The Nigerian Village Square - Audu Ogbeh as a Catalyst?

Audu Ogbeh as a Catalyst?

Wednesday, 15 December 2004

Audu Ogbeh as a Catalyst?

Far from blunting the impact of Chief Ogbeh’s letter to President Obasanjo, the official response by the presidency will only deepen the cynicism Nigerians have come to harbour regarding their government and the political class in general. If the president and his acolytes were hoping to calm frail nerves by reassuring compatriots that the ship of state is being ably and valiantly captained, I’m afraid, they have failed miserably. By choosing to react through their now familiar tactic of blackmail and personal attacks against those who are critical of their ways, Obasanjo and his errand boys are showing once again their utter disdain for the people. Bearing the heading “Re: Anambra and Related Matters”, Audu Ogbeh’s letter is much more than a sober reflection on the state of the nation. Its frank and denunciatory tone should be seen as offering a prescriptive canvass for truly democratic change within the Nigerian polity.

As a key political figure, whether the PDP chairman likes it or not, his pronouncements are bound to carry weight and Nigerians will most likely view his critical assessment of the dismal performance of the current Obasanjo regime as a nudge from a nationalist - an entreaty for collective political action to salvage our troubled country. Instead of futilely trying to minimize the import of Ogbeh’s message, the Obasanjo regime and its henchmen should rather be concerned with trying to address the issues raised by the Benue politician who deserves commendation for his honest and cautionary portrayal of our socio-economic reality in the last couple of years. The calls by self-serving toadies for the resignation of this former minister in the Shagari government and his reported hounding by security forces acting at the instigation of Mr. President must be dismissed as desperate acts by a reckless and irresponsible regime and its agents.

The letter by the PDP chairman is a remarkable document, probably the most powerful all-embracing public castigation of the Obasanjo regime so far by a major politician belonging to the same party as the president. That this scathing rebuke of Obasanjo's leadership is coming from the chairman of the president's own party speaks volumes. By going public instead of trying to hide behind a cowardly "family affair" syndrome that has marked the way the PDP-led federal government has traditionally dealt with issues of corruption and bad conduct involving their friends and allies alike, Ogbeh seems to be distancing himself from what is turning out as a legacy of unprecedented incompetence and tyrannical misrule by a supposedly democratic government. Nigerians irrespective of party affiliation should see a glimmer of hope in the intervention by the PDP chieftain. They should seize the opportunity it offers to ask more probing questions as well as press for concrete action on those significant issues that have been pending and continue to negate the development of the nation. In doing so, they will duly take note of President Obasanjo’s reaction to Ogbeh’s view of the malaise within the polity.
“Mr. President, I was part of the second republic and we fell. Memories of that fall are a miserable litany of woes we suffered, escaping death only by God’s supreme mercy. Then we were suspected to have stolen all of Nigeria’s wealth. After several months in prison, some of us were freed to come back to life penniless and wretched. Many have gone to their early graves un-mourned because the public saw us all as renegades.
I am afraid we are drifting in the same direction again. In life, perception is reality and today, we are perceived in the worst light by an angry, scornful Nigerian Public for reasons which are absolutely unnecessary”. This is probably the most apropos nugget of Ogbeh’s letter. In that quote, Ogbeh is situating his discourse beyond the specific significance of the Anambra imbroglio. Yes, he puts ultimate responsibility for the resolution of the Anambra crisis on the shoulders of the president without necessarily exculpating other guilty parties to the conflict. But Anambra is only but an episode, albeit a major one, in what has become a “litany of woes” being inflicted on the average Nigerian by a callous Obasanjo regime and its cavalier approach to governance.
When shall we cease to be the laughingstock of the world? My heart bleeds. With the latest revelations by President Obasanjo, the logical expectation is that the judiciary in Anambra will do their job. Thanks, in part, to Audu Ogbeh's strategic intervention, those seeking justice in the '419'-related litigations may finally get it. That eventuality may also depend on the response from the street. Obasanjo has just made a testimony to the effect that he knowingly withheld vital information - confessions by both Ngige and Uba that the PDP did not win the governorship election in Anambra. And there are nation-wide implications for this development. For instance, did Obasanjo win the presidential election in 2003? An association of opposition parties has challenged the official result of that 'selection' against which local as well as international observers returned a most grim verdict. Will the courts now begin to do their job, transparently, instead of having to worry about suggestions from Aso Rock?

The exchange between the PDP chairman and President Obasanjo cannot gladden the hearts of 137 million Nigerians. To a large extent, the president's revelations do make a more depressing reading. They paint the picture of a president of Nigeria unable to deal with the unpardonable turpitudes of relatively minor political associates. We are all the more alarmed that the criminal conduct of these political misfits invariably has a direct impact on our democratic project and governance in general. And more crucially, can Obasanjo legitimately continue in office as president in the knowledge that his so-called mandate in 2003 is heavily tainted? As a nation, we will for a long time pay the price for the consequences of Obasanjo's decision to condone a perverted electoral process that allowed charlatans to occupy the country's most strategic offices. I'm reminded of a certain Wabara who calls himself president of Nigeria's Senate! President Obasanjo's moral poltroonery will continue to haunt us as a people.
Significantly also, what are Nigerians going to do with this damning piece of information that their president has just off-loaded on them? The PDP chairman has done his part. He cannot afford to be smug, though. Giving in to blackmail and cheap tricks would only embolden those forces of reaction around him. He needs the support of democratic forces within his party (and outside of it) in order to re-establish the relevance of their worldview on the Nigerian polity. And Nigerians should be vigilant if only because of the fact that Ogbeh has for so long been a member of Nigeria’s political establishment. The more desperate members of this group will not want to let Ogbeh have the last word. That is why Nigerians must intervene to reclaim the sovereignty of their collective will.
Audu Ogbeh’s address to the Nigerian people is along the lines of the alarm that Achebe had raised not long ago regarding the state of lawlessness in Anambra. It is also along the lines of the blistering but pondered criticism by Col. Dangiwa Umar concerning the anti-people policies of the Obasanjo government. And in its critical subtext, the Ogbeh epistle echoes what Alex Ekwueme had stated a few weeks ago to the effect that the “PDP has been hijacked by undemocratic forces”. This is an apt rendition and the point needs to be made that Ogbeh has gone much further than Ekwueme to warn that those undemocratic forces which are led by none other than President Obasanjo are the very ones primarily responsible for much of the despair in the land today. Now is the time for Nigeria’s patriotic forces to rally together and demand the honest rendering of accounts from their governments at all levels. The message by the PDP chairman should be seen as offering a timely impetus in the struggle for genuinely democratic change. The option of protest and repudiation may in the immediate involve Anambra as a direct consequence of ‘419’ but its overall emphasis must be on the Obasanjo regime’s numerous human rights abuses in that state, in Odi, Zaki-Biam and elsewhere in the country. The ultimate objective remains the banishment from the Nigerian society of reckless impunity as a way of life.
Aonduna Tondu
New York
E-mail: tondua@yahoo.com

Robot Robot is offline
Villager


	# 1 Audu Ogbeh as a Catalyst?Far from b...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 01.05.2008 23:40

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 April 2008 )

[ Back ]