and all the National Assembly does is advisory which is already in a resolution. I think a few days ago when the President of the Senate spoke, he spoke our mind. He was calling on Mr. Presidency to take the National Assembly resolution seriously. Even though the resolution is said to be advisory, there should be some level of respect. Your father can advise you; if I am talking to my son, I could say please give me a cup of tea; I am being courteous; I have the right to compel him to do it. But now, we have not gotten to that. You see, there are provisions in the constitution; if you break the law, you will be summoned; if you don’t explain, issues of impeachment are there, but I think we don’t want to get into all of that because it will be disrupting the polity; it will overheat the polity. We have raised resolutions upon resolutions; I don’t know why he is still keeping them. He has the right to decide whether they are performing or not. But let me remind you of Mr. President’s statement himself; he said that service chiefs are doing their best but their best is not good enough. As a teacher, if you are not doing good enough, it is below average.
May be, the thinking of the presidency is that they are not breaking any law, because the President’s spokesperson said he is not aware that the tenure of service chiefs is subject to any law or regulation; that it is at the pleasure of the President?
No; that’s where he is missing it. They are serving at the pleasure of the President within their service period. There is a law. I think he doesn’t know. There is a law within the scheme of service that says if you serve for 35 years you must go; if you attend the age of 60 years, you must go; it is a law. That is within the scheme of service.
The Northern Elders Forum said the President should resign. What do you stay to that?
The failure to appear doing the right thing is what pushes people to all this level, just like what my brother, governor of Borno State said, that if our system has failed, let’s hire mercenaries. So, it is in the same vein. If the unruly conducts and behaviour of government keeps going on and on and on; the tendency is; if you are not able to respect the rules; if you are not able to get people to listen to the views of the public you are governing, you better go. I think the failure to respect the view of the National Assembly, where there is a collection of elected people – 469, there wasn’t any dissenting voice asking Mr. President to let these people go! In fact, as it is being mentioned, I expect the service chiefs to respect the rule of law; respect the rules within the scheme of service. What we do in the public service is immediately you clock 60, you put in your retirement or the Civil Service Commission will advise you, ‘please it’s time up; can you submit your retirement papers!’ So, I think, not only the presidency; even the management of the Military Service is failing.