Nigeria Daily News: Constitution amendment: The Ekweremadu/Kwankwanso tango

Constitution amendment: The Ekweremadu/Kwankwanso tango
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Staff  on 29/09/2012 19:12:00


By Emmanuel Aziken
It was almost understandable that Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State would
accuse Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate, of a hidden
agenda in the on-going process of amending the constitution.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja,  last weekend, Kwankwanso alleged that
Ekweremadu, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, 
was aiming to foist amendments, mainly the creation of a new state for the
Southeast and the recognition of geopolitical zones,  in the constitution on
the nation.
With tongue in cheek, Kwankwanso who has been speculated to be in the race for
the presidency in 2015, said: “I am not playing any regional or ethnic
politics. But you see, I am representing a state now. I will not allow anybody
to go and make nonsense of what we have. If you want to create your state, go
and create, do not call Kano anyhow,” the governor said in sharp rebuttal to
the claim  made by Ekweremadu at the presidential retreat on Constitution
Review held early September about distortions in the nation’s federalism.
The deputy president of the Senate had in his presentation to the gathering
chaired by erstwhile Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Alfa Belgore, and
with President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance, cited the discrepancy in the
number of local governments between Kano and Lagos States as one more need to
refine the shape and structure of the nation’s federalism.
As if in anticipation of the offensive from Kwankwanso, Ekweremadu added  in
his speech at that occasion that the legislators in the National Assembly had no
position on any of the issues at stake.
“Let me therefore reassure you that we have no position on any issues except
those taken by the Nigerian people through their inputs, whether through their
memoranda, contributions at public hearings and their elected representatives at
both the National and State Assemblies. We bear no allegiance to any, except
that which we owe to the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Ekweremadu  said at
that presidential retreat.
Gov Kwankwanso and Senator Ike Ekweremadu
Kwankwanso, in his assertions, was apparently miffed by what he said was the
application of political considerations instead of criteria such as landmass and
population in the creation of states.
He said: “Let us have criteria, there have to be criteria for creation of
states. I am telling you the population of some states, local governments and
some zones should be on the table. You don’t just say because you want to
contest an election or make a name to create state. We have been yearning for
more states in Kano; we want to have three states. “If you divide Kano State
into three states, each state is more than Enugu State in terms of landmass,
population and any criteria you can think of.”
The governor’s deposition, however, clearly deviated from the political
consideration that has historically been the primary motive  in the delineation
of  groups into states.
Such political consideration was clearly evident in the only state creation
exercise embarked upon during a civilian dispensation in the 1963 creation of
Midwest out of the Western Region.
State and local government creation between then and now were undertaken by the
military with criteria that obviously did not put population and land mass as
basic criteria, a development that has continued to fuel discord in the polity.
Belgore, who chaired that presidential retreat,  had indeed pointed at the
contentions over the direction of  Nigeria, saying that it was the bad
management of the country’s resources that has put the country among the
poorest  in the comity of nations.
“What this country had suffered from is not economic mismanagement but
political instability. Our poverty level is caused by instability. We must have
a Constitution to allow for stability. If there is stability, there is enough on
the ground for the happiness and unity of Nigerians wherever they are and we
shall be more stable, united and be able to make the country great. The
Constitution is the mother of all the laws and there is enough for everybody on
the ground. There will be no excuse for any Nigerian to be poor.”
Ekweremadu’s apparent effort to dig out what he has sometimes referred to as a
people’s constitution has, apparently, not gone down well with some
politicians. Kwankwanso,  in particular, is peeved by suggestions for the
adoption of geo-political zones as the basis for the country’s federal
arrangement.
That suggestion is apparently loaded with grave implications one of which
Kwankwanso noted in his interaction with  journalists would mean that ministers
would be selected based on geo-political zones and not the present situation
where every state is constitutionally bound to be represented on an unwieldy
federal cabinet.
Kwankwanso said: “Another issue that is very important is zoning. In the
review, we are aware that some people want zones to be recognized and they want
appointment of ministers to be based on zone not on states. We say no to that.
We cannot accept that.
“The issue is that when it comes to selection of ministers, it will be based
on zone. It means the President may avoid certain states if he or she so wishes.
This side of the country will not accept that.”
The governor,  however, had apparently been following the deputy Senate
president’s speeches, particularly recent injunctions for the application of
true federalism in the country.
It  is an issue that recently brought  Kwankwaso  to the front row of
national discourse with his assertions against the implementation of the
onshore/offshore dichotomy abrogation law in the sharing of federal revenue.
Ekweremadu, at the presidential retreat sharply rebuffed insinuations among some
people  that fiscal federalism would make some sections of the country poorer
and used graphic illustrations to point at the potential wealth buried in many
states of the country. It is a “wrong and an unfortunate imputation of
motive,” he said.
Though the deputy Senate  president  is yet to give a public response to the
allegations against him raised by Kwankwanso, it is easy for his defenders to
claim that he is only one of 469 members of the National Assembly involved in
the process of constitution amendment at the federal level. How he would be able
to subvert his colleagues to fashion his own ideas would indeed be a wonder in
the politically sensitive National Assembly.
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