Politics, Morals And Law (2)

By Afe Babalola, SAN

ACCORDING to the social contract theory, every government has an obligation to the governed. In his famous book, The Social Contract, Rousseau propounded that in the state of nature, humans were unwarlike and somewhat undeveloped in their reasoning powers and sense of morality and responsibility. When, however, people agreed for mutual protection to surrender individual freedom of action and establish laws and government, they then acquired a sense of moral and civic obligation. In order to retain its essentially moral character, government must thus rest on the consent of the governed, the volontégénérale (“general will”).  Therefore, it is generally agreed that the individual has expressly or tacitly given up his freedom to the government in return for the protection of that government. As a result, the individuals or citizens are expected to live harmoniously and in accordance with the laws of the land while the government provides security of life and property. This theory pervades all modern societies with varying degrees of success.

The social contract and political elections

A major way in which this contract is continually renewed is through elections in which politicians seek the votes of the electorate with the promise of improvements in the standard of life. In Nigeria, political parties serve as a platform upon which the relationship between the ordinary citizens and the government is nurtured. However, as against the basic tenets of the social contract theory, elected government officials in Nigeria have, for several years, failed to show any appreciation for the fact that in exchange for their votes, the people require the service of the government. What is often of paramount importance to most politicians in Nigeria is how they will attain political office without any adequate thought as to how they will perform the duties of that office. As I have often stated, this attitude shows that Lord Lugard was right when he posited that the African loves power without any commensurate attention to the responsibilities that comes with it.

Morality in the face of Nigerian political defections

The dearth of morality in the Nigerian political space has engendered countless incidences of defections and cross-carpeting which has now become synonymous with politicians. Defection amongst politicians is hardly a function of ideological differences, but primarily as a means towards securing political advantage. Therefore, a politician who is unable to obtain the ticket of his party for a particular election will immediately defect to another opposing party even if he had already been elected to public office on the platform of his original party. In such situations it would even not matter if the manifesto of his new party is diametrically opposed to that of his former party. However, I find it rather strange that a political office holder who has attained public office through the votes of the electorate on the strength of the manifesto of his party will defect to another party with a totally different manifesto and yet carry on as if there is nothing dishonourable about his conduct. There is a wide disconnect between morality and politics in Nigerian politics. The sad reality is that what obtains in Nigeria’s political landscape is better described as vulture politics and more aptly, as political prostitution being bereft of morality and decorum. A Nigerian writer, Olukotun, once noted that the spate of defections by some Nigerian politicians from one party to another is a shameful phenomenon that graphically retells the odious rat race, ideological vacuity, and mundane craving that typify Nigerian political life.

As earlier noted, the Nigerian political space is riddled with unbridled, indiscriminate political defections. There is hardly an election year that does not feature widespread political exodus and with the current trend of cross carpeting being enacted in the Nigerian political landscape, fundamental principles, scruples and ideology have all been jettisoned for greed, self-interest, and opportunism. Usually, a political defector in Nigeria does so, not as a reflection of any ideological leaning, but because he/she feels discontent with the former political party to which he/she belongs. This poses the question of morality, particularly when viewed from the standpoint that defections in Nigerian politics are primarily as a result of personality clash, power tussles, divergent views on the operations of a political party‘s philosophy, crisis or division within a given party, disagreement on party‘s position on an issue, and the realization of personal political ambition. Notwithstanding, I believe that honour should play an important role in any human endeavour and particularly in politics. In the case of AG Federation v. Abubakar (2007) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1041) 1 which I was privileged to handle,the Supreme Court of Nigeria adopted a similar position when in respect of the defection of the then Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to another political party other than the one on whose platform he had been elected into office it stated as follows: “The action cannot be justified by the fact that he had been suspended or expelled from the ruling political party under which he was jointly elected with the President or that he was exercising his fundamental right of association guaranteed by the Constitution. What is required of him is to first resign and even after resigning from that office he would be precluded from dissociating himself from the collective responsibility for decisions taken by the Cabinet while he was in office.”

Contrary to the above, what has been experienced is an upsurge in defections all with a view to securing tickets to contest elections. In some instances, politicians have defected from their political parties to another party only to leave that other party for yet other parties before eventually returning ‘home’ to their original political party. Not too long ago, the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party, having been unable to secure the gubernatorial ticket for his re-election on the platform of the All Peoples’ Congress. Likewise, a former Ondo State deputy governor, Agboola Ajayi, elected on the platform of the APC, defected to the Peoples’ Democratic Party to attempt to seek gubernatorial ticket. When he could not secure the ticket, he again defected to Zenith Labour Party where he eventually secured the gubernatorial ticket for the Ondo State elections, which he lost.

Contrary to the Nigerian situation, politics in foreign climes seems to embrace morality. A few years back, a prominent public figure in France, Dominic Strauss-Kahn who was also the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was accused of rape by a maid in a hotel in the United States of America. Despite his claim of innocence, this accusation was enough to cost him any chance of being elected to the office of President of France, a position to which prior to the said accusation he was a leading candidate. More importantly, he did not even border to offer himself up for election. In Nigeria I am certain that he would have still proceeded to contest the election as, after all, morality is of little or no importance here. A further example is offered by the 2011 resignation of the then Prime Minister of Japan. In 2011, Naoto Kan announced his resignation following public outcry that he had failed to show leadership after the devastating earthquake of 11th March 2011 and the ensuing nuclear crisis. In an address to the nation, Mr. Kan stated as follows: “Under the severe circumstances I feel I’ve done everything that I had to do. Now I would like to see you choose someone respectable as a new Prime Minister.” In further statements, Mr. Kan apologised to the nation for the fact that the natural disasters had occurred during his tenure as Prime Minister. I doubt if Nigerian politicians will ever show the same kind of honour displayed by Mr. Kan. (To be continued)

Aare Afe Babalola SAN CON