T. Y. Danjuma, Atiku on target
Though, it is a known fact that state governors, who would benefit from the devolution of power from the centre to the states, already wield lots of power and misuse it, nobody has come out openly as the former Minister of Defence, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, to say so. Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar also on […]
Though, it is a known fact that state governors, who would benefit from the devolution of power from the centre to the states, already wield lots of power and misuse it, nobody has come out openly as the former Minister of Defence, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, to say so. Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar also on the occasion believes the president has more powers than any other president in the world.
Speaking last Tuesday after receiving his award in Abuja as Man of the Year of the Leadership Newspapers, the former minister asserted that state governors wielded excessive political power which, unfortunately, they misapplied to the detriment of their people and states. According to the elder statesman, the governors mostly those of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have turned themselves and indeed carried on as Sole Administrators of their states.
His words: “The most stiffing concentration of power is not in the centre, but at the state level. The governors, almost all the governors are Sole Administrators. The first thing they do when they come into power is to pocket state assemblies, neutralize the Judiciary and abolish the local governments. In PDP states they proceed to even name candidates for ministerial posts at the centre. All PDP states are one party, and governed by sole administrators”. The former chief of army staff also went on to say that nobody gets anything without the approval of the governors, especially those elected on the plat form of PDP. One would add however that, in states where the Governors find it difficult or almost impossible to pocket the state assembly, the executive would embark on antics to frustrate the house through non release of funds and other benefits for the legislators as in the case of Adamawa state. We shall return to this.
What, however, the retired general and now philanthropist failed to narrate to his audience was his experience in the hands of a state governor, who on two occasions used his excessive powers to deny associates of the general appointments at the centre after they were duly nominated by the president.
The penchant for governors to control the Judiciary is legendary. One state has not had a substantive chief judge for more than one year since the retirement of a former chief judge. Within the period the state has had three acting chief judges with two serving twice as acting chief judge. The state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had protested to government house and boycotted the courts without making the governor shift ground. He has remained stuck to his position. Although no official reason has been given for the failure to appoint the chief judge, the situation has given room for speculation and rumours that the governor has not yet found any of his tribesmen that is eminently qualified for the job.
As stated earlier, where a governor failed to control the Assembly, he employs all crooked tactics against the assembly and target some of its key figures for harassment, intimidation and denial of rights.
From the foregoing and what may have not been reported in some states, is clear that Danjuma was right in his position on the governors, even though his stand differed from that of the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who believed that the Nigerian President exercises power more than any other president in the world. Atiku’s position must have been informed also by what he went through during the last days of the Obasanjo Presidency.
The bottom line is that the impending constitutional changes should ensure that the Legislature and Judiciary Arms of Government should be strengthened in order to check the excesses of the executive. That is one of the ways to tem the excesses of the president and the governors and democracy and good governors will be achieved in the states and the nation at large.
Garba Yedimakudon, wrote from No. 1 B Sukuta Street, Wuse II Abuja