By Dirisu Yakubu

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe caused a stir recently with his bold call for the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari over worsening security situation in the country.

The call which elicited nod of approval from the leadership of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, was greeted with condemnation from the Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC as they flayed the lawmaker for what they called an attempt to politicize the nation’s security.

The barrage of criticisms notwithstanding, Abaribe earlier in the week again fired another salvo in the direction of the Presidency when he came up with a bill for the establishment of Armed Forces Service Commission. The bill which has since scaled first reading in the Senate states that “the commission shall ensure that the functions specified in Section 217 of the 1999 constitution; and the powers exercisable by the President in the appointment of service chiefs and officers corps and other ranks of the Armed Forces of the Federation in Section 218 of the 1999 constitution reflects federal character of Nigeria.”

It also proposes that “as from the date of commencement of this Act, the commission shall have the power to recommend to the President from among the best and most qualified, most educated and most experienced members of the Armed Forces of the Federation for appointment as (a) Chief of Defence Staff, (b) Chief of Army Staff, (c) Chief of Air Staff ,(d) Chief of Naval Staff (e), Director of military intelligence; and Heads of other arm-bearing security agencies and ensure that such appointments reflects federal character principle of Nigeria.”

While a school of thought believes Abaribe’s bill is a patriotic intervention aimed at giving a sense of belonging to the nation’s geo-political zones in the security hierarchy; others see it as politics masked in parliamentary garb to distract the APC-led government.

Speaking exclusively to Saturday Vanguard on the issue; Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mike Ozekhome described the bill as good but came short of labeling the Buhari-led government an insensitive collection of leaders motivated by domination of an ethnic group over others.

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He said: “It would be quite good to have such a bill though it’s merely an overkill because of a literally deaf, dumb and insensitive government that violates the constitution with impunity. The reason is simple: Section 4 of the Constitution has already enjoined the application of federal character principle in all appointments. But the Buhari government has applied this principle more in breach than in observance. It has been the most  sectional and favouritism-driven government ever experienced in Nigeria since amalgamation.

“What can a mere Act of Parliament do anyway, when section 1(1) of the constitution has already declared the supremacy of the constitution as the ground norm and the supreme law of the land?”

That said, the constitutional lawyer expressed pessimism over the fate of the bill saying that if passed, “the law may be challenged as being unconstitutional going by the doctrine of ‘covering the field.’ This doctrine forbids the parliament from enacting laws on matters already covered and provided for by the constitution.”

For fast-rising constitutional lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, the bill has become necessary given what he called the elevation of ethnicity and religion in the governance of the country.

“I believe this bill is necessitated by the administration’s chronic nepotism and crass ethno-religious polarization. The current regime unlike any before it has elevated ethnic and religious politics to the most irresponsible level,” he said.

According to him, “Section 14 of the 1999 constitution enshrines the federal character principle. The Federal Character Commission (Establishment) Act has gone further to make the federal character principle in the constitution justiciable by prohibiting the predominance of people from a particular ethnic, religious or regional group in the government of the federation.

“The problem as I see it is not paucity of legislation but the crude divisiveness of this government. It appears the sponsors of this bill in the Senate are trying to use a specific law to curtail government’s  behaviour.

“It is particularly shameful that despite the concentration of practically all key security appointments in the president’s northern region, terrorism and banditry have only escalated in the north. Borno State alone has the misfortune of being decimated by Boko Haram despite that the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Army Staff are from that state.  Nepotism has no respect for competence.

“If this bill is what it will take to put an end to nepotism in the Armed Forces, so be it. The Buhari-led administration which is a product of quota system and federal character has set the country on bad part  on account of its nepotism. Let the National Assembly take their duties seriously.”

For Nigerians to see a semblance of fairness in the composition of the security architecture; there is a need to overhaul the current crop of service chiefs as a matter of urgent national importance. This is the submission of Joe Okei-Odumakin, ace rights activist and President, Centre for Change.

In a telephone conversation with our correspondent, Okei-Odumakin called for strict implementation of constitutional provisions, adding that failure to obey the laws of the land is largely responsible for the spate of agitations across the land.

She said: “The bill for the Establishment of Armed Forces Service Commission seeks to plug gaps in our subsisting security architecture as a country with 371 ethnic groups. Amongst its importance when passed into law is the adherence to federal character principle in the appointment of service chiefs. This is not the first time that we are having written and unwritten rules that govern our affairs as a country.

“What we have always lacked is political will. For instance, there is Freedom of Information Act in this country, but the reality of the day abundantly tells us that laws without enforcement are toothless bull dogs. It is hoped that our political power players would play by the principle of adherence to the rule of law as expected and practiced in civilized climes all over the world.”

A welcome development- HEDA

Executive Director, Human and Environmental Developmental Agenda, HEDA, Olanrewaju Suraju welcomed Abaribe’s intervention, adding that it would help checkmate nepotism in the appointment of security chiefs.

His words: “It’s such an interesting development that would require some measure of caution but desirable in the present circumstance. We have experienced Presidents appointing service chiefs from their regions and states. The country and people should have elevated the requirements to merit and professionalism but the politicians have perpetually kept reducing the standard to necessitate the call for such bill as this current one.”

Enforce existing laws, drop this bill, Falana counsels Senate

Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana however called for caution, describing the bill as totally unnecessary. In his words, the new bill is tantamount to a duplication of what is already enshrined in the nation’s law book.

“With respect to the lawmakers, the federal character commission act has taken care of the new bill. Furthermore, the federal character commission is a federal executive body established by section 153 of the constitution. The function of the body is to ensure that all appointments reflect federal character. Furthermore the service chiefs were appointed with the approval of the national assembly and the extension of their expired tenure has to be approved by the National Assembly.

“What the Senate should do is to enforce the existing laws. Otherwise, a new law will not be respected. Let the Senate be compelled to carry out its constitutional duties in respect of appointments and allocation of social amenities in the country. The law also applies to state, local government areas and private establishments,” he argued.

There have been criticisms in some quarters about the composition of the security chiefs with argument rife that the south is short changed compared to the north.

Vanguard