Nigeria is an unfinished nation. It is work in progress. The way forward is through Timocracy and Democracy. Our leaders must have integrity and sovereignty must belong to the people. We need people with positive mindsets and the right system to drive us to nationhood. Timocracy can be defined as government by honour. Government is shaped by politics and morality. Democracy is a system of government that vests power in the people. Politicians are sub groups of people in a nation space. People are classified either as subjects or citizens. Subjects are individuals, who are obliged to submit to a government authority against which they have no rights.

But, citizens are members of a political community having both rights and responsibilities. A political system will dictate how powers are distributed among leaders and citizens. A nation can only develop if it has political culture and values. Political culture is the broad pattern of ideas, belief and values about citizens and government held together by a population. Values are central ideas, principles or standards that most people agree are important. What is the Nigerian Political Culture? I am still searching. The Nigerian constitution does not define the nation’s political culture explicitly. Political behaviour should be matters of conventions.

A political system dictates how power is distributed among leaders and citizens. Political institutions are organizations in which governmental power is exercised. Legitimacy is necessary to the functioning of these institutions. The executive establishment, legislative establishment and the judicial establishment are arms of government. The operators of these arms of government can suffer role conflict and role strain. In every political system, people are driven by powerful inner needs to rule others. A nation’s greatness can be measured by the democratic nature of its institutions. The three arms of government are expected to function seamlessly to enthrone social order. Social order means a particular view of how we ought to organize and live our collective lives.

Unarguably, people write history not from a position of absolute truth but from particular points of view. With published editorials, reputations are earned and lost. Some editorials suggest that, some section of the media have readily sold themselves as tools in the hands of people seeking to make political capital of issues. Public policies are sometimes influenced by editorials. Editorials are news analysis meant to promote critical thinking and drive consciousness of a people. Human history can be influenced through editorial opinions.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said “we must deal effectively, penitently with our past or it will return to haunt our present…..” Nigeria as a country had not dealt effectively and penitently with its past. The ghost of the past had lived with us. And, we have not learnt any lesson from the Nigerian Civil War. The political behaviour of our politicians had not changed for good, since from the disaster of the first republic till the present. We are victims of historical escapism. The atypical behaviour of most of our politicians suggests; they are victims of environmental manipulation. This is confirming the concept of behaviourism by psychologist John Watson (1878 – 1958); who believe that through manipulation of the environment, people’s behaviour can be influenced.

The framers of our constitution had taken auxiliary precaution. They have designed to fragment power without democratizing it. They separate the functions of the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government; and, also provided a system of checks and balances among the various arms of government. The intendment herein is for pre-conventional and conventional moralities to prevail. So, that people in power can reason and make judgment based on authorities outside of self, rules and norms. Executive, legislative and judicial privileges are not granted to perpetrate impunity. Democracy cannot be for the few. A government exists to promote national prosperity. The Nigerian political culture is rather plutocratic. It is government by the rich for the rich.

Democratic government thrives, as it transforms the needs and wishes of citizens into effective public policies and programs. The executive arm does not shape a new and personal vision. It collect it from the scattered hopes of the country’s past. Any conflict between congress and the executive can best be understood as a test of the representational capacity of these institutions. The viability of legislative institutions, rest in part upon their continual ability, to function as representative instruments.

The president is the head of state and head of government. As head of state, he plays the apolitical unifying role of the president; as symbolic representation of the whole country. And, as head of Government, he is the chief arbiter of who gets what resources. The National Assembly can use congressional investigation to act as check on the executive. Congressional committees or sub committees can use investigative procedures to examine records, summon and question witnesses for: fact finding, for special and remedial legislation; and fulfill congressional function as a watch dog over government operations and programs.

So, I do not understand the ideological orthodoxy of Professor Ben Nwabueze. His law article titled “crisis looms from prosecution of senate president and his deputy for alleged forgery” published in the Guardian Newspaper: Instigated the likes of Senator Dino Melaye and his cohorts to think of initiating impeachment proceeding against President Mohammed Buhari. I do hope Professor Ben Nwabueze is not making Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu Senatorial Monarchs. He believes that, they are the alter egos of the Senate. Maybe, he forgot that the senate is a public institution and not a private institution. If senators have co equality, the senate cannot be the property of some few persons.

The Nigerian Senate can only regulate its own procedures, as masters in their own house lawfully. They are not making laws for themselves; as Professor Ben Nwabueze would want us believe. His article was only attempting to grant Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu implied immunity. He was exploring technicalities of law to achieve his purpose. The matter is sub judice. Therefore, Prof. Ben Nwabueze should test his argument in the court of law rather than waste his energy in academic analysis of the case. He was evasive of the morality of the forgery. Law is an element of social engineering.

Status without purpose is position without authority. Constituted authorities must ascend their privileged positions lawfully. The constituent elements of forgery cannot be discussed in isolation of facts. Our Senate must not be a disorderly house populated with disorderly persons. The forgery of the Senate standing order 2015 is a corruption of public morality. The Senate cannot be a law unto itself. The senators are accountable to their constituents individually and collectively. Legislative hansard are public documents and should be so treated, if they are forged.

The purported impeachment threat master minded by Senator Dino Melaye and his likes in the senate; is a vicious habit capable of violating the peace and good order of society. Professor Ben Nwabueze must not allow himself to be the canon folder for misguided Senators. Impeachment is not a frivolous political instrument. If it is the imaginary crisis that is looming, it is rather a storm in a tea cup. There is no morality in Senatorial Monarchy. Law makers must not be law breakers.

Force Bray is a Citizen Journalist