GOVERNANCE in civilized climes is seen as a contract; the right to lead a people is conferred on certain individuals on the very premises that such individuals will always act in the best interest of such a society at all times.
Sadly, in these climes of ours, governance is seen as a joke. Ours here is a dance of extremes, between the absurd which is the trademark of a banana republic and the exact characteristics of a failed state or one planning to fail.
The difference between civilized climes and ours is the fact that while the former possess institutions which are bigger than individuals the latter also have institutions, only that such institutions are in the pockets of these individuals. Thus, it is only in a nation like Nigeria that we would have known laws, precepts, rules and even standards and yet when events occur we give common sense the boot and take roads that right thinking people would not dare trod! We become mad and it is not because we have nobody to tell us that we are mad.
So, it becomes laughable, no, rather it is shameful when I read in the dailies that the Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku is awol and rather than fix the mess by resorting to laid down constitutional procedure, institutions that ought to do the needful are rather falling over each other in this dance of shame to the detriment of the society.
In a nation where we have had offices such as strange as “Friend of The President” “First Daughter of the Presidency” , is it any wonder that people would always pander to sentiments rather than principles?
So a situation where the Chief Executive of a constituent part of the federation is absent without leave for over three months now and institutions that ought to be asking questions are busy passing senile like resolutions is indeed worrisome.
1) Whenever the Governor is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the function of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the Speaker of the House of Assembly to that effect, and until he transmits to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a written declaration to the contrary, the Deputy Governor shall perform the functions of the governor as Acting Governor.
“(2) In the event that the Governor is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in sub-section 1 of this section within 14 days, the House of Assembly shall by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of the House mandate the Deputy Governor to perform the functions of the office of the Governor, as Acting Governor, until the Governor transmits a letter to the Speaker, that he is now available to resume his functions as Governor.”
In other climes, I mean civilized ones, what would it take for the citizens of the state to be informed that the governor had suffered a domestic injury and would need to take time to convalesce from such an injury? Darius Ishaku is human after all and like all humans could trip over the stairs, suffer from the sting of bees or get struck by a bolt of lightning. All it would require is to then follow the laid down procedure and transmit a letter to the Taraba State House of Assembly.
But trust the Nigerian political class to always disappoint, I mean score own goals! The Taraba State House of Assembly, rather than insist on the full implementation of the spirit of the constitution is rather groveling and passing glib resolutions and vote of confidence motions on an absentee governor!
Is the office of Governor of Taraba State the chattel of Ishaku and sons? That even in whatever state the Governor seems to be in, he is seen as superior to the constitution that governs millions of Nigerians, including the people that conferred the mandate of his present office as Governor? Is this not a return to the situation we as Nigerians found ourselves in when President Umaru Yar Adua was holed up in a hospital in Saudi Arabia and yet Nigerians were fed with stories of how Yar Adua was jogging and even kickboxing and could govern from anywhere!
Governor Darius Ishaku having been elected by the people of Taraba State cannot be bigger than the state or the same constitution he swore to uphold and govern by, if he has iota of morality in him he should tender a letter to the Assembly according to the dictates of Section 190. On the other hand the Taraba State House of Assembly should be alive to its responsibilities and demand that the right things be done. If not then it should invoke section 191 of the Constitution. Anything short of this will only condemn them to be told of in our never ending tales of infamy.

By Igboeli Arinze