Mamadou Tandja And The Coup In Niger

By Reuben Abati

INTERNATIONAL organisations and other stakeholders commenting on the coup that took place in Niger on February 19 have been making the right diplomatic and politically correct noises. While all that familiar stuff about a military coup being an aberration and a major setback for the democratic process in Africa is acceptable, the truth is that this is a perfect case of good riddance to bad rubbish in Niger. Mamadou Tandja had become a nuisance, holding that poor nation and its people hostage for more than a year to pursue a selfish ambition that saw him getting an additional three years in office last November. Tandja’s two-term tenure of five years each expired in December but long before then, he came up with the idea of prolonging his tenure in office by another three years, obviously the first step towards life rule. Everyone who opposed him was hounded into silence or exile. He sacked the Constitutional Court.

Members of his Cabinet who dared to raise a voice were expelled too. The media was harrassed. Civil society activists were intimidated and blackmailed. Tandja put together a team of sycophants who shouted Tazarce: continuity. He suspended the Constitution, started ruling by decrees and issued arrest warrants for opposition leaders. The referendum that was held in August 2009 was a kangaroo exercise with a predictable outcome. Tandja had his way. But he underestimated the people. For a whole week leading up to the coup that took place on Friday, civil society protesters took to the streets in Niamey and elsewhere. When the military junta struck, there was dancing in the same streets. Tandja is said to be in a military facility and the coup plotters have announced that he is in good health. Whatever pains he may be going through is self-inflicted. He is the victim of his own greed.

One of the first assignments of the junta should be to put Tandja and his cohorts on trial. His self-perpetuation gambit was based on the funny script that his government had done so much for Nigeriens, and that he needed to consolidate the gains of his government’s economic reforms. A lie. What reforms? Tandja’s economic reform brought Chinese investors and more money into the pockets of crooks. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. For the ten years that Tandja reigned, that country’s development index travelled consistently Southwards. At 71, Mamadou Tandja had no fresh ideas, no new tricks that he could play to promote the people’s interests. He was acting out a bad script that had been authored before him in Nigeria, and it failed on stage, and even in those countries where the leaders became monarchs hoping to die in office, the ultimate outcome was one of shame. Remember Mobutu Sese Seko, Kamuzu Banda, Houphouet-Boigny, Idi Amin Dada: Africa ’s despots.

The more important value of what has happened in Niger lies in the strong message that it sends to African leaders, many of whom may be tempted to copy the Tandja experiment. The coup is not merely a military coup, it is a triumph of sorts for the Nigerien civil society. It produced in that regard an interesting paradox, with the leaders of the “revolution”, Col Djibril Adamou Harouna and Major Salou Djibo promising that they intend to ensure Niger becomes “an example of democracy and good governance.” The ousted Tandja rode on the back of the military to power in 1999; he has taken the same route out of power. His exit sends another message: that dictatorship creates the conditions for its own failure.

Following his decision to force himself on the people of Niger, both ECOWAS and the African Union suspended the country. The US and the EU withdrew aid. On Thursday, Nigeria, Niger ’s neighbour, and the regional power, quickly rushed a statement to the press condemning the coup. Former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar is the leader of a team to Niger holding talks with the coup makers. Where was Nigeria all this while? Tandja was able to flourish in part, because Nigeria looked the other way.

Now it is being speculated that the coup in Niger has a Nigerian element: not necessarily the fact that certain persons in the international community thought they heard Nigeria instead of Niger , with an immediate effect on oil prices, but that the coup is meant to test possible international reactions to a similar incident in Nigeria . Mischievous as this may sound, it should not be discountenanced, more so as there has been a copy-cat pattern to military interventions in West African politics. Besides, for more than two months, the Nigerian political leadership has been engaged in a death-wish. When politicians suspend the Constitution as Tandja did, and as the Nigerian leadership appears to be doing, they write a long letter to trouble. Political leaders should not seek to remain in power because it suits their animal instincts, they are required to respect the law, and not succumb to the temptation to bend or change it for selfish reasons.

Col Djibril Adamou Harouna told Nigeriens: “The army loves the people and will always stand by Niger .” The best way to demonstrate that love and commitment is for the junta to make its intervention brief. It should set about initiating fresh elections within the shortest possible time, and ensure that Niger returns quickly to the path of democratic governance. I recommend six months. It must live up to its assumed name: “Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy,” and turn its intervention into an opportunity for a new beginning. The long-term challenge however, will be to rescue that country from the claws of poverty, instability and insecurity.

In addition to the ECOWAS framework, Nigeria should see the urgent need to contribute to the task of bringing stability to our neighbour to the North, a country with which Nigeria shares not just a border but intertwined lives and cultures. Poor governance combined with elite greed poses the biggest threat to Africa ’s democratisation process in addition to ethnic/religious differences and mass illiteracy. As these transform into elements of state failure, more African states, from Guinea to Zimbabwe, to Kenya and Angola may implode. This is a terrible burden for a continent left behind by the development clock. The democratisation project in Africa is in as great a need for protection and promotion now as was the case two decades ago. Too many African states are pseudo-democracies, Nigeria inclusive; and although there has been considerable growth in civil society responsiveness and the role of international actors, altogether the conflicting spectacle of progress and failure invites much pessimism about now and the future.

If You See The Saudi King…

THE six-man delegation appointed by the Executive Council of the Federation is travelling today to Saudi Arabia to do two things: visit the sick Nigerian President whose ill-health held the entire country hostage for more than 70 days before the National Assembly organised a “civilian coup”, and then thank the Saudi King for his hospitality. Shopping, disappearing to take care of personal issues, staying back to pursue family interests- all of this is not part of the trip and we are hoping that all six men will return before the next meeting of the Executive Council on Wednesday with useful information.

It has been reported that one Nigerian, Mrs Turai Yar’Adua, who also happens to be the first wife of the President, is the one who determines who sees the President or not. Too many fruitless trips have been made to Saudi Arabia by government officials with all the emissaries unable to see the President because Madam Turai says no. We can give her the benefit of the doubt: the President is probably being hidden from visitors on doctors’ advice. But doctors also ought to recognise extra-ordinary situations. If leprosy is not one of the cocktail of ailments that they are treating, they should allow the six-man delegation from Nigeria ’s Federal Cabinet to see our President. They are coming to the hospital as “the eyes and ears” of all Nigerians. They don’t have to say a word to him; they can just wave and nod, and observe carefully. Nigeria today stands at a crossroads: not too many countries have been so affected by Presidential ill-health.

The King of Saudi Arabia has been identified repeatedly in the last 72 hours as the good host who is picking up President Yar’Adua’s bills. Some reports suggest that President Yar’çdua is no longer in a hospital but in a special facility provided by the Saudi King. The Saudi Arabian authorities must clear the air at once: to reassure Nigerians that in purporting to act as Yar’Adua’s keeper, they have no intentions of violating Nigeria ’s sovereignty. For it is this country’s sovereignty that is being compromised if the head of another sovereign nation is allowed to keep our President as a willing medical hostage, without allowing access to him.

The six men going to Saudi Arabia have all obtained their visas. Given the importance of the trip to Nigerians, and we hope the Saudi Embassy in Nigeria is awake to its duties, this can be taken as sign that the Saudi King has been duly informed, diplomatic protocols have been sorted out and the six envoys will get a chance to deliver their message. Anything short of that will amount to an unfriendly act. My fear though is that a low-ranking officer may be assigned to attend to the “nosey” folks from Nigeria ! Should that happen, and an insult posted to Nigeria’s 140 million people, the Jonathan administration should immediately invite the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Nigeria for very serious discussions.

King Abdullah recently hosted the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to a buffet lunch, showing that when he wants to play the diplomatic game, he sure knows how to do it. If the Federal Government delegation succeeds in having an audience with the King, they shouldn’t be more interested in bowing and scraping, they should tell him Nigeria’s immediate future hangs in the balance, because its President is stranded in Saudi Arabia and the people have no information about him. The Nigerian team, comprising five Ministers and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation should not return empty-handed.

Tiger Woods’ Apology

SO Tiger Woods has now apologised, publicly and properly for being “irresponsible” and “selfish”: kudos to his media handlers who want him back in the good books of all conservative elements who think his infidelity is worse than the original sin. But they want more than that: they want the withdrawn endorsements and goodwill back. Fine. I think Tiger Woods has paid enough penance. This hand-wringing over sexual dalliances, in addition to sex addiction therapy, strikes all the necessary moral notes, but can we go back to golf before Tiger Woods begins to imagine himself an eternal victim? No one is asking all the ladies who “stole” him from his wife to offer any apologies. If guilt is to be shared they are just as guilty.

By apologising, Tiger Woods has reassured everyone who invested faith and energy in his talents and success that he is aware and appreciative of the burden he bears as role model and public figure. A strong sense of his humility and humanism is well-conveyed. It is a necessary lesson for all public figures about the moral compass that defines their role-playing, a compass that is beyond their control.

Postponing Tiger’s return to competitive golf extends his saga needlessly. He is a champion on the golf course: that is the best place to work all of this out. Tiger Woods’ mother probably has the best perspective. Shortly after her son’s press conference, she told reporters: “Sometimes think there is double standard. He didn’t do anything illegal. He didn’t kill anybody. But he try to improve himself. He try to go to therapy and help. He change that and making better. When he do all this thing, he will come out stronger and better person…I am so proud to be his mother, period.” Momma is right.

February 21, 2010  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Reuben Abati  Comments

Time to End this Nonsense

By Dele Momodu

My second coming, even if intermittently, had been foretold by no less a “prophet” than Simon Kolawole. He had told me it was virtually impossible for a restless writer like me to ignore the sad developments in Nigeria. We had this encounter on the day American Chronicle published on its website that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had died as far back as December last year, which was too sensational to be true. The news was so rife that most Nigerians made frantic calls everywhere and to everyone who could have any iota of clue. I had attempted to speak to the President’s spokesman, Segun Adeniyi, who was then in Angola but was not so lucky. He probably knew why his phones would have been ringing off the hook. I really felt for this great guy, and for what must have been his personal and private anguish.

I decided to try Simon, who confirmed that the raging news had been debunked and that in fact, our offshore President was going to speak to BBC Hausa Service. I instantly concluded that we were carrying this nonsense too far. How at this time and age can the President of a great nation as Nigeria just vanish from the surface of the earth without any trace? How can the family of our President turn a matter of greatest public interest into such a disgraceful circus clownery? How can our politicians fail to realise the danger they are attracting to us all by their endless irrational behaviour? (Don’t forget that Niger is just next door). Is life all about grabbing power at all costs? Why can’t the First Family spare Nigerians this unwarranted agony? These were the thoughts criss-crossing my mind.

As predicted, our President mysteriously, but not without some serious doubts, spoke from his groove in Saudi Arabia, and granted what must have been the most incoherent interview ever aired by any of the famous BBC channels. Many are still convinced till this day, that that interview was the handiwork of desperados who wanted to hoodwink what they believe is a largely gullible citizenry. Even the BBC which secured the exclusive interview of this century seems not to have been proud of its amazing achievement. The powerful radio channel has not been flaunting the interview the way you would expect of such rare interviews.

Let’s not waste too much energy and time on the dirty tricks with which the hawks have tried to mesmerise Nigerians. The meat of it all is that Nigerians have found a new freedom which is not likely toyed with anymore. It is a great pity if some day-dreamers cannot see that the last train has since departed the terminus. They can continue to waste our scarce resources, but the day of reckoning will come. It is obvious that these guys don’t care a hoot about the President. It is all about their pockets. The poor man I’m sure is not aware of the atrocities his acolytes have committed in his name. It is a shame that some Nigerians can still drag us down this hopeless route. But we shall rise above them. The ball is now in the hands of the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, who must act speedily and courageously. God has given him power, and it is Mr Jonathan alone who shall account for it. All the sycophants will simply move on when the chips are down.

His ascendancy is nothing short of a modern day miracle. Those who are still contesting the will of God are wasting their time. They are resisting Jonathan because they don’t want to lose their grip on power. They want to stall for as long as it takes so as to make it impossible for Jonathan to settle down to serious business. They know that the attention span of Nigerians are very short. Very soon, the fuse would blow, and we shall be plunged into darkness. And they thrive in that state of anomie. This is the reason Jonathan must seize the initiative and beat them in their game. He can. These guys are cowards. President Olusegun Obasanjo cowed and canned them, like corned beef, until he fell into their trap by dreaming of a third term. Nigerians have never united behind any man since they did on June 12, 1993, the way they have cuddled Jonathan. Just imagine that Jonathan did not have to lift a finger. He even looked like a man who loves his boss more than himself. But head or tail, he had to carry this cross that was placed on his laps by his benevolent Creator. And he would have to step on toes. Now that he has crossed the Rubicon, there is no turning back.

All roads must now lead to heaven or to hell. The choice is that limited. The road to heaven is a road to redemption. The road to hell is that littered with thorns and can only lead to perdition. In less than 16 months, Jonathan has a chance of recording monumental achievements. It is like being asked to play a penalty in a most gripping game. He must shun all distractions, and shut off the cacophony of the crowd all over the stadium. It is a game of death. When you score, you are a hero. When you miss, you are a villain. In Jonathan’s case, he needs to fire a blinder, and all his friends and foes will stand ramrod at full attention. He looks fit enough to score.

If I were in his shoes, I will recall the security details of our President from their mission in Saudi Arabia, and replace them with fresh ones. I will summon our Ambassador to Saudi Arabia home to debrief him. I will write a letter to the Saudi King, and express both appreciation for his kindness towards our President, and disgust for the manner Nigerians have been totally snubbed in the matter. I will remind His Royal Highness that when the former King Fahd ibn Abdulaziz had a stroke, he was the Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz at the time and was allowed to rule for many years. As a matter of irony, the current Crown Prince Sultan ibn Abdulaziz has been ill and was actually flown to the United States of America for intensive care. The Saudis were not kept in the dark. The media went agog with blow-by-blow account of his progress or lack of it. When he got better and was flown to Morocco to fully recuperate, the Saudi media followed him with the same frenzy.

The Saudis should remember that Nigeria is a major player in the oil business. And whatever happens later may be termed as a deliberate attempt at rubbishing a rival nation. The shame is that while they spent their proceeds into building a most modern society, our leaders wasted our proceeds on frivolities. For the first time in our chequered history, we had two former university teachers as President and Vice President. One would have expected President Yar’Adua to build one of the best University Teaching Hospitals in Africa. And to think that his health challenges actually dictated the urgent need for such a glorious investment. Today, he has paid the price for such humongous short-sightedness. If Yar’Adua was vegetating on a local hospital bed in Nigeria, no one except the soldiers would have dared remove him the way it was done by our National Assembly recently. The politicians who were too scared to discuss the health of a man no one has seen in three months would have been too timid to even table it before the National legislators. We must salute the gallant Nigerians who fought spiritedly for our liberation.

Acting President Jonathan must assemble a powerful team as a matter of urgency and ignore the advice of those who never wished him well in the first instance. The Present team needs to be energised. Everyone remembers with nostalgia a few of those bright stars in Obasanjo’s government. The debt repayment package of that era was a great boost. If such had been translated into rebuilding our infrastructure aggressively, we can all imagine where Nigeria would have been by now. Mr. Jonathan should not worry too much about playing dirty politics for now. If he performs well, Nigerians will beg him to stay on. We are very generous to those we love. And we are not asking for much.

He must rebuild our roads. They are all in bad shapes. Nigerian cities look like war-ravaged zones. And it speaks volumes about our crass irresponsibility and shamelessness. Our airports must be urgently rehabilitated. I flew through Murtala Mohammed International airport last night and nearly burst into tears. Nigerians and foreigners alike were hissing and cursing. Our power and energy situations would never improve unless Jonathan is willing to take on the various cartels that litter our landscape. Our education is currently a huge joke. As a former teacher, he should personally enter into dialogue with his former colleagues on the way forward. We must stop the present drift where our children are being tossed across the seas with reckless abandon. Our hospitals must be upgraded to reasonable standards. Our economy is in tatters, and we must rise above the uncertainties of the moment. The war against corruption can only be won when the leader is ready to subject his person to some levels of discomfort. A good leader must be bold. We must know where he stands on every issue.

Something tells me Jonathan is on the threshold of history. He could not have been raised this high if he was not destined for greatness. I pray he appreciates the enormous challenges ahead of him. By next week, he must convince us that he is ready, and must leave no one in doubt of who’s in charge.

May God help him.

February 21, 2010  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Dele Momodu  Comments

Dissecting the Jonathan Presidency

by Reuben Abati

Nigeria has a new ‘acting’ president courtesy of the action taken by the National Assembly to resolve the terrible impasse into which President Umaru Yar’Adua had thrown the entire country by refusing to transmit a letter to the National Assembly in line with Section 145 of the Constitution. There is no doubting the fact that ‘expediency and pragmatism’ informed the decision but in passing the resolution by both Chambers of the National Assembly, the rule of law was jettisoned; the action it must be said had absolutely nothing to do with the law.

Nigeria was faced with a desperate situation; desperate tactics were adopted to save the situation from descending into sheer anarchy, what with some misguided elements in society already mouthing the nonsense that such times called for military intervention. What was done on Tuesday was not a resolution per se, it was a revolution: it was a case of the National Assembly, conniving with the Vice President, the Governors and a vocal section of the civil society, to do what seemed expedient. Nigeria needed to be saved from drifting, from the rush of uncertainties, it needed to be rescued from the hands of a cabal that had taken hold of it – but at what cost?

Establishing a constitution-driven society requires that both chambers either use the case of expediency to change the law or execute same through observance of the constitution. We cannot fumble and wobble our way out of the constitutional quagmire we have found ourselves through the irresponsibility of those taking care of a sick president, who from all accounts, was in no state or faculty to take the necessary steps as provided for by the constitution at the time of leaving office.

Nigerians have embraced the situation and found it acceptable because it serves our purpose; because it seems to be the only way to check the intrigues of those who were misinterpreting the law and making the presidency seem more important than the country itself.

While we look the other way and ask those who are protesting that violating the Constitution to save a desperate situation will create more problems in the long run, we should do a prompt reality check. It is as follows: the development in the National Assembly on Tuesday came about as a result of our collective helplessness. President Yar’Adua and his aides had continued to insist that he is well and capable of running Nigeria from anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the man has allegedly been in a Jeddah hospital since November 23. Nigerians do not know the exact truth about his state of health. He and his family and megaphones have held the country to ransom and have now been beaten at their own game.

This however should not be the end of the story. We cannot proceed without resolving what happened or is happening to our president. The logjam from which we think we have extricated ourselves may be further extended and the Constitutional crisis that we think we have side-stepped may be blown full scale in due course. It is better in matters such as this, therefore, to insist on first principles. The National Assembly had to act ultra vires by interpreting the Constitution to suit its purpose. The word transmit in Section 145 suddenly was stretched to cover the BBC interview by President Umaru Yar’çdua. To all intents and purposes, that BBC interview belongs to the BBC.

It is not the property of the Nigerian government, not an official communication; it was not in any way directed to the National Assembly. To resolve this impasse by relying on the BBC is to submit our sovereignty to a foreign media – How did the BBC secure such an interview when the Nigerian Security Service, National Assembly, Federal Executive Council, Secretary to the Federal Government and indeed key staff members of the kitchen cabinet and the presidency could not gain access to him?

The appropriate thing for the National Assembly to do should have been to insist on the President sending a letter to the National Assembly asking to go on vacation to attend to his health. What then was the purpose of the meeting with Senator Muhammad Abba Ajji, “the presidential letter courier” last week? Where is the letter he promised? There were reports that David Edevbie, the President’s Principal Private Secretary had travelled to Saudi Arabia to bring the letter, the same way he took the Appropriation Act to Saudi Arabia for presidential signature. At what point between last week and Tuesday this week, did it become impossible to get the President’s signature or thumb print, therefore compelling the National Assembly to suspend the Constitution and act expediently?

No man can be more important than the country. Not even the President. By refusing to obey the Constitution, the President has committed a major breach. He has by his inability to sign a letter, confirmed his incapacitation. Why didn’t the National Assembly insist on the Federal Executive Council acting as directed in Section 144 of the Constitution? What has been proven now is that it is alright in certain situations for the Constitution to be subjected to the force of circumstances. Nigeria has never had the experience of a President going AWOL. It became a testy situation because of the failure of the professional political elite to behave properly. The National Assembly has not yet resolved the Yar’çdua issue.

On this debate rests the unresolved issue of a signed Appropriation bill. To accept that the president was in no way able to sign a letter confirming his leave of absence is to raise a fundamental and grave issue bothering on possible forgery and outright criminal deception carried out and executed by the presidency.

However, clearing the mess that had been created and strengthening public confidence in the rule of law should be Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s first assignment in his new posting. This would mean his addressing the issue of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s ill health. As Acting President, albeit the product of a democratic coup, willed into reality by overwhelming public consensus, he must direct a delegation immediately to go to Saudi Arabia to establish the true location of the missing President, his true circumstances, his true state of health, the bills that he has incurred.

There are reports that the President’s family prevents people from seeing him. They cannot do that. They must be told that the Nigerian President belongs to the Nigerian people. We should have a right of access to him and the right to pry into his private life. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan must give appropriate orders for full and detailed information about President Yar’Adua. Our national security is at stake. Besides, who is picking up the huge bills that the president must have chalked up in the last 79 days? If it is the Nigerian taxpayer’s money that is being spent, then the people’s right to know must be protected.

Did anyone take special notice of the fact that the same day Goodluck Jonathan was declared Acting President by the National Assembly, the first official visitors he received were the American Ambassador and a special envoy from President Barack Obama. They were in Abuja, waiting. Ambassador Johnnie Carson brought a special message from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. He also met with some stakeholders, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, and note this: former President Ibrahim Babangida! Who are the other stakeholders that the Americans met? Carson talked publicly about Nigerians upholding the Constitution but it is not difficult to establish where America’s interest in the matter lies. Two weeks earlier, Mrs Hillary Clinton and EU leaders had signed a statement expressing concern about the uncertainty in Nigeria. They warned that Nigeria is too strategic in the West African region to be allowed to disintegrate. Imagine 150 million people spilling into our neighbouring countries as refugees. It would be worse than Haiti and Somalia combined. America and the rest of the international cannot afford such risk.

Then, there is the crude oil factor. With MEND declaring that it would not do business with Goodluck Jonathan because he lacks authority, the relative peace that had been achieved in the Niger Delta faced the real threat of derailment. MEND had put the oil multinationals on notice that the next round of offensive will be an all-out war. That won’t be in America’s interest either. With Goodluck Jonathan now acting President, the thunder has been taken out of MEND’s sail. In the end, the Tuesday revolution was not merely about Nigeria’s interest, there were external interests actively involved.

America has always showed up at interesting times in the life of this nation. Recall that the day MKO Abiola died, the Americans were in town. The day Goodluck Jonathan was declared Acting President, the Americans were again in town, standing by as events unfolded. Jonathan did not help matters when he addressed the nation looking as if he was at a funeral. He looked too glum for a man who had just been made Acting President! Did the Americans apply, as they say, subtle pressure? If this had been a better-managed country, we wouldn’t have needed the Americans and other external interests to push us.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan may have no more than a week or two months in office, since the Senate has made it clear that President Yar’çdua will assume his position, the moment he returns to the country. It is worth stating however that President Yar’çdua must not return to the country like a thief in the night. The National Assembly and the Executive Council of the Federation are not likely to impeach him, but if he must take over, there must be clear and compelling evidence that he is healthy enough to do so.

As far as the Nigerian people are concerned, Goodluck Jonathan should be allowed to finish the remaining 18 months of the Yar’çdua Presidency. For more than two years, the country has been in a lull. The people want real dynamism. They are hoping that Jonathan will be able to provide it. He has on his shoulders a historic responsibility. He tried to show a little swagger on Wednesday by redeploying the controversial Michael Aondoakaa who as Attorney General and Minister of Justice acquired a notorious reputation for bending the law to serve narrow interests.

That wasn’t good enough. Jonathan should have dissolved the entire cabinet and announce new Ministers immediately. Nigerians need a new beginning. A Federal cabinet of position-seekers cannot provide the needed momentum. He also must set to work immediately. There are files that have been awaiting Presidential signature since October including due retirements in the Armed Forces that have not been authorised. There are vacancies in INEC that have not been filled. Professor Maurice Iwu’s tenure as INEC Chairman will end in June, he should be asked to proceed on terminal leave, and another man appointed quickly to start studying the terrain ahead of the 2011 elections. What is Jonathan still waiting for?

While engaged in house-cleaning, the ‘Acting’ President should also take time out to tour the country. That shouldn’t take more than three weeks, off and on. Anyone who wants to rule Nigeria must make an effort to know this country. We have had too many people running Nigeria who know near to absolutely nothing about the country or the people.

In a country where history is treated shabbily, this should not be surprising. But Nigeria now needs more than good luck to move forward. We must put an end to the tradition of people jumping from their villages, or the army barracks to Presidential office. By reading a few history books and moving round the country to see things for himself, Jonathan should be able to get a crash induction into life Nigeriana.

Electoral Reform: He is in a position to do something about that too, more so as he is not likely to be a candidate in the 2011 Presidential election. Resource control: the people of the Niger Delta have always asked for this; through Jonathan as Acting President, they are now in charge of Nigerian resources, but will Jonathan be bold enough to take consequential steps to address the Niger Delta question? In addition to everything else, let him engage the services of a wardrobe director, and learn how to smile!

February 12, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Reuben Abati  Comments

Yar’Adua to live forever; Nigeria may die

by Okey Ndibe

In addition to sheer amazement, many of us following the argument that a comatose Umaru Yar’Adua is fit to run Nigeria must have a sense of déjà vu. Nigeria is not the only country that falls into the hands of inept, clueless leadership. But it may well be one of the rare countries where seemingly sane people argue that inept leaders are indispensable. Cast a backward glance at Nigeria’s woeful past and you’ll see examples galore of shameless apologists who told the world that Nigeria’s fate was bound up with that of some certified mediocrity in power. Yakubu Gowon trumpeted his own indispensability when he sought to persuade Nigerians that it wasn’t feasible for him to exit the political stage in 1976. Yet, Nigeria survived Gowon’s removal in a coup led by the late General Murtala Muhammed.

In 1983, the National Party of Nigeria deployed a variant of the argument to justify its rigging regatta to ensure that a confounded Shehu Shagari continued to preside over the affairs of Nigeria.

How about General Ibrahim Babangida? Even as the nation tottered under his watch, he and his coterie tried to package him as a genius of statecraft. Convinced by his own propaganda, Mr. Babangida set and then sabotaged successive timetables for his withdrawal. It took his June 12 misadventure to finally expose the insincerity of his transition program, and to precipitate his forced exit.

Then came Sani Abacha, one of the most puzzling and dangerous of Nigeria’s cast of visionless, greedy, and tragically mischievous rulers. A failure at everything else it takes to be a transformative leader, Abacha achieved mastery in the art and science of sustaining himself in power. Using a Machiavellian mix of carrots and sticks, he intimidated or bought off much of the political class.

Week after week, a retinue of traditional rulers (with little or no tradition) and politicians flocked to Abuja to venerate Abacha. In stunning assaults on language and logic, they proclaimed Abacha a “dynamic leader.” They told him that the nation would be hopeless without him to lead it. Speaking from rehearsed lines, they pleaded with Abacha to ignore his “disgruntled” critics and to go ahead and succeed himself.

In the midst of this absurd theatre of worship, Abacha slumped and died. The style and circumstances of his death were fitting: surrounded by prostitutes, some of them imported from abroad. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, the death of a head of state provoked spontaneous and widespread ululation, dancing and bingeing – a fiesta of celebration.

Olusegun Obasanjo, a victim of Abacha’s repression, was brought out of prison and – without psychiatric evaluation – installed as president. He spent his first term, of four years, on an endless junket to foreign countries. Then he spent the second term – which he achieved by dint of rigging – to display his vindictive and grasping tendencies. Nearing the end of his ruinous run as president, he and his cohorts concocted a depraved plan: to change the Nigerian constitution to enable him to run (and rig) a third term.

Those who championed that awful scheme told us that Nigeria could not afford to be Obasanjoless. They claimed that he had founded modern Nigeria – never mind that he built few roads, despite hundreds of billions voted each year, or that his guarantee, on his “honor,” of regular, uninterrupted power supply had turned into a $10 billion bad joke, or that he openly disdained the judiciary, meddled with the legislature, imposed candidates both on his party as well as voters, and enthroned a culture of primitive pocketing of public funds and brazen disregard for decency and ethics.

In an insult to a nation of 140 million, his stalwarts asked, “If not Obasanjo, who?” They contended that Obasanjo, and Obasanjo alone, was capable of husbanding the reforms they alleged that he’d initiated. That argument, stupid on the face of it, nevertheless found traction even with people who ought to know better. In exasperation, I asked one of them: “What if we allowed Obasanjo to steal a third term, is he going to guarantee us, on his honor, that he would never die? Otherwise, if he died, would Nigerians then send a strongly-worded petition to God to raise him from the dead to avert the very extinction of Nigeria?”

Once it dawned on Mr. Obasanjo that Nigerians were in no mood to gratify his illicit third term aspiration, he manufactured a vengeful, do-or-die response. First, he imposed a feeble Yar’Adua as the presidential candidate of the PDP, and then – in an act of supreme malice – foisted his anointed on the nation.

Obasanjo’s recent effort to rewrite the history of his imposition of Yar’Adua was seen by many Nigerians for what it is: a bald fabrication.

Meanwhile, with Yar’Adua, Nigerians are back in familiar territory. Since leaving on November 23 – not on his feet, but on a stretcher – Yar’Adua seems to have fallen into a black hole. Abjectly incompetent even in his healthiest of days, the man cannot now maintain any semblance of being in charge.

That fact has not fazed his acolytes who are using his name to gorge fat on Nigeria’s treasury. Michael Aondoakaa, the inner circle’s most visible spokesman, has told us that Yar’Adua is governing Nigeria from his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia.

For the Aondoakaas of our world, it is okay to reduce Nigeria to Yar’Adua’s size. If Yar’Adua ends up spending six or more months in a foreign hospital, there’s nothing wrong – in Aondoakaa’s book – with letting Nigeria flounder, as long as Yar’Adua’s (and his proxies’) narrow interests are served. If Nigeria must die, so be it, but Turai Yar’Adua’s desire to reign on as “First Lady” must not be tampered with.

Where’s proof that Yar’Adua even recognizes that there’s an entity called Nigeria much less that he is governing? Ask Aondoakaa and he’s likely to tell you that the sick man signed a budget (a scam) or that he spoke with the British Broadcasting Corporation for – wait for this – fifty-one seconds!

Parts of Nigeria are still experiencing acute fuel shortages. What’s Yar’Adua’s antidote for that? The US recently added Nigeria on the list of nations to watch on matters of terrorism. Pray, how many times has Yar’Adua spoken to President Barack Obama to register his objection? Hundreds of Nigerians have perished in sectarian violence in Bauchi and Jos. What leadership has Yar’Adua provided to calm nerves, to commiserate with the bereaved, or to settle thousands of displaced citizens? Nigerians continue to lose jobs as a fall-out of the nation’s bleak economic climate. What answers has our bed-ridden Yar’Adua offered to arrest or ameliorate the situation?

Turai and Aondoakaa are by no means the exclusive villains in this sordid drama. Last week, I asked a Nigerian senator why they had not moved to impeach Yar’Adua. His confessional response disarmed and shocked in equal measure: a lot of money was being disbursed, he confided. He said that, when legislators raised their voices against Yar’Adua, it was often a ploy to jerk up their fees.

Sooner or later – sooner than later, my hunch tells me – this contemptible game at the expense of Nigerians will run its course.

(okeyndibe@gmail.com)

February 2, 2010  Tags:   Posted in: Okey Ndibe  Comments


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