| The Sultan's Warning to INEC and the Mood of the Nation |
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| Written by Aonduna Tondu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 16 March 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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When the former dictator, General Sani Abacha died suddenly in mysterious circumstances in 1998, not a few Nigerians danced openly in a display of popular contempt for the memory of an individual whose regime had made life unbearable for the average Nigerian. In a sense, those citizens who saw it fit to revel on account of the sudden disappearance of Abacha were posthumously expressing a death wish against their deceased potentate. It is safe to say that the attitude Nigerians displayed vis-à-vis Abacha even in death was tame compared to the profound sense of loathing the people feel today toward the current tyrant at Aso Rock, Olusegun Obasanjo. Only two weeks ago, the country had a glimpse of the ‘Abacha treatment’ or farewell that awaits any despicable ruler when it was confronted with the rather dramatic, and as it turned out, incorrect reports about Yar’adua’s death. It is trite to say that the overwhelming majority of the reactions to the rumored demise of the PDP candidate in the 2007 presidential election were the moral equivalent – at least at a subliminal level - of both a death wish and a celebration. Of course, a death wish against the PDP and its owner in the person of the supreme ruler called Matthew Okikiolakan Obasanjo and a celebration of what that death should imply for the Nigerian polity, that is, at once a liberation and the promise of renewal after almost eight wasted years of administrative lawlessness and rascality on the part of the despot and his errand boys. The sense of gloating and disdain that characterized citizens' overall attitude to the rumors about Yar’adua’s death did capture the essence of the people’s mood regarding the state of the nation under Obasanjo. Yet, Yar’adua cannot avoid chastisement for the fact that he is a willing tool of the corrupt, criminal and desperate attempt by his godfather aimed at ensuring the latter’s political self-perpetuation. To ignore the potent message of the people’s anguish is to play the ostrich in these trying times for the country. In this essay whose alternative title is "Of Dangerous Men and the Mood of the Nation", we shall try to propose, by way of emphasis, what the Nigerian people should do to stop an unpatriotic and largely discredited tyrant and his allies from having their way through the illegal and corrupt imposition of an incompetent surrogacy. Citizens should undertake a purposeful repudiation of what Obasanjo and his sinister PDP stand for – the corrupt and hypocritical practices of Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC which are aimed at thwarting the people’s will to freely choose their representatives, the illegal and sadistic antics of INEC’s Iwu and his pro-regime partisanship, the unprecedented assault by the agents of the tyrant in the SSS, the police and the army against political opponents and critical voices in the media, etc. Nigerians wanting to salvage the country must start from the unfortunate but realistic premise that the Aso Rock tin god and his confederates do not harbor the best of intentions for the nation. The evidence is stark pointing to the ill-will and brazen viciousness that have been the hallmarks of the way Obasanjo and his acolytes attend to national issues. Those media outfits harping in their editorials on the good intentions of the regime’s principal should be seen as engaging in sophistry of the worst kind if not in outright justifications for Obasanjo’s atrocious kleptocracy which has inflicted untold but avoidable divisiveness and stress on the polity. How is a willful desecration of the nation’s democratic institutions by the despot and his attack dogs a mark of their good intentions?. How, for God’s sake, can one rationally state that the actions of a blood-thirsty despot who sends armed soldiers to attack, maim and perpetrate terrible atrocities against unarmed civilians in Odi, Zaki-Biam and surrounding communities are informed by decent intentions? And the guerilla assault on Anambra by armed hoodlums beholden to Aso Rock? One must forcefully refute the fallacy of the so-called good intentions of the despot and his regime when a newspaper like The Guardian(Lagos) in its editorial of Thursday, March 15, 2007 entitled “Obasanjo at 70…” seeks to minimize the scope and nature of the tragedy that Obasanjo and his regime have become in the present scheme of things. Obasanjo is a dangerous man, perhaps the most dangerous public figure in the history of Nigeria. There should be no beating about the bush in this affair. Those who preach the gospel of good intentions (on the part of the despot) or even complacency toward the dictator and his regime should be reminded of just how bad the situation is nowadays. In an earlier commentary, I did mention that Obasanjo is a “debilitating symbol of disunity and sectarian regimentation”. That in itself is an understatement. Since 1999, the dictator has tried to exploit sectional as well as religious differences, all in the desperate bid to remain politically relevant despite his moral and administrative inadequacies. Between 1999 and 2003 in particular, CAN under Pastor Mbang was used in an immoral crusade targeting the opposition and especially those fighting against Obasanjo’s excesses, including the electoral charade of 2003. It is also in the public domain that some civil society groups in the South were used to garner support for Obasanjo’s fraudulent third term scheme. One sad consequence of this was the fact that legitimate issues like the resource-sharing arrangement suffered neglect both in the National Assembly and during Obasanjo’s national conference . Today, the Niger-Delta is as restless as ever due largely to the fact that the current regime in Abuja has failed to honestly deal with the fundamental issues fueling the insurgency there. One of the sadder reminders of the danger confronting Nigerian democracy today is the desperate attempt by Obasanjo and his henchmen to manipulate the electoral system by corruptly and illegally paving the way for the emergence of clones at both the federal and state levels of governance. The sinister objective behind the desperation to stop V-P Atiku, for instance, from contesting the 2007 presidential election, as has been stressed elsewhere, is to see to it that Yar’adua emerges as president. He is considered as the man most likely to protect Obasanjo and his allies in crime from having to account for their numerous atrocities against the Nigerian people. To achieve their unwholesome designs, Obasanjo and his fellow hedonists laid siege on the PDP, the so-called ruling party and corruptly took control of its structures. These bacchants then assaulted democratic structures at the state level by orchestrating the illegal and forced overthrow of state governors in Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Oyo, Plateau, and Adamawa. In Benue and other places, the governors said to be political allies of Atiku were also threatened with the EFCC blackmail weapon. Importantly also, INEC’s Iwu is seen as being part and parcel of the corrupt and vicious assault on Nigerian democracy by Obasanjo and his PDP gang. Iwu must be told that he will not escape the wrath of the people should his illegal antics lead to a break down of law and order. Iwu and his disreputable outfit have been drafted to help prevent credible opposition candidates from standing elections in Anambra and other locations. This crass attempt by Obasanjo and his goons to truncate democratic expression should be considered as an assault on Nigerian sovereignty. Other underhand and illegal attempts by the Obasanjo regime aimed at undermining the sovereign will of the Nigerian people include the persecution of political opponents through the use of state institutions like the judiciary, the police, the SSS and the army. There are disturbing reports of the police being used to deny opposition parties and their candidates permits for political rallies. A few weeks ago, Atiku’s campaign director, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, was reportedly intimidated by the SSS because of trumped-up charges of involvement in terrorism. And there is also an economic dimension to the madness of the regime’s main characters and their subalterns. In what is tantamount to economic sabotage against fellow Nigerians and their businesses, local airline operators have been reportedly harassed and ordered to refuse air-lifting V-P Atiku and his entourage for political rallies and other campaign-related engagements. Airlines have been threatened with cancellations of their operating permits! This is as bad as it gets! And again, one must enquire: Where are the so-called good intentions of the tyrant and his rogue regime? Nigeria is at a cross-roads. Throughout the annals of the nation, no fin-de-règne has been marked by a sense of foreboding as acute as what we are currently experiencing in the country barely three months to the end of the satanic Obasanjo dictatorship. The last time Nigerians felt something close to the way they are feeling these days is under the late Abacha. Then, as is the case now, the people felt helpless, cowed by a triumphalist tyranny whose fear of the anger of the masses was nevertheless palpable. Something had to give. And the rest, they say, is history. The PDP-led regime of Obasanjo can be likened to the South African laager. Feeling hemmed in on account of its nasty, anti-people inclination, the PDP has been reduced to a canopy for a desperate fringe of political degenerates and misfits whose moral choices are sharply at variance with the legitimate aspirations of the majority. In his laager mindset, Obasanjo is exhibiting a troubling resemblance with the segregationist National Party’s P. W. Botha - a reactionary but pathetic apartheid creature of anachronism who fought to the end the inevitable collapse of the apartheid system which benefited immensely a small but immoral racist minority. And just like the way progressive forces came together to dismantle much of the pro-apartheid infrastructure, Nigerians irrespective of religious, sectional as well as party affiliations should congregate to make the crumbling and eventual disappearance of the PDP a national priority. They should show zero tolerance for an increasingly fascist and paranoid Obasanjo and his PDP, henceforth to be referred to as the Nigerian laager. The role of the judiciary, that of the National Assembly, the political class in general and the people will be critical in the bid to put a stop to the national hemorrhaging occasioned by the recklessness of the PDP gang. The judiciary should be commended for a job well done so far. It should remain vigilant. The National Assembly under Senate President Nnamani seems willing to play its role by acting to strengthen the legislative framework that should enhance the nurturing of stronger democratic institutions in the country. Another role that should be critical is the one by the masses through the various civil society organizations. The people should be ready to go out and vote. They should also be prepared to protect their vote. We are alarmed by reports in the media whereby Ehindero’s police force is boasting that they have just acquired new arms and ammunition in readiness for the 2007 elections. This piece of news can hardly be said to reassure the populace given the track record of the police and other security outfits in their partisan support for Obasanjo’s PDP and its rigging machine. A situation where such fire power is turned against the people will be most unfortunate indeed. Ehindero and his counterparts in the SSS and the army, respectively, should be told in no uncertain terms that they will be held responsible for any deaths or maiming of citizens resulting from the irresponsible use of weapons by men and women under their command. If ordered to shoot on defenseless citizens, they should disobey such an incitement and instead join the people in the struggle to rid the society of the yoke of corruption and misrule as represented by the Obasanjo autocracy. The need for free and fair elections that would usher in a period of hope has never been more pressing. The plainly criminal divide-and-conquer scheme that seeks to exclude key opposition figures from contesting in the elections should be rejected by Nigerians and the international community as undemocratic, evil and therefore unacceptable. Obasanjo, Iwu and the obtuse fringe within the PDP should heed this timely warning from the Sultan of Sokoto. Speaking at Arewa House in Kaduna on Thursday, March 15, 2007 – the very day Iwu released his mischief-driven list - during an event organized by INEC supposedly to brief Northern traditional rulers on the preparations for the 2007 elections, the Sultan expressed this decent injunction which could as well be taken as one of the most significant warnings ever to Iwu’s political master, Obasanjo regarding his rabid and wrong-headed bid to prevent V-P Atiku and other credible politicians from standing in the elections. Said he: “INEC should allow all candidates to contest and it will be the responsibility of the electorate to reject them if they are bad. That is the best way and that is what democracy is all about. If a court rules and INEC decides to go the other way, then we are not giving the judiciary the respect that it deserves. There are a lot of doubts in the polity as to the readiness of INEC to conduct the elections. We cannot sit down and fold our hands and feel that everything is okay. If we do that, we are not doing justice to our people. Our people talk to us and ask us questions, we have not seen anything to show that the elections will hold on April 14. We only see billboards and posters of politicians. INEC has not convinced us that the elections will hold." In his admonition, the Sultan has succinctly captured the mood of the nation. Those forces of disunity and mischief hell bent on thwarting the people’s desire for constitutional democracy should be prepared to bear the consequences of their misdeeds. There will be no hiding places for dangerous men whose conduct continues to pose a serious threat to the development of Nigeria as a land of law and order. It should be made abundantly clear to the Aso Rock tyrant that his departure from Abuja, scheduled for May 29, 2007, will never be on his own terms. Aonduna Tondu. New York
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Posted by Robot| 16.03.2007 15:15