THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENCY AND POLITICAL ISSUES AT STAKE. 

         Your published article by Babs Ajayi on Atiku; the Charlatan, once again, confirms my notion about our general attitude and understanding, as a traditional people, that we lack the required ability to sustain the stakes, to which, we are tied, that is, ‘to be seen and heard’ as believers and practitioners of democracy.  We seem not to be aware of the behavioral change that is required in us, to show the world that as pro-democracy converts, transforming from a traditional background which is evident in how we view our world from within, to a more open and tolerant world to which we want to belong. We ultimately want to transform into a stable and enduring democracy. If that is so, we should be fully aware of our political value goals and work as a people towards them, with the elite class especially the political elite, playing its crucial role with purposeful commitment. This is our task at building a virile nation; that is, a democratic Nigeria.

         I cannot believe the unnecessarily rude and silly expressions of Mr. or Dr. Babs Ajayi in his discussion of Atiku Abubakar, our vice president, whom he called a charlatan.  A charlatan is a fraud or a crook or a person of such similar epithets. The President, Olusegun Obasanjo has taken numerous questionable actions since he assumed office, that beg impeachment, yet he gets away with them because we are a traditional people whose culture sometimes run counter to the consequences of a fair democratic order and process. President Obasanjo, for several years, on many occasions, had ignored the national budget which the presidency prepared and which he presented physically to the National Assembly and got fully debated and passed before signing it into law. What could be more lawless? President Obasanjo had an unpleasant relationship with his erstwhile Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Iweala and the National Assembly on the issue of not adhering to a passed budget, which in itself, is a law to account for our national financial estimates and expenditure. Why would a president do that? But to my mind, my first inclination about Obasanjo’s improper behavior towards the execution of the budget is that the man had acquired, over time, an attitude of giving orders or receiving orders, as a former soldier or rather a military general. He was a professional military man before fate brought him in contact with governance. I do not honestly believe that he wanted to steal our break the law. In a psychological manner I would think that the man is used to taking immediate action when issues arise, no matter how complex. This is unlike civilian governance where a long debate, especially at the legislative level, is often the process. Military governments don’t need legislative assemblies to make laws or pronounce decrees. Do they? No. From the above scenario, what bad name should we call Obasanjo?

                One should refrain from calling our elected rulers or leaders unnecessarily bad names or passing insults to them because they are our elected leaders and when we think we are done with them because of their bad policies, incompetence, dishonesty and such other similar vices, we eliminate them through the ballot box. . When we bear the toga of intolerance, and call our leaders all kinds of names such as the series exhibited in Babs Ajayi’s article, one wonders the purpose of such use of language in the circumstance. Many of us who vehemently criticize others and want to be heard have not been privileged to be tested in public office. We assume we can perform wonders if we have the opportunity to occupy public office. We think we know what is to be done and know when and how to do them and therefore utilize insults and disrespectful expressions to impress our readers about others who have failed the test of official responsibility and integrity. But lest I forget, the ‘Tabloid’ is established for this kind of negative language which the Village Square published in Babs Ajayi’s name.  

               Nigerian politics, as it is also in many other African states is beset with serious behavioral problems, which we should try to dispense, starting from our elite misconception of responsibility in public office, arrogance of power which is the root and strength of our ignorance that both political, economic and social power derive from the people. Who among our founding fathers was a democrat, as we now know it in western world when the formation of Nigerian political parties began shortly after WWII? Starting with Herbert Macauley, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano, H. O. Davies, Sir Francis Ibiam, Chief Ozumba Mbadiwe,  Otunba Adeniran Ogunsanya, Dr. Michael Opara, all of blessed memory and the two well known surviving ones, namely Chief T. O. S. Benson and the currently active national leader of all time, Chief Anthony Enahoro. These leaders completely refrained from using insults and derogatory expressions in referring to one another or their activities when civilians held sway in Nigerian politics. They were civil and accorded one another much respect. Even the great Adelabu Adegoke of the ‘Penkele Mess’ cliché, that is, the ‘Peculiar mess’ fame was a beauty to hear and observe in his rhetoric political verses in his Oyo/Ibadan dialect. 

                The Chatham topic as given to our Vice president was well delivered. Babs Ajayi may not know that the speech delivered by Atiku Abubakar was well prepared by a former colleague Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, who was a former Senior lecturer in a Nigerian University, a former Senator in Nigeria and also a former federal Minister of Education. All that Mr. or Dr. Babs Ajayi wrote concerning the elementary nature of Atiku’s presentation and content relevance are not valid. Atiku’s presentation and especially the contents of his delivery are quite relevant and germane to our political situation in Nigeria,. As an observer of Nigerian politics one should refrain from calling any of our leaders insulting names because one may not be comfortable writing anybody’s script, and if one has to, one should approach such an assignment with some balance of opinion with some reasonable caution. 

               Data from the West, and relied upon by Ribadu and his EFCC have said that our leaders both from government and politics and from civil service have stolen about 400.00 billion dollars from Nigerian public purse since independence in 1960. Nigerian leaders, over the years, have made the culture of stealing public money a habit that portended no negative consequences. When Nigerians get into public office, they always possess that idea to steal public money. If you are naïve and don’t feel comfortable getting into this kind of criminal activity in high places, ordinary Nigerians will advise you to get your own pound of flesh before you live office. If you fail to do so the same class of people will call you all sorts of names. Do we remember that in 1999, Chief S. M. Afolabi, the federal minister of Internal Affairs chided Chief Bola Ige, telling him that he made no contribution to the victory of the PDP at the polls and that he was only lucky to be ‘invited to come and chop.’ What a vocal idea from a political leader of Chief Afolabi’s stature in Yorubaland. 

               Financial corruption in Nigeria took an alarming dimension during the military era. The military boys committed havoc to the quality of Nigerian life when they held political power. All of them, who held public positions increased their real properties both at home and abroad meaningfully. They established diverse kinds of business ventures such as establishing Airlines, Shipping companies, buying oilfields, cultivating huge farms and such other ventures that are capital intensive. At the welfare front in the Nigerian socio-political and economic scene, the Nigerian pensioners were regularly denied their meager allowances or stipend which should keep them alive and active. There is massive unemployment of young school leavers because the economic policy is moribund, the police are under-paid and are therefore engaged in open graft on our roads all over the country. Nigerians are shot to death by policemen because some refuse to give away their hard earned naira to these corrupt men in uniform. More than ninety percent of our state governors, federal ministers, state commissioners and local government chairmen cannot account for what they own as properties when in office. It was the sale of crude oil at the international market through the OPEC that changed our economic fortune for better since the 1958 Oloibiri petroleum discovery which in turn spurred the evil ego in us to steal public money without  conscience, One can imagine the missing Okigbo report on the huge sales of our petroleum during the Gulf war of 1991. General Ibrahim Babangida was in power and an amount as much as twelve billion dollars( $12 billion) which accrued to Nigeria at the time, could not be accounted for till today. Gen Sani Abacha who appointed the Okigbo commission in order to locate the money and find out its utility did its job accordingly but our collective malady of incompetence, dishonesty, mistrust and lack of integrity are responsible for the missing Okigbo report. This is how bad our national life has become in present day Nigeria.

                Later in Switzerland and in other parts of Europe, billions of U. S. dollars worth of money which belonged to us all, was discovered in several bank accounts in the name of Sani Abacha and  members of his family. It was Sani Abacha that set up the Okigbo commission. Now, who is fooling who? Are n’t we being tossed around like a coin by these worthless leaders? Aren’t we so unfortunate as a people not to have produced leaders like late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Leopold Senghor of Senegal, and Nwanamasa of present day Zambia.? Who is not corrupt in the Nigerian public life? A very minor few. I know a big brother from Ijebu-Ode, a professor and a former federal minister in the Gowon administration who was known for his total commitment to official responsibility with total abhorrence for popular ten percent kick-back. I have another who was a seasoned civil servant in the Foreign Affairs ministry. He rose to become the Director General  (P.S) of his ministry and was career Ambassador for many years. He was later engaged by the United Nations as an Under Secretary and posted to Bangui and later to the politically unstable Sierra Leone before taking an appointment with the current Obasanjo government as Foreign Minister.

These two gentlemen are laudable examples of the kind of men of principle and integrity that our nation needs for now and in the future for political and economic development and leadership.

The third term exploration.

                 The ‘third term’ saga was a dishonest and distorted fabrication by our President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to cajole every citizen. Can’t he afford to be honest with himself? He denied his interest in the desperately and covertly sought illegal third term after the entire scheme had collapsed in the National Assembly precisely in the Senate. The President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, should be given national honors for the Solomon in him, his sincerity, objectivity, loyalty to the people of Nigeria and the Constitution of our land. All the Nigerian people should appreciate his wisdom and patience in the face of official threat and provocation especially from the PDP and its garrison commanders and officers. After about a year of putting the entire country in a state of restlessness, uncertainties, and anomie by stoking the disjointed life of countless poor Nigerians and keeping mute over his inordinate ambition to get our young constitution amended for him, in order to run a meaningless and selfish third term, the President came back to tell us all that he was not really interested in a third term but that some people were responsible for the nationally political agony into which we were all subjected for about a year long. Is this kind of leadership, a sign that our President can die for Nigeria, his sing song he likes us to believe? Wasn’t this the same reason why he alleged that Atiku Abubakar was disloyal to him? At the moment, President Obasanjo’s new story on Atiku is about his corruption. The two stories don’t click together. Evidently, Atiku’s offence of his boss was his ‘daring’ posture against Obasanjo’s third term interest which collapsed in the Senate. He cannot forgive Atiku for the role he played in having the third term idea defeated and at the same time, the President cannot afford to tell the nation that Atiku’s role in leading the opposing forces that killed his third term idea was a mark of disloyalty to him.  

The need to acquire democratic values and behavior by our political leaders

                 For us to become a democracy, our attitude to democratic values; tangible and intangible, have to change, in order to promote the kind of tolerance that we need, to sustain the essential pillars of democracy in our national community and get them utilized for a better future. Why would one call ones Vice President a charlatan? Why would one call ones President an impostor or a demagogue because he did a few things wrong in government? There are several polite approaches to challenging these people who rule us when they misbehave.  A feeling of bitterness may lead one to start using some of these unpalatable words but bitterness needs to be excluded from our political lexicon if we need to demonstrate to others, at least, in Africa that we are acquiring the behavioral tenets of democracy. If Babs Ajayi is convinced that Atiku is a liar, a thief, a charlatan and all the way corrupt, why hasn’t he been impeached by the Senate and removed? Since the Senate released its Ad hoc Committee report on PTDF, more questions have been raised than answered and that is because our leaders in general are not committed to serving our national community with collective responsibility, honesty and sincerity. First, the committee led by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba conducted a partial investigation. The committee failed to invite the President to give evidence in order to give necessary explanation to the documents he dispatched from the Presidency and also to respond to those allegations leveled against him by his Vice President. He is obviously considered too big to be invited by the cowed Senators and the President himself did not think it fit to humbly submit himself in order to help the Senate Ad Hoc committee out of its strategic problem. What kind of leaders are we discussing?  

                The President has been using the party; the PDP and the EFCC against those who don’t support him or see eye to eye with him. The EFCC has more than one list of indicted politicians who are expected to be disqualified from the April general elections. The President has his own list also in which some names were allegedly but arbitrarily removed and others were retained. No wonder the governor of Ogun, Gbenga Daniel said sometime ago that President Obasanjo was next to God in the Nigerian political scene. His name was rumored to be on the original list but found missing from the President’s.

                 At the moment, there are four lists different from one another with some names repeated here and there. Why do these kinds of deplorable mal- practices continue to occur in our democracy? The president himself has not addressed all the accusations of plunder leveled against him by Atiku, his Vice President for eight years. The regular response from the presidency is that the Vice President is a liar. That is not enough a response. The entire political scenario in Nigeria presently is murky in view of the inexplicable and partial behavior of every one in authority, who should be trusted and relied upon by the teeming population of poor Nigerians.  Has Babs Ajayi ever asked himself why our president rarely calls a press conference?  He only goes on television and radio when he has opponents to denounce or accuse by lambasting their personalities and even making references to some people’s parents. What an approach to running the affairs of the state! At Ijebu-Ode, sometime last year, President Obasanjo challenged our revered monarch; the Awujale of Ijebu-land and the paramount ruler of Ijebu people, to a question about his continuous demand for Ijebu state on behalf of his people. His audacious disposition was very offensive to all his listeners; the Ijebu people. Our president is a civilian by all means, but an exalted civilian, because he is the President of Nigeria. Being our President does not provide him any privilege to make or pass curt remarks on our monarch, to whom he directed his embarrassing questions and wanted an answer publicly before all of us. No one is expected to do that in Yoruba-land because the Yoruba culture assumes maximum public respect for our traditional chiefs and monarchs. I can assure you that the Awujale is not an example of traditional leaders, who seek business contracts either at Abuja or Abeokuta to the detriment of their honor and prestige.. He does not subordinate himself to cheap propaganda and the antics of politicians. He is his own man and a respectable monarch. The Awujale does not deserve any insult, real, hidden or intended from any politician, no matter who that individual is. The Awujale is not a member of any political party and that fact reinforces and maximizes his inalienable rights and personality as a traditional monarch with democratic privileges as a citizen of Nigeria. He should fully enjoy free speech and free choice by making anyone he thinks fit a Chief or Otunba within his traditional domain. President Obasanjo went beyond reason by criticizing the Awujale publicly for making the former governor of Ogun, Chief Osoba, the Aremo. It is a bitter and undue public harangue that calls for caution on the part of the civilian president.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

              Aside from accusing Atiku, of all kinds of crime starting from disloyalty to him to corruption within the presidency, he also often makes negative statements on issues that are presently in court such as that of Senator Wabara. He enjoys making doubtful accusations against others including his former minister Mimiko at a public rally in Ondo state. There are so many of them here and there and it is difficult to figure out why he engages in malicious statements about those who disagree with him on any issue or issues.

Avoidance of bigotry is necessary in politics.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                  Our president never speaks about democracy or the benefits of its tenets to the Nigerian peoples. As the President of a plural national society made up of diverse ethnic groups, he should constantly labor to emphasize those democratic values which promote our common good and national political interests and deplore those that maximize our differences.  Has he ever discussed Human Rights as it affects the Nigerian peoples?  How about the Rule of Law and Due Process?  These are not familiar topics with our President because he is either not concerned about them as pillars of democracy or he does not have the ability to discuss them intellectually. He has done so much to popularize and sell Atiku Abubakar, to the electorate owing to his desperate negative political utterances about the man he freely chose as his running mate on two occasions, for two terms, as an elected civilian President. Atiku Abubakar’s name is on the lips of every member of Obasanjo’s cabinet because he is a common enemy to every one. Many people have suggested that Atiku resign his post as VP, if he does, how does he defend all that he is alleged to have done? All the documents he has about the financial activities of the errand boys will no longer be available to him. Remaining there till May 29, 2007 can no longer be worse that the preceding earlier period of seven years and nine and a half months. It is kind of strategic. You do not have to agree. It is a struggle. 

The President’s favored disciples.

                 The Chairman of INEC Professor Morris Iwu is a disaster. I have always wondered why Nigeria has not thought it fit to recall Professor Humphrey Nwosu of the June 12, 1993 fame. The great professor is overdue for our highest national honor, but I do not think that people of our president’s mind will appreciate such an highly principled and honest individual like Humphrey Nwosu in the contemporary political circumstances of Nigeria. If we have Nwosu as Chairman of INEC presently, all Nigerians will jubilate and express full confidence in the prospective conduct of the next election. The great professor has been tested and had received national approval as a man of integrity and honesty. The fun of it all is that people who are known as potential election riggers, whose intention is suspected for the coming election, because they had done it before, are warning other parties not to steal their votes. How about that?

The Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Establishment should be watched carefully. Tafa Balogun was used successfully in 2003, but after he accomplished his notorious  national assignment and the PDP swept the polls land-slide, he was dumped thereafter. All the public money he stole were not unknown to the government of the day, but nothing was done to correct the situation, even when the newspapers exposed his penchant for accumulation of money in numerous bank accounts and in real properties. The ignorant police boss thought he was safe in the hands of those who needed his dirty services for the 2003 election which he accomplished without a flinch. His consequent jail sentence of six months was small enough to compensate him for his given loyalty.

              The same thing or a similar fate awaits I. G. Ehindero. The press often refers to him as a lawyer but he is not by profession. We should not make a mistake about the functional definition of the appellation lawyer. If one studied law and passed all examinations to be awarded a law degree, that does not qualify one as a lawyer. Law, as I know it, as a profession, is one of the most noble professions from the inception of civilization, especially in Britain and in some other parts of Europe. It always requires special training to establish oneself in this noble calling. This is why one has to attend the Nigerian Law School in the process of becoming a member of this profession. After that, one needs to serve some apprenticeship in a well established law firm, in order to gradually get inducted into this highly respected profession all over the world. If I. G. Ehindero went through the process as described above, he would not be inclined to seek double extension of his tenure as I. G. He is a willing tool and an accessory of all the subversive plans of the Obasanjo administration against individuals they do not trust and others they do not like for their own reasons. The executive extension of tenure granted him twice, to continue serving as the nation’s Inspector General of Police is an abuse of office by Mr. President. We shall all be living witnesses to the outcome of Ehindero’s services to the nation, the hour of retributive justice is near, we just need to exercise patience. The unjustified manner he handled Governor Ladoja’s re-instatement, his deliberately shoddy manner in handling Fayose’s illegal activities, allowing the suspected 419 agent and murderer to escape justice, if only temporarily, the dishonest approaches to  Vice President Atiku’s security reinstatement, his failure to apprehend Engineer Funso Williams’ killers and very many others, tell us that we are still in search of men of high quality to build our nation, if we need a free society where justice, fairness, dignity of man, rule of law, due process of law and freedom that do not recognize any form of discrimination would be established and protected by the socio-political institutions prescribed by our constitution. 

                 Nothing has been done to apprehend and try Lamidi Adedibu, the so-called strongman of Ibadan politics, ever since some INEC boxes were reported discovered in his house at Ibadan. The same thing goes for Chief Akala-Alao’s political campaign director. I. G. Ehindero always explains off or provide some rationale to all these disturbing occurrences because those who are in power have probably told the Police establishment what to do. Nigerians are supposed to forget quickly. 

                  The same observation goes for Chief ‘Bayo Ojo; the Attorney-General. As an appointee of the President, he has become a prisoner of the Presidency. He. of course, violated the NBA condition not to accept any government appointment as stated by the highly respected association of which he was a past president. But, mind you, some of us are as cheap as the head of a ram, which is a left-over, in the market place because we lack some sense of truth, we have no integrity because we do not feel the need for it in our life, we are desperate opportunists because we are avaricious and very personal in our dealings and assignments, regardless of the potentiality of the embarrassment involved. To these kinds of men, they are advised to stay home because they have no role to play in the noble commitment to build Nigeria of the present and the future. 

The Petroleum Ministry..

               Our President has held the petroleum ministry without accountability for seven and a half years.  Who dares ask him? Does he think he owes anyone any accountability? What is the relationship between the Ministry of Petroleum and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund? The Senate and/or the House of Representatives or both should inquire into all this murky and muddled situation. Where is the legislative oversight obligation on behalf of the people? If this finding can be done transparently by this government, much trust, hope and credibility will be restored to the Obasanjo government. 

               Why should our president possess the EFCC list of indicted politicians?  Is he not a Nigerian politician too? Do we ever think of creating a kind of law that promotes reasonableness, fairness, impartiality and composite justice for all? Why should EFCC operate within the confines of the Executive in other to intimidate people who are not in the good books of the President and leave out others who sing the President’s praise to atone for their sins against the interest of the big boss, even though they have skeletons in their wardrobes? Is the President above the operational laws of the EFCC or is he not subject to it like others in government? If the EFCC must submit its report to the government of the day, could n’t it be done through the Judicial arm of government to the Attorney-General. In fact, the position of the Attorney-General, the condition of his appointment, the nature of his relationship to the President within the Executive arm of government needs to be looked into and balanced, if our country is going to move forward and be built on a sound legal foundation and impartiality. 

The Andy Uba Affair.

How about Andy Uba who calls himself a doctor of philosophy?  Where did he obtain his Ph.D. in the United States?  The Nigerian press has not been able to locate the university he claims to have attended in the United States. Or did Andy Uba do his Ph.D. on line? If he says so, I suspect fraud. The Nigerian press should do the Nigerian public this favor by going after this agent of money laundering who offered to pay an alternative fine as punishment instead of going to jail in the United States. Can we relate Uba’s expose’ about money laundering.to Obasanjo’s farming equipments?  Yet, he qualifies to be nominated as PDP gubernatorial candidate for the next election in Anambra, with the complicity of the presidency, the EFCC and the entire police establishment. From a hindsight, no political party in Nigeria’s history is as corrupt and lawless as the PDP. Andy Uba committed a crime here in the United States by carrying an undeclared amount of money (dollars) in the President’s aircraft, presumably without the president’s knowledge. What a shame! What a national embarrassment! What a terrible publicity for Nigeria! The incident occurred in year 2003 and it remained covered up until 2006. The Nigerian President’s aircraft was due to be impounded if a quick and quiet solution was not found to the problem.

                 The Obasanjo presidency deserves kudos for its ability to hide this shame from Nigerians for three years.(laughter)  Ribadu’s EFCC also  rationalized that the amount involved in Andy Uba’s money laundering was  privately owned and therefore Uba is free from prosecution. How did he come to that conclusion? Is the presidential plane, which is used as the carrier owned by a private person too? How about the criminal offence committed by Uba as a member of our presidential team on an international assignment without the President’s knowledge? Or has the President pardoned him? For all the crime and the mess created at the presidency by Andy Uba’s criminal activities, the PDP decided with the absolute support of our big boss to give Uba the governorship of Anambra state, If he loses, the rigging of the election must have failed. 

Mallam Ribadu and the EFCC.

Mr. Ribadu needs to begin to apply some self discipline. First, he talks too much like a chatter-box. He displays an extreme and fanatical patriotism which is absolutely unnecessary to carry out his responsibilities. I doubt if there is a single Nigerian who does not know that corruption, per se, especially financial corruption is a huge national malaise in our society. Mr Ribadu does not need to go to Singapore to read out the names of Nigerians who are his suspects. Mr. Ribadu has virtually given a new meaning to the word ‘indictment’. He needs to be reminded that when no trial by any court of the land has taken place and no opinion of the court with respect to the trial of an indicted person has been given, then an indictment remains a legal accusation still awaiting trial.Therefore Mr. Ribadu, you need to be forthright and be less emotional about this very important national obligation to which you are assigned. The laws that created the EFCC and the ICPC need to be reviewed and removed from the influence of the Executive arm of government.

         Whenever and wherever some socio-political revolution looms, the protagonist does not have to be a Jesus Christ in behavioral context and content.  I am neither promoting nor defending Atiku Abubakar. You can call him any name such as criminal, burglar, thief, fraud and all you can afford but this is the first time that a northerner, a Fulani, would call the attention of all Nigerians to their political rights, to the rule of law, to due process, to a lawful government with legitimacy.  As a people, he said, that we should reject any government that operates on giving orders without leading the way by example and expect us to take orders without asking questions. Our ex-Generals are susceptible to dictatorial tendencies as executive civilian presidents and that is why our current president is having some difficulty with democratic leadership and not rulership. Can you imagine General Ibrahim Babangida coming back to Aso Rock to rule Nigeria again? God forbid. If it ever occurs that ‘the evil genius’ as he is popularly known, has another opportunity to contest for the Nigerian presidency with the prospect of winning the election, I shall throw away my Nigerian citizenship for good. 
 
 
 

Bankole Okuwa Ph. D.

Professor of Political Science. 

Robot  # 1 | 09.03.2007 23:17

I cannot believe the unnecessarily rude and silly expressions of Mr. or Dr. Babs Ajayi in his dis...Read the full article.

adriano83  # 2 | 10.03.2007 00:31

i really like ur comments u r not biased at all

Abraxas  # 3 | 10.03.2007 00:32

Can you imagine General Ibrahim Babangida coming back to Aso Rock to rule Nigeria again? God forbid. If it ever occurs that ‘the evil genius’ as he is popularly known, has another opportunity to contest for the Nigerian presidency with the prospect of winning the election, I shall throw away my Nigerian citizenship for good. Hi, Professor Bankole OKUWA! Well spoken. Muchas gracias. Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III)

igwe  # 4 | 10.03.2007 02:35

Below are what I think are the highlights of this well thought out essay. I hope the prof will not accuse me of plagiarism! ******************* 1. I cannot believe the unnecessarily rude and silly expressions of Mr. or Dr. Babs Ajayi in his discussion of Atiku Abubakar, our vice president, whom he called a charlatan. 2. The Chatham topic as given to our Vice president was well delivered. Babs Ajayi may not know that the speech delivered by Atiku Abubakar was well prepared by a former colleague Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, who was a former Senior lecturer in a Nigerian University, a former Senator in Nigeria and also a former federal Minister of Education. 3. the President came back to tell us all that he was not really interested in a third term but that some people were responsible for the nationally political agony into which we were all subjected for about a year long. Is this kind of leadership, a sign that our President can die for Nigeria, his sing song he likes us to believe? Wasn’t this the same reason why he alleged that Atiku Abubakar was disloyal to him? At the moment, President Obasanjo’s new story on Atiku is about his corruption. The two stories don’t click together. Evidently, Atiku’s offence of his boss was his ‘daring’ posture against Obasanjo’s third term interest which collapsed in the Senate 4. First, the committee led by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba conducted a partial investigation. The committee failed to invite the President to give evidence in order to give necessary explanation to the documents he dispatched from the Presidency and also to respond to those allegations leveled against him by his Vice President. 5. The President has been using the party; the PDP and the EFCC against those who don’t support him or see eye to eye with him. 6. The president himself has not addressed all the accusations of plunder leveled against him by Atiku, his Vice President for eight years. The regular response from the presidency is that the Vice President is a liar. That is not enough a response. 7. Has he ever discussed Human Rights as it affects the Nigerian peoples? How about the Rule of Law and Due Process? These are not familiar topics with our President because he is either not concerned about them as pillars of democracy or he does not have the ability to discuss them intellectually. 8. The Chairman of INEC Professor Morris Iwu is a disaster. I have always wondered why Nigeria has not thought it fit to recall Professor Humphrey Nwosu of the June 12, 1993 fame. 9. Nothing has been done to apprehend and try Lamidi Adedibu, the so-called strongman of Ibadan politics, ever since some INEC boxes were reported discovered in his house at Ibadan. 10. The same observation goes for Chief ‘Bayo Ojo; the Attorney-General. As an appointee of the President, he has become a prisoner of the Presidency. He. of course, violated the NBA condition not to accept any government appointment as stated by the highly respected association of which he was a past president. But, mind you, some of us are as cheap as the head of a ram, which is a left-over, in the market place because we lack some sense of truth, 11. Our President has held the petroleum ministry without accountability for seven and a half years. Who dares ask him? Does he think he owes anyone any accountability? What is the relationship between the Ministry of Petroleum and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund? 12. Why should our president possess the EFCC list of indicted politicians? Is he not a Nigerian politician too? 13. The Obasanjo presidency deserves kudos for its ability to hide this shame from Nigerians for three years.(laughter) Ribadu’s EFCC also rationalized that the amount involved in Andy Uba’s money laundering was privately owned and therefore Uba is free from prosecution. 14. Mr. Ribadu has virtually given a new meaning to the word ‘indictment’. 15. this is the first time that a northerner, a Fulani, would call the attention of all Nigerians to their political rights, to the rule of law, to due process, to a lawful government with legitimacy. As a people, he said, that we should reject any government that operates on giving orders without leading the way by example and expect us to take orders without asking questions. ************* Well said prof. For now, I've nothing to add. Ka Chineke mezie okwu!

sammyduyo  # 5 | 10.03.2007 02:43

Very well said Prof. Okuwa! But wait a minute, if there were no men like Dr?Babs Ajayi with stunted virtues, we perhaps would not get to read refreshing and balanced contributions like yours. Keep the faith, and thank you very much. Sammduyo.

Knightofdelta  # 6 | 10.03.2007 03:26

Oghene me biko oo. Prof I no understand this your article at all oo. You started by blasting Babs Ajayi for calling people names and all that. I thought you were going to defend the government of the day but then you ended up criticizing them and then showing us what kinds of work they have done. My brother, calling them names is what they deserve. You also challenged people who call them names to try and rule the country and see if they will do better. I will not bother to rule this country because I know I do not have the stamina. But if people come out and promise us this and that and then turn around and forget to do this and that but end up lining their pockets and treating themselves in foreign hospitals when they are sick, what can we do if not to call them names? The Knight of Delta.

Yankari  # 7 | 10.03.2007 04:59

"One should refrain from calling our elected rulers or leaders unnecessarily bad names or passing insults to them because they are our elected leaders and when we think we are done with them because of their bad policies, incompetence, dishonesty and such other similar vices, we eliminate them through the ballot box. ." We will be happy to eliminate them through the ballot box, if they gave us half a chance with decent elections, but till they do that i'm afraid we have little choice in expressing our frustrations than to call them names!

denker  # 8 | 10.03.2007 05:16

A charlatan is a fraud or a crook or a person of such similar epithets. Okuwa: ....of course is atiku precisely the embodiment of a charlatan. bogus creative mind like yours is exactly one of the problems with nigerians. we have long refused to call a spade a spade. ...maybe, next time you'll deny the naked facts that almost 98% of nigerian political elites are THIEFs... Prof...my arse!:mad: :mad: :mad:....abeg go sidon for gutter! have a good day...:mad:

bomboy  # 9 | 10.03.2007 05:17

Prof Okuwa:wink: knows what he is talking about. He was a UPN MP in Ogun State from 1979-1983 and I suspect he must feel frustrated that the same reactionary characters he and others fought then are still raping the country in broad daylight. I have read other comments by him elsewhere and they are always soundly argues and broad in nationalistic appeal. His concern is not for the expediency of today's poitical conveniences but about ways to build enduring democratic and political foundations for our country. Babs Ajayi's commentaries could not be more different. It is clear that Obasanjo is not a democrat and is unable to distinguish between himself and the State. His behaviours and record in office, as partly but not exhaustively revealed by Prof Okuwa, suggest that, in the final analysis, Obasanjo is one of the pillars of Nigeria's poor performance. In paticular, let it be noted that Obasanjo's feud with Atiku resulted because he failed to force him to become the silent fool. Regardless of what Obasanjo may want us to believe, Atiku, whether as President or private politician has shown that he values democratic values and has the confidence and resilience to look the beast in the face and stand his ground. Nigerians should support him if only for the ultimate gain - the next president will think carefully before acting recklesly because he will know fully well that there are people out there ready to give him a bloody nose if he tries to act like Obasanjo. And the polity will become a better place as the outcome of the elections will synchronise the state from becoming a one-party state as Obasanjo has always wished. Carry on, Mr Atiku. In this particular fight, I am behind like a hump, inseparable

akuluouno  # 10 | 10.03.2007 06:07

Hello Villagers, Decency in politics, yes I vote, but Atiku as a Charlatan, yes I agree. He is one man that is comitting the dubious feat of eating his cake and having it. The problem with any analysis of Nigerian politics is the issue of approach. On a behavioural level who among these leaders is not a charlatan anyway. But we the people continue to egg them on. Dr Babs Ajayi has only aired his opinions on Atiku and we have also heard from Dr Okuwa and so let the 100 flowers blossom. I believe that until we eschew the politics of personality, tribe, lgaism, state, gender and religion and zero in on issues of rapid national development, we shall continue to faced with these controversies ad nauseum. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

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