When those in power know that they should not be there, or, when those in power know that they are working against the good of the people, they always use violence and fear to keep their positions, because they know that the people do not want them.
Quoting from Wikipedia:
“In political philosophy, the phrase CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED refers to the idea that a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society over which that political power is exercised… Article 21 of the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government”.
Quoting from the same source, which comes from a 1579 AD Huguenot (Christian) tract:
“The people lay down the conditions which the king is bound to fulfil. Hence they are bound to obedience only conditionally, namely, upon receiving the protection of just and lawful government…the power of the ruler is delegated by the people and continues only with their consent.”
Finally, John Locke wrote that men are by nature free and equal, and that good government is the result of a social contract where free people willingly and conditionally transfer some of their rights to the government, for the smooth running of society. Since governments exist by the consent of the people.
Throughout the Renaissance and into the Enlightenment period in Europe, monks and Christians were often at the forefront of pushing for human rights and good government, and standing against despots and dictators. Today, Nigeria has a Vice-President (Osinbajo) who is both a Professor of Law and supposedly a Christian since he also has the title of “Pastor”. Nigeria is in the second term of his and Buhari’s regime. At each swearing in ceremony, Osinbajo swore an Oath of Office which includes these words:
“I,…as Vice-President…will discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law…that I will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria… So help me God.”
What should be made clear is that in fact Nigeria has no Constitution of any kind! It has no Regional Constitutions. It has no Federating Constitution. The entire political situation is therefore a cruel farce. For, the document titled “1999 Constitution” is Military Decree 24 foisted upon Nigerians. It falsely claims to have been made by the Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, meanwhile not one “jot or tittle” has been written or agreed by the people.
All serving politicians and high officials (civil servants) swear an Oath to uphold this illegitimate “1999 Constitution”, but what makes the situation very bad is that President Buhari had been involved with PRONACO which was to correct this 1999 Constitution fraud, and Osinbajo had been Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State at the time.
Those who have led Nigeria since 1966 when the military coups dismantled the Federal Nigeria agreed upon before Independence, by abolishing the four Regional and one Federating Constitutions, have held onto power without the consent of the governed. They have relied on the “Nigerian System” re-established by Military Decrees including Decree 24 (aka 1999 Constitution) that keeps citizens subdued and docile through Ignorance, Fear and Military (State) Terror.
The NINAS Movement now says that the peoples have come of age, and that henceforth, government must have “the consent of the governed”. With all the agitations, extreme poverty, and now insecurity, it is clear that unless Nigeria re-establishes the consent of the governed, the country will not stand. That is why the Restructuring Debate should be addressed: Ethnic Nationalities will choose for themselves how much Self-Determination they want. Is it 20%, or 50%, or 75%, or 100%? They will decide by Referendums and the NINAS Movement that Proclaimed a Constitutional Force Majeure on 16th December 2020, initiating the ORDERLY PROCESS to Decommission that sham 1999 Constitution, has the methods and protocols.
In this 21st Century AD, citizens are the ones to decide the kind of government and governance style that they want to consent to. The indigenous Ethnic Nationalities of the New South (Middle Belt and South together) manifestly do not want Unitary Nigeria, a feudal system, imposed upon them by that sham 1999 Constitution. It begs the question: All those politicians and officials who have sworn to uphold and govern by that forgery, where is their integrity and sense of justice? By definition, it is barbarians who impose themselves and their will on others through force and fraud.
Nigerians in their tens of thousands are fleeing the awful environment created by that 1999 Constitution by going to the West, seeking a free society, where they can give their consent to be governed, by getting new citizenships. They are looking for citizenship in a land where the people are expressing their inalienable right to Self-Determination.
The second paragraph of the American Declaration of Independence states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
What makes a society civilised, is that whether they have a Monarch, Prime Minister, President or High Chief, etc, governance MUST be with the consent of the governed. As in Apartheid South Africa, the wind of change is here.
“Power is not permanent, neither is powerlessness.” – Ndidi Uwechue
Ndidi Uwechue is a British citizen with Igbo heritage from the Lower Niger Bloc. She is a retired Metropolitan (London) Police Officer, she is a signatory to the Constitutional Force Majeure, and she writes from Abuja.
