One of the most-talked-about take-away lines from President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech a few days ago is the “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody” sentence. It is a sublime expression of what an elected leader ought to be in a democracy, even when we hardly experience that in these climes. But we must try all the same. And we must help the president and all public office-holders to realise that and uphold it.
The starting point is to underscore the basis for this “leader for all” expression. For most of the offices created under the Constitution such as the president, vice president, governor, deputy governor, ministers and commissioners, as well as all the legislative offices, there is a common oath of allegiance they swear to. It is a short sentence that says the oath-taker swears to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to protect and defend the Constitution.
Allegiance refers to duty of fidelity owed, or freely committed by someone to his/her state. What this oath therefore means is that the oath-taker commits to wholly and, without any reservation, be faithful to the country and to do everything within his/her powers to uphold the Constitution of the country. By taking that oath, the person is publicly swearing or affirming that any other allegiance he has is subject to the Constitution. That is why we must stress that public office-holders cannot claim to be under an obligation to support any other interest, including even their political party on whose platform they got into office. Public office-holders cannot also owe allegiance to their ethnicity, region or faiths against the oath of allegiance to Nigeria and its Constitution.
This is where I find it totally unacceptable for state governors to decorate the public spaces they occupy (office, official vehicles etc) with the colours of their political party. In fact, I had cause to object when I saw the video clip of the swearing-in of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State with the flag of the All Progressives Party (APC) fluttering directly behind him. I equally saw a photo of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos on his first day at work with the flag of APC by his side.
It is not a practice limited to any political party. Until recently, in front of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) office, there used to be a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag flying alongside the Nigerian flag. I also see state governors and local government chairpersons fly the flags of their political parties on official vehicles. Has anyone ever wondered how silly it would be for the official aircraft of the president to be painted in a political party’s colours/flags?
There are various oaths of office, depending on the office. Let us start with the oath of office of the president for which many of the other oaths have some similarities with. The Nigerian president swears or affirms to an oath of office to discharge his/her duties to the best of his ability, “faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution …and the law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity … of Nigeria”.
The president further swears/affirms to “strive to preserve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy contained in the Constitution” and not allow any personal interest to influence his/her official conduct or official decisions. Citizens who are related to public office-holders or belong to the same society (political, religious, ethnic, cultural, educational, professional etc) as those officers must not mistake such closeness as suggesting that the officer then belongs to them exclusively.
Under the same oath, the president is under a duty to use his/her best ability to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. This no doubt reiterates the oath of allegiance which he/she first swears to before the present oath. It is important therefore for public officers to be conversant with the provisions of the Constitution to be able to preserve, protect and defend them.
The president is under the provisions of the oath of office obliged to abide by the Code of Conduct contained in the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and, in all circumstances, to do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. It is important to stress here that under the Code of Conduct, it is a crime for any public officer to maintain a foreign bank account. Until that law is changed, every one of them must abide by it.
And should anyone be found to have erred, whether in or out of office, our laws must be allowed to take its course and their community people should not get in the way. That is the way to show that the officer belongs to everybody and to nobody.
First published in The Niche on June 7, 2015 http://www.thenicheng.com/belonging-to-everybody-and-keeping-the-oaths/
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