The Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu has called for the implementation of the Executive Order 10, recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He described the legal instrument as a “Democratic-Game-Changer” that is capable of ensuring the much touted restructuring being champion by some State Governors and political critics.
He said the implementation of the Order would have placed Nigeria’s democracy on the same political pedestal with developed democracies like that of the United States of America (USA).
Executive Order No 10 of 2020, is cited as the implementation of financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary Order 2020.
Okechukwu in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said the Executive Order 10 is a step towards actualising the much touted restructuring being champion by some State Governors.
He however condemned the bi-partisanship opposition of the State Governors to the Order, Okechukwu recalled that the 36 State Governors in a rare feat and unprecedented bi-partisan coalition stridently opposed Executive Order 10 meant to give life to Section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution, an amendment effected under Buhari’s regime in the 8th National Assembly.
According to him, “The Governors rushed to the Supreme Court and hung the case in the maze of cases that may not be heard in the nearest future.
“We must reclaim the Executive Order, for if pundits or true democratic patriots had paid attention, they could have supported the key provision of the Executive Order 10, which seeks to enforce financial autonomy of the legislature and judiciary of the states. Executive Order 10, simply delegated power to the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct from the allocations due to a state from the Federation Account, any sums appropriated for the legislature or judiciary of that state which the state fails to release to its legislature or judiciary as the case may be and to pay the funds directly to the state’s legislature or judiciary concerned.”
He maintained that the law limits itself to only amount appropriated by the States, to safe the leadership of both the legislatures and judiciary from begging cap in hand.
“Where is the public interest when governors are behaving like Emperors? Can restructuring be effective when democracy is none existent at the grassroots?” Okechukwu asked.
“If Nigeria’s State Legislatures remain Rubber Stamp and if State Judiciary are not independent, and local government councils administered in breach of Section 7 of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; how will restructuring work, how will the people’s votes count and how will a dictator like Donald J. Trump be stopped in Nigeria as was done in America?” Okechukwu queried.
He insisted that, “Restructuring has to start from the sub-national level to be meaningful in Nigeria. That’s where Executive Order 10 comes in the equation of restructuring.”
The APC chieftain then challenged President Buhari’s critics for turning blind eyes to the governors opposition to the order. He argued that if critics and political elites have stood up, the governors gang-up would have failed.
According to him, Executive Order 10 “is the foundation for grassroots democracy and cornerstone of free and fair elections. It’s as if we had shut our eyes and ears to whatever Buhari does whether good or better?”
