Umaru Would Not Be The First Nigerian President To Resign
by Sam Nda-Isaiah
Not so surprisingly, the activities of the federal government have ground to a virtual halt. The vice president is not getting involved in certain aspects of governance in spite of all the lies from certain quarters. And this is perfectly understandable. He will not sign any budgets because, technically, he is still the vice president and not the acting president. The ship of state has been abandoned; even the armed forces currently do not have a commander-in-chief. A few people have jocularly said that the Nigerian government has moved to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, but this is not even true as the guy in Jeddah is thinking more about his health and no longer has time for Nigeria.
This doesn’t happen in normal countries but Nigeria is a long stretch from being normal. While all that happened, a certain Mairo Yar’Adua, who was introduced to the public as Umaru’s sister, shouted all of us down a few days ago and warned us to stop lying about her brother. We were lying by saying her brother was ill, she said. He was so well that he could rule Nigeria for another 16 years, she added. She also threatened to drag all of us to court if we didn’t desist from impugning the character of her brother.
Many of us were surprised at this new impudent face from Umaru’s household. Is it not bad enough that we have Turai to contend with? Who the hell is this Mairo? We can now see that, all the while, some family members of the president have been taking Nigeria and Nigerians for a ride. She wants her brother to rule for another 16 years? Is that what the marabouts told them? What happened to PDP’s 60 years? Who told her that her brother was elected in the first place? Are there no senior male members of the president’s family who can call the unruly female members to order? Do they want to drag us to their level of illiteracy?
This confirms what some people have all along been saying: it is not Umaru who really wants to continue in power in spite of the obvious incapacity but other people – both relations and greedy associates – who are illicitly benefiting from his continuous hold on power. This is not what we know of the reputable family of the late Musa Yar’Adua, the powerful First Republic minister of Lagos affairs, and General Shehu Yar’Adua, the very powerful chief of staff, supreme headquarters (1976-1979).
We wish Umaru 16 more years or even 60 years on Planet Earth, but he has finished his tenure as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – a tenure that was ill-gotten in the first place. As far as the onerous task of the presidency is concerned, Umaru has become an invalid. He is too sick to be president of a very important country like Nigeria. The job wears down even a healthy person and I don’t know why Umaru accepted to be used by the crooked Obasanjo in the first place.
Of course, even Obasanjo, as shady as he was (and still is), did not factor a Turai much less a Mairo, into his scheming. It is because of people like Umaru that the authors of our constitution constructed Section 144 (i), even though it is very disappointing that they placed the grave responsibility of removing a sick president in the hands of the members of the Federal Executive Council.
Umaru has to go now. If he is conscious enough, he should simply be encouraged to resign. He should be told that, in doing so, he would not be the first Nigerian leader. He would be following in the footsteps of at least two others: General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida resigned as president in 1993 with his now famous “stepping aside” speech. And Ernest Shonekan, his successor, also resigned three months later in November 1993. Of course, as we all know, if both of them had not resigned, they would have been pushed out with ignominy. But they (especially IBB) were smart enough to read the handwriting on the wall.
Therein lies the lesson for Umaru and the reason he must respectfully step aside or resign immediately. The alternative could be disastrous for him, the political class and, of course, the nation.
E A R S H O T
The New Nigerian Must Not Die
Do the governors of the 19 Northern states want the New Nigerian to collapse on their heads? Obasanjo was said to have gladly handed over the newspaper – once the most influential newspaper in the country – to the Northern states because he knew the governors would never be serious enough to salvage it. The last set of governors, of course, proved Obasanjo right. Should we expect same from the current set? The only way the New Nigerian could be salvaged would be through total privatisation. The Northern states should raise equity and then sell their shares to individual blocs spread within their states with very strict provisos on disposal of the shares. The Northern state governments must not keep the shares themselves. Managing one government as master has been bad enough for the New Nigerian. To manage 19 masters would be disastrous.
What the New Nigerian needs at this point is fresh injection of large capital, not from loans but equity. It also needs freedom. It needs capital to get new equipment and strengthen its capacity to compete with circulation and advert sales in the newspaper industry. The New Nigerian needs to make a forceful re-entry into the market and only large capital will make this possible.
But the time for indecision has ended. Any further vacillation on the part of the 19 Northern states on this matter could prove to be the end of the matter for this very important institution
December 14, 2009
Tags: Leadership, Nigeria, Resign, Yaradua Posted in: Sam Nda-Isaiah
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Funso Adewuni
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