September 25, 2014 – Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola today listed accountability, freedom of expression, justice and fairness among others, as essential elements for the consolidation of the nation’s democracy saying the late Human Rights Lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, was an embodiment of those virtues that would ensure credible electoral process in the country.
Governor Fashola, who spoke as Guest Lecturer at the 2014 Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Colloquium organized by the Gani Fawehinmi Students’ Chambers, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, said imbibing such virtues would bring the nation nearer to credible electoral processes.
In his lecture titled “Consolidating Democratic Norms Through Credible Electoral Process”, the Governor, however, warned that the consequences of not embracing such democratic norms would take the nation further away from achieving any credible elections in the years ahead adding that it would also endanger her democracy.
Noting that the nation’s biggest value challenge lies in the area of public accountability, Fashola insisted that accountability must go beyond the lack of corruption and embezzlement of funds to include the existence of a guide for recording value accruals as well as the right to know.
To illustrate this point, the Governor cited the Landlord and Tenants Bill in which the State Government limited the payment of house rent to one year in advance saying a society where people pay two to three years house rent in advance when they earn monthly salaries in arrears does not depict accountability.
“The reality is that these monies are paid and logic must tell us that something abnormal has taken place if you can bring forth in advance multiple of what you earn in arrears. There has been a huge debit or deficit somewhere and we all pay for it because the cost is transferred”, he said adding that such costs often translate to crimes of corruption.
Fashola said a vibrant press with ethical editorial policy was also a necessity for the consolidation of democratic norms in order to achieve credible electoral process adding that to speak the truth to authority and maintain the purity of editorial policy was not only a matter of conscience but also a national duty since, according to him, it is in the national interest.
Recalling the inconsistent information being released to the public both on the abducted Chiboks school girls and the attack on Bama town, Fashola, who described it as injustice to the right of the public to know, noted, however, that the rating of any media as serious or otherwise was within the purview of members of the public who, according to him, “are their mainstay”.
Fashola argued that the nation would never consolidate democratic norms and achieve credible electoral process unless there is justice and fair play adding that it is also impossible to discuss justice and fair play without the rule of law which means that everybody must be equal before the law.
The Governor, however, advocated uniformity of values among the population, as opposed to the coercive authority of law enforcement, in ensuring justice and fair play pointing out that the coercive capacity of law enforcement is never equal to the total population of the people.
He acknowledged that because democratic governance is participatory it is sometimes hard to build consensus in order to take a decision on any matter but urged, “We must be a people who choose to live within the law as distinct from those who want to be told to do so by compulsion”, adding that the easiest way to achieve law and order is by uniformity of values.
The Governor extolled the virtues of the late human rights lawyer saying he was the embodiment of all that the nation needs to consolidate her democratic norms. Such virtues, according to him, include hard work, accountability and pursuit of justice and fair play for which he was celebrated both within and outside the country.
“Gani’s values turned him into a public figure and this is where the brand, Gani, emerged. It has become a most sought after brand by many people, some deserving and others, perhaps debatably less so, especially those who did not understand him”, the Governor said.
Wondering what Gani would have done in the situation of the missing $20million, how N2 trillion was spent on petroleum subsidy without appropriation or the recent $9.3 million dollar arms deal in South Africa, Fashola declared, “If we like what we are witnessing, the next elections provide us the opportunity to keep it. If we dislike it, our votes must be the preferred way to reject it and those who perpetrate it as a loud statement that it offends our values and norms”.
“Our choices will have consequences for which we must be ready to take responsibility. Those choices and the consequences that come with them will bring us either closer to or take us farther away from credible electoral processes because they will be representative of our democratic norms and, I add, values”, he said.
In his opening remarks earlier, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Ibidapo Obe commended the achievements of Governor Fashola especially in the area of law and order saying he has made Lagos first among equals in the establishment of Multi-Door Court process, introduction of Citizens Mediation Centre which, according to him, is working wonderfully well and Court of Arbitration for which Nigerians and foreign companies used to travel to Paris, London and United States of America in the past, as well as the Office of Public Defender.
Also in his opening remarks, Chairman of the occasion, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, said because the unitarized governance in Nigeria has sought to build a nation-state on what he described as “a compromised constitutional foundation”, the result has been the “awful reality, manifesting in societal decay, mass poverty and such depth of systemic failure which tend towards a failed state situation”.
A representative of the Gani Fawehinmi Family and first daughter of the Human Rights lawyer, Barrister Basirat Fawehinmi-Biobaku, in her remarks, thanked Governor Fashola for the recognition and honour he has continued to show towards their late father. She also thanked the Chambers for sustaining the Colloquium which was the fifth in the series adding that the family would continue to uphold the Gani brand.
In his welcome address, Head of Chambers of Gani Fawehinmi Students’ Chambers, Mr. Henry Okwudiri Ikwunemere, said the Chambers was founded on the ideals of a just society aimed at grooming law students into responsible lawyers and social engineers of tomorrow.
Also present at the well-attende occasion were Patron of the Chambers, Professor Itse Sagay, Osun State Commissioner for Special Duties and representative of the State Governor, Barrister Ajibola Basiru, Executive Council and members of the Chambers as well as top members of the University’s Law Faculty and government officials.
