A legal practitioner and politician in Ebonyi State, Barr. John Onu has noted that poor leadership is not the problem of Nigeria but of the constitutional framework.
According to Onu, the constitutional framework is the taproot of the crime of corruption in Nigeria.
Onu John Onwe disclosed this while brainstorming with journalists for the book he published titled ‘Anatomy of Crime Corruption in Nigeria’.
The book, billed to be launched on March 9, 2024, is centred on the true meaning of corruption rather than the common belief of people that corruption means bribery, embezzlement, falsification, etc.
He, however, noted that if Nigeria is removed from its feudal state structure and abolishes the present autocratic constitutional framework by replacing it with a free, constitutional-sovereign state, a republican and democratic one governed by the rule of law due process, Nigeria will be made well and blossom like a tree planted on a riverside where justice and peace will reign.
His words ” Nigerian rulers and their government have counted corruption as the chief problem of the country.But it appears that they have never bothered to understand what corruption is and what to do with it. Every ruler and every government have burdened themselves with the problem of corruption so much that it is now a song. But that is where it stops and ends because once the ruler climbs to the throne, the problem of corruption surrounds him and overwhelms him. And I discovered that the source of corruption in Nigeria is the malformed state structure and autocratic constitutional framework imposed on it.
“The state structure and constitutional framework in Nigeria are essentially feudal, and the constitutional framework is autocratic. These are the wellsprings of corruption in Nigeria. Feudalism is a system of socio-economic and political organisation where a few or a class of persons, through the matrix of physical power and law, take control of the state and, having taken control of the state, impose their will on society through a form of government that is amenable to them and their class’ control.
“Being in control of the state and government, they rule without legal restrictions, whereas society is subjugated under restrictive rules that constrain freedoms and stultify the creative forces of society. Under the system, the means of production are corralled and strictly controlled, thereby making daily life a battle of survival from the restrictive socio-economic and political.
“Deployment of corruption in the formation and operation of Nigeria has rendered the Nigerian state and society dysfunctional, with the result that both reinforce each other in a delicate manner. As a result,law does not operate to bind all and sundry, as the law binds only the weak while the strong and powerful bend or even break the law without consequences. This is the pivotal reason for corruption in Nigeria and its intractability. Anyone talking about ineffective leadership as the reason for Nigeria’s distracting dysfunctional state suffers from ignorance that is common to understanding complex problems.
“All the alleged causes of corruption commonly bandied about by our rulers and believed by the people, such as ‘bad’ leadership, poverty, greed, and so on, are not the root causes of corruption in Nigeria.”.
“Remove Nigeria from its feudal state structure and abolish the present autocratic constitutional framework by replacing it with a free, constitutional-sovereign state, a republican and democratic one governed by the rule of law due process, and Nigeria will be made well and blossom like a tree planted on a riverside where justice and peace will reign.”
