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There are some really thoughtful sayings in the English language that will make a person think that maybe the English borrowed them from the ever beautiful Yoruba language.
One of them is cutting off the nose to spite the face. It is described as an axpression to needlessly self-destructive over reaction to a particular problem.
It’s no longer a gain saying the fact that some embarrassing events happened in the build up to the approaching gubernatorial elections in Ekiti state of Nigeria.
However, reading through some of the posts on social media, it’s like some people are of the belief that the executive governor of Ekiti State, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose deserved whatever treatment was meted out to him.
No sir, I really do not believe so!
Some even mentioned the law of karma, which is to the effect that whatever one does on earth will be retaliated. But then, if we should rely on this, I bet we don’t need the constitution anymore.
However, the last time I checked, this country is not ruled by the karmic law but by the constitution of Nigeria. The constitution covers most aspects of our national lives.
So, when an executive president or governor is being abused, it is far from an abuse on the governor or president respectively, it is indeed an abuse of the constitution.
Once a particular part of the constitution is abused and remains undefended, it shows that any other part of the constitution could be breached.
If Fayose had gone against a particular section of the constitution and nobody could defend the constitution at that point in time it did not make it right. The illegal act should not then be used even against the initial violator.
The courts are always there. Even if it had happened when it was not possible to arraign the offender(s) in court, the law could always wait. That’s one of the reasons why it’s said that the law has a long rope.
We must not be seen to be abusing the constitution, even though our representatives didn’t make the constitution, that’s all we have for now. We must be seen to be respecting ourselves by respecting our own constitution.
If not, we’ll be seen as cutting off the nose to spite the face, which is not a good choice anyway!
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