Gov. Ganduje, Kano House Of Assembly, Judiciary And The Burden Of Trust

As far back as 1748, French Philosopher Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, simply called  Montesque propounded an idea that in order for political power not to be usurped by one body of persons in the business of governance, it should be separated so that excesses can be checked for the common good of all.

According to him, one arm can handle issues around law making, another can handle the business of execution, and the other can handle interpretation and administration of justice.

The idea behind this classification is what many scholars saw as the secret behind the clamor that democracy is the best form of governance because, with separation of powers, the business of governance can be transparent and accountable, and that’s the idea that made every modern democratic formations to be modeled around it.

Democracy as system cannot and will not thrive anywhere without the doctrine of the principles of separation of powers as unveiled by the likes of Montesque, and its efficiency and effectiveness depends on how autonomous the three arms are.

Even though Nigeria’s democratic modelling is also a product of this kind of arrangement, however, the extent to which such political arrangement is yielding the desired expectations still remain a subject of intense debate most especially at the state level of our federal political arrangement, because assemblies at the state level are practically near nonexistence when assessed in view of their statutory responsibility.

As such, one will be forced to ask about the legislature – executive relationship in Kano State especially under the light of the damning revelations on the #Gandujegate scandal?

Whether if Kano State House of Assembly can do what’s been described by many as its statutory responsibility to unravel the reality of Ganduje’s alleged bribe taking videos?

Or can they simply dance to the tune of the Ganduje led Kano State Government?

To answer these questions, it is important for us to do a background check on the reality of the operations of our state assemblies especially pertaining to their independence.

One will be interested to know that, in the whole of our 7 north-western state assemblies, none has ever passed a bill that’s not executive sponsored.

Every private member bill that scaled through legislative business must have had executive blessing and or be presented as executive bill.

This is pointing to the fact that such assemblies are only executive rubber stamp and are there either consciously or unconsciously to do the bidding of their respective state governors.

However, with the news alert and the videos released showcasing Governor Ganduje allegedly collecting (on different instalment) $5m bribe from the state contractors by the Daily Nigerian online Newspaper, and the subsequent step taken by the Kano State House of Assembly, many  of us doubted their intention despite the fact that two investigative hearings took place with some members of the general public in attendance, and the reassurance by the committee chair of their intention to unravel the reality of the situation.

The reason for our rebuttal is based on the fact that the Honorable members assigned to investigate the alleged scandal maybe acting on their grievances against the governor having directly or indirectly suffered from the fall out of a daylight robbery called direct primaries held in the state.

This means that their action may not be a product of genuine commitment to salvage the state from the embarrassment and humiliation caused by the #Gandujegate scandal.

Though, who knows what the real intention maybe?

Whatever it maybe, one thing remain clear, they should either choose to do the right thing to earn a place in history, or do otherwise to ground the state because the political vampires will continue to suck the state treasury at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of acutely malnourished children in the state, or women dying from lack of access to maternal health services, as well as the uneducated army of youth roaming the street for lack of access to basic and post basic education in the state.

 

While the committee was carrying out its work, the state executive under Governor Ganduje was busy trying to halt the process, hence the court order that mandated the committee to maintain status quo – ante.

Whatever the Governor maybe doing to frustrate his alleged scandal, he should know that we are patiently watching and observing any development on the issue as they unfold. Both the Governor and the assembly members are all where they are today because we confer legitimacy on them to shoulder our own affairs, and they swore to do it.

We also call on the judiciary not to allow itself to be used.

They all should know that Kano, a city and state, has over 1000 years of administration and civilization, and is a critical pillar in the Nigeria project.

Whatever they do has the tendency of tarnishing the hard earned reputation of the state just like the embarrassment and humiliation it is currently experiencing because of #Gandujegate.

There is no moral justification for the governor not to resign to face the alleged scandal against him if at all he is clean and has the interest of the state at his heart.

Nura Maaji is an Activist and Convener , Movement for a Better Kano  (MBK)