According to an opinion poll conducted recently by The Qoheleth, the governors are the major challenges on political leadership in Nigeria. Those interviewed based their judgements in various areas.
The governors hijacked the 3rd tier of government. Many local governments in Nigeria are operating as if they are an extension of the state government. Many have not had elections for a long time. A good number of them don’t even operate their legislative arms. The governors of the affected states collect their allocation from the federal government and pocket them and nobody is saying anything about it. Some are still operating with caretaker committees who are at the whims of the governors. As a result of this, development does not reach to the grassroot being managed by the local government.
Many governors hijacked the legislative arm of governments in their states. They select them during elections and appoint the Speakers and other officials. They dictate what they do and when they refuse, they are impeached. The state legislators are under the whims and caprices of such governors. They do so to the federal legislators as well. They dictate who wins election at that level and afterwards dictate what they do or say. And we see these as democracy and principle of separation of powers?
The governors are the Chief Security Officers in their states. They are given security votes for this. The federal agencies also report to them indirectly especially in security matters within the state. Unfortunately, it is so obvious that many state governors convert the security agencies to their private pockets. They use them for their selfish interests, exploit the people, rig elections and when the agencies in such states refuse to comply with these, the governors complain that they usually take orders from the federal government. Most of them stoke the fire on security challenges in their various states. Most of the bandits, criminals, kidnappers and unknown gun men have been traced to them as stogies who work for them. And yet they are exonerated from security issues in the country.
In order to hijack the political party apparatus, the governors constitute themselves into a forum where they exhibit their selfish interests against the interest of the parties. This has always caused problems in electing political party leadership in the country. They dictate who becomes leaders in the parties as well as the presidential candidates. These are at the detriments of their political parties. And the generality of party members do not even blink an eye.
Since they usually hijack the legislative arm of the government, they are no longer accountable to anybody. The state party coffers are laid open to them to embezzle. They cover their nefarious activities with immunity clause which should not cover criminal activities.
Every state is created to sustain itself and grow steadily through its natural and human resources. The governors in the 80s sustained their states through this and were able to develop their states. Most of the governors we currently have solely depend on the allocation they collect from Abuja which they come back to their states to share and wait for another allocation. Some of them who get derivations from the resources gotten from their states do not account for such. And yet they agitate to control all the resources in such states.
Many state governors are known for recycling themselves in the system and thus derive retirement benefits from different positions held. After being a governor, they will become ministers. From there they will metamorphose into the Senate where they will be immune to their corrupt activities. Some of them jump from one political party to another at will without resigning from such offices. Some do so to secure their freedom from prosecution.
Such governors are at the forefront of strong resistance for the amendment of electoral process. They are doing everything to ensure that direct primaries are not enshrined in the constitution because they know they will fail at the grassroots level. They would not support electronic voting because it will prevent them from ballot snatching and other electoral fraud. Many Nigerians know that if the electoral system is amended and upgraded, genuine leaders would emerge through the process. And yet no strong effort is being made to put such in place.
The attention of Nigerians should be on the governors if they need to yield desired results and enthrone good governance. Many of the governors are leading the people astray while the citizens are distracting themselves concentrating on the federal government.
