14 Mar 2006 |
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A reply to Chris Ngwodo’s Third term and the next republic Intellectuals of different shades in their quest to curry favor from men of power shamelessly try to give an intellectual bent to ideas that are frankly spiteful. Chris Ngwodo’s paper belongs to that category. In order to do justice to Chris’s article, one has to identify his main assertions; 1. That Obasanjo confronted the threat of Yoruba supremacists. 2. That the collapse of the AD is emblematic of the impotence of the so called progressive politicians. 3. That progressives in Nigeria have never elected a government for reasons bordering more on their own political ineptitude than on the oft cited deficiencies of the system 4. And that our political history suggests that the so called progressives suffer from a congenital inability to construct a pan Nigerian front that can mount a challenge for power. On these and many other salient points of his paper, he ran foul of objectivity bordering on selective amnesia. In which case, I am obliged to refresh his memory. Obasanjo did not confront any Yoruba supremacists’ ideology (if ever there was one) the massive rejection of all the five southwest AD governors by the electorate has more to do with their individual failings rather than the failure of progressive ethos. It also goes a long way to show the sophistication of the people of southwestern Nigeria, by voting for change, they have sent a clear message that irresponsible politicians regardless of their publicly professed ideology are infact dispensable. Come 2007, they will display the same political wisdom if Obasanjo did not rig the elections in favor of his anointed ones. The fact that the Alliance for Democracy is a party that consists within its folds many progressive elements does not in itself confer upon it the toga of a progressive party. Even with all its ideological deficiency, the AD is still a better party than the less ideologically inclined Ghana must go PDP. That the AD failed in its quest to reshape the nation’s political landscape is a combination of many factors, individual AD politicians are just one out of the many contributory factors. Some of the other factors are; weak political structures, a less firmer ideology than the original Awoist ideology and a prevailing political climate characterized by huge financial muscle of which the AD is not capable. But to term the AD’s collapse as a failure of progressive ideas is sheer naivety and a lack of understanding of the complexity of the political landscape of Nigeria. Of course in an ideal Nigeria, political parties such as the AD will always find some relevance because they stand for something, on the other hand, the party in power, the PDP does not stand for anything. And how could Chris accuse progressives of bad faith, when infact they have not been able since their last attempt at progressive political participation during the first republic to wrestle power from the self foisted thieving class. And yet despite the political emasculation, they have not given up hope. You will still find them albeit in small numbers making a difference in the nation’s political terrain and in an otherwise corruption infested body polity. Rather than accuse progressives of bad faith, Chris’s accusation is better hauled in the direction of his Aso rock paymasters. If his Abuja lord is as close as it gets to being a progressive, Nigerians would have by now be reaping the benefits of participatory democracy. As at the last count, those who stood for something in this fourth republic have either been jailed i.e. Asari Dokubo, killed i.e. Harry Marshal and Bola Ige, hounded i.e. Dr Siddiq of ABU Zaria by the state security service and the list is endless. So how dare Chris accuse progressives of bad faith? And Chris capped his ignorance when he said, “ nobody is pointing out that without the formation of a broad based progressive alliance preaching an alternative political creed, the PDP is essentially justified in adopting any means it desires including using its legislative majority to guarantee the continuity of its reign” To this I will reply by using the words of the Italian thinker, Niccolo Machiavelli “ nearly all men, deceived by a seeming glory, willingly or unwillingly slip into the ranks of those who are more deserving of blame than of praise; and being able to establish a kingdom or a republic that would win them everlasting honor, they establish a tyranny instead”. This sums up the intention of President Obasanjo and his crowd of hangers on. By trying to give an intellectual bent to the ill advised third term project, they have only engaged themselves in futility. And in the attempt of trying to accuse progressives of complacency, these are the things Chris left unsaid; that far from being complacent, progressives of all shades have mounted spirited efforts to wean this democracy from the hands of anti democratic elements as personified by the president himself, unfortunately President Obasanjo has sucked up the air and emasculated almost everyone. Through overt and covert blackmail, the destruction of business and generally wielding the enormous resources of state at his disposal against people perceived as potential threats to his infamous ambition. As recently as December 2005, the progressive group led by veteran Nigerian Army colonel, Dangiwa Umar was denied use of the Arewa suites Abuja where they had already made arrangements and paid all the necessary fees to use the facility towards the convocation of a national talkshop/launching. Even though the management of the suites gave lame excuses, we all knew that they were probably intimidated by the state. So rather than give progressives lectures on political participation, I will advise Chris to save that for his principal in Aso rock. While it is expedient that we either amend or totally render ineffective the 1999 constitution and allow the Nigerian people to give themselves the kind of constitution they desire, the present constitutional review and amendment process led by Mantu is an exercise fraught in corruption and a rape of democracy. The 1999 constitution and the resultant government it produced are greatly deficient and inadequate for the job of this monumental impact. What is desirous is for all the 36 states and the national assembly to begin what can be aptly termed “dialogue with Nigeria” a process that will consult with all stakeholders and one that will not be rushed, in a nation of 100 million people, 250 languages and almost the same number of ethnic groups you would think that no stone will be left unturned towards giving the people the constitution they desires. Anything short of this is postponing the evil’s day. An attempt to amend the constitution to satisfy the whims of just one individual will be resisted by Nigerians and ultimately might lead to undesirable consequences. But I have a question for Obasanjo intellectuals (if we should call them that), what is another term in office going to produce for Nigeria under an Obasanjo Presidency? Is it a better deal or more of the same old tired politics of no dividend? Four more years of Obasanjo will move us backwards rather than forward. And to buttress my fears, here are some food for thought; Obasanjo cherry picks the court order to obey and disregards the ones he does not fancy. Note that however, the Nigerian state does not derive its powers from Obasanjo but rather the latter derives his powers from the state. So the million dollar question is; why does Obasanjo cherry pick court orders? This is unconstitutional and ultra vires. Did I just hear an angry Nigerian call for impeachment? When he came to government in 1999, he does not have any concrete ideas of what he wants to achieve or better yet, he does not have any contract with Nigeria sort of thing. While in government, its still more of the same, purposeless and directionless. I will concede that he made a few good appointments in Charles Soludo and Okonjo Iweala but how much can they achieve when their principal is not equipped intellectually to understand the complexities of running a modern system of government with three equal branches of government. In Obasanjo’s Nigeria, the executive is the senior partner while the national assembly is the 1st junior partner and the less favored judiciary the 2nd junior partner. What a travesty of democratic ethos. And amongst his supposed good appointees, we have Nasir El Rufai, who though seems somewhat capable but has been trailed by corruption controversy and has demonstrated the willingness to act undemocratic on a number of times assuming responsibilities and roles that are not within his constitutional mandate as a political appointee. The Niger delta conflict has escalated more during this presidency because he has shown yet again his lack of understanding of the complexities involved. The last time I read that he is getting the army ready for an invasion, how could any President unleash the might of the military on his own people, except of course if you are Obasanjo and you are out of your depth. Not that a successive democratic government will resolve this impasse immediately, however it will be an opportunity for a fresh start and a new look towards finding a permanent solution and reconciling the people with the state. Common, lets face it, the Niger deltans have been greatly hurt and traumatized in Nigeria, they have paid far more price for their contribution towards the well being of the nation. What did they get in return? Environmental degradation and blighting poverty. A caring nation will not even think of suggesting a police invasion let alone a military one! But the Niger deltans have sure seen a lot and they could see even more if Obasanjo carries out his threat. The process for national renewal starts with good and reliable data collection, as I write this, critical documents be it personal or business are collected haphazardly in Nigeria. The president who is supposed to be at the helm of government and set agenda has not been able to do this, the national identity card project was bungled. Without a good data collection practice we cannot even begin to talk of national reconstruction. How do you allocate what to who and to where? And that’s why crimes take longer to solve in Nigeria because the perpetrators can easily blend into the common fold with ease and assume a new identity. Infact he can win elections and become a governor under the present arrangement, if he has not already. And as for the up coming census, its going to be a monumental waste of national resources because there are some systems that are supposed to be in place before the census head count can be effective, right now they are not in place. Do Nigerians feel more secure today than they were seven years ago? I will say no. Assassinations have become more frequent and the state of the roads are not any significantly better despite the claim of having spent over 300 billion naira. What about the state of the schools and accessibility to healthcare? On the two counts, no significant improvement either. The schools are in more deplorable states and affordable healthcare is still elusive to many a Nigerian. The national health insurance scheme is a fraud as yours truly during my last visit in Nigeria tried to get one for myself and family in order to verify the efficacy of the workability of this particular scheme, I was told by many providers that it was yet to take off, just like many Obasanjo projects, seven years and still counting and they are yet to take off. What about the state of our aviation industry? All you need to do is take a look back at 2005 and you will see how the President has been performing wonderfully well in the aviation industry! The energy sector is still epileptic, PHCN is a mere change of name and NNPC is still run shabbily with the President at the head as the minister in charge. The privatization exercise is a mere give away of Nigerian properties to cronies and hangers on. If you are familiar with the pentascope deal and many other shoddy deals of this fourth republic you will agree with me that what is going on right now is not democracy but a pretension to that effect. While I admire Soludo and Iweala, I cannot but conclude that the 12 billion dollar debt buy back deal is ill advised, as an economist myself, I cannot accept the rationale offered to pay back 12 billion dollars of hard earned Nigerian money to foreign shylock creditors in an hurried fashion. It is not so much as the level of debt that we have that have stunted our growth, it is the sheer size of corruption that is prevalent combined with our low level of GDP that is the bane of our economic woes. If tomorrow we are free of debt, the situation will not be any different if we do not change the prevailing thieving climate. Instead of paying this large lump sum of 12 billion dollars at once, why not make a payment schedule and use the bulk of this money towards national reconstruction, there are a thousand and one things that could use some little lifeline here and there and the prudent injection of 12 billion dollars to the Nigerian economy will sure stimulate a massive economic growth. On just about many issues, the Obasanjo presidency is on the wrong side of history and to amend the constitution with the sole purpose of giving him another term in office is going to be more of the same old thing. Besides, it is just plain wrong. The danger for the progressive individual or the intellectual is therefore one of identifying whose side they are on. Are you on the side of the people or on the other side? While Chris Ngwodo and co are entitled to exercise their fundamental rights of speech, they should however know that their veil attempt to colour their rhetoric with the guise of intellectualism nay objectivity is known for what it is, a veil attempt. Underneath this, is the fact that they are to Obasanjo what Goebbels was to Hitler and Uche Chukwu merije was to Abacha. And as for an epitaph for such individuals, it will be rightly said of them that, they lived, they learned, but they sold their conscience for a pittance. Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia can be reached at abdu_mumi@yahoo.co.uk
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