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Just before Midnight By I BELIEVE this is the time for all Nigerians who have faith in the corporate existence of Nigeria as one and indivisible entity to speak out before darkness falls.
I have for a long time adhered strictly to the principle of my political Leader and mentor Chief Obafemi Awolowo who in his entire political life and time spoke only when it was absolutely necessary for him to speak.
I have had to break my silence and offer my humble suggestions on how we can restore normalcy to the unfortunate political problems that now steer our country in the face and that have the potentiality of destroying the peace and stability of Nigeria. Fellow countrymen and women, we now have the peace of the graveyard in Nigeria as our new democratic experiment appears set to collapse (May the good Lord Forbid this).
My fears for Nigeria’s survival from this crisis grew into monstrous proportions when the National Newspapers reported what President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Tuesday 11 September 2002 at a ceremony in Abuja when he was being installed the Grand Patron of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
President Obasanjo was quoted to have said inter alia: ”Whatever we do, we should not overheat the system to the point where people will ignite war again. I pray that we will never fight another war in Nigeria” Olusegun Obasanjo (no matter what anyone may feel about him) possesses tremendous native intelligence and so never talks carelessly. Those words are loaded and if one were to apply the elementary laws of Logic particularly the principle of reductio ad absurdum (apologies to the philosophers) one will discover that the lull meaning and interpretation of the words that fell from the mouth of our President that Tuesday morning of 11 September, 2002 are largely indicative of the grave stage the current nation~ crisis has reached. We may be approaching a tragic turning point in this crisis now. Time may simply be running out.
If we do not want to deceive ourselves in this country, we should all know that the President is calling on all men and women of good will to come forward now and help salvage a very difficult political situation.
Only fools will continue to hallucinate or trouble their minds over the impeachment brouhaha that has been occupying the front pages of our newspapers the past three weeks. The issues go beyond the Impeachment bogey.
The young men and women of the National Assembly know from the bottom of their hearts that impeaching a democratically elected President of Nigeria or even a democratically elected Governor or Chairman of a Local Government has not been made too easy by the Nigerian Constitution. This impeachment crisis is just the tip of the ice berg. It is being used by many forces to ‘feed fat’ on the grudge they bear themselves. This is no time to start analyzing the antecedents of the sad events that have now culminated in what we now face in Nigeria today. Unless we move squarely today as dedicated patriots to solve the knotty political problems now facing the country, we will discover that immediately after the nation survives from the impeachment menace, some other explosive socio-political problems will immediately come to the fore. These will be promoted and sustained by the forces who seem to have made up their minds on what should be the final solutions to the problems that agitate their minds.
Many reasonable Nigerians have identified the second term syndrome as being the cause of the major problem we now face in the country. This is Yes and No. The much orchestrated Second Term Syndrome has no relevance to the Presidential election at the Centre. It is only relevant to the governorship and local government chairmanship positions in the country. The main issue that confronts the presidential contest is the issue of Power which is seen as a major industry by some people in the country. In the states, ambitions are jamming ambitions over governorship and chairmanship positions all because many have been overwhelmed by the way and manner some of the current holders of these offices have exhibited the power and authority in their hands. This is not a present day creation. It has always been within our political system at least since the Second Republic. The cohesion of the Papa Obafemi Awolowo led Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) would have been destroyed had Awo not managed the delicate situation brilliantly in the Second Republic. Despite the Awo touch, the gubernatorial war did lead to some of the UPN leaders resigning from the party to join the rival National Party of Nigeria (NPN). All the political parties of the Second Republic passed through the gubernatorial crisis during the Second Republic.
The PRP changed Abubakar Rimi for the Late Barkin Zuwo in Kano State. Abubakar Rimi had to contest on the platform of the NPP. The NPN cashed in on the internal squabbles within the GNPP to seize control of the then Gongola and Borno States. The internal crisis within the NPN in Kwara State made it easy for the UPN to send a liberation team headed by Cornelius ‘Tunji Adebayo to the state.
The situation within the states in Nigeria today is worse and more explosive than what we had in the Second Republic. The vicious cycle has commenced once more. Ambition is certainly no crime. Inordinate and over ambition are however vices that militate against the growth and development of democratic culture in Society. Nearly all the states of the federation face this situation now.
The greatest tragedy of our current democratic experiment lies in our inability to have political parties that have proper orientation and direction to pull our country successfully through her difficult and thorny paths. The PDP (the ruling party), has failed to show flashes of a disciplined political party prepared and ready to aggregate the collective wishes, enthusiasm and interests of its members right from its formation in 1998. Three leaders of the party in four years of its existence speak volumes about the character of a party that is, without doubt the largest political party in black Africa. It is a party in which every one is master and Lord to himself. The day the PDP starts to embrace the true tenets of what a party in control of Central power and authority should be is the very day the nation would have found fifty percent solutions to her socio-political problems.
What must we do now?
There has been too much overheating of the system that responsible leaders of our country are alarmed as to what the result of such a development could be on the peace and stability of our dear country.
The crisis is affecting the economy of the country. The security of the country is equally at risk. Assassinations of leaders and innocent Nigerians are becoming a crying scandal of our existence. Our Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, charismatic Uncle Bola Ige was gunned to death inside his bedroom in December 2001. The Chairman of the PDP in Kwara State Alhaji Pategi was murdered while on his way to attend a party meeting in Abuja. A news item was put out that he had been murdered by Armed Robbers. Armed robbers in Nigeria are not fools that can easily be framed up cheaply for crimes that are politically motivated. Victor Nwankwo, Nigeria’s pride in the Publishing World was murdered in front of his house while preparing to go to the airport for a trip to Zimbabwe. The Chairman of the Onitsha Branch of the NBA and his wife were murdered in bizarre circumstances by people that were yet to be identified. An Osun State parliamentarian of Ife origin was lured out of his house last year by his supposed friends and his lifeless body was picked up minutes later by an astonished crowd.
Many of our policemen and women have been lost to political and armed robbery skirmishes in the country. Many innocent Nigerians were equally murdered in the Local Government intra party chairmanship and councillorship primaries recently held in the country. In the face of the above, can we in Nigeria say in all sincerity that all will still be well with the various party conventions for the 2003 elections? Can we equally say in all confidence that the 2003 Presidential, Gubernatorial, State and National Assembly elections will leave our dear country in very healthy state after they must have been held?
I submit in all humility that the time has come for all of us to consider seriously the proposition of the Nigerian Bar Association led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) calling for a single five year tenure for the President, Governors, State and National Assemblies. When the idea was first suggested by that young man Femi Falana a few weeks ago, I was struck by it, particularly with the belief that with what we are seeing in Nigeria today, it may be very difficult (unless a miracle occurs) for Nigerians to have successful, and healthy party conventions and national elections in 2003 (state and federal).
I humbly reaffirm the NBA suggestion that we should set the machinery into motion for an amendment to our constitution that will permit a single term of five years for the President, Governors, State and national Assemblies. I therefore back the idea that we allow the single term to run until October 1, 2004.
•We as a nation must equally agree on rotating the presidency so that all the six zones of Nigeria will within 30 (thirty) years produce the President of Nigeria. One of the major problems facing this country is the issue of power equation and distribution. Every Zone must have the confidence that it will be its turn to produce the President of the country within 30 years. If this idea of single term is accepted then President Olusegun Obasanjo will be finishing the South-Western slot within the rotational principle on October 1, 2004.
•The INEC must lift all embargo on formation of parties in Nigeria now. Let all the political associations that want to participate in the democratic process have all the freedom to do so. It is the electorate that have the final say on who and who should represent the interests of the people.
•Perhaps it may help the country lessen the present tension if the President and the National Council of State could have a major look at these matters.
Sept 2002
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