The
office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has recently aroused and enmeshed in
controversy thus:
1.
when
it was reported in the media that the Federal Government of Nigeria bought 200
exotic vehicles for the hosting of a Steering Committee of First Ladies of
Africa by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, under the aegis of the
African Ladies Peace Mission scheduled for Friday, 27th July, 2012;
2.
There
was also controversy concerning the office when Dame Patience Jonathan was
appointed a Permanent Secretary in the Public Service of Bayelsa State by the
Governor of Bayelsa State, Honourable Seriake Dickson. Dame Jonathan had since
been sworn in as a Permanent Secretary.
3.
There
was also controversy following the recommendation of the scrapping of the
Office of the First Lady by the Presidential Committee on the Review under the
Chairmanship of Justice Alfa Belgore. The operation and funding both in kind
and cash of the office at all levels of government should be discouraged and
abolished forthwith.
It
is a notorious fact that none of the country’s Constitution from 1960-1999 has
ever created the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However funds have always been allocated to the office of the First Lady by
successive administrations in the country since independence. The First Lady is
addressed by the title “Her Excellency”.
Nigeria
became a Republic on the 1st October, 1963, with the coming into
force of the 1963 Constitution which replaced the Independence Constitution of
the Nigeria, 1960. The First President was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. At that time the
system of government that was in force was the West Minster variant of the
Parliamentary System of Government. Under the Parliamentary system of
government the President is the Head of State but does not possess any
executive authority. The President is only a titular Head of State. He is not
the Head of Government. The Head of Government was the Prime Minister. The
Prime Minister is usually chosen from a member of the House of Parliament from
the Party that commands majority of seats in the Parliament.
The
Military took over the reins of government on the 15th January,
1966. From 15th January, 1966 to the 1st October, 1979,
when the military held the levers of power in the country the concept of First
Lady did not assume larger than life image. It later did under the subsequent
military dictatorships of Generals: Babangida, Abacha and Abdul Salami Abubukar.
The
military handed over power to a democratically elected President on the 1st
October, 1979. The First democratically elected President was Alhaji Shehu
Usman Shagari. Between 1st October, 1979 to 31st
December, 1983, when President Shagari was in office there was no designated First
Lady. President Shagari had three wives. None of them was designated the First
Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Country had several First Ladies
since she became a Republic on 1st October, 1963. Thus Country’s
First, First Lady was Mrs. Flora Azikiwe (1st October, 1963 - 15th
January, 1966); the Second First Lady was Mrs. Victoria Aguiyi Ironsi (15th
January, 1966 - 29th July, 1966); the Third First Lady was Mrs. Victoria
Gowon (21st August, 1966 - 29th July, 1975); the Fourth
First Lady was Mrs Ajoke Mohammed (29th July, 1975 - 13th
February, 1976); the Fifth First Lady was Mrs. Esther Oluremi Obasanjo (13th
February, 1976 - 1st October, 1979); the Sixth First Lady should
have been the wife of General Muhammadu Buhari (1st January, 1984 - 27th
August, 1985), however, Mrs. Sinfatu Buhari was not officially designed a First
Lady of the Country. The Sixth First Lady thus became Mrs. Maryam Babangida (27th
August, 1985 - 26th August, 1993). The Seventh First Lady was Mrs.
Margaret Shonekan (26th August, 1993 - 17th November,
1993); the Eighth First Lady was Mrs. Maryam Abacha (17th November,
1993 - 8th June, 1998). The Ninth First Lady was Mrs. Fati Lami
Abubukar (8th June, 1998 - 29th May, 1998); the Tenth
First Lady was Mrs. Stella Obasanjo (29th May 1999 – 23rd
October, 2005. After the death of Stella Obasanjo there was no First Lady from
23rd October, 2005, till the 29th May, 2007. The Eleventh
First Lady was Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua (29th May, 2007 - 6th
May, 2010). The Twelfth First Lady is Dame Patience Jonathan, the incumbent
First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It
is pertinent to state that all the First Ladies before Mrs. Maryam Babangida
had always maintained very low profile. However, Mrs. Maryam Babangida brought
a lot of pomp, style and glamour to the Office of the First Lady and during her
time enormous financial resources were allocated to the Office.
Historically
the concept of the title of “First Lady” originated from the United States of
America. Linguistically, the term “Lady” originated in England. The title “First
Lady” was first used in the United States of America in 1849 when President
Zachary Taylor called Dolley Madison “First Lady” at her State Funeral while
reciting a eulogy written by him. The title gained nationwide recognition in
the United States of America in 1877, when Mary C. Ames wrote an article in the
New York City Independent Newspaper describing the inauguration of President
Rutherford B. Hayes. She used the term, to describe his wife, Mrs. Lucy Webb
Hayes. Since then all wives of the Presidents of the United States of America
are described as “First Lady”.
The Office of the First
Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in its website is listed as an organ of
the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Indeed number three in the
hierarchy of these organs of Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
other organs listed are the President, Vice-President, the Federal Executive
Council and the State House. The Office of the President is created by Section
130 of the Constitution. In the same vein, the Office of the Vice-President is
created by Section 141 of the Constitution. The State House is the office of
the President. The Federal Executive Council (constitutionally known as the
Executive Council of the Federation) is created by Section 147 of the
Constitution. However, there is nowhere in the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria where the Office of the First Lady is mentioned. See ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION V ATIKU ABUBAKAR (2007) 10 NWLR (Pt.1041)
1. In
other words, the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is
not created by the Constitution or any legislation. It is a mere contraption
existing at the whims and caprices of the occupants of the position of the President.
Conversely there is no enactment of the National Assembly creating the office
of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However,
the office of the First Lady is unwittingly accorded the imprimatur of
officialdom by the Federal Government deploying to the office senior and junior
Civil Servants. Vehicles belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria are being
used to service the office. The deployment of vehicles and allocation of money
to the official of the First Lady is decidedly illegal and void because there
is no place for such office by virtue of the Constitution.
The
Constitution is by virtue of Section 1 (3) thereof the supreme law of the Country.
It follows that it is the Constitution that imparts efficacy and legitimacy to
all other laws and regulations in the Country and therefore anything that does
not derive its legitimacy from the Constitution is illegal, null and void.
In
MUNIRAT ODUNTAN V ABUDU W. AKIBU
(2000)7S.C. (PARTII)106, the Supreme Court held that where a non-member of
a chieftaincy family was appointed, such appointment is void ab initio and the approval of the
Executive Council would not, and could not confer validity on such appointment;
the approval itself is equally void. For anything based on a void act is
"bad and incurably bad".
One of the greatest English
Jurist of the 20th Century, Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls in the
case of MACFOY Vs UNITED AFRICAN COMPANY
LIMITED (1961) 3 All E. R. 1169, succinctly and eruditely illuminated on the
position of the law when an act is void thus:
“… If an act is void, then it is in law a nullity. It is not only bad, but
incurably bad. There is no need for an order of the court to set it aside. It
is automatically null and void without more ado, though it is sometimes
convenient to have the court declare it to be so. And every proceeding which is
founded on it is also bad and incurably bad. You cannot put something on
nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse. So will this judgment
collapse if the statement of claim was a nullity. But if an act is only voidable, then it is not
automatically void. It is only an
irregularity which may be waived. It is not to be avoided unless
something is done to avoid it. There must be an order of the court setting it
aside: and the court has discretion whether to set it aside or not. It will do
so if justice demands it but not otherwise. Meanwhile it remains good and a
support for all that has been done under it. So will this statement of claim be
a support for the judgment, if it was only voidable and not void”.
I
have also studied the Appropriation Acts of 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively to
find out if the Office of the First Lady was allotted any money. The office of
the First Lady is not listed in the departments or agencies or Commissions or
other statutory bodies under the Presidency. The Office of the First Lady is
not also mentioned in the breakdown of appropriation for capital or recurrent
expenditure of the Office of the Head of Service; Office of the Secretary to
the Federal Government; Federal Ministry of Women Affairs or the Federal
Ministry of Special Duties.
I
also in my search found to my chagrin and consternation that there is no
allocation made whatsoever for the Office of the First Lady under the cloak of
any Federal Ministry or Extra Ministerial Department of the Federal Government
of Nigeria. However there is no denying the fact that the office of the First
Lady enjoys some substantial form of allocation of funds from the public till
to enable the First Lady and her coterie of officials to move around in
expensive attires, razzmatazz and wields so much clout, influence and power. It
goes without saying that access to the First Lady attracts rewards and
opportunities of unimaginable proportion. At the States level the wives of the
Governors are also First Ladies of their respective States and enjoy allocation
of funds of the public treasury despite the fact that there is no statute or
law giving a veneer of legitimacy to the office of First Ladies of States.
Undoubtedly
the allocation to public funds to the Office of the First Lady is illegal and unconstitutional.
It amounts to an egregious violation of the provisions of the Constitution to
allocate funds which are not appropriated by the National Assembly that is
constitutionally vested with the power of appropriation of Public Funds. Section
81 subsections 1, 2 & 3 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 1999 (as altered and amended) provides thus:
“The President shall cause to be prepared and laid
before each House of the National Assembly at any time in each financial year
estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next
following financial year.
(2) The heads of expenditure contained in the estimates
(other than expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the
Federation by this Constitution) shall be included in a bill, to be known as an
Appropriation Bill, providing for the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund
of the sums necessary to meet that expenditure and the appropriation of those
sums for the purposes specified therein.
(3) Any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary
in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation shall be paid directly to
the National Judicial Council for disbursement to the heads of the courts
established for the Federation and the States under section 6 of this Constitution.
(4) If
in respect of any financial year it is found that-
(a) the amount appropriated by the Appropriation Act for
any purpose is insufficient; or
(b) a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for
which no amount has been appropriated by the Act, a supplementary estimate
showing the sums required shall be laid before each House of the National
Assembly and the heads of any such expenditure shall be included in a Supplementary
Appropriation Bill”.
From
the above, it is as clear as the crystal that any allocation of money by the
Federal Government that is not contained in the allocation to the Federal
Ministries, Agencies, Extra Ministerial Departments, Parastatals, the
Presidency, Offices of the Head of Service and Secretary to the Federal
Government and Federal Executive Bodies established by Section 153 and listed
in Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (supra) is void ab initio. The Federal Executive bodies created by
Section 153 of the Constitution include:
1.
The
Code of Conduct Bureau;
2.
The
Council of States;
3.
The
Federal Character Commission;
4.
The
Federal Civil Service Commission;
5.
The
Federal Judicial Service Commission;
6.
The
Independent National Electoral Commission;
7.
The
National Defence Council;
8.
The
National Judicial Council;
9.
The
National Population Commission;
10.
The
National Security Council;
11.
The
National Police Council;
12.
The
Police Service Commission and
13.
The
Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
From
the above, it is abundantly clear the Office of the First Lady of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and its counterpart in the 36 States of the Federation
including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is illegal and
unconstitutional. A fortiori, the allocation of Public Funds to these Offices
by the Federal Government and the State Governments of the 36 States and the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja, is illegal and void.
The
appointment of Dame Patience Jonathan as Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State
is a pointer to the fact that the Office of the First Lady is illegal.
Otherwise it would amount to an illegality for Dame Jonathan to occupy two Public
offices simultaneously. Section 208 (2) (c) of the Constitution of the Country
vests on a State Governor power to appoint and remove a Permanent Secretary
appointed into the Public Service of such a State.
Undoubtedly a
Permanent Secretary either in the Public Service of the Federation or the
Public Service of a State is a Public Officer by virtue of Section 10 of Part
II of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution. See Section 318 of the
Constitution for the definition of the term “public officer”. By Section 2 (a) of Part 1 of the Fifth
Schedule to the Constitution it is an offence for a public servant to receive
or be paid the emoluments of any public office at the same time as he receives
or is paid the emoluments of any other public office. See ANTHONY ABIODUN
DADA V. [2005] 6 NWLR (PT. 920) 1.
It
is therefore the right time these Offices are scrapped and abolished in view of
the fact that the President and the 36 States have sworn to preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is an
impeachable offence for the President and the State Governors to continue to
breach provisions of the Constitution to continue to allow the Offices of the
First Lady of Nigeria and that of the respective 36 States to exist or deploy
public funds towards its existence.
OKOI OBONO-OBLA
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