The Office of the Citizen as the Most Consequential Office in Nigeria
There is a tendency to think about political power in Nigeria by looking upwards. We look to the Presidency, the National Assembly, the offices of State Governors, the State Houses of Assembly and, in some cases, Local Government Chairmen. These are the offices and institutions through which public authority is exercised. Around them is a political contest that attracts much of our attention. We follow who has secured a party ticket, who has moved from one party to another, who has received an endorsement and who appears to have the numbers to win an election. Politics is often described as a contest for these offices, and rightly so. But beneath that contest is a more fundamental constitutional fact: the authority exercised through these offices ultimately derives from the people. If public offices derive their authority from the people, then the citizen occupies a position that deserves equal attention.
