Voice of Jacob Hand of Esau: Appraising the Role of Chief Executives and Party Leaders in Impeachment Processes in Nigeria

Abstract

As a three-tier government that Nigeria is, three legislatures exist and all have the impeachment powers that have been grossly abused: The National Assembly, the state assembly and the local legislative council. A close study of their activities, regarding impeachment duties, shows a consistent bias in the ways they exercise these powers particularly at the National and state levels. Prior to fourth republic only once did states (Kaduna and Kano) assemblies have gut to impeach a governor and a deputy Governor — Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Bibi Faruk — since 1979 when Nigeria began the practice of Presidential system of government. In the present Fourth Republic not less than five Governors have been impeached, although three of them had been reversed by judicial review. At the national level, it has always been a mere threat against the chief executive but not so with the leadership of the National Assembly. It is even worse at the local level. It is curious however, to find that the victims of true impeachment powers have always been the powerless deputies and the leaderships of the legislatures at the various levels of government. Even in these, the process through which these powers are exercised is often characterised by corruption of different categories such as bribery and coercion leading to perversion of due process to attain the nefarious goals. The study shows that often those behind the impeachments are the chief executives and party leaders who goad the members of the legislatures to embark on such constitutional but perverted acts.