We The People” as defined by the 8th wonder of the world, the American Constitution can be taken for granted as the most culpable for the failure of Democracy anywhere around the world. When Chinese trooped out in their millions at the Tiananmen Square to protest the negative effects of Communism and Human Rights violations in their country, the Chinese leadership across the board, despite their public denial, definitely took notice that something had to change in China if Communism and their regime were to survive.
I am using China in this comparative analysis as the most populated country in the world and now the second largest economy running a distant second to God’s own country. You could say the same thing of “the Arab Spring” which started with a huge rally in Cairo to serve notice to the Arab dictators and feudal Lords across the region that it was time for a change that should bring the middle class in their society to the limelight and to begin to recognize and respond to the needs of the poor and the underprivileged in their society, if justice, peace and stability are to reign supreme in those countries.
The Soviet Union under Gorbachev faced the same reality when they decided to end the cold war with America and the West and to embrace some elements of Democracy as practiced in the West and the dividends that come with that heightened awareness which eventually broke up the Soviet Union under the heavy weight of “Perestroika” leading to a major realignment of countries around the world as we speak even though Vladimir Putin and some of his loyalists are still in denial. But sooner or later they would wake up from their slumber to realize they have been wrong all along, and should embark on a face-saving damage control to come back to their senses.
They are going to do that when more Russians begin to feel the full impact of the sanctions unleashed on them by America and the West, and when Russians start rebelling against the iron curtain rules and conditions that Donald Reagan once urged Gorbachev to tear down during his famous landmark speech in Berlin.
The Nigerian people as a whole including you and I are the most culpable for the tragedies of Corruption, impunity and indiscipline which have held our country to ransom for too long because we tolerated the recklessness and the sheer incompetence of our leaders. Many Nigerians are now openly canvassing the return of the Military in total desperation because a country so much blessed by God by way of good weather and natural resources has been reduced to an effigy of herself by a clueless Government and leadership. I see no visible light at the end of the Nigerian tunnel and “axis of evil.”
A lot of our people are suffering in silence. Anikulapo Kuti put it best when he said Nigerians are suffering and smiling at the same time. Our shock absorbers to endure abuses from our own government are limitless. I am amazed.
I saw a little bit of that during my short visit to Nigeria. Nigeria is supposed to lead the way for the nascent Democracy in South Africa after so many years in bondage under the Apartheid regime. Nigeria fought tooth and nail and championed the release from prison of Africa’s greatest statesman, the legendary Madiba Nelson Mandela who led South Africa for 6 glorious years as the authentic transformational President of South Africa because of what he did as a pioneer President. Today, South Africa leads Nigeria and the rest of Africa in every index of development. Even though President Thabo Mbeki and President Suma who took over from Mandela could never match the track record of Mandela, but they inherited from Mandela certain attributes of selflessness and transformation they could only ignore to their own peril.
The problems faced by Mandela on assumption of office were far more complex than those faced by Nigerian leaders at Independence. Why? Because Mandela and the South African leadership had to collaborate with their long-time oppressors and enemies in the Apartheid regime to forge ahead and to build a stable South Africa for all South Africans, black and white including Indians. That meant taking what was good in South Africa and building on them while creating a multi ethnic society and creating an environment that is acceptable and workable both for the enslaved and the slave masters in a synergy or symbiosis hard to find anywhere around the world. Mandela was a magician in that sense if you get what I am getting at, because he had to chart a path for South Africa never before traveled by any world leader. He became the quintessential transformational leader that our own President Goodluck Jonathan could only dream of.
President Jonathan is asking Nigerians to re-elect him in 2015 based on his phony transformation agenda which is nothing compared to the Mandela transformation. Mandela gave 27 years of his prime to fighting for freedom and before becoming President. Goodluck Jonathan was picked from the gutters or nowhere by Obasanjo to be running mate and Deputy Governor to a disgraced and corrupt Alimiyeseigha of Bayelsa State. By just being lucky and being at the right place at the right time, he became Governor of Bayelsa when Alimiyeseigha ran afoul of the Law in Britain and became a fugitive offender from that country dressed up as a woman trying to escape justice.
Rather than letting the man face justice back home in Nigeria, the next thing we got was a state pardon for his former boss. He, therefore, succeeded in transforming his boss from a jail bird into a free citizen with all his ill-gotten gains returned to him on a platter of gold. I can see Alimiyeseigha running for office as Senator of Vice President some day because blessed are those whose sins are covered up or forgiven. President Jonathan wants Nigerian voters to view his low tolerance level for Corruption as transformation. He actually made the point that stealing is not corruption but a misdemeanor that will disappear over time and Nigerians don’t have to be concerned about stealing because the problem would heal itself. That statement alone is enough to cost him his presidency in a more civilized society. I don’t care how much Reuben Abati fine-tunes that statement for him, the Jonathan dog is not going to hunt for Nigerian voters who place country over and above their own enlightened self- interest. Jonathan lost the presidency the day he made such a Freudian slip he would forever regret. Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter the day he openly admitted that the Soviet Union did not dominate Poland. He never recovered from the devastating effect of that statement and I can predict that Jonathan has committed the same unforgivable gaffe that should come back to haunt him big time as the election gathers momentum.
Yes the man built a second Niger Bridge for the benefit of Nigerians and his most loyal supporters in the Southeast which is praiseworthy, but what is the state of the road leading to that bridge from Lagos to Shagamu, from Shagamu to Benin and from Benin to Onitsha and beyond. I traveled on those roads during my short trip to Nigeria. All I can tell all of you reading this is not to believe anything coming out of Jonathan’s mouth.
I fully understand why the majority of the Igbos, not all of them, is rooting for him for re-election in 2015. He has done pretty well for the Igbos rehabilitating them and allowing them their own slice from the national cake like no other President before him since the civil war. I have no problems with his taking care of his ardent supporters and assigning to them the most lucrative Ministries of Government like Finance, Health and Petroleum and for sponsoring Deziani Madueke to be President of OPEC. But if the man is a truly transformational President he claims, he would do a few things differently just like Mandela did.
The President talked about transforming the Nigerian Railway system by recently awarding the contract to the Chinese. If that was all he could do in 6 years in that office, he has failed as far as I am concerned, and he should step aside for someone who can work at a faster pace. I actually traveled from Oyingbo to Oko Oba area, Agege in one of the trains Jonathan has been talking about. I took a risk doing that because I nearly got trampled upon by the maddening crowd who called themselves passengers. I had to take the train to beat the Lagos traffic.
All I could think about was that the Federal Government moved the nation’s capital to Abuja to ease Lagos traffic and to create some level of comfort for people in the newly minted capital where one could easily die of heat wave and where the traffic jam from the city center to Karu or Garki or the road going to Kaduna or Kano or even the one going to Nasarawa could last for hours as drivers, okada riders and caterpillar drivers and truckers struggle to beat each other as they try to claim their right of way because the outlets to Abuja are a far cry from the ones recommended by Justice Akinola Aguda Capital City Commission.
I personally spoke to Justice Aguda before his death because we both came from the same town and from the same St Thomas’s Church in Akure. One of the man’s greatest regrets in life was the failure of the Federal Government to follow the master plan his Commission had recommended. Abuja was developed with an Hausa mentality which says “Don’t worry, be happy on the presumption of “Allah ikemu” that Allah would do the rest” With that kind of mindset, the average northerners, not all of them, I concede, do not believe in the British adage “that those who fail to plan, plan to fail” Most Nigerians, President Jonathan included are of that mindset which is really a tragedy for the country.
Power outages remain a huge problem in Nigeria anywhere you go. If Jonathan is truly a transformational President, I want to tell you one simple thing he could have done, right now, to solve the problem if he truly meant business. That is something I would have done if I was President for just one year. Jonathan should have crafted and sponsored a Bill to his PDP-dominated House and Senate and use his massive influence and power to get it passed in both Houses just like any good American President would have done.
Ban the provision of power plants to the official quarters and offices of the President and his Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee Chairmen in the House and Senate and most members of the Federal Legislature and State Legislatures including Governors and their important state officials without exception. Insist that the national grid or NEPA must generate sufficient power once the necessary funds have been provided. Let all the officials listed in this write-up endure for a month or more what ordinary Nigerians have had to endure 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days in a year. So many billions have been spent by the PDP Federal Government on NEPA with nothing to show for it because corruption has eaten so deep into the very fabric of our nature.
The problem of NEPA is never going to end until we find a President and leaders ready and willing to make such a sacrifice and to force NEPA to perform like Mortal did for 200 days of his short-lived regime. Some will say that what I am suggesting is not possible in a civilian regime. Where there is a will, there is a way, and the move would be more than welcomed by the great majority of the people. Right now by Law, no Nigerian is allowed to sue NEPA even if NEPA commits murder against them just like Presidents, and Governors cannot be prosecuted for any offense while still in office. That was an obnoxious law that the former shoeless Jonathan would have tried to change on coming to office and certainly during his first two years not to talk of his last 6 years. There are other things that I would elaborate upon in the other series coming after this. Power outages are never going to stop in Nigeria until generator contractors across Nigeria are put in check or put out of business under the rule of Law by some draconian Laws that favor sterilization of women in China and some states in India for limiting the number of children they could have. Why bring a child to the world you know you do not have the means to raise? It makes no sense. There are things the President could do which he could not do because the man is either too weak or clueless. The man who could not check the excesses of his first lady cannot rule a country as big and as complex as Nigeria.
That is the plain truth.
Having said so much about the President and what he could to salvage our Democracy, I now proceed to the other 3 Nigerian officials I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article. I once wrote an article published several years ago and titled “Nigerians who could change Nigeria if they try”. Today I am focusing on Professor Attahiru Jega, the hand-picked Chairman of INEC by President Jonathan. Part of the few good things I would not take away from Jonathan as President is his appointment of Professor Jega who has done a fairly decent job but has remained a captive to his boss by few of the things he has done or not done.
He is expected to be a neutral umpire and should forever remain one, and transparently so, to earn the confidence of “We The People” Professor Jega should have gone ahead to dismiss some of the rotten eggs in his Commission who have been aiding and abetting rigging despite his best efforts. He should let the Public know about such firings and why they have occurred and ought to do it in the public domain so everyone will know what the powerful chairman is doing to sanitize INEC in preparation for a truly fair and free election in 2015.
The mainstream of the News media in Nigeria needs to play their part to cover such news just like Sahara Reporters are doing with great success in New York. I have read some news report saying our Managing Director and CEO; Omoyele Sowore is being bribed by the APC to do what we are all doing in Sahara. I won’t be working free of charge for the young man, if he was that kind of person, and I know many of us like the amazing Rudolf Okonkwo and the enchanting Adeola Fayeun and other stars in the organization won’t be working so selflessly for Omoyele if he was that kind of Nigerian.
Young and unflappable Omoyele and his Sahara Reporters are telling the PDP and Jonathan the truth, but they think Omoyele is giving them hell. Somebody has to stand up for Nigeria and call a spade a spade. The 2015 election is too important for any of us to take lightly. Nigeria got to vote for a change in 2015, and that change is Mohammadu Buhari.
I am so happy this morning to hear that the Arewa Consultative Committee Chairman has served notice to Jonathan and the PDP they have endorsed Buhari because of what he stood for. That was a good omen for the Buhari chances in all of the North. If the voters are united nobody can steal their vote or announce a fake result, if the Ondo state experience on August 16, 1983 is anything to go by.
I admire Buhari for his perseverance and staying power as a President-want-to-be. He reminds me of Obafemi Awolowo and his conviction that he wants to do for Nigeria what he has done for himself and for the old Western Region. Buhari reminds me of a Ronald Reagan who ran so many times but lost but he never gave up, and he turned out to be one of the greatest Presidents in American history by some of what he did. He was a democrat at one point in his life before becoming a conservative. Buhari was a military man who seems to have fully embraced the tenets of Democracy and must have learned a lot from his experience as a military dictator just like Murtala Mohammed, Obasanjo, and Ibrahim Babangida. Nigeria needs a man like that for this moment in Nigeria history.
Goodluck Jonathan is another Dukakis in military uniform. Buhari cannot be intimidated by the Nigerian Military. He would put a check on the excesses of the Military and restore the Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Police back to their glorious past. The Northerners should be proud to finally find a northerner like Buhari, who has as much credibility in the South like he has in the North. They would be crazy to let this opportunity pass them by. I am a southern Christian and a Yoruba man, but I am going to vote for Buhari because he is more qualified and more battle-ready than Goodluck Jonathan who is a good man but is just too weak to pass the litmus test as a strong leader.
Buhari has proved that Nigeria is not for sale and that Nigerians value integrity and honesty more than they value the money bags among us. Buhari does not have the money to buy our votes like Jonathan and the Atikus of this world, but he has integrity and discipline and those are the two qualities Nigeria needs in 2015 and beyond.
The second most important Nigerian official is the new Inspector General Abba, who can make or mar the outcome of the2015 election. The man has so far shown he is the IG of the PDP and not the Inspector General of the rank and file of Nigeria. His mission is to the agent provocateur for the President, who appointed him. He in collusion with the Joint Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Military and the highest man next to the Commander-in-Chief are both hell-bent on serving the interest of the President because they firmly believe they hold their appointment at the pleasure of the President. The two officers want to work hand in hand to thwart the verdict of the people in 2015 by creating a Gestapo to intimidate and arrest the leaders and agents of the opposition party and to stop them from adequately supervising the election just like they did in Ekiti and later on at Osun to please the President and his Party. Obanikoro, who recently lost his gubernatorial bid in Lagos, was a bad example of how to use power to intimidate opponents in any election year like he did in Ekiti and Osun. Nigerians should be pleased the man lost very badly to Jimmy Agbaje
They succeeded in Ekiti, but they failed woefully in Osun because Rauf Aregbesola and Osun voters were more than ready for them. They are going to try the same thing in Ondo but they are going to fail this time around because the PDP is currently in total disarray in Ondo State but the party thinks it is going to win with Mimiko on their side. The bubble of deceit has burst on Governor Mimiko, and it is no longer going to be business as usual. I like Governor Mimiko but his decamping to the PDP has done more harm to him than good when the chips are down. With the wave election that may occur now that General Buhari has won the nomination of the APC, the plan to stigmatize as an Islamic jihadist who is out to Islamize Nigeria may not work as expected. It was General Ibrahim’s regime that made Nigeria a permanent member of the Islamic Organization while telling Nigerians that Nigeria was only there on an observer status. It was a big lie. Buhari and Idiagbon did not enroll Nigeria as a permanent member of IOC.
Yes, Buhari is a devoted Muslim, but that does not make him a Jihadist for those who can read between the lines. M.K.O was a devoted Muslim, but that did not stop him from winning the best election in Nigeria. Nigerian Christians in the South should not be deceived to believe that Buhari should not be elected because he is a Muslim. Some of the best Yoruba and Hausa Fulani leaders were Muslims, but they turn out to be credible and benevolent leaders. Alhaji Adegbenro was one such Muslims under the Awolowo regime. So were Governors Tinubu and Fashola and even Governor Mimiko of Ondo State before his somersault. Lam Adesina was a Muslim. There were good and bad Muslims just like there were good and bad Christians.
The most respected Yoruba traditional rulers today include Alhaji Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebu Ode, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, “Iku Baba Yeye” Lamidi Adeyemi the Third, the great Alaafin of Oyo is a Muslim and a respectable one at that not to talk of the current Sultan of Sokoto and the Shehu of Bornu talk less of Tor Tiv and many powerful Emirs like the new Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, the former Governor of the Nigerian Central Bank. Who says Muslims are not decent and credible Nigerians? Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, was a Muslim. The Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, and Sir Kashim Ibrahim as the first civilian Governor of Northern Nigeria were all credible and reputable Muslims. Abdul Azeez Attah, the son of Ohinoyi, the Attah of Igbira Land was a distinguished Permanent Secretary in the Federal Service, and so was Ahmed Joda from Girei in Adamawa State.
I served under Joda when he was Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education. He was the most dependable and trustworthy Nigerian Permanent Secretary I ever served under in my entire career in the Federal Public Service. He thought me all I knew, and he made me the man I became because the man was upright and incorruptible. Being a Muslim should not be a disqualifier for General Buhari, who was not more Muslim than Murtala Mohammed, the best northerner to ever rule Nigeria. Shehu Shagari was a Muslim, and so was Umaru Yar Adua. They were all gentlemen who loved Nigeria with a passion.
Nigerians should vote for Buhari not based on his religion but for his integrity and credibility as a public official and a former Head of State who has served the nation with distinction in every position he has held long before Jonathan ever emerged from the South/South as a public figure. We must never forget that. Now that America and much of the West have discovered and are working very hard to create and develop alternate sources of energy, Nigerians may sooner or later have to drink our oil as demand falls and as prices of oil take a nose dive in the international market.
Nigeria needs a leader with the back bone and the ability and the vision to chart a new course for Nigeria. That is what we are talking about. The Heavens will not fall next February if Nigerians use their votes to say no to Jonathan and a resounding yes to Sai Buhari for a change.
If in 4 years we do not see a change, I will be among the first Nigerians to shout that “Buhari must go” I love Buhari right now, but I do not love him more than myself and more than I love Nigeria. If he does not perform, he loses my support in a heartbeat. That is my bottom line, and I guess that is the bottom line of most Nigerian voters, as they get ready for the 2015 elections. The PDP and President Jonathan, who control the keys to the Nigerian Treasury, have more than enough money to buy your votes from their loot. Take the money but go to the polling booth to pull the lever for Buhari just like many delegates at the APC primary predictably took Atiku’s millions but voted their hopes and not their fears behind the curtains by voting for Buhari and their own future and the future of their own children. It is that simple!
If the President and the three officials I have listed would do their job and uphold their oath of office to the best of their ability, Buhari would not only win the presidency in 2015, he would go on to create stability in Nigeria, subdue the Boko Haram insurgency and reintegrate the surviving majority of the insurgents and their followers because their movement is essentially a rebellion against very many years of oppression and neglect by the power brokers in the North and their self-serving stewardship. President Jonathan has lost all his credibility to remain in office when half of the country is evidently in distress and when one use Dollar not converts to 190 Naira and may soon hit 200 from the look of things. Remember the Chibok girls are still in captivity as we speak, and Nigerians are dying and even unsafe in their own house or castle. President and Dame Patience should retire peacefully to their harem in Bayelsa to enjoy their loot they have stolen from the Nigerian commonwealth.
I rest my case.
