Buhari’s appointments, the constitution and worries of Igbo leaders of today

IT is universally accepted that discrimination based solely on the grounds specified in the Bill of Rights (s. 42) is altogether irrational and is, therefore, not reasonably justifiable in a constitutional democracy. Rationale for requiring conformance with the principles of justice, social justice and equality in the administration of government. Professor Lord Bryce has articulated the place of equality as a pre-supposition (though not a constitutive element) of democracy.

Buhari in Igbo attire

“Democracy”, he writes in his book, Modern Democracies, vol 2 (1920), page 674, “is supposed to be the product and the guardian both of Equality and Liberty, being so consecrated by its relationship to both these precious possessions as to be almost above criticism..”
The importance of justice in human society is perhaps best illustrated by considering the feelings aroused in us by injustice. Whereas justice is a cold virtue that evokes no feeling, injustice or unfairness arouses intense fury in us, as we get heated up and indignant about it. “Indignation, which is the conceptually appropriate response to injustice, expresses, as its etymology shows, a sense of not being regarded as worthy of consideration. Injustice betokens an absence of respect, and manifests a lack of concern.” Lucas, On Justice (1980), p.7. For this reason, the occurrence of injustice, especially if it is on a wide scale, immediately puts the “unity and coherence of society under strain.” Lucas, op. cit., p. 4
Justice is thus rightly regarded as the “bond of society,” Lucas, op. cit., p. 18, the “cornerstone of human togetherness.” Oputa, Lecture on Justice. It is the condition in which the individual can feel able “to identify with society, feel at one with it, and accept its rulings.” Lucas, op. cit., p. 1.  An unjust society cannot maintain its unity and cohesion, because it cannot arouse in its members a strong enough feeling of loyalty and allegiance. Injustice not only alienates the individual’s loyalty, what is worse, it also arouses him to disaffection. An individual, denied recognition by society, cannot but feel alienated and disaffected. “Justice,” wrote James Madison, “is not only the end of government, it is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.” James Madison, The Federalist, No. 25, ed. Clinton Rositer (1961). Unjust action by the state as between the racial, ethnic and religious groups comprised in it (i.e. the  state) is of far greater concern.
Greater concern
This is because of its tendency to generate greater bitter resentment and to provoke more violent social conflicts than unjust treatment of individuals. By concentrating in the North nearly 80 per cent of his 31 strategic appointments and by excluding the South-East completely, a feeling of alienation, of not being wanted, may have been created on the part of those so disadvantaged or excluded. A feeling of alienation may grow into that of disaffection or disloyalty. But it is perhaps social justice more than individual justice that bears more significantly upon the maintenance of the unity and coherence of society.
As Honore has observed, “modern social and economic developments have made it clear that individual justice….is only a partial and incomplete form of justice.” This perhaps accounts for the shift in emphasis since the 19th century from analysis of individual justice to that of social justice.
The glaring injustice of the present-day economic order, both domestic and international, the cry of the underprivileged for protection and the demands of the individual on the state for welfare services have compelled attention being increasingly focused on the need and importance of social justice and away from issues of individual justice that once dominated it, and which characterised the order of society governed by classical liberalism.
The concept of social justice has indeed conquered the public imagination. “Almost every claim for government action on behalf of particular groups is advanced in its name, and if it can be made to appear that a certain measure is demanded by social justice, opposition to it will rapidly weaken. People may dispute whether or not the particular measure is required by social justice, but that this is the standard which ought to guide political action…..is hardly ever questioned. In consequence, there are today probably no political movements or politicians who do not readily appeal to ‘social justice’ in support of the particular measures which they advocate”: F.A. Hayek, The Mirage of Social Justice (1976), p. 65.
Commands of the constitution requiring conformance with the principle of equal treatment of citizens (or the principle of non-discrimination) in the administration of government: Under chapter 4 of our Constitution guaranteeing the fundamental rights of persons, the state is enjoined not to violate or contravene the fundamental rights of life, dignity of the human person, personal liberty, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and the press, peaceful assembly and association and freedom of movement.
The emphasis in the guarantee is on the word “every”, which means all persons equally, regardless of their station in life or standing in society, whether poor or rich, powerful or inconsequential, of lowly or noble birth, etc. The basis of the guarantee is that the dignity and sacredness of the human person entitle all persons to equal respect for all those attributes that make up the human personality – life itself, intellect and thought, conscience and feeling, movement and speech.
The examination herein focuses specially on section 42 prohibiting discrimination between individuals on grounds considered unfair. It says that a citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, whether expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in the country or any executive or administrative action of government, be subjected to disabilities or restrictions, or be accorded any privilege or advantage which are not applied to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinions if such disabilities, restrictions, privilege or advantage are imposed or accorded by reason only that the individual affected is such a person, (Sex was made a prohibited ground only since 1979.)
The words “restrictions” and “advantage” appearing in the provision call for special notice. They are words of wide import, and carry the scope of the provision far beyond what is implied by the words “disabilities” and “privilege”. The latter are essentially terms of art. Disability connotes “an incapacity for the full enjoyment of ordinary legal rights”, while privilege implies something approximating to a legal right, such, for instance, as the non-liability of members of the National Assembly for words spoken during the proceedings of the Assembly.
Social practice
The words “restrictions” and “advantage”, on the other hand, are not so limited in their import. To come within the prohibition, however, a restriction or advantage, equally as a disability or privilege, must stem from some law or some executive or administrative action of government. Discrimination based solely on some social practice, such as the discriminatory rules or practices of social clubs or other wholly private associations, is thus not within the ambit of the prohibition.
But law in the context of the provision seems to embrace legislation as well as the common law, customary law and Islamic law. Accordingly, any rules of the latter are unconstitutional and void to the extent that they discriminate between citizens on any of the prohibited grounds. The rules of Sharia law discriminating against non-Moslems are thus impeachable as unconstitutional. Rationale for requiring conformance with the principle of equal treatment of citizens (or the non-discrimination principle) in the administration of government
The equal treatment of citizens by the state or freedom from unfair discrimination guaranteed in section 42(1) of the Constitution is among the rights that constitute the essence of the concept of human rights because it rests upon our common humanity as living human beings, with a body and a soul, the ability to breathe, think, speak, move about and to act, and a capacity for emotions and sensations. Every human being feels pain, anguish and happiness, and is endowed with a conscience that enables him to judge between right and wrong, and to form beliefs, just like everyone else.
Common human nature
The differences which undoubtedly exist between individuals because of differences in physical, intellectual and will power – “rights,” which, to quote Lord Bryce again, “nature has bestowed on some and denied to others” James Bryce, Modern Democracies, vol. 1 (1920), p. 70, are only differences of degree, which leave unaffected our basic common human nature.
Because of our basic common human nature, all citizens have more or less the same need for the security of their person and property, for justice in their dispute with others, for peace and order, for happiness, the good life and for welfare care generally, for obedience to the laws on the part of all, and the protection of their basic human rights.
The rationale for the state to treat all citizens equally arises partly from our common humanity as human beings with the very same basic need noted above, and partly from the need to avoid the incidence of unfairness in the administration of government, except where such is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.
If the state is the product of a social contract, then, all citizens should count equally in relation to it. In this view, a democratic state is an organization in which the relationship of all members to it is on equal terms, whether it pertains to the conferment of rights, the imposition of obligations, the security of lives and property, the administration of justice, the distribution of social amenities or the exercise of legislative and executive power generally.
The actions of President Buhari since his assumption of office seem to fly in the face of the necessity for equal treatment of citizens regardless of differences in ethnicity and in their religious and political affiliations , and of the compelling rationale for the principle of equal treatment as articulated above.