‘This Is Not Your Military Khaki Maximum Regime Of The 80s,’ – Intersociety Tells Buhari (READ)

A Nigerian human rights organisation, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has presented a copy of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a belated Sallah gift to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The gift is presented with a letter, dated July 15, 2015, which reminds Buhari that Nigeria is democracy and not a military dictatorship.

The letter, signed by the Board Chairman of Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, reminds Buhari that his government is a ”limited democratic government because everybody including Your Excellency is subjected to the provisions of the constitution and principles of the rule of law.”

It also reminds Buhari that the current democratic presidency is not the same with his ”military khaki maximum regime of the 1980s which “operated under a series of draconian decrees including Decrees No.2  (indiscriminate arrests and detentions without fair trial) and No.4 of 1984 (anti press freedom).”

Intersociety also reminded Buhari that according to the 1999 Constitution, the President of Nigeria is expected to constitute a Federal Executive Council made of at least one member who hails from each state of Nigeria. It expressed concern that two months into his government, Buhari is yet to constitute a Federal Executive Council which runs contrary to the provisions of the present constitution of Nigeria.

According to Umeagbalasi, who spoke with our reporter, the purpose of Intersociety is to assist Buhari to govern Nigeria well. “We want President Buhari to succeed. We believe he needs to be enlightened further on what governance in a democracy really means, in spirit and in letters.”

“We extend an invitation to the President to visit our office and our library to avail himself of the rich information and data on democratic governance.”

The letter is reproduced, in its entirety, below:

His Excellency, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retired)
President of Nigeria & Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces
The State House (Aso Rock Villa), Three-Arms-Zone
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria
Sir,

A Presidential Sallah Gift (a copy of the 1999 Constitution) & Call For The Return Of Constitutional & Procedural Democracy In Nigeria (Part One)

(Democracy, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, Onitsha Nigeria, 27^th July 2015)-We, the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) have observed disappointingly the unfolding presidential events since the emergence of Your Excellency on 29^thMay 2015 as the sixth democratic civilian President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In other words, there are recorded breaches of fundamental provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, amended last in 2011, in the course of Your Excellency’s presidential policies and conducts so far; leading to torrential feeling of disaffection and public outcries among Nigerians.

As a result of the foregoing, Your Excellency, an in-depth investigation was carried out by the Democracy & Good Governance and the Civil Liberties & Rule of Law departments of our organization; and an indisputable finding was made to the effect that the constitutional breaches so referenced are most likely stemmed from Your Excellency’s military background and its restricted governance methods; which are totally repugnant to constitutional and procedural democracy provided under the 1999 Constitution. There may be no doubt that Your Excellency has good presidential intentions reminiscent of Your Excellency’s “war against indiscipline” of Your Excellency’s  khaki governance days , but there is conviction in most social quarters that Your Excellency’s present presidential approaches  are repugnant to the fundamental provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

Totality of these, Your Excellency, is found by our organization to have resulted from lack of presidential knowledge of the fundamental provisions of the Constitution and their enforcement or application procedures. It is possible that the letters of military’s politico-legal system; such as moribund Decrees No.2 and No.4 of 1984 have gone, but their spirits still remain intact; leading to sort of the present “diarchic presidential governing styles”  making their way steadily into Your Excellency’s presidency. Following the foregoing, therefore, the Democracy & Human Rights Education department of our organization has strongly recommended presentation of a copy of the 1999 Constitution as “a presidential Sallah gift” to Your Excellency.  Its delayed public presentation via courier services during the recent Sallah Feast followed Your Excellency’s state visit to the United States of America.

The Intersociety’s  democracy & rights education department also recommended strongly  that the Federal Ministry of Information should immediately set up “an ICT library unit”, fully connected to internet for  Your Excellency’s presidency at the State House as well as a provision for personal use of  an internet-powered “palm-top”. The totality of the foregoing is to ensure that Your Excellency is fully grounded with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as well as ensuring that Your Excellency is not left out in the 24 hours global village accessibility, for the purpose of putting Your Excellency in the know at all times as it concerns the back and forth movements of the global socio-political events. Global socio-political events move back and forth leading to, for instance, federations and States opting for statehood, fusion and diffusion (i.e. East and West Germany’s fusion into Federal Republic of Germany on 3^rd October 1990, Soviet Union’s diffusion into fifteen sovereign States on 26^th December 1991, Czechoslovakia’s diffusion (Velvet Divorce) into Czech and Slovakia Republics on 1^st January 1993, and independence of South Sudan on 9^th July 2011 and its membership of the United Nations as its 193^rd Member-State and world’s newest sovereign State).

Constitutional & Procedural Democracy:
Your Excellency, Sir, Constitutional Democracy is simply a government that strictly and justly governs its people according to the demands of the country’s constitution. Where Constitutional Democracy is entrenched, it gives rise to Procedural Democracy, which recognizes and strictly applies the rule of law through the (1) supremacy of the constitution, (2) equality before the law, and (3) civil liberties. In these, governance policies and actions of those holding or exercising judicial, legislative and executive offices or powers, particularly Your Excellency; must be conducted through separation of powers and due process including fair hearing. In the application of due process including fair hearing, for instance,  its two cardinal principles: audi alteram partem(hear the other side or hear both sides) and nemo judex in causa sau (one should not be a judge in his own case) must be upheld and applied to the letter at all times and in all circumstances. In the course of fighting corruption and other street and political crimes, no citizen of Nigeria should be arrested, detained or condemned unheard and untried. Section 36 (5) of the Constitution also mandatorily provides for presumption of innocence of the accused persons until judicially found guilty.

Origin Of Constitutional Or Limited (Democratic) Government:
It is called a limited democratic government because everybody including Your Excellency is subjected to the provisions of the constitution and principles of the rule of law. Your Excellency must be reminded again that Your Excellency’s current democratic presidency is not the same with Your Excellency’s military khaki maximum regime of  1^st January 1984 to 27^th August 1985; which operated under a series of draconian decrees including Decrees No.2  (indiscriminate arrests and detentions without fair trial)and No.4 of 1984( anti press freedom). Also,  “the Constitution”operated under the referenced inglorious epoch is totally different in spirit and letters from the present 1999 Constitution under which Your Excellency became Nigeria’s sixth civilian  President by election and by constitutional oaths on 29^th May 2015.

Therefore, through the immortal philosophical works of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), the idea of Constitutional or Limited (Democratic) Government was conceived and imbedded in Social Contract. From the United States of America where Nigeria adopted its present constitutional & procedural democracy, it (USA) in turn, adopted it from John Locke’s 1690 famous book called the Second Treatise of Civil Government. Following the creative thinking of the United States’ first democratic President, Thomas Jefferson, the US Independence Constitution adopted in July 1776 drew its inspiration from the great work of John Lockeunder reference.

According to the US Independence Constitution, drawn from John Locke’s 1690 book-Second Treatise of Civil Government:“We hold these truths to be self evident that all men (and women) are created equal and endowed with certain natural and inalienable rights, and most important being of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And to protect these rights, men set up government whose authority rests on their consent. And whenever a government ceases to do what it has been set up for, its citizens have a right to change it or its order and put in place a new government or a new order that will provide for their safety and happiness”.

That is to say that it is “the Social Contract” that gave birth to limited or constitutional democratic government and human rightssimultaneously. With the former charged with caretaker responsibility over the latter. The Fundamental Objectives & Directive Principles of State Policy in the Chapter 11 of the 1999 Constitution (Sections 13 to 21) is Nigeria’s version of the Social Contract, which Your Excellency constitutionally sworn on 29^th May 2015 to uphold and apply at all times.

Fundamental Breaches Of The 1999 Constitution By Your Excellency’s Presidency: