IN this exposition it should be clear that no demand on Man made by God is to be idealised or moralised. Every demand of God is for a purpose.

AHAMBA advises the ANPP thusly: “They should move first to stop the impeachment process, then ensure that the party regains the mandate because if they allow (Gadi) to be impeached, he may lose the locus to ask that he be sworn in”.

THE President has no constitutional power to prevent the application of sections 188 and 189 by State House of Assembly, however reprehensible its motive might be.

THE constitutional role of the Deputy Governor is to be there to continue where the Governor is stopped by reason of death, impeachment or any other disability.

THE governor elected as the ANPP governor and the 17 ANPP co-defectors have not conducted themselves as representatives of the ANPP faction of the Bauchi electorate, neither have the 9 PDP legislators conducted themselves as the elected representatives of the PDP factions of the Bauchi electorate.

By the 1999 Constitution it is the people of Nigeria who in order to exercise their sovereign power in the conduct of their public and private affairs constitute themselves into the electorate

EVENTS in Bauchi State are showing the difference between party selection of officeholders and election of the same. What was played out at the Federal level in the 2007 presidential election is now logically on display in Bauchi. What are the facts?

Does this celebration of tenure of civilian rule not represent in fact the substitution of wishfulness for constitutional rule for deliberate and pro-active mobilization of the people for democracy? The question of the prospects of democratic constitutionalist government and governance in Nigeria are immediately determined by the contestation between military-rule political parties and civilian rule electoral parties within the context of the postcolonial transition.

CHAPTER 2 of the 1999 Constitution captioned “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” puts in bold relief the arguments that are being made. Section 13 clearly states: “It shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government and of all authorities and persons, exercising legislative, executive, or judicial powers to conform […]

To fully develop the framework from which the fusion of the internal and foreign dimensions of governance is to be appreciated I have teamed up with Eze Nwagbaraji also a Vanguard columnist to deepen our appreciation of the problems involved in the current spate of elected officials defection from the electorate that voted them into office to opponent electorates overwhelmingly defeated in the elections in which the defectors were elected into office.