Discourse 300
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Jonathan and the Northern Hawks
The Northern Political Forum that took place last week in Kaduna was a significant attempt by the Jonathan camp to win the PDP ticket that will enable him continue with his presidency until 2015, presumably. The meeting was attended by some notable figures from the three northern zones who, though short of rejecting zoning totally, unanimously approved the PDP ticket for Jonathan in 2011, according to what was shown on the national television. On the one hand, their decision raised hopes for Jonathan and, on the other, generates some fears about his ability to deliver on his promises.
After the welcome address by the Governor of Kaduna State who spoke the usual official language of Nigerian unity, the ball was set rolling by Solomon Lar who argued that zoning was adopted as a temporary measure which was meant to be disposed of when our democracy has matured, literally saying now is the time. Coming at his heel was Hassan Adamu. After affirming that no one can win the Presidency without the support of the North and recalling how the North has made sacrifices before to ensure that the country remains united, he posited that this is another opportunity where the region will exhibit its large heart. But this time, in return for its support, the President must be given what Adamu called a “northern agenda” which will protect the interest of the region. Adamu’s stand was strongly supported by the Sokoto Prince, Shehu Malami. The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bayero Nafada, also called on the North to make sacrifice for the sake of the unity of the country. He was practical in his argument. The North, he said, would have sought the same ticket were it in Jonathan’s shoes.
Then came the turn of zonal representatives of the PDP. Barnabas Gemade started by presenting the position of the Northcentral. He drafted God into the equation, saying zoning the presidency could be man-made as it was in 1999 or God ordained as it is in the case of Jonathan. Impliedly, Gemade is asking: Who are we to act against the wish of God then? But more than that, Gemade hinted the core argument of the pro-Jonathan group: the ticket of Yar’adua and Jonathan were joint and inseparable. So Jonathan should continue in 2011 as if he were Yar’adua. Kaulaha Aliyu from the Northeast joined the choir by arguing that zoning was a child of necessity and it is not required now. Ibrahim Ida presented the view of the Northwest PDP. However, the NTA transmission became inaudible and he was cut short. But with Shagari and Shehu Malami at the summit, I once can pretty right predict what Ida said.
Women, for the first time were called to express their opinion in such a gathering. They said, in the words of their spokeswoman, Mariam Waziri, that they are indifferent to zoning as “they” were not consulted when it was introduced in the first place. Pubic office, she said, should be given based on merit regardless of one’s religious and ethnic background. Jonathan merits it, in short, according to “northern women.”
So came the communiqué, read by Jerry Gana the foremost propagandist of Obasanjo’s third term bid, affirming the support of the gathering to, one, free and fair elections; two, the development of the North, promising a seminar to be held shortly on how the North would be developed economically; and, three, Jonathan’s ticket in 2011 election. The voice was Gana’s, but the logic was Gemade’s: the zoning ticket that produced Yar’adua and Goodluck as President and Vice-President respectively was a joint ticket that is inseparable; “the demise of one does not invalidate the other”, said Gana. Shi ke nan.
Of course, I forgot to mention the names of people like Mantu, Muhammad Abba Aji and so on. What these people said was obvious. I am rather more concerned by those I did not see, Adamu Ciroma, TY Danjuma, Iorchiya Ayu, Waku, Atiku and other proponents of zoning. Part of the problem is the misappropriation of names where any group today can claim to be representing a region. Are we therefore likely to see a counter-summit of pro-zoning supporters from the North and the Southeast? Or have they been beaten to submission? It is curious to note how appeal to national unity and patriotism is used now to repeal zoning just as they were used to introduce it in 1999.. If you have opposed zoning in 1999 you were unpatriotic; if you support it now you are still unpatriotic! Mhmm. Politicians can be good philosophers, I think. Even Aristotle cannot argue better.
It is logical for a summit like this to arrive at this conclusion given the track record of the politicians who gathered there and the nature of the country’s economy. I cannot remember any of the politicians at the summit who owns a surviving factory from which he earns a living. If anything, they have only helped to ruin the few in the North established by Lebanese and other northerners. Our political class, generally, is completely dependent on government, a reality that makes them compliant to the wishes of any incumbent. That is why coups were the only channels through which undesirable regimes could be removed for most part of African history. Jonathan, therefore, must not see their effort as genuine. It is rather an expression of their dependency on whoever is in power.
For now, their support will sound like music to his ears, but he must not forget that the same class were responsible for the failure of all previous leaders. They rundown the Shagari government and rigged the 1983 elections (Shagari attended the summit); they toed the path of IBB in ruining our economy to non-recoverable levels and participated in his ill-fated transition program. They served as ministers of Abacha and approved his actions until when he failed to handover power to them. They brought Obasanjo to power and assisted him in running the most corrupt government and the worst civilian dictatorship. They conscripted Yar’adua knowing very well that he was terminally ill after failing to convince Nigerians to allow Obasanjo a third term. (One can say that majority of those who attended the summit were pro-Obasanjo, reincarnating the fear that Jonathan represents Obasanjo’s third term) And now, they are racing to support Jonathan by doing everything possible to deny the zoning they enacted ten years earlier when they wanted to sell a southern ticket to Northerners.
It is understandable and expected that the President is becoming expedient in his bid to win the PDP ticket. However, I have a number of fears. First, I am afraid when I heard them speak at the summit about a “northern agenda” that will take care of the interest of the region which they will present him with. Are they genuinely expecting Jonathan to correct the injuries they inflicted on the North or are they using such expression as subterfuge to make us believe that they have the North at heart? When in the communiqué they said they support free and fair elections, we are bound to ask when did any of them ever in his life practiced free and fair elections? Did not they rig in the NPN? Did not they abandon June 12 and followed Abacha? Did not they rig in 2003 and 2007? Only a fool would believe a person that has been rigging for fifty years but who suddenly claims to be a prophet of free and fair election.
Secondly, I see a lot of danger in their argument, for Jonathan, for the North and for the so-called zoning formula. They have created a room for further confusion in future in order to return and use the North again as a bargaining chip with the President in 2015. By hinging their support to Jonathan on the argument of “joint ticket” with late Yar’adua instead of issuing a totally new one to the incumbent, they created a room for the argument to be revisited at the expiration of the eight years of Yar’adua/Goodluck ticket, i.e. in 2015. The President will then need to come back and beg them for another term. Then we will be taken again through another circle of arguments and summits on zoning, allowing charlatans to raise emotions of religion and sectionalism again. The Yar’adua/Goodluck ticket is a northern ticket, they said. When it expires in 2015, are we expecting a bonafide southern ticket? Why did they find it difficult to declare the demise of zoning, once and for all, by accepting Baba Lar’s argument that it was only a temporary measure which does not suit Nigeria today and forever? Incidentally, they are free to do so because no other party is supporting zoning. I hope the PDP will be bold enough to scrap zoning in their NEC meeting this week such that the matter dies, once and for all, though not without some implications for the future of politics in the country.
Thirdly, the methods of Jonathan in gaining the ticket leaves a lot to be desired and I hope they are only short-term. The manner in which he sacked the PDP chairman portrayed him as bereft of any superior talent than Obasanjo. Power is the end. The type of people he recruited as foot soldiers in his ticket campaign suggests that he can hardly lead the reform needed by both his party and country. This inevitably leads to the fourth fear: that he may not be committed to free and fair elections, after all.
Going by the above, which people and methods would Jonathan employ to garner his winning votes in 2011? We all know that it takes more than Jega’s INEC to achieve that. In fact, most of the work remains with the President who must contain the military, the police, and security agents who in the past have been at the forefront of election malpractices. He must convince the 27 PDP governors to respect the votes of citizens bearing in mind that none of them was voted before freely and fairly. He must subdue his party to give up rigging, its greatest strength and largest constituency. He must abandon people like Obasanjo who tells him that nobody can conduct a free and fair election. Finally, in case the elections are rigged on his behalf, he must allow the judiciary a free hand to decide on his fate and that of his PDP governors. I am beginning to feel that this is a tall ambition. Jega cannot do this on his behalf. I have raised this doubt in a previous article when I said that the chances of free and fair election are bright only if Jonathan himself is not running.
In conclusion we will advise the President to urgently review his methods if he wants to live above the level of mediocrity of many past Nigerian leaders. It is difficult in politics, admittedly, but not impossible. But merit always comes with sacrifice. He can still reach out to credible people – even within his PDP – in all parts of the country, run an open campaign and genuinely win if he is able to achieve the confidence of the majority. His present approach and companionship, however, compel us to start entertaining the fear that under him business will remain as usual. We have so advised his immediate two predecessors. None of them listened. Would he make a difference? Only time can tell.
Tilde,
19 July 2010
Showing posts with label Nigerian politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigerian politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
No Apology
No Apology
Some northerners are critical of our approach to recent national issues. The formation of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and strong views like those expressed on this page have been dismissed as ‘retrogressive’ attempts to shrink of our nationalist horizon. In this passage, I have tried to explain, not defend, the reasons behind our stand.
It is true that recent agitations seem to confirm fears that people are retracing their steps back to pre-1966 days. This claim is often backed by events like the emergence of Afenifere and OPC in the southwest and of Ndigbo and Ohaneze in the southeast. Writers from the South have not helped matters either. In the Southwest, Tribune, Punch, Concord and almost the entire Lagos-Ibadan press have not relented for a day in fighting for the cause of Yoruba supremacy. The same with the southeast where newspapers like The Champion continue to project an Igbo agenda.
The struggle for the supremacy of their tribes was not restricted to their politicians and journalists. Their intellectuals who have never differentiated the academic from the political have equally participated in this micro nationalistic endeavour, serving as its ideologues and scholastic drivers. I have here before me a book titled Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria. This was a publication sponsored by the Institut Francais de Recherche en Afrique (IRFA), Ibadan, and the French Embasssy in Lagos. All the twenty-one chapters, except the one written by Dauda Abuabakar, were written in language full of venom and prejudice against the North. Going through most of the article, one cannot help but wonder whether he was reading a transcribed lecture of a politician or the treatise of an academician. A similar conference focussing on sovereign national conference and related issues held recently in France.
For students of Nigerian history, this is not a surprise, neither is it novel. Nationalism, whether preached by Zik or by Awolowo, has always been projected from the perspective of tribal interests. As quoted by Olawale Albert, one of the contributors to the above referred book, Zik once claimed in the West African Pilot of 8 July 1948 that the Igbo are people chosen by God to lead the African nation and conquer others through their ‘martial prowess’.
Chief Awolowo was no better in modesty than Zik, as shown by the writer. Twelve years later, in 1960, he counteracted the claims of Zik, alleging that the intention of Zik was “to corrode the self-respect of the Yoruba people as a group: to build up the Ibo as a ‘master race.”
The followers of Zik and Awo have not changed their language after decades of independence. I doubt very much if anybody can cite similar passages from the speeches of Balewa, Sardauna or Aminu Kano. What our leaders said, even at that time when regional politics was the order of the day, was simply that the North needs some time to develop such that it can compete on an even political platform with other regions.
I am glad that Olawale Albert did not overlook this point. He quoted the Sardauna where, on 31 March 1953, he rejected the motion in the House of Representatives suggesting that the country be granted independence in 1956. His language did not sound like the claims of Zik and Awo:
“We were late in assimilating western education. Yet within a short time we will catch up with the other regions, and share their lot... We want to be realistic and consolidate our gains. It is our resolute intention to build our development on sound and lasting foundations so that they would be lasting.”
While the North lost Balewa and Sardauna in the January 1966 ‘revolution’, leaders of the southwest and the southeast survived to become advisers, cabinet members and elder statesmen in the subsequent military administration. Within few months, Chief Awolowo achieved his greatest ambition in life – the balkanisation of the North. With the absence of leaders like Sardauna he could then pursue his agenda to weaken the region. He knew very well that it will be difficult for the newly formed states in the North to have a common focus, given the diversity of its culture and peoples and the degree of independence accorded them. Subsequent years witnessed the weakening of all links that would have kept the region together. Even today, thirty-five years later, it is difficult for neighbouring states in the North to partake in a joint development of a common infrastructure. If governor A is interested in constructing a road that links his people with others in an adjacent state, governor B on the other side will be reluctant to finish his won part, no matter how short it could be.
The southerners therefore got what they wanted – domination – knowing very well that the northerners are in no position to compete with them at the federal or state levels, neither in the 1950s when its leaders were literally begging the southerners to allow the region to catch up in education and other sectors, nor in the 1960s and 70s – after the balkanisation – when its states became divided, each with its feelings, plans and priorities.
After the death of Balewa and Sardauna, northern elements especially in NEPU and the socialist inclined academicians, became the champions of Nigerian nationalism. Writers in Northern newspapers and their editorials, including the New Nigerian, faithfully projected the idea of building a unified Nigerian nation as a solution to the political acrimony that led to the 1966 coup and the subsequent civil war over the secession of Biafra.
Unconsciously, some of our politicians walked into the trap of the southerners. With the ascendancy of socialism in our universities and its graduates filling positions of opinion and authority in the larger society, the ideas of Balewa and Sardauna of ‘consolidation’ and ‘bridging the gap’ were ridiculed and castigated as mere efforts aimed at maintaining a ‘feudal hegemony’. Some of the Northern intellectuals believed in the demise of the North as much as to publicly deny the existence of anything called ‘North.’
To be fair to our socialist-oriented brothers, we must hasten to mention that the idea of ‘North’ as an archaic political concept or entity was not peculiar to them. It was shared with rightwing intellectuals. I once got sick listening to an elder academician in Bauchi criticising Arewa Consultative Forum. It amazes me to note that these intellectuals still live in their past, regardless of the new trends in our political landscape. When I drew his attention that how could northerners sit back and watch the ascendancy of regional grouping in the South gaining currency and achieving its goal many times at the expense of their life and property, he simply argued that ‘two wrongs do not make a right.’ They still believe that the solution to the present political crisis is a return to unqualified ‘One Nigeria.’
But lies do not seed, as the Hausa would say; they can only flower. Three and a half decades after the demise of Balewa and Sardauna and the field day that their political opponents had, the sky of Nigerian politics is becoming lucid. It is unambiguous now that people like Bola Ige who were once considered as frontline nationalists in the country meant nothing with the concept beyond the parochial scope of Yoruba chauvinism. After thirty-five years of consolidation of economic prowess and concentrating over seventy percent of the national wealth and over eighty percent of industries in Lagos alone, believing that its status, both as an administrative and business capital of the nation, such chauvinists are claiming that Lagos belongs to them; others must leave. After using the combined resources of the nation to explore oil in the Delta region and fight a civil war to protect and develop the oil fields and save its minority populations at the expense of agriculture and other mineral resources in other regions, the same minorities are today agitating for complete control over their resources. Finally, after abolishing the regional structure and replacing it with a conglomeration of unviable states, southerners are today calling for the restoration of regional governments with the same degree of autonomy that they were opposed to forty years ago.
We see these developments as forming enough ground for re-examination of our stand on the national question though some of our intellectuals, who are fast becoming a dwindling minority, still wants us to fold our arms and preach the same old song of an unqualified ‘One Nigeria.’
No. We must find a platform, regain our voice and rediscover our identity. I am glad with the rate at which this consciousness is being recaptured. From the formation of associations like Gamji and ACF to articles and commentaries that feature in our media, the trend which seeks to once more bring the North together and speak with a common voice before an arrogant and pervasive South is becoming consolidated. No one brought this fact home to me other than a governor of one of the middle belt states whom I incidentally met and had a brief discussion with recently. I was glad that we are fast realizing the necessity to bury our differences, operate on same wavelength and speak with a common voice.
More so when we realize that from 1903 to date, we have shared a common history of calculated underdevelopment and that the future may not be different. History bears witness that the North has always been reacting to situations propped up by the South, sometimes virtually coming down on its knees to beg the South not only for understanding but also for sympathy. These are facts professed by southerners themselves. But understanding and sympathy has been one request that the South never granted the North, no matter who was making the request on its behalf. At the peak of the pressure from the South for Nigerianization of the public service in 1957, a strategy they adopted for their long-term domination of the political economy of the country, the Prime Minister made the following plea:
“…[T]he South should have sympathy for our shortcomings and that they should not be too hasty to condemn our actions… Take the question of staff in our public services. The South, with many schools and colleges, is producing hundreds of academically and technically qualified people for the public services. The common cry now is Nigerianization of the public services. It is most important in a federation that the federal service shall be fully representative of all units which make up the federation. Now, what do we find in Nigeria today? There are 46,000 men and women in the Federal Public Services. I have not been able to obtain the figures of the number of Northerners in the service but I very much doubt if they even amount to one percent… unless some solution is fond it will continue to be a cause of dissatisfaction and friction.”
These are historical facts. In fact, Olawale Albert from whom we quoted the above passage followed it with the following confession:
“The southerners were unsparing in their criticism of their counterparts from the North. The latter were presented as very lazy and unprogressive people for whom the Southerners were not ready to wait. If Nigeria was to progress, the Northerners must be ignored. The Southerners, most especially the Yoruba, thought it would be an abnormality for them to be equated with or asked to serve under the Hausa-Fulani. Therefore one of the popular songs composed by the Yoruba dominated Action Group in the 1950s states that it is: “Better to die than pay homage to a gambari [Hausa person].”
All the quotations of the author which saved us the pain of research were intended by him to prove the mutual fear of domination that existed in pre-independence Nigeria. On our part we have used them to prove the defensive position which the North has always been forced to take. When it became clear that the South was not ready to sympathize with the North, the latter borrowed a leaf from the South and instituted what was called Northernization policy, claiming that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. This was the justice that the South could not swallow, hence its choice to eliminate Northern leaders in 1966 and bring the republic to an end. In the language of Olawale Albert it was “the last straw.”
People should therefore wake up to this reality and know that the arguments used today by the South to dominate our political economy are the same as those of yesterday. As Albert put it, “[the northerners are] very lazy and unprogressive people for whom the southerners were not ready to wait.” Is it not shameful that some northerners are today using the same language to justify the ongoing privatisation exercise? There is little wonder because it is now becoming evident from the accusations and loaming scandals regarding the privatisation of Nigeria Airways and NITEL, that once their interest are taken into consideration, the rest of us can go to hell. ‘The world’ is not ready to wait for us.
Our critiques should please sympathise with the region. They know very well that the North has been hospitable to many people from other regions and countries. It will be the last, following the dictates of its culture and composition, to decline any genuine call for Nigerian unity. However, the fact is that the South has always worked towards the domination of the North by scuttling any effort towards bridging the gap that has existed between the two regions and by stampeding it into accepting national programs for which it is ill prepared. All the call for privatisation, rotational presidency, power shift, resource allocation, and so on are nothing but ploys to ensure permanent consolidation of the gains that have accrued to them for over a century.
We are therefore justified in insisting that the North, despite its balkanisation and cultural heterogeneity must present a united front in the ongoing debate over political and economic programs of this administration and any subsequent one. It must insist that a united Nigeria is only possible in the context of the universal principles of equity and justice. There is no justice amidst calculated impoverishment of our people and reducing them to positions of servitude after they have sacrificed their leaders, lives and values for the unity of the nation.
This is the reason behind our protest and strong language. This is also what informed the formation of ACF. This is the only option left before us after the shrinkage of doyens of Nigerian socialism like Bola Ige back into their tribal shells. Makaho bai san a na ganinsa ba sai an taka shi. We owe no apology to anyone.
15 March 2001
Some northerners are critical of our approach to recent national issues. The formation of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and strong views like those expressed on this page have been dismissed as ‘retrogressive’ attempts to shrink of our nationalist horizon. In this passage, I have tried to explain, not defend, the reasons behind our stand.
It is true that recent agitations seem to confirm fears that people are retracing their steps back to pre-1966 days. This claim is often backed by events like the emergence of Afenifere and OPC in the southwest and of Ndigbo and Ohaneze in the southeast. Writers from the South have not helped matters either. In the Southwest, Tribune, Punch, Concord and almost the entire Lagos-Ibadan press have not relented for a day in fighting for the cause of Yoruba supremacy. The same with the southeast where newspapers like The Champion continue to project an Igbo agenda.
The struggle for the supremacy of their tribes was not restricted to their politicians and journalists. Their intellectuals who have never differentiated the academic from the political have equally participated in this micro nationalistic endeavour, serving as its ideologues and scholastic drivers. I have here before me a book titled Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria. This was a publication sponsored by the Institut Francais de Recherche en Afrique (IRFA), Ibadan, and the French Embasssy in Lagos. All the twenty-one chapters, except the one written by Dauda Abuabakar, were written in language full of venom and prejudice against the North. Going through most of the article, one cannot help but wonder whether he was reading a transcribed lecture of a politician or the treatise of an academician. A similar conference focussing on sovereign national conference and related issues held recently in France.
For students of Nigerian history, this is not a surprise, neither is it novel. Nationalism, whether preached by Zik or by Awolowo, has always been projected from the perspective of tribal interests. As quoted by Olawale Albert, one of the contributors to the above referred book, Zik once claimed in the West African Pilot of 8 July 1948 that the Igbo are people chosen by God to lead the African nation and conquer others through their ‘martial prowess’.
Chief Awolowo was no better in modesty than Zik, as shown by the writer. Twelve years later, in 1960, he counteracted the claims of Zik, alleging that the intention of Zik was “to corrode the self-respect of the Yoruba people as a group: to build up the Ibo as a ‘master race.”
The followers of Zik and Awo have not changed their language after decades of independence. I doubt very much if anybody can cite similar passages from the speeches of Balewa, Sardauna or Aminu Kano. What our leaders said, even at that time when regional politics was the order of the day, was simply that the North needs some time to develop such that it can compete on an even political platform with other regions.
I am glad that Olawale Albert did not overlook this point. He quoted the Sardauna where, on 31 March 1953, he rejected the motion in the House of Representatives suggesting that the country be granted independence in 1956. His language did not sound like the claims of Zik and Awo:
“We were late in assimilating western education. Yet within a short time we will catch up with the other regions, and share their lot... We want to be realistic and consolidate our gains. It is our resolute intention to build our development on sound and lasting foundations so that they would be lasting.”
While the North lost Balewa and Sardauna in the January 1966 ‘revolution’, leaders of the southwest and the southeast survived to become advisers, cabinet members and elder statesmen in the subsequent military administration. Within few months, Chief Awolowo achieved his greatest ambition in life – the balkanisation of the North. With the absence of leaders like Sardauna he could then pursue his agenda to weaken the region. He knew very well that it will be difficult for the newly formed states in the North to have a common focus, given the diversity of its culture and peoples and the degree of independence accorded them. Subsequent years witnessed the weakening of all links that would have kept the region together. Even today, thirty-five years later, it is difficult for neighbouring states in the North to partake in a joint development of a common infrastructure. If governor A is interested in constructing a road that links his people with others in an adjacent state, governor B on the other side will be reluctant to finish his won part, no matter how short it could be.
The southerners therefore got what they wanted – domination – knowing very well that the northerners are in no position to compete with them at the federal or state levels, neither in the 1950s when its leaders were literally begging the southerners to allow the region to catch up in education and other sectors, nor in the 1960s and 70s – after the balkanisation – when its states became divided, each with its feelings, plans and priorities.
After the death of Balewa and Sardauna, northern elements especially in NEPU and the socialist inclined academicians, became the champions of Nigerian nationalism. Writers in Northern newspapers and their editorials, including the New Nigerian, faithfully projected the idea of building a unified Nigerian nation as a solution to the political acrimony that led to the 1966 coup and the subsequent civil war over the secession of Biafra.
Unconsciously, some of our politicians walked into the trap of the southerners. With the ascendancy of socialism in our universities and its graduates filling positions of opinion and authority in the larger society, the ideas of Balewa and Sardauna of ‘consolidation’ and ‘bridging the gap’ were ridiculed and castigated as mere efforts aimed at maintaining a ‘feudal hegemony’. Some of the Northern intellectuals believed in the demise of the North as much as to publicly deny the existence of anything called ‘North.’
To be fair to our socialist-oriented brothers, we must hasten to mention that the idea of ‘North’ as an archaic political concept or entity was not peculiar to them. It was shared with rightwing intellectuals. I once got sick listening to an elder academician in Bauchi criticising Arewa Consultative Forum. It amazes me to note that these intellectuals still live in their past, regardless of the new trends in our political landscape. When I drew his attention that how could northerners sit back and watch the ascendancy of regional grouping in the South gaining currency and achieving its goal many times at the expense of their life and property, he simply argued that ‘two wrongs do not make a right.’ They still believe that the solution to the present political crisis is a return to unqualified ‘One Nigeria.’
But lies do not seed, as the Hausa would say; they can only flower. Three and a half decades after the demise of Balewa and Sardauna and the field day that their political opponents had, the sky of Nigerian politics is becoming lucid. It is unambiguous now that people like Bola Ige who were once considered as frontline nationalists in the country meant nothing with the concept beyond the parochial scope of Yoruba chauvinism. After thirty-five years of consolidation of economic prowess and concentrating over seventy percent of the national wealth and over eighty percent of industries in Lagos alone, believing that its status, both as an administrative and business capital of the nation, such chauvinists are claiming that Lagos belongs to them; others must leave. After using the combined resources of the nation to explore oil in the Delta region and fight a civil war to protect and develop the oil fields and save its minority populations at the expense of agriculture and other mineral resources in other regions, the same minorities are today agitating for complete control over their resources. Finally, after abolishing the regional structure and replacing it with a conglomeration of unviable states, southerners are today calling for the restoration of regional governments with the same degree of autonomy that they were opposed to forty years ago.
We see these developments as forming enough ground for re-examination of our stand on the national question though some of our intellectuals, who are fast becoming a dwindling minority, still wants us to fold our arms and preach the same old song of an unqualified ‘One Nigeria.’
No. We must find a platform, regain our voice and rediscover our identity. I am glad with the rate at which this consciousness is being recaptured. From the formation of associations like Gamji and ACF to articles and commentaries that feature in our media, the trend which seeks to once more bring the North together and speak with a common voice before an arrogant and pervasive South is becoming consolidated. No one brought this fact home to me other than a governor of one of the middle belt states whom I incidentally met and had a brief discussion with recently. I was glad that we are fast realizing the necessity to bury our differences, operate on same wavelength and speak with a common voice.
More so when we realize that from 1903 to date, we have shared a common history of calculated underdevelopment and that the future may not be different. History bears witness that the North has always been reacting to situations propped up by the South, sometimes virtually coming down on its knees to beg the South not only for understanding but also for sympathy. These are facts professed by southerners themselves. But understanding and sympathy has been one request that the South never granted the North, no matter who was making the request on its behalf. At the peak of the pressure from the South for Nigerianization of the public service in 1957, a strategy they adopted for their long-term domination of the political economy of the country, the Prime Minister made the following plea:
“…[T]he South should have sympathy for our shortcomings and that they should not be too hasty to condemn our actions… Take the question of staff in our public services. The South, with many schools and colleges, is producing hundreds of academically and technically qualified people for the public services. The common cry now is Nigerianization of the public services. It is most important in a federation that the federal service shall be fully representative of all units which make up the federation. Now, what do we find in Nigeria today? There are 46,000 men and women in the Federal Public Services. I have not been able to obtain the figures of the number of Northerners in the service but I very much doubt if they even amount to one percent… unless some solution is fond it will continue to be a cause of dissatisfaction and friction.”
These are historical facts. In fact, Olawale Albert from whom we quoted the above passage followed it with the following confession:
“The southerners were unsparing in their criticism of their counterparts from the North. The latter were presented as very lazy and unprogressive people for whom the Southerners were not ready to wait. If Nigeria was to progress, the Northerners must be ignored. The Southerners, most especially the Yoruba, thought it would be an abnormality for them to be equated with or asked to serve under the Hausa-Fulani. Therefore one of the popular songs composed by the Yoruba dominated Action Group in the 1950s states that it is: “Better to die than pay homage to a gambari [Hausa person].”
All the quotations of the author which saved us the pain of research were intended by him to prove the mutual fear of domination that existed in pre-independence Nigeria. On our part we have used them to prove the defensive position which the North has always been forced to take. When it became clear that the South was not ready to sympathize with the North, the latter borrowed a leaf from the South and instituted what was called Northernization policy, claiming that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. This was the justice that the South could not swallow, hence its choice to eliminate Northern leaders in 1966 and bring the republic to an end. In the language of Olawale Albert it was “the last straw.”
People should therefore wake up to this reality and know that the arguments used today by the South to dominate our political economy are the same as those of yesterday. As Albert put it, “[the northerners are] very lazy and unprogressive people for whom the southerners were not ready to wait.” Is it not shameful that some northerners are today using the same language to justify the ongoing privatisation exercise? There is little wonder because it is now becoming evident from the accusations and loaming scandals regarding the privatisation of Nigeria Airways and NITEL, that once their interest are taken into consideration, the rest of us can go to hell. ‘The world’ is not ready to wait for us.
Our critiques should please sympathise with the region. They know very well that the North has been hospitable to many people from other regions and countries. It will be the last, following the dictates of its culture and composition, to decline any genuine call for Nigerian unity. However, the fact is that the South has always worked towards the domination of the North by scuttling any effort towards bridging the gap that has existed between the two regions and by stampeding it into accepting national programs for which it is ill prepared. All the call for privatisation, rotational presidency, power shift, resource allocation, and so on are nothing but ploys to ensure permanent consolidation of the gains that have accrued to them for over a century.
We are therefore justified in insisting that the North, despite its balkanisation and cultural heterogeneity must present a united front in the ongoing debate over political and economic programs of this administration and any subsequent one. It must insist that a united Nigeria is only possible in the context of the universal principles of equity and justice. There is no justice amidst calculated impoverishment of our people and reducing them to positions of servitude after they have sacrificed their leaders, lives and values for the unity of the nation.
This is the reason behind our protest and strong language. This is also what informed the formation of ACF. This is the only option left before us after the shrinkage of doyens of Nigerian socialism like Bola Ige back into their tribal shells. Makaho bai san a na ganinsa ba sai an taka shi. We owe no apology to anyone.
15 March 2001
Discourse 134 Laale e Atiku
Friday Discourse (134)
Laalee e Atiku
I have come to support Atiku, not to praise him. He is accused of conniving with Ghali Na-Abba to impeach Obasanjo. People may think it is wrong. I think it is not only right but also necessary for his sake, for the sake of the party and for the sake of a vibrant democracy beyond 2003.
It should not surprise Atiku, his aides, the PDP or my readers if I commit my pen to support Atiku in the ongoing feud between him and Obasanjo. Even on the surface, I have enough reasons to do so. I am from the same zone with Atiku; in fact I did my secondary school in his hometown, Ganye. He speaks my language very fluently. That is enough, in the judgement of many, to qualify him as one of my own and so defend him in whatever way possible.
However, I am not motivated by any regional or ethnic commonality. I am siding with truth, conscience and justice. No one has inherited Aso Rock from his father. Until it is privatised, as Nasiru intends to do with the National Assembly complex, the President has no right to exclude other Nigerians, Atiku inclusive, from vying for it. His tenancy is expiring next May and the landlord – majority of Nigerians – is justifiably not ready to renew it. Obasanjo has proved to be a bad tenant. He has kept the house clumsy, noisy and made it a brothel of political prostitution. Worse still, in the past three years he has been vandalizing its parts. If the landlord allows him another tenancy there is strong evidence to suggest that he will sell it to a third party, of course with the help of Nasiru and in accordance with the suggestion of his friend, Sam Nda-Isaiah.
To begin with, however bad is his situation, Obasanjo has himself to blame, not Atiku or anyone else. He has refused to listen, neither to the public nor to any well meaning adviser or minister close to him. He only respects the counsel of his prison experience and some few micro-nationalists and political opportunists. The input from the two has misguided him into neglecting five out of six geopolitical zones in the country and the economy. He has become restless, like ping-pong, visiting nations at odd times and with odd frequencies to the extent that they have now shown signs of host-fatigue. I believe neither Atiku nor Ciroma would advise the President on this chicken itinerary. Neither could they advise him to abandon agriculture, to fail in registration of voters, to fail in revitalizing NEPA, and so on. He should blame the people he trusted, particularly his de facto Vice-President – Mr. fix it.
Happily for the country, in spite of the billions his team has gathered for the campaign, Obasanjo has reached the end of the road. He must swallow the bitter pill of defeat. The crux of the matter is who among his army of ministers and assistants is ready to share that pill with him? I see the President offering it to each of them, and quickly does each shake his head sideways, in decline. Obasanjo stands alone.
I know it is too late for some. They are too old to nurse any ambition anymore. They have crowned their lives with failure. Sorry. As for the young – and Atiku has just two years ago counted himself the young – the sky is the limit. They are beginning to see the writing on the wall more clearly than before, now that it is at a close range. Many of the assistants and advisers will certainly find accommodation in other camps. Many ministers will return home and try finding some relevance in their states, within the limited breathing space that their governors could permit, before contesting gubernatorial elections in 2007. In any case, these ministers must know that they are leaving Aso Rock latest next May 29, whether Obasanjo is continuing or not. If he loses, they are surely going to leave along with him; if he wins, which is most unlikely, he will bring in fresh hands that are not soiled or oiled enough during his first tenure to calculate rebellion.
For the Vice-President however, the spectrum of political arithmetic is not so wide. He could only look up or side ways. As one time Vice-President, we do not expect him to look down and vie again for the position of Bony Haruna. He must have known by now that he has never been the governor of Adamawa and I join him in his prayer that there should never arise a situation that will compel him to be one any day in the future. Forward ever, backward never. He cannot also be a minister under Obasanjo or under any PDP government. That is a position less executive than that of the governor. Perhaps, a senator; yes, for the sake of its honour. Whichever way you look at it however, Atiku has only one clear choice. That choice is to vie for the Presidency, now. If he leaves it until 2007 or beyond, he is not sure of the factors that will come into play to make his dream unrealistic. The decision therefore is immediate. It must be now or never during the tenure of this administration.
That was my first line of defence. Here is the second. Doing away with Obasanjo is a decision that the PDP must take in order to remain relevant at the Federal level, as I argued over three weeks ago. I have no doubt about its success at the state and local government levels. It has a number of governors and local government chairmen, who, combined with their incumbency, stand the best chance of winning. But Obasanjo is a dead wood. Hence, my advise to the party to support the move by the House to impeach him, even if that may fall short of removing him from office. It will anaesthetise the President and make him inactive to contest even the primaries. I am happy that this is exactly what is taking place.
The PDP, if I will digress a bit, should not be allowed to sink completely. Just let it remain neck-deep. As I said two weeks ago, the alternative party – the APP – is yet to prove that it is better in ideology and in practice. It is only enjoying the opportunity of being in opposition that is blessed with the windfall of Obasanjo’s failure. When it is in power, the APP will have the opportunity to prove that it is better. Until then, ba za mu yi saurin yabon dan kuturu ba. In fact in 2003 presidential elections, Nigerians will most likely vote for the merit in a candidate, not for the manifesto of his party.
A BBC correspondent queried why I should assist the PDP to solve its problems. I defended myself by saying that though I would like a certain APP candidate to win, I would also like to see him compete against a strong contender from the PDP and, after winning, run an APP government with a national assembly that has a PDP majority.
Nigerians must not repeat the mistake they committed in 1999, giving away both the presidency and the legislature to the same party. No. Let us do it the American way. Even if we have a transparent and honest leader, the best guarantee against the sort of abuse of power that we witnessed under Obasanjo is meaningful opposition from a legislature that belongs to a different party. Democracy is best protected and it flourishes most under a bipartisan leadership. The President will be forced to circumspect and resort to extensive lobbying and consultation, since by his transparent nature he will not employ any ‘Ghana must go.’ Then, only the constitution, reason and fairness will see him through. That is my stand.
So let both parties remain strong, PDP in the National Assembly and at the level of states and local government. APP occupies the presidency, that is controlling about 54% of the federal revenue. Wai angulu da kan zabo. For PDP to remain strong, Atiku is necessary today. It cannot have a better presidential candidate than him. In fact, not even Obasanjo can win the primaries of his party without Atiku. If Obasanjo does not know it, Atiku must educate him.
So far in our discourse we have established that the end of Obasanjo’s political carrier does not necessarily end Atiku’s, unless the latter chooses it to be so. Two, the interest of the PDP should override the interest of any single individual, including the President if it is to remain relevant to our democracy. I believe these are the personal and corporate political exigencies that compelled Atiku to contemplate opposing Obasanjo.
The third. Obasanjo will prove an ingrate if he should doubt the loyalty of Atiku. Atiku has throughout the tenure of this administration given enough support to Obasanjo at the detriment of his people and the risk of his political carrier. When at the beginning of this administration his constituency – the North – started to express its disenchantment with some policies of Obasanjo, it was Atiku who fired the first anti-aircraft. He visited Arewa House and bluntly and boldly accused the so-called Arewa leaders of opportunism. That week, I think, he gave an interview to the Weekly Trust in which he disowned his northern constituency and claimed that his constituency is the whole Nigeria. Fair enough.
At the middle of the tenure we have seen him even resort to misinforming the public just in defence of the administration, like when he announced his infamous reversion to status quo ante on shariah as the decision of the Council of State. Nothing has proved catastrophic in his relationship with the North like it. Even two months ago at a PDP rally in Sokoto he publicly claimed that the federal government has spent N45billion in rehabilitation of roads in the Northwest zone. Since then, Bafarawa and the APP in the zone have been relentless in their attacks on Atiku. They have listed all the federal roads in the zones and challenged Atiku to show where even N1billion was spent. However, they should not press much on this because Atiku is only exhibiting his loyalty to Obasanjo. After all, we know the figure is not correct; it was for the consumption of that gathering. More importantly, we know he does not allocate resources nor does he award or supervise contracts of that magnitude. Mr. Fix It will answer that some day.
Even recently, Atiku has been doing his best to ridicule the political fortune of Muhammadu Buhari despite the crushing support for him that he witnessed in Kano. We do not bother because there are strong signs that as far as 2003 is concerned the North in particular has made up its mind. It is only seeking the support of God. Atiku is making matters worse for himself from this angle. What a pity.
Many of such instances can be cited. The first one-year was particularly full of costly mistakes for Atiku, all made in his effort to prove his loyalty to Obasanjo. He joined the bandwagon of presidential aides who liked booing the North whenever it complained of one misdeed or another. In the jubilation of having found a new master they jumped at every microphone of the Lagos media and start parroting like a recorded tape. They thought the best compensation they should offer Obasanjo for their appointment was to hang the North, making it irrelevant and guilty at the same time.
I knew it wouldn’t last. That was why I quickly wrote Atiku and His Excess Luggage. I still remember the final words of that composition which read thus: “I am only afraid that Atiku will painfully realize that when the market of this regime closes, everyone will return to his house. What a pity, he is presently helping others to set his own ablaze!”
I am glad that the message did reach him. He has been trying his best to mend fences his own way by reassuring the North of his support through holding conferences on the state of its education and industry. He has also sponsored programs on the radio in which he tries to broadcast the contributions he made to the region as Vice-President. I can see that the name of Obasanjo is conspicuously absent from such programs, as if the Vice-President is eager to dissociate himself from his master.
What I have tried to prove on this line is that Atiku has fulfilled his own side of the obligation as a Vice-President. He has patiently toed the line of the President even though on many instances he is ignored for the counsel of political pundits and fixers. Having done so, I think, he has every right to disembark, without waiting for Obasanjo to throw him out.
The fourth. Yes. Obasanjo has been under intense pressure, so I heard, to drop Atiku, if he is to qualify for the second time political support of the forces that claimed to have brought him to power in 1999. Atiku knows this and it has already led to the initial reluctance of the President to announce him as his running mate in 2003. He did so only half-heartedly to forestall the premature disclosure of his true intentions regarding Atiku which he plans to ripen only after the primaries. Who does not know that he has promised an adviser and at least three northern governors the vice-presidency? Since then it must have been clear to Atiku that the degree of doubt about his political career has reached dangerous levels in the mind of the President.
How then do we expect Atiku, who believes he is still hail and healthy in politics, to sit back and watch the coffin of his burial crafted and the rope of his execution weaved without making any attempt to play the game of survival? How fair are the President and other Nigerians to him?
The efforts of survival he has made so far, according to the Presidency, include instigating the impeachment of the President. Some magazines have elaborately covered this last week. They claimed that the President has called Atiku and told him, point blank, that he strong evidence linking him to the impeachment terror in the House. Ordinarily, we expect Atiku to swear heaven and earth that he is not involved. In fact he even offered to negotiate a truce by visiting the House and tangentially pleaded with them to drop the matter. Given the situation, this is cowardly.
I would like to assure Atiku, as I will do to every governor and minister, that he does not need to fear Obasanjo anymore. The Vice-President must henceforth look straight into the eyes of his boss and tell him that “one, oga you be responsible for the mess you found yourself in o. Two, if you want be president again, you need me. Otherwise, terminate the dream here and now.” Obasanjo will, after Atiku might have left, think twice and know that what he said is a actually true.
Going through the impeachment, in my opinion, is long, tedious and unnecessary. What I would have done as the Vice-President is to work through the party. I will get the most influential people in the party convinced that Obasanjo is a bad product for 2003. Then we will together seek appointment with the President and put before him his ‘unmarketability.’ We should also be bold enough to bluntly tell him that, therefore, for the interest of the party we are not supporting him in the primaries. And suddenly leave. From then we must have gotten the freedom of action that is necessary to save our party from defeat.
Atiku has the background, having grown among the Fulani, to take this route that is more honourable than engaging in conspiracies and intrigues, justified as they could be in this case. It will seem like a coup. But sometimes coups are the inevitable answers to questions of survival. Being apologetic will only make Obasanjo feel that he is still relevant to the party while in actual sense he is a liability. He has exhausted his usefulness and Nigerians, and indeed the international community, will be glad when one day they wake up to find out that they are relieved of his nuisance.
So, factually speaking, all the exposition about Atiku working against the President is cheap as his doing so is totally in consonance with the rules of power. What will be surprising is for Atiku to remain on the sinking Titanic without disembarking. He needs to save himself, the PDP and the nation from Obasanjo. Right now, from here in the North, I assure him that, in spite of all that happened between him and the region, he is welcome back home. Laalee e sumpo. Laalee e Atiku.
Laalee e Atiku
I have come to support Atiku, not to praise him. He is accused of conniving with Ghali Na-Abba to impeach Obasanjo. People may think it is wrong. I think it is not only right but also necessary for his sake, for the sake of the party and for the sake of a vibrant democracy beyond 2003.
It should not surprise Atiku, his aides, the PDP or my readers if I commit my pen to support Atiku in the ongoing feud between him and Obasanjo. Even on the surface, I have enough reasons to do so. I am from the same zone with Atiku; in fact I did my secondary school in his hometown, Ganye. He speaks my language very fluently. That is enough, in the judgement of many, to qualify him as one of my own and so defend him in whatever way possible.
However, I am not motivated by any regional or ethnic commonality. I am siding with truth, conscience and justice. No one has inherited Aso Rock from his father. Until it is privatised, as Nasiru intends to do with the National Assembly complex, the President has no right to exclude other Nigerians, Atiku inclusive, from vying for it. His tenancy is expiring next May and the landlord – majority of Nigerians – is justifiably not ready to renew it. Obasanjo has proved to be a bad tenant. He has kept the house clumsy, noisy and made it a brothel of political prostitution. Worse still, in the past three years he has been vandalizing its parts. If the landlord allows him another tenancy there is strong evidence to suggest that he will sell it to a third party, of course with the help of Nasiru and in accordance with the suggestion of his friend, Sam Nda-Isaiah.
To begin with, however bad is his situation, Obasanjo has himself to blame, not Atiku or anyone else. He has refused to listen, neither to the public nor to any well meaning adviser or minister close to him. He only respects the counsel of his prison experience and some few micro-nationalists and political opportunists. The input from the two has misguided him into neglecting five out of six geopolitical zones in the country and the economy. He has become restless, like ping-pong, visiting nations at odd times and with odd frequencies to the extent that they have now shown signs of host-fatigue. I believe neither Atiku nor Ciroma would advise the President on this chicken itinerary. Neither could they advise him to abandon agriculture, to fail in registration of voters, to fail in revitalizing NEPA, and so on. He should blame the people he trusted, particularly his de facto Vice-President – Mr. fix it.
Happily for the country, in spite of the billions his team has gathered for the campaign, Obasanjo has reached the end of the road. He must swallow the bitter pill of defeat. The crux of the matter is who among his army of ministers and assistants is ready to share that pill with him? I see the President offering it to each of them, and quickly does each shake his head sideways, in decline. Obasanjo stands alone.
I know it is too late for some. They are too old to nurse any ambition anymore. They have crowned their lives with failure. Sorry. As for the young – and Atiku has just two years ago counted himself the young – the sky is the limit. They are beginning to see the writing on the wall more clearly than before, now that it is at a close range. Many of the assistants and advisers will certainly find accommodation in other camps. Many ministers will return home and try finding some relevance in their states, within the limited breathing space that their governors could permit, before contesting gubernatorial elections in 2007. In any case, these ministers must know that they are leaving Aso Rock latest next May 29, whether Obasanjo is continuing or not. If he loses, they are surely going to leave along with him; if he wins, which is most unlikely, he will bring in fresh hands that are not soiled or oiled enough during his first tenure to calculate rebellion.
For the Vice-President however, the spectrum of political arithmetic is not so wide. He could only look up or side ways. As one time Vice-President, we do not expect him to look down and vie again for the position of Bony Haruna. He must have known by now that he has never been the governor of Adamawa and I join him in his prayer that there should never arise a situation that will compel him to be one any day in the future. Forward ever, backward never. He cannot also be a minister under Obasanjo or under any PDP government. That is a position less executive than that of the governor. Perhaps, a senator; yes, for the sake of its honour. Whichever way you look at it however, Atiku has only one clear choice. That choice is to vie for the Presidency, now. If he leaves it until 2007 or beyond, he is not sure of the factors that will come into play to make his dream unrealistic. The decision therefore is immediate. It must be now or never during the tenure of this administration.
That was my first line of defence. Here is the second. Doing away with Obasanjo is a decision that the PDP must take in order to remain relevant at the Federal level, as I argued over three weeks ago. I have no doubt about its success at the state and local government levels. It has a number of governors and local government chairmen, who, combined with their incumbency, stand the best chance of winning. But Obasanjo is a dead wood. Hence, my advise to the party to support the move by the House to impeach him, even if that may fall short of removing him from office. It will anaesthetise the President and make him inactive to contest even the primaries. I am happy that this is exactly what is taking place.
The PDP, if I will digress a bit, should not be allowed to sink completely. Just let it remain neck-deep. As I said two weeks ago, the alternative party – the APP – is yet to prove that it is better in ideology and in practice. It is only enjoying the opportunity of being in opposition that is blessed with the windfall of Obasanjo’s failure. When it is in power, the APP will have the opportunity to prove that it is better. Until then, ba za mu yi saurin yabon dan kuturu ba. In fact in 2003 presidential elections, Nigerians will most likely vote for the merit in a candidate, not for the manifesto of his party.
A BBC correspondent queried why I should assist the PDP to solve its problems. I defended myself by saying that though I would like a certain APP candidate to win, I would also like to see him compete against a strong contender from the PDP and, after winning, run an APP government with a national assembly that has a PDP majority.
Nigerians must not repeat the mistake they committed in 1999, giving away both the presidency and the legislature to the same party. No. Let us do it the American way. Even if we have a transparent and honest leader, the best guarantee against the sort of abuse of power that we witnessed under Obasanjo is meaningful opposition from a legislature that belongs to a different party. Democracy is best protected and it flourishes most under a bipartisan leadership. The President will be forced to circumspect and resort to extensive lobbying and consultation, since by his transparent nature he will not employ any ‘Ghana must go.’ Then, only the constitution, reason and fairness will see him through. That is my stand.
So let both parties remain strong, PDP in the National Assembly and at the level of states and local government. APP occupies the presidency, that is controlling about 54% of the federal revenue. Wai angulu da kan zabo. For PDP to remain strong, Atiku is necessary today. It cannot have a better presidential candidate than him. In fact, not even Obasanjo can win the primaries of his party without Atiku. If Obasanjo does not know it, Atiku must educate him.
So far in our discourse we have established that the end of Obasanjo’s political carrier does not necessarily end Atiku’s, unless the latter chooses it to be so. Two, the interest of the PDP should override the interest of any single individual, including the President if it is to remain relevant to our democracy. I believe these are the personal and corporate political exigencies that compelled Atiku to contemplate opposing Obasanjo.
The third. Obasanjo will prove an ingrate if he should doubt the loyalty of Atiku. Atiku has throughout the tenure of this administration given enough support to Obasanjo at the detriment of his people and the risk of his political carrier. When at the beginning of this administration his constituency – the North – started to express its disenchantment with some policies of Obasanjo, it was Atiku who fired the first anti-aircraft. He visited Arewa House and bluntly and boldly accused the so-called Arewa leaders of opportunism. That week, I think, he gave an interview to the Weekly Trust in which he disowned his northern constituency and claimed that his constituency is the whole Nigeria. Fair enough.
At the middle of the tenure we have seen him even resort to misinforming the public just in defence of the administration, like when he announced his infamous reversion to status quo ante on shariah as the decision of the Council of State. Nothing has proved catastrophic in his relationship with the North like it. Even two months ago at a PDP rally in Sokoto he publicly claimed that the federal government has spent N45billion in rehabilitation of roads in the Northwest zone. Since then, Bafarawa and the APP in the zone have been relentless in their attacks on Atiku. They have listed all the federal roads in the zones and challenged Atiku to show where even N1billion was spent. However, they should not press much on this because Atiku is only exhibiting his loyalty to Obasanjo. After all, we know the figure is not correct; it was for the consumption of that gathering. More importantly, we know he does not allocate resources nor does he award or supervise contracts of that magnitude. Mr. Fix It will answer that some day.
Even recently, Atiku has been doing his best to ridicule the political fortune of Muhammadu Buhari despite the crushing support for him that he witnessed in Kano. We do not bother because there are strong signs that as far as 2003 is concerned the North in particular has made up its mind. It is only seeking the support of God. Atiku is making matters worse for himself from this angle. What a pity.
Many of such instances can be cited. The first one-year was particularly full of costly mistakes for Atiku, all made in his effort to prove his loyalty to Obasanjo. He joined the bandwagon of presidential aides who liked booing the North whenever it complained of one misdeed or another. In the jubilation of having found a new master they jumped at every microphone of the Lagos media and start parroting like a recorded tape. They thought the best compensation they should offer Obasanjo for their appointment was to hang the North, making it irrelevant and guilty at the same time.
I knew it wouldn’t last. That was why I quickly wrote Atiku and His Excess Luggage. I still remember the final words of that composition which read thus: “I am only afraid that Atiku will painfully realize that when the market of this regime closes, everyone will return to his house. What a pity, he is presently helping others to set his own ablaze!”
I am glad that the message did reach him. He has been trying his best to mend fences his own way by reassuring the North of his support through holding conferences on the state of its education and industry. He has also sponsored programs on the radio in which he tries to broadcast the contributions he made to the region as Vice-President. I can see that the name of Obasanjo is conspicuously absent from such programs, as if the Vice-President is eager to dissociate himself from his master.
What I have tried to prove on this line is that Atiku has fulfilled his own side of the obligation as a Vice-President. He has patiently toed the line of the President even though on many instances he is ignored for the counsel of political pundits and fixers. Having done so, I think, he has every right to disembark, without waiting for Obasanjo to throw him out.
The fourth. Yes. Obasanjo has been under intense pressure, so I heard, to drop Atiku, if he is to qualify for the second time political support of the forces that claimed to have brought him to power in 1999. Atiku knows this and it has already led to the initial reluctance of the President to announce him as his running mate in 2003. He did so only half-heartedly to forestall the premature disclosure of his true intentions regarding Atiku which he plans to ripen only after the primaries. Who does not know that he has promised an adviser and at least three northern governors the vice-presidency? Since then it must have been clear to Atiku that the degree of doubt about his political career has reached dangerous levels in the mind of the President.
How then do we expect Atiku, who believes he is still hail and healthy in politics, to sit back and watch the coffin of his burial crafted and the rope of his execution weaved without making any attempt to play the game of survival? How fair are the President and other Nigerians to him?
The efforts of survival he has made so far, according to the Presidency, include instigating the impeachment of the President. Some magazines have elaborately covered this last week. They claimed that the President has called Atiku and told him, point blank, that he strong evidence linking him to the impeachment terror in the House. Ordinarily, we expect Atiku to swear heaven and earth that he is not involved. In fact he even offered to negotiate a truce by visiting the House and tangentially pleaded with them to drop the matter. Given the situation, this is cowardly.
I would like to assure Atiku, as I will do to every governor and minister, that he does not need to fear Obasanjo anymore. The Vice-President must henceforth look straight into the eyes of his boss and tell him that “one, oga you be responsible for the mess you found yourself in o. Two, if you want be president again, you need me. Otherwise, terminate the dream here and now.” Obasanjo will, after Atiku might have left, think twice and know that what he said is a actually true.
Going through the impeachment, in my opinion, is long, tedious and unnecessary. What I would have done as the Vice-President is to work through the party. I will get the most influential people in the party convinced that Obasanjo is a bad product for 2003. Then we will together seek appointment with the President and put before him his ‘unmarketability.’ We should also be bold enough to bluntly tell him that, therefore, for the interest of the party we are not supporting him in the primaries. And suddenly leave. From then we must have gotten the freedom of action that is necessary to save our party from defeat.
Atiku has the background, having grown among the Fulani, to take this route that is more honourable than engaging in conspiracies and intrigues, justified as they could be in this case. It will seem like a coup. But sometimes coups are the inevitable answers to questions of survival. Being apologetic will only make Obasanjo feel that he is still relevant to the party while in actual sense he is a liability. He has exhausted his usefulness and Nigerians, and indeed the international community, will be glad when one day they wake up to find out that they are relieved of his nuisance.
So, factually speaking, all the exposition about Atiku working against the President is cheap as his doing so is totally in consonance with the rules of power. What will be surprising is for Atiku to remain on the sinking Titanic without disembarking. He needs to save himself, the PDP and the nation from Obasanjo. Right now, from here in the North, I assure him that, in spite of all that happened between him and the region, he is welcome back home. Laalee e sumpo. Laalee e Atiku.
Discourse 123 Buhari in Politics
Friday Discourse (123)
Buhari in Politics
A fortnight ago, former Head of State Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) joined politics by registering in the All Peoples Party (APP) in Daura. This is an interesting development. As he raised his hands and shouted at the peak of his voice, saying, APP, APP, APP, I told a journalist next to me in the crowd that we were witnessing history in the making. The political developments that followed that event have so far proved my assertion. Since that day, Buhari has dominated political discourse in the country. I have no doubt that he will continue to do so until the next presidential election and perhaps beyond.
When people like me, as it happened, join politics no one cares to know. But when Buhari did so, it generated interest and triggered a chain of fascinating political developments. From the reactions his debut in politics received, I feel it will delight my readers if we pause to consider the implications of his decision on his person, on politics, and on governance in Nigeria.
Buhari
I am sure that Buhari has by now realized that he will henceforth have no monopoly over his time, his privacy and even his personal property. Some of this might not be new to him because he was a former head of state. What he has to come to terms with is the claim of propriety over these possessions by other Nigerians. Many comments for example will be genuine; but some people will choose to be provocative in public, especially on the radio. Unfortunately, among his kinsmen, for the high level of their self-inflicted poverty and illiteracy, there are many soliciting for that dirty job. It must not deter him since no one can cover the sun with his hands once it has risen. As our past and possibly future head of state, we expect him to be calm. He must practice the four qualities of piety as enumerated in the Qu’ran as basic qualifications to prosperity in the Hereafter, i.e. ignoring provocation, forgiving people, kindness and self-censorship through admission of mistakes and correcting them or asking for forgiveness. It said: “those who bridle anger, and forgiving of people, God likes those that are kind. And those who if they act a scandal or cheated themselves, they recall God and suddenly seek the forgiveness for their sins…” This must be the yardstick of his personal conduct with or without politics.
Whatever would be the sacrifices he is personally required to make, one of his great assets in politics will be the retention of his natural posture which he exhibited as a private citizen since his retirement from the army. Within the limit of what his personal security will permit, he should carry on with his modest life and permit, as ever, easy accessibility to all Nigerians. Viewed from the angle of privacy, politics in Nigeria is inevitably cumbersome. Once in it, he has to shoulder it.
APP
The next target which his debut in politics would hit is his party, the APP. It is true that it has made a big catch. Buhari has many of the qualities that are needed to make the party a force to reckon with in the next presidential elections. However, it must understand that no favor comes without a price. The party, therefore, need to organize itself better in realization of the great potential it now possess. It must stand as an equal – possibly taller – to other parties, including the incumbent PDP. In other words, it has to assert its identity and stop being manipulated by forces extraneous to its domain. Fortunately, the next convention of the party is just by the corner and it is our hope that people of credibility and conscience will be elected to lead it.
To cite an example, I am particularly not happy with the present move to merge the party with UNDP. The mistake of the PDP must not be repeated again. PDP is a building constructed in 1988 from blocks of different sizes, shapes, and strengths that are bound together by a weak mortar which immediately gave way under the pressure of governance and the lures of power. What the APP should do is to preserve its identity. Where cooperation by other parties becomes necessary, the farthest point it should reach in the path of alliance must be electoral.
I therefore find it intriguing for a registered party that has already on ground nine governors, dozens of legislators in the National Assembly, over a hundred local government chairmen and thousands of councilors would ever contemplate, as the APP is doing now, of merging with UNDP that is still only an association without even a single local government councilor. The leaders should realize that it is too late to sell out the party to anyone. The person purchasing it must be crazy because the party already belongs to the people. They will rise to retrieve it from any custody. The leadership should learn from Waziri the consequences of doing so. If I would ask – just as a digression: is Senator Mahmud Waziri ready to disembark on the sinking titanic of Obasanjo and return to the party?
On the other hand, I will rather prefer the UNDP to fight for a registration on its own and go for elections. That will enable it assist in unseating many of the present PDP chairmen and some few governors with whom people are wearied of. At the presidential election, it can go into alliance with the APP which will in turn reciprocate with cabinet appointments and support in future presidential ambitions of the UNDP. Its independence is what will enable it contribute positively to governance when APP is in power. It can withdraw from the alliance, unlike the present position of the PDM in PDP, without incurring any liability. The problem in Nigeria is that greed prevents our politicians from putting strategy and prestige before power.
There is also a need for the APP to become more organized. Otherwise, Buhari, who is a former military officer and a person trained and known to be particular on procedures, will have a lot of difficulty living under its umbrella. To him, I foresee, the shade of the party’s umbrella would be adherence to its rules by all its members including himself in whatever present or future capacity he might be. Disregard to party regulations makes it vulnerable to hijacking by home or foreign ‘terrorists’ occupying executive seats.
Buhari has already started preaching obedience to the party. In his registration speech in Daura, he enjoined people to join the party and channel their support to him through it. This raises the hope that if he wins we will have a president who, unlike Obasanjo, will not struggle to dominate his party; a president whose behavior will be predicated by procedures enshrined in the constitution; and a president who will respect the rule of law.
It is important therefore that, on the one hand, the party recognize this potential for its future influence in governance, while, on the other, appreciating that such opportunity does not come without a pride for identity, conscience, the feeling of equality amidst peers and earning respect through adherence to party rules.
The PDP
The third to be affected by Buhari’s walk into politics would be the PDP. We have earlier predicted in Buhari Please Join Politics Now that his political debut in the APP will throw the incumbent party into confusion. This is what has exactly happened. The PDP was not a good listener. We have advised it, times without number, against becoming a victim of servitude, greed, corruption and decadence engendered by the mere opportunity of incumbency. I have recognized that once someone wins a presidential election, most of our political elite, due to either poverty or greed, are ready to mortgage their pride and freedom for gaining the spoils of office. They will abandon their parties and start singing the praises of the incumbent. Members of his party will turn him, even if he is reluctant, into the de facto party chairman. Thus his opinion becomes a law.
Thus, the PDP has let the President to become too powerful to be sanctioned either by law or by protest. But self-esteem in politics is an asset that once mortgaged can hardly be reclaimed. Not so easily when the blood from the wounds inflicted by the President on many groups and the nation is still dripping. It is too late to re-package Obasanjo and sell him to Nigerians under another brand of promise. No way.
Unfortunately, the PDP was blinded from the reality by the glitters of Aso Rock, the enormous strength of state power and their elaborate plans to rig elections. They never believed that there will be any person capable of unseating Obasanjo. Thus chaps like Kashim Imam and Mukhtar Shagari were willing to assault the conscience of Nigerians by saying that there is no alternative to Obasanjo among the 120 million citizens. Governors like Makarfi were ready to publicly renege on their initial understanding and agreement that Obasanjo is a failure. Elders like Solomon Lar were ready to tell a lie before the President that their zone is 100% behind him. Even Balarabe Musa, either for the hope that the President will register his party or as a gratitude to a small favor or the bitterness of his impeachment by the Northern Establishment has subscribed to the tazarce idea.
Since the debut of Buhari in politics these lies have ceased as the liars went quiet. They have now concluded that there is a formidable threat to Obasanjo. They are afraid to repeat their previous utterances. They can only sponsor some nonentities to make provocative statements.
An important development that has come too late is that Obasanjo has now realized that they were lying to him. All dignitaries contacted in the North to chair his declaration for re-election shied away. Who else could do the dirty job apart from Lar? The force of Buhari’s debut has suddenly made him to contemplate dropping Atiku and go on shopping for someone who is worse. Whichever way he goes, he is in danger. Will he drop Atiku and risk the likelihood of loosing even the primaries or will he retain him and contend with his (Atiku’s) excess luggage that will court him defeat in the elections? That is the price of betrayal.
The North
The North has come out to declare war on the incumbent for reasons of incompetence expressed in partiality, corruption and non-performance. The image it carved out over the years as the prime factor in Nigerian politics is at risk. If it is able to unseat Obasanjo it will further entrench that belief into the psyche of the nation. If it fails, it will be demystified.
It has promised to present a unified candidate in order to maximize its mobilization for the offensive against Obasanjo. If that pledge will be redeemed, events of the past one week must have already indicated that Buhari is most likely to be that consensus candidate. The conclusion is almost inevitable.
It is therefore imperative for the North to cement the present cracks in their political construction. It has one or two assets it can mortgage to purchase the tools, equipment and material it needs to construct across the country all the bridges that are necessary to win decisively.
The region has conveniently found in Buhari a person who will restore its prestige in governance based on the principle of fairness, performance and transparency. We must admit for most part of the last twenty-two years that its image has been seriously tarnished to the extent that a northerner was at many time regarded synonymous with corruption and inefficiency. The only relief the North found was in the incompetence of Obasanjo. The corruption taking place under him and his glaring level of incompetence has denied the North the monopoly over such inadequacies.
The Nation
Finally, Buhari in politics is a challenge to the Nigerian nation. Will it hide behind the destructive evils of tribalism, negative use of religion and self-interest to prefer the most corrupt regime in our history over an honest and performing alternative? It is naturally expected that political opponents from all divides will try to discredit Buhari. They will ask questions regarding his personality and his record in the various offices he held since he became an officer in the army. Fortunately, the questions are known and very few. The curious thing is that almost all of them, if carefully studied, could serve both as assets and liabilities depending on how one looks at them and what he intends to achieve by raising them. After all, the convenient excuse and reality is there, that we are all human beings, with our shortcomings, little and big. Buhari will be no exception. Otherwise, could anyone bring an angel down to contest the presidency?
Another serious implication of Buhari in politics is the effect his victory will have on Obasanjo. Will Obasanjo be the good sportsman that will concede defeat quietly or would he attempt to subvert democracy through creating a crisis situation that will persuade the military to return? I am not talking only about the person of Obasanjo but of the danger which those individuals and groups that have reaped the best out of his Presidency would traditionally pose to our democratic future. As individuals we have some of his cabinet members and cronies who might have connived with contractors to drain the economy mercilessly. I doubt if they will be ready to face the reality when they see it approaching that the dinner is over or dispense with the fear that Nigerians will push the long arm of law to reach them. As groups I mean the political elite among his kinsmen whom he tried to favor as atonement for his past ‘sins’ to them. They have already declared that they will support him this time. Unfortunately for him, my quarrel with that support is that it is coming from the bad quarters. They have never voted for someone who has ever occupied the coveted seat of the presidency. I also doubt if they will accept without protest the fact that their man is sinking or when he is finally defeated that they will not return to their tradition of subverting democracy.
Whatever are their plans, we have a solution to it: Power belongs to God; He gives it to whoever He wishes and snatches it from whoever He wishes… and that He has power over all things. We rest our affairs in Him.
Buhari in Politics
A fortnight ago, former Head of State Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) joined politics by registering in the All Peoples Party (APP) in Daura. This is an interesting development. As he raised his hands and shouted at the peak of his voice, saying, APP, APP, APP, I told a journalist next to me in the crowd that we were witnessing history in the making. The political developments that followed that event have so far proved my assertion. Since that day, Buhari has dominated political discourse in the country. I have no doubt that he will continue to do so until the next presidential election and perhaps beyond.
When people like me, as it happened, join politics no one cares to know. But when Buhari did so, it generated interest and triggered a chain of fascinating political developments. From the reactions his debut in politics received, I feel it will delight my readers if we pause to consider the implications of his decision on his person, on politics, and on governance in Nigeria.
Buhari
I am sure that Buhari has by now realized that he will henceforth have no monopoly over his time, his privacy and even his personal property. Some of this might not be new to him because he was a former head of state. What he has to come to terms with is the claim of propriety over these possessions by other Nigerians. Many comments for example will be genuine; but some people will choose to be provocative in public, especially on the radio. Unfortunately, among his kinsmen, for the high level of their self-inflicted poverty and illiteracy, there are many soliciting for that dirty job. It must not deter him since no one can cover the sun with his hands once it has risen. As our past and possibly future head of state, we expect him to be calm. He must practice the four qualities of piety as enumerated in the Qu’ran as basic qualifications to prosperity in the Hereafter, i.e. ignoring provocation, forgiving people, kindness and self-censorship through admission of mistakes and correcting them or asking for forgiveness. It said: “those who bridle anger, and forgiving of people, God likes those that are kind. And those who if they act a scandal or cheated themselves, they recall God and suddenly seek the forgiveness for their sins…” This must be the yardstick of his personal conduct with or without politics.
Whatever would be the sacrifices he is personally required to make, one of his great assets in politics will be the retention of his natural posture which he exhibited as a private citizen since his retirement from the army. Within the limit of what his personal security will permit, he should carry on with his modest life and permit, as ever, easy accessibility to all Nigerians. Viewed from the angle of privacy, politics in Nigeria is inevitably cumbersome. Once in it, he has to shoulder it.
APP
The next target which his debut in politics would hit is his party, the APP. It is true that it has made a big catch. Buhari has many of the qualities that are needed to make the party a force to reckon with in the next presidential elections. However, it must understand that no favor comes without a price. The party, therefore, need to organize itself better in realization of the great potential it now possess. It must stand as an equal – possibly taller – to other parties, including the incumbent PDP. In other words, it has to assert its identity and stop being manipulated by forces extraneous to its domain. Fortunately, the next convention of the party is just by the corner and it is our hope that people of credibility and conscience will be elected to lead it.
To cite an example, I am particularly not happy with the present move to merge the party with UNDP. The mistake of the PDP must not be repeated again. PDP is a building constructed in 1988 from blocks of different sizes, shapes, and strengths that are bound together by a weak mortar which immediately gave way under the pressure of governance and the lures of power. What the APP should do is to preserve its identity. Where cooperation by other parties becomes necessary, the farthest point it should reach in the path of alliance must be electoral.
I therefore find it intriguing for a registered party that has already on ground nine governors, dozens of legislators in the National Assembly, over a hundred local government chairmen and thousands of councilors would ever contemplate, as the APP is doing now, of merging with UNDP that is still only an association without even a single local government councilor. The leaders should realize that it is too late to sell out the party to anyone. The person purchasing it must be crazy because the party already belongs to the people. They will rise to retrieve it from any custody. The leadership should learn from Waziri the consequences of doing so. If I would ask – just as a digression: is Senator Mahmud Waziri ready to disembark on the sinking titanic of Obasanjo and return to the party?
On the other hand, I will rather prefer the UNDP to fight for a registration on its own and go for elections. That will enable it assist in unseating many of the present PDP chairmen and some few governors with whom people are wearied of. At the presidential election, it can go into alliance with the APP which will in turn reciprocate with cabinet appointments and support in future presidential ambitions of the UNDP. Its independence is what will enable it contribute positively to governance when APP is in power. It can withdraw from the alliance, unlike the present position of the PDM in PDP, without incurring any liability. The problem in Nigeria is that greed prevents our politicians from putting strategy and prestige before power.
There is also a need for the APP to become more organized. Otherwise, Buhari, who is a former military officer and a person trained and known to be particular on procedures, will have a lot of difficulty living under its umbrella. To him, I foresee, the shade of the party’s umbrella would be adherence to its rules by all its members including himself in whatever present or future capacity he might be. Disregard to party regulations makes it vulnerable to hijacking by home or foreign ‘terrorists’ occupying executive seats.
Buhari has already started preaching obedience to the party. In his registration speech in Daura, he enjoined people to join the party and channel their support to him through it. This raises the hope that if he wins we will have a president who, unlike Obasanjo, will not struggle to dominate his party; a president whose behavior will be predicated by procedures enshrined in the constitution; and a president who will respect the rule of law.
It is important therefore that, on the one hand, the party recognize this potential for its future influence in governance, while, on the other, appreciating that such opportunity does not come without a pride for identity, conscience, the feeling of equality amidst peers and earning respect through adherence to party rules.
The PDP
The third to be affected by Buhari’s walk into politics would be the PDP. We have earlier predicted in Buhari Please Join Politics Now that his political debut in the APP will throw the incumbent party into confusion. This is what has exactly happened. The PDP was not a good listener. We have advised it, times without number, against becoming a victim of servitude, greed, corruption and decadence engendered by the mere opportunity of incumbency. I have recognized that once someone wins a presidential election, most of our political elite, due to either poverty or greed, are ready to mortgage their pride and freedom for gaining the spoils of office. They will abandon their parties and start singing the praises of the incumbent. Members of his party will turn him, even if he is reluctant, into the de facto party chairman. Thus his opinion becomes a law.
Thus, the PDP has let the President to become too powerful to be sanctioned either by law or by protest. But self-esteem in politics is an asset that once mortgaged can hardly be reclaimed. Not so easily when the blood from the wounds inflicted by the President on many groups and the nation is still dripping. It is too late to re-package Obasanjo and sell him to Nigerians under another brand of promise. No way.
Unfortunately, the PDP was blinded from the reality by the glitters of Aso Rock, the enormous strength of state power and their elaborate plans to rig elections. They never believed that there will be any person capable of unseating Obasanjo. Thus chaps like Kashim Imam and Mukhtar Shagari were willing to assault the conscience of Nigerians by saying that there is no alternative to Obasanjo among the 120 million citizens. Governors like Makarfi were ready to publicly renege on their initial understanding and agreement that Obasanjo is a failure. Elders like Solomon Lar were ready to tell a lie before the President that their zone is 100% behind him. Even Balarabe Musa, either for the hope that the President will register his party or as a gratitude to a small favor or the bitterness of his impeachment by the Northern Establishment has subscribed to the tazarce idea.
Since the debut of Buhari in politics these lies have ceased as the liars went quiet. They have now concluded that there is a formidable threat to Obasanjo. They are afraid to repeat their previous utterances. They can only sponsor some nonentities to make provocative statements.
An important development that has come too late is that Obasanjo has now realized that they were lying to him. All dignitaries contacted in the North to chair his declaration for re-election shied away. Who else could do the dirty job apart from Lar? The force of Buhari’s debut has suddenly made him to contemplate dropping Atiku and go on shopping for someone who is worse. Whichever way he goes, he is in danger. Will he drop Atiku and risk the likelihood of loosing even the primaries or will he retain him and contend with his (Atiku’s) excess luggage that will court him defeat in the elections? That is the price of betrayal.
The North
The North has come out to declare war on the incumbent for reasons of incompetence expressed in partiality, corruption and non-performance. The image it carved out over the years as the prime factor in Nigerian politics is at risk. If it is able to unseat Obasanjo it will further entrench that belief into the psyche of the nation. If it fails, it will be demystified.
It has promised to present a unified candidate in order to maximize its mobilization for the offensive against Obasanjo. If that pledge will be redeemed, events of the past one week must have already indicated that Buhari is most likely to be that consensus candidate. The conclusion is almost inevitable.
It is therefore imperative for the North to cement the present cracks in their political construction. It has one or two assets it can mortgage to purchase the tools, equipment and material it needs to construct across the country all the bridges that are necessary to win decisively.
The region has conveniently found in Buhari a person who will restore its prestige in governance based on the principle of fairness, performance and transparency. We must admit for most part of the last twenty-two years that its image has been seriously tarnished to the extent that a northerner was at many time regarded synonymous with corruption and inefficiency. The only relief the North found was in the incompetence of Obasanjo. The corruption taking place under him and his glaring level of incompetence has denied the North the monopoly over such inadequacies.
The Nation
Finally, Buhari in politics is a challenge to the Nigerian nation. Will it hide behind the destructive evils of tribalism, negative use of religion and self-interest to prefer the most corrupt regime in our history over an honest and performing alternative? It is naturally expected that political opponents from all divides will try to discredit Buhari. They will ask questions regarding his personality and his record in the various offices he held since he became an officer in the army. Fortunately, the questions are known and very few. The curious thing is that almost all of them, if carefully studied, could serve both as assets and liabilities depending on how one looks at them and what he intends to achieve by raising them. After all, the convenient excuse and reality is there, that we are all human beings, with our shortcomings, little and big. Buhari will be no exception. Otherwise, could anyone bring an angel down to contest the presidency?
Another serious implication of Buhari in politics is the effect his victory will have on Obasanjo. Will Obasanjo be the good sportsman that will concede defeat quietly or would he attempt to subvert democracy through creating a crisis situation that will persuade the military to return? I am not talking only about the person of Obasanjo but of the danger which those individuals and groups that have reaped the best out of his Presidency would traditionally pose to our democratic future. As individuals we have some of his cabinet members and cronies who might have connived with contractors to drain the economy mercilessly. I doubt if they will be ready to face the reality when they see it approaching that the dinner is over or dispense with the fear that Nigerians will push the long arm of law to reach them. As groups I mean the political elite among his kinsmen whom he tried to favor as atonement for his past ‘sins’ to them. They have already declared that they will support him this time. Unfortunately for him, my quarrel with that support is that it is coming from the bad quarters. They have never voted for someone who has ever occupied the coveted seat of the presidency. I also doubt if they will accept without protest the fact that their man is sinking or when he is finally defeated that they will not return to their tradition of subverting democracy.
Whatever are their plans, we have a solution to it: Power belongs to God; He gives it to whoever He wishes and snatches it from whoever He wishes… and that He has power over all things. We rest our affairs in Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)