The directive of the Kano State chapter of the APC to the state civil servants as well as others currently enjoying patronage to join the party or lose all benefits and opportunities they usually enjoy has continued to generate controversy. Constitutional lawyers are also weighing in on the matter.

Abuja based lawyer, Ken Asogwa expressed disgust at the Kano APC order. He told Peoples Gazette that though the civil service rule which precludes civil servants from political party membership has been nullified by a Supreme Court judgement, the instruction from authorities in Kano “goes against their (civil servants) freedom to choose which association to join as encapsulated in Section 40 of the Constitution.”

Mr. Asogwa also wondered what would happen to those who will be affected by the order when another party comes to power and decides to make a similar rule.

He said: “Let me even raise this hypothesis. Assuming the civil servants obey this directive and join the political party in question, what happens in a situation where the party loses power and another party comes on board? If the new party demands the same from them they will jump ship again? And that is how they will keep jumping ships. This only obtains where there is no political culture.”

Shedding his thoughts, another Abuja based lawyer, Yomi Ogunsanya, accused the Kano APC of not only going against the Nigerian constitution, but also going against the African Charter on Human Rights, insisting that nobody should be compelled to join any party. He maintained that people should be allowed to “freely” join any party they want to.

Advising civil servants to disregard the directive, Mr. Ogunsanya stated: “It is unconstitutional. It is against the spirit of Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which guarantees freedom of association and assembly. It’s against the African Charter on Human Rights which Nigeria is a signatory to, which guarantees freedom of association and assembly, and the keyword there is “freely”. You can’t force somebody to join an association which he doesn’t want to belong to. The constitution is supreme. The constitution puts the government there, so they cannot go against a constitution which they swore to protect.”

Recalling that politicians also freely switch parties when the party they are in isn’t favouring them, the lawyers added: “The selfishness of the so called politicians in leadership is that what they can do, they want to forbid others from doing. If they can freely associate, and nobody is stopping them from doing that, so why are they telling the common people not to associate freely? Why are they going to give them compulsion? It’s a form of intimidation.”

It is not immediately clear what consequences await civil servants who may flout this directive and if the Kano State Government will adopt this dictatorial proposal by the party.