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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life,
Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”
With these immortal words, The American Colonies declared their independence from the suffocating domination of the empire of
Great Britain
in
July 4, 1776
.
For the past 8 years, the Nigerian masses endured with patient sufferance, the humiliating arrogance imposed on them in 1999 by the departing military wing of the oligarchy that has held
Nigeria
hostage since independence. They have waited, bidding their time for the day they would have gained the necessary experience, garnered the necessary will and wherewithal - or when it is finally insufferable, to shake off their yoke.
For if as stated by Rousseau: government is a social contract, and no citizen would willingly give up his liberty except by agreement, Nigerians would have to exercise their sovereign will come the Election Day. Thus the 2007 election has elicited the highest excitement among Nigerians, not necessarily because they expect it would necessarily reflect their sovereign will – Nigerians have since lost faith in the electoral process - but it presents an opportunity to throw off the PDP yoke.
Thus the sudden popularity of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; not necessarily because he would make a better president, but there exists someone who would call the bluff of Baba and live to tell the tale. Others – Chuba Okadigbo, Bola Ige etc – have fared much worse.
The events over the weekend were depressing to say the least. What happened in the whole of the South-East and South-South was laughable. The gubernatorial and House Assembly elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission are an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians. The PDP arrogance is nauseating. Orji Uzor Kalu also demonstrated he knows the game. What passed for an election was a farce, a mirage and a shame: a challenge to the ordinary Nigerian to do his worst! There was simply no election. It has finally been demonstrated that
Nigeria is incapable of conducting any credible election. We are simply not up to the task. The ineptitude of INEC and Professor Maurice Iwu is exposed.
The Inability/unwillingness of President Olusegun Obasanjo to let Nigerians to express their sovereign will is there for all to see. He views the Nigerians with contempt; he (Obasanjo) knows everything and simply knows what is best for all.
Per Rousseau: IN the elections of the prince and the magistrates, which are, as I have said, complex acts, there are two possible methods of procedure, choice and lot. Both have been employed in various republics, and a highly complicated mixture of the two still survives…If we bear in mind that the election of rulers is a function of government, and not of Sovereignty, we shall see why the lot is the method more natural to democracy.
Obasanjo should spare us the insult, the humiliating arrogance. He should simply take us back 2000 years and listen to Rousseau; simply cast a lot among the several contenders! Better still - he is a mister-know-all, Let him simply appoint those he wants to succeed the present lot, it would be cheaper, simpler and more convenient. At least there would be no disruption of the lives of the ordinary Nigerians in the name of public holidays. There would no shooting and killing. No burning of Police stations. No kidnappings. No tear-gassing and Horse-whipping. There would be no power show from stern-looking soldiers and mobile policemen. Our impotence would not be rubbed on our faces. There would be no macabre dance of arrogant impunity
However, let all listen to Rousseau: Finally, when the State, on the eve of ruin, maintains only a vain, illusory and formal existence, when in every heart the social bond is broken, and the meanest interest brazenly lays hold of the sacred name of "public good," the general will becomes mute: all men, guided by secret motives, no more give their views as citizens than if the State had never been; and iniquitous decrees directed solely to private interest get passed under the name of laws. It is all a symptom of a Nation on its way to perdition.
Let them stop this charade and spare us further agony and the derision of the international community.
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 16.04.2007 05:42