The impeachment of the deputy governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu by the State House of Assembly over alleged gross misconduct, has brought to the fore the precarious nature of the post of deputy governors in Nigeria’s politics since 1999. Although the relationship between Governor Godwin Obaseki and Shaibu has been frosty for some time probably because of Shaibu’s ambition to contest the 2024 gubernatorial election in the state, the impeachment of the deputy governor with a few months to the September 21 Edo gubernatorial poll and end of their tenure on November 12, does not augur well for Edo politics and by extension Nigeria’s nascent democracy. Section 186 of the 1999 Constitution states clearly that “There shall be for each State of the Federation a Deputy Governor.”
Since the 4th Republic not less than 17 deputy governors have been impeached based on various excuses bordering on gross misconduct. One deputy governor was also removed in the 2nd Republic. The casualty figure is so high at deputy governorship level than governorship level. Why? Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates the conditions for the removal from office of Governor or Deputy Governor. One of the conditions for such impeachment according to Section 188 (2) (b) is “stating that the holder of such office is guilty of gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office, detailed particulars of which shall be specified.”What exactly is gross misconduct? It is open to many interpretations.
Perhaps lawyers will help us to answer the question. No matter the grievous sins of Shaibu, Governor Obaseki should have ended his eight-year reign in Edo State with Comrade Shaibu considering the many battles they waged and fought together as political pals. They fought Adams Oshiomhole, they fought the APC and others and won as buddies. Why should Shaibu’s gubernatorial ambition tear them apart to the extent that Obaseki refused to shake hands with Shaibu at a public function which was shown on a national television?
They should have remembered the good old days and manage their conflicts with diplomacy and wisdom. The sack of any deputy governor diminishes the rest. A goat that is alive should learn from what happened to the dead one. One day, it will be his turn. What happened to the ram will one day happen to the he-goat. This ease with which deputy governors are sacked or impeached or both based on flimsy excuses covered under the constitutional guise of gross misconduct is not good for our democracy.
The issue needs to be further interrogated by those trying to amend our constitution. The office of the deputy governor is very important. No governor wins an election without a deputy. However, the constitution has no clear cut role for the deputy governors except to act when the governor is not there either by virtue of illness, absent, resignation or death. Even when he is absent, the deputy will not act except if he transmits power to him through the State House of Assembly. Such transmission of power is very few in our own case. Treating deputy governors as spare tyres, as nobodies, endangered species and irrelevant will kill our struggling democracy very soon. It will make the position very unattractive. Already, the position no longer attracts quality people because the governors deliberately choose puppets that they will control.
The choice of deputy governors should no longer be decided by the governors. The political parties must choose the deputy governors. The choice of a deputy governor must be as rigorous as the choice of a governor because if anything happens, the deputy governor will be sworn-in as the governor. In most states, the deputy governors are just there as spare tyres. They are even not seen or heard except when they represent His Excellencies in some public functions. The First Ladies, a position which is strange to the constitution, are more visible and vibrant than deputy governors. There is need for a constitutional role for deputy governors other than acting on their ogas behalf or replacing their ogas in the case of death or incapacitation.
Sadly, the deputy governors have become sacrificial lambs on the altar of Nigerian politics. They have suddenly become an endangered species. In fact, the position of the vice president is more prestigious than that of a deputy governor. The VP has constitutional duties outside acting for his oga or replacing him in death, which is often very rare. That is why some governors have chosen women as deputies, especially women who will not challenge them. Most of the governors would want docile and mumu deputies who will sing their praises and massage their egos.
Any deputy governor who asserts himself/herself before his oga will surely receive the Shaibu treatment instantly through the instrumentality of a pliant and rubber-stamp state assembly. The governors, the emperors, are in control of the state assembly. Some of them are aware of where the mesh is kept to the extent that their words are like laws, which must be faithfully obeyed. The relationship between governors and their deputies is everything but cordial. They live like cats and dogs. There is no happiness in the marriage between governors and their deputies.
That is why governance suffers in most states of the federation because the governors are emperors, nobody talks to them. They know everything and have answers to all problems. That is not democracy. It is autocracy in practice or tyranny masked as democracy. The new deputy governor of Edo State will just be there as a spare tyre for the remaining tenure of Obaseki. And that will not be good for Edo politics and our democracy. Shaibu has gone to court to challenge his impeachment. It is within his rights to do so. But, whatever comes out of it, he must have learnt his lessons as well.
Regardless of what comes out of the court, life goes on. For Shaibu, there is life after impeachment. Henceforth, there is need to review the way deputy governors are easily impeached and put measures in place to protect deputy governors. The 1999 Constitution did not offer enough protection to deputy governors. It did not assign it any definitive role other than acting and others. The roles of deputy governors must be clearly defined alongside that of the governors who are removing their deputies as if they are divorcing their wives.
The impeachment of deputy governors has been trivialized and even dramatized to a ridiculous extent. The position of deputy governor has lost whatever aura it has hitherto. Very soon, some politicians will start rejecting being nominated as deputy governors. There is nothing attractive about the post any longer. One deputy governor was sacked for being assertive and another one was sacked for keeping poultry in government house. We need a reinterpretation of what gross misconduct is. That constitutional provision has been utterly abused to impeach deputy governors. It is time to review it in view of the frequent abuse of that constitutional proviso in the impeachment of deputy governors.