Nigeria’s Pledge Vs the President’s Mandate: An Antithesis of Patriotism

Table of Contents

• Nigeria’s Pledge
• The President’s Mandate
• Loyalty to the President or the Constitution?

In recent years, the Nigerian polity has been bedeviled by one general term, ‘mandate.’ As years passed, the term mandate gained more ground and replaced the allegiance or any public or private declaration of loyalty to Nigeria, as a country. The contract the people signed with the country was gradually torn into bits by the politicians (or leaders) and by extension, the citizens, (and foreigners living in Nigeria).

The current political and economic climate of Nigeria is the main reason for this article. The people have openly rejected Nigeria’s Pledge and have taken recourse to different political mandates of some politicians.

The aim here is to bring to the fore the salient points of Nigeria’s Pledge against the mandate of the president.

Nigeria’s Pledge

The clear and concise words of Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin in 1976 describing the terms of the Nigerian oath of allegiance would have been an enviable project if Nigeria’s politicians had kept their side of the contract. Nigeria’s Pledge is:

I pledge to Nigeria, my country.

To be faithful, loyal, and honest.

To serve Nigeria with all my strength.

To defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory.

So, help me, God.

These are simple words but full of unalloyed commitments. The Pledge is the summary of patriotism. Let’s break down the different aspects of the Pledge.

1. A pledge of patriotism – which is a formal and total declaration of submitting to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is putting aside personal and selfish interests behind the common interests of Nigeria. It is signing on to the agreement or contract with Nigeria.
2. A pledge of faithfulness – this is a declaration of representing Nigeria well; a promise not to cheat or connive with foreigners to defraud Nigeria.
3. A pledge of loyalty – this is a commitment to be loyal to Nigeria’s constitution, laws, regulations, statutes, and institutions. It is a declaration to abide by the laws of the land.
4. A pledge of honesty – this is a solemn promise to always tell the truth; and to shun all malpractices that will defraud Nigeria or her citizens.
5. A pledge of service – this is a commitment to selflessly serve Nigeria and Nigerians without counting the cost. It is a promise to freely serve the people and expect nothing more than your appropriate wage.
6. A pledge of defense – this is an oath to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria, its citizens (both home and abroad), its economy, its constitution, its rich natural resources, and its image among nations.
7. A pledge of honour – this is the declaration to uphold Nigeria’s honour everywhere in the world. It means to be a true ambassador in education, technology, business, leadership, and politics. 

The Pledge would be the glory of Nigeria if the politicians had kept their part of the agreement. Since Nigeria began its journey in democracy, its leaders and politicians have not kept their side of the agreement. They have broken all the pledges with impunity. Why? Because they believe in their mandates rather than the Pledge. Let’s examine the term mandate to understand why Nigeria’s politicians prefer it to Nigeria’s Pledge. In this example, we will use the current president’s mandate.

The President’s Mandate

It is commonplace today since Mr Tinubu was declared winner of the February 2023 Nigeria Presidential Election that his APC party chants his Mandate in place of Nigeria’s Pledge. His admirers always sing this line when at times he gets up to speak:

On your mandate, we shall stand!

It is a pledge or commitment to the President’s mandate. At the end of the President’s retreat with his new cabinet, the audience rose when he was to speak and chanted ‘On your mandate, we shall stand.’ Not Nigeria’s Pledge but rather his ‘Mandate.’

There are various meanings of the term mandate. Depending on the context of usage, mandate could mean:

“An official order to do something, a permission to act that’s assigned to a representative, a right to carry out a plan or a timeframe during which a regime is in power.”

Arguably, Mr Tinubu’s mandate is “to create jobs, alleviate poverty, ensure food security, and provide good governance to the people.” With every goodwill and intention, he has mandated his cabinet and others who work with and for him to ensure that his mandate is achieved, but how is he going to make that work?

Loyalty to the President or the Constitution?

Unless the politicians, civil servants, Senators, and members of the House are loyal to the Constitution, they will never achieve any positive result by the end of his four years as president. Why is that so? Because every one of them seems compromised.

The President is supposedly compromised following the alleged claim that he forged the University of Chicago BSC certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as a piece of evidence that he graduated from that University.

INEC, a body that is supposed to be independent was said to have rigged the February 2023 Presidential Election to favour the APC presidential candidate of whom they pleaded with the courts not to overturn their declaration.

The judiciary system is so corrupt that a retiring supreme court judge described Nigeria’s judicial system as rotten to the core, for lack of better expression.

With their different Achilles heel, any moral probity could lead to a cycle of recrimination and wanton abuse of positions from the presidency to the least elected public official in this regime. A quick example is the current competition among the presidency, the Senate, and members of the House of Representatives in the purchase of vehicles. One would begin to wonder why their top priority is to purchase vehicles, and renovate presidential villas, when many Nigerians are dying of hunger, diseases, malnutrition, and poverty, and are killed like rats by different insurgent groups scattered all over the country.

The Senate plans to acquire luxury vehicles for its 469 members each costing $150,000 to enable them to visit their constituents because of Nigeria’s bad roads. These are the politicians who are meant to think and care about the common interest of the people. They can’t lobby or put up arguments in their different committees to ensure that Nigeria’s roads are usable. Rather, some of them buy private jets to avoid the bad roads and now, the poor Nigerians are footing the bills of their extravagant lifestyles. To make matters worse, these vehicles are purchased from outside Nigeria, while there are competent Nigerian car manufacturing industries. So much for patriotism?

With two months to the end of 2023, the Senate has approved this new government’s supplementary budget to purchase SUVs and houses for the president, his wife, and other public officials to cost the poor Nigerians a staggering amount of $38 million.

The members of the House of Representatives in turn are claiming their share of the loot of the national treasury another staggering amount of N57.6 billion in estimation.

These are the people who professed in their mandate to address Nigeria’s economic, and social problems in principle. They have become the same people who are cheating, dishonouring, stealing, and sending poor Nigerians to their early graves. They are loyal to the president and not the constitution. They prefer the president’s mandate to Nigeria’s Pledge because it helps with their many ulterior motives.

They shall stand on the mandate of criminality or truth of the Pledge!

With such a mandate, the future is very bleak for every Nigerian. No wonder, Nigerians leave the country in droves. That’s a tactic that is working for the political elites. Drive the youth away and continue to dribble the ‘rest’ to the point of brainwashing them to believe that your lies are their destinies. 

Nigerians' one request from the political gangs is to return to the people's mandate, that is, the truth of Nigeria's Pledge. 

 Further readings

Beta Edu: We’re Ready to Deliver On Tinubu’s Mandate to Create Jobs, Alleviate Poverty, In This Day, 04/11/2023 - Deji Elumoye

Nigeria Budgets for SUVs, Villas Amid Cost-of-Living Crisis, in Bloomberg, 02/11/2023 – Nduka Orjinmo

Nigerians outraged over government spending plans as millions face hardship, in CNN, 03/11/2023 – Nini Princewill.

Nigeria's 'first lady's office' to get N1.5 billion for car purchases despite economic downturn, in Business Outsider Africa, 01/11/2023 – Adekunle Agbetiloye.