RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Commander in Chief and the Parliament

Dear All:

 

Do I have to be from Nigeria to offer comments in response to your very useful queries? maybe, not so, even though I always claim that I am a Nigerian at heart!

 

For its third printing, my co-author and I are updating our published military history/politics book, African Military History and Politics, 1900-Present. Since we had a section on military leaders, who dropped their khaki or military garbs to seek elective office (i.e. Ghana's  retired Flt.-Lt. Rawlings and Nigeria's retired General Obasanjo, among others), we also plan to add a new section to the revised edition of the book on elected civilian leaders, who like to appear in public in military garb or uniform. The current Nigerian President is an example of that.

 

Our research has led us to know that since every African leader is a Commander-in-Chief (or a Supreme Commander?) of his or her country's Armed Forces, my co-author and I have been informed that an elected civilian leader (a President or Prime Minister) in Africa can ask for a special military uniform to be created for him/her to wear at official functions. Can any rank be named or assigned for the use of such a civilian leader? I doubt it but, like Idi Amin, an ambitious civilian leader may ask for a Field Marshall's uniform, or a General's uniform! The question is: where doe he or she get medals to pin on such a uniform?

 

As for Parliament and Assembly, I know that Ghana has a Parliament, hence we hear of Parliamentarians. To follow tradition, maybe a country with an Assembly (i.e. Nigeria) should have an Assembly man and an Assembly woman. Maybe, that does not sound cute, hence our Nigerian brothers and sisters will continue to hear about Parliament and Parliamentarians.

 

These are my two cents about both useful queries!

 

A.B. Assensoh.   

 

 

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima [dabesaki@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 8:21 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Commander in Chief and the Parliament

Dear all,

I am curious about two issues and would like to raise them here in the hope of finding some answers.

1. When the President of Nigeria wears a ceremonial military uniform should it have an actual military rank? If so, which rank? I ask this because in the last one year or so, I have heard commentators at such ,military events address our President as 'Field Marshall' on national TV... 

2. Secondly, I have heard the terms 'parliament' or 'parliamentarian' being used in reference to our national assembly or its members, and sometimes by the members themselves in the same way even on the floor of the national assembly. My questions are: in the context of the 1999 constitution, do we have  such an entity as 'parliament'? Within the ambit of the constitution, are those words synonymous? Can anyone hold 'parliament' accountable? If so, does parliament refer to the national or state assemblies?

I look forward to and will very much appreciate any feedback.

Sincere regards, Dabesaki 

--
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima

w: www.dabesaki.com

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