Dogara charges legislature to safeguard Nigeria’s democracy

From Paul Orude Bauchi

Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara has urged the Nigeria legislature both at the national and state levels to live up to its responsibility in order to strengthen the country’s fledgling democracy.

Dogara made the call in a paper he delivered in Abuja at a one-day technical session for Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, organised by PERL-ECP in collaboration with the Conference of Speakers.

The former Speaker who spoke on the topic, Effective Leadership for Emerging Legislatures: Lessons, Challenges, Opportunities and Recommendations, decried “the near absence of true leadership across all strata of our national life”

He argued that Nigeria’s attempt at nation-building has been a disaster after 109 years of amalgamation and 63 years of independence.

“While this is a subject matter that should be on the lips of all Nigerians, embarrassingly we busy ourselves with winning elections at all cost after which the power elites do no bother to make any reference let alone commit to nation-building,” he stated.

He believed the subject of effective leadership for Emerging Legislatures was central to national progress and the survival of Nigeria’s democracy.

Dogara charged the legislature to formulate laws that would entrench institutional based strategies and blueprint to reverse the dwindling political, social and economic fortunes of the country.

  “It is said that the legislature, consisting of a body of elected Representatives, is the first arm of government in a representative democracy,” he said.

“The legislature is that organ of the government which is constitutionally empowered to formulate the will of the state and vest it with legal authority and force.

“The legislature cannot be a Waffle House. When any legislature convinces itself to abdicate its constitutional role on the ground that an Angel or a super patriotic and well intentioned person is in charge of the executive branch and can therefore do no wrong, such a legislature cannot do the work of democracy.

“Such narratives betray a crass ignorance of the nature of man which is the basis of the promulgation of the doctrine of separation of powers as earlier discussed and the very essence of the legislature itself.

“An unflappable legislature is a major symptom of a democracy in trouble.

“Consequently, the legislature must be a place for contemplation; for debates and a forum where even questions are questioned.

“The only thing that is above questioning in a legislature that is set to do the work of the people is dissent – itself the very necessary ingredient with which consensus is forged”

He cautioned both the executive and legislative arms of government  against interpreting disagreements as disloyalty.

“Now that we live in the midst of a pandemic of sycophancy, by modern-day standards, disagreement is synonymous with disloyalty,” he stressed.

“How can the legislature discharge its constitutional functions without let and hindrance when active collusion is seen by the executive as a precondition for maintaining a seat at the table?

“Sadly, nothing hurts a democracy more than conflict avoidance and selective blindness.

“For where loyal opposition ends, tyranny begins!

“In the words of Yale Professor, Shapiro, ‘in a country there will always be opposition, a well-functioning democracy has ‘loyal opposition’, a poorly functioning country has ‘disloyal opposition’.

“In any case, all healthy democracies are noisy because we have to disagree as much as we agree in order not to stymie progress”