From 1999 when Nigeria returned to a democratic dispensation to 2023, the 36 states of the federation have produced not less than 149 different personalities holding the position of deputy governors for their states. Within this period, Ekiti State has had the highest number (seven), while Ondo, Lagos and Kaduna had six each. Nine states have had five each, while 13 have had only three each.
Of this figure, only 10 have succeeded in taking over the mantle of leadership from their erstwhile principals, while 10 succeeded in navigating the political waters to become federal legislators.
With this paltry number of those that have taken progressive steps in politics since serving as deputies, a proportionate ratio of these former deputies have, however, gone into political oblivion and are only occasionally referenced when their former position become some form of leeway to political patronage. Others have, however, totally returned to private lives and have been making a living off the profession they knew before their voyage into partisan politics.
Daily Trust on Sunday looks at the outcry for the roles of deputy governors to be properly spelt out in the constitution, as well as the reasons the theoretical number two citizen in each state have often been described as a mere spare tyre.
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A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, in his review of a book titled, “Deputising and Governance in Nigeria” by a former Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, succinctly captured the legal and political dilemma of a deputy governor in Nigeria when he stated, “There are no specifically constitutionally defined responsibilities for the office of the deputy governor or even the vice president. Although elected on the same ticket, they literally serve at the pleasure of the person they deputise.
“It is not for nothing that the concept of a “spare tyre” came to be applied to the deputy governor/vice president in Nigerian discourses; somebody that only becomes functional briefly when the car runs aground.”
This lack of directive, analysts believe, has greatly impeded the political trajectory of former deputy governors, who often found themselves politically ‘jobless’ after their tenure.
Many, therefore, opine that it was the pressure to remain relevant, as well as have a body to lobby with, that gave birth to the formation of the Forum of Former Deputy Governors of Nigeria (FFDGN), which has been engaging political leaders to, among other things, lobby for the clear inclusion of the role of deputy governors in the constitution.
This lack of constitutional role has been fingered as the main reason deputy governors have not only been described but also deployed mainly as spare tyres for their principals.
Sharing this thought, a renowned political analyst, Professor Kamilu Sani Fage, told Daily Trust on Sunday that “the constitution literally makes them like a spare tyre because their work is at the discretion of their principals.”
He said another reason most deputy governors go into political oblivion after their term is the political process of getting the position.
“In most cases, the deputy governors are not the choice of the governor per se. Most times, it is some political big-shots that literally impose such candidate on the governor. So, you usually have some kind of marriage of convenience without shared values between the governor and the deputy; and that is why they don’t work smoothly during their term,” he said.
This marriage of convenience, many political watchers have also noted, has just one goal in mind – to win the election for the governor.
They believe that while the constitution recognises the ticket that produces the governor as a joint ticket, it became silent on how both should work together; thus, after the goal is achieved, the journey becomes tedious for the deputy, who has to constantly watch his acts not being seen as antagonising the principal.
Fage, a former vice president of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), also noted that because some governors are afraid of having their deputies succeed them, they do all they can to relegate them while in power, to the extent that most residents of the state may not even know the name of their deputy governor.
“Because of the crossed relationship they have, the governors are mostly afraid that when their deputies take over from them, they would be vindictive. In a situation like this, the deputy is not allowed to do any significant thing that could endear him to the citizens.
“The fear that the governors may not be able to dictate to their deputies when they succeed them may also be a reason you see that most deputies go into oblivion after leaving office,” he added.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that most politicians now consider being appointed as commissioners as the position is more glorious than being on a joint ticket with the governor, especially if a commissioner is appointed into a ministry considered to juicy. This, in most cases, have been said to be the reason most deputies always lobby to be given the supervision of at least a ministry because of the inactivity in the Office of the Deputy Governor.
