RECLAIMING OUR LOST COUNTRY

Okoro I. Henry

__________________

In the early part of the 19^th century, Otto Von Bismarck, dissatisfied with the status and position of Prussia, devised a well thought out and articulated plan to unify the German states. In a series of moves some felt was dangerous and unnecessarily risky, Bismarck turned within a few years, a once submissive and docile state into a European power feared and respected by friends and foes alike, and in the process he earned himself a nickname, the ‘iron chancellor’. Historians agree that some the key factors responsible for the success of Bismarck was his capacity for planning and daring. for instance, he instigated a war with Austria knowing full well that they were much more powerful, but adequate planning and vision helped him to defeat the Austrians and having defeated Austria he signed a peace deal with them which gave Prussia and other German states total autonomy and a platform to confront other enemies.

The power of being able to overcome the natural human tendency to react to things as they happen and instead to train oneself to step back, imagining the larger things taking shape beyond one’s immediate vision is what determines to a very large extent the positive outcome of the future of an individual or that of a group of people for that matter.

Now the 2011 general elections are still about two years away and if newspaper reports are anything to go by, the North is already looking for a replacement for president Yar’adua. The reasons they are shopping for a replacement for Yar’Adua are not farfetched, for one thing Yar’Adua is presiding over a rudderless administration and for another he seriously ill, hence the need to take the reports seriously.

In trying to get somebody to replace Yar’Adua, we cannot afford to fail this time and by we, I am referring to people who are tired of the underdevelopment of this country, people who are tired of being led by a mediocre elite only bent on corruptly enriching itself than improving the lives of the citizens. Hereinafter I will refer to this group of people as ‘progressives’, which will also include members of professional associations, businessmen and captains of industry.

There is no doubt that if the progressives fail to map out a plan to produce the next president , we will be leaving our fate to the same corrupt oligarchs whose actions have left this country in an arrested development.

However, we must acknowledge the fact that the North ever so pragmatic politically will produce the next president if for nothing else to complete the term of Yar’Adua. Therefore it behoves on the progressives to choose a person from the North who is also progressive in his ideas and not part of the corrupt political elite. We cannot afford to waste time, for as I write this piece frantic but subtle manoeuvres are being carried out in preparation for 2011 by these infernal and insatiable politicians.

The case of IBB is particularly intriguing, the media has been buzzing about what his intentions are since he gave an interview to Mo. Pundits, commentators, and columnists have actually been whining, yes whining about what this self-styled evil genius is up to again. In all these commentaries you can actually detect a certain emotion bothering on fear inasmuch as they try to disguise it. The spectre of an IBB coming back to power is enough to make some people jittery. The main reason some have postulated for the unsuitability of IBB is the fact that he annulled the June 12^th 1993 presidential election. This absolutely is beside the point, for if IBB had ruled Nigeria properly and improved the standard of living of the people, Nigerians wouldn’t have mind. After all MKO Abiola, though a civilian, participated in the ruinous journey embarked upon by the military government of IBB for about eight years before the tide turned against him and it became too late to save the body when the head had already been cut off. IBB’s problem is that he singlehandedly, more than any other Nigerian ruler, ruined this country and plunged us into this quagmire which we have found ourselves. The other rulers who came after him have only tried to perfect the art of misgovernance, the foundation of which he laid. Personally I believe that IBB knows full well that he cannot win an election in Niger state, much less a national election. Even the ruling PDP, no matter how corrupt, short-sighted and desperate it might be can’t risk an IBB candidacy. No, IBB knows that the odds are against him as a candidate for the presidency. He knows that to maintain his peace of mind, and prevent proper investigation into the myriad of allegations against him and thence prosecution he must do the next best thing which is to get somebody who is loyal to him or at worst get somebody with an indifferent attitude to the allegations. Thus in 1998 a reluctant Obasanjo was picked not just to appease the South West but also to protect certain interest even if the choice of Obasanjo almost boomeranged. Same goes for Obasanjo, having realised the need to protect his interest, he foisted on this longsuffering country a most reluctant and unprepared Yar’Adua.

In order not to repeat this mistake concerted and pragmatic effort must be made by the progressives to get the right candidate, for as Edmund Burke once said and I believe it is true that ‘when bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fail one by one an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle’. Nothing should be left to chance, hence the reference to the methods of Bismarck earlier. If anybody thinks the stakes are too high, let me remind such an individual that such parochial and short-sighted thinking will only benefit them in the short run. On the long run, if nothing is done to stop this drift or the downward spiral of this country, we will all end up being consumed by the consequences of inaction, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.

It was not a coincidence that a large segment of the media in America controlled by rich individuals and private concerns supported and endorsed Barrack Obama. It will also be naive for anybody to suggest that big business did not support him. Why, you may ask? They realised that the American brand was severely tarnished and its global standing was seriously threatened, so something drastic had to be done, even if it meant electing a black man into the white house. To appreciate this fact one needs to study closely the fight between Obama and Clinton during the primaries. The Americans needed a bestselling brand and Obama was ‘it’ not Clinton or McCain. Incidentally since he won the election the perception of America abroad has positively changed and the country is beginning to reclaim whatever it lost in the last administration.

Our big businesses and corporations must learn from the Americans, for an ideal Nigeria also makes for an ideal business environment that will stand the test of time.

Let us defy tradition and fear for once, and get somebody that can actually wake up this giant of a country from its drug induced slumber. Let us get somebody who can actually do the job.

Robot  # 1 | 14.02.2009 23:35

RECLAIMING OUR LOST COUNTRY Okoro I. Henry __________________ In the early part of the19thcentury, Otto Von Bismarck, dissatisfied with the status and position of Prussia, devised a well thought out and articulated plan to unify the German states. In a series of moves some felt was dangerous and unnecessarily risky, Bismarck turned within a few years, a once submissive and docile state into a European power feared and respected by friends and foes alike, and in the process he earned himself a nickname, the ‘iron chancellor’.Historians agree that some the key factors responsible for the success of Bismarck was his capacity for planning and daring. for instance, he instigated a war withAustriaknowing full well that they were much more powerful, but adequate planning and vision helped him to defeat the Austrians and having defeated Austria he signed a peace deal with them which gave Prussia and other German state...Read the full article.

Law Mefor  # 2 | 15.02.2009 11:08

Those who fail to learn from history are permanently condemned to a repeat class. Your call is for the progressives to reclaim their country. A clarion call, but who are these progressives and how can they go about this reclamation project? The north will produce Yar’Adua’s replacement, don’t forget and not the whole country or the so-called progressives. The process has already been perfected through what PDP calls affirmation of a single candidate. Our vote won't matter at the PDP congresses and it won't matter at the general elections because of behemot party the PDP! You can’t stop the PDP for now; they have over 30 governors, the Police and Army. You know the way out? Revolution. But how many Nigerians are ready for this? Not many. Do you even have a common platform to canvass a national agenda as gargantuan as revolution? None. What exists now are primordial cleavages that allow us to only narrowly define national issues from ethnic perspectives and to limit and confine them there. The fundamental restructuring the nation needs cannot even be achieved democratically. For example, how do you get the north to vote for fiscal federalism (2/3rd of them in National and 2/3rd of northern states must vore in favour)? That is what it takes to get round the bottlenecks constitutionally and democratically. And you know they will not. The more I think of this is the more I believe we have not seen the last of the military, because only they force such truth upon us. But do we still in our military those who are nationalists and nationalistic through and through? It is doubtful, unless we are praying for converts. More importantly, your position is called for; if not for anything for the need to keep educating our people on what needs to be done, because the federal structure as it is, does not even favour the north; the north now over rely on oil revenue and unwittingly allowed their productive base like the groundnut pyramids to die away. We need to challenge and change these things but it won’t happen with Yar’Adua going in 2011 because the structure that brought him up and unleashed on us cannot be dislodged by merely going to vote in 2011. It will take perhaps a decade or more. 2011? Yar’Adua will remain in power even if dies there. But if the north manages to discourage him then, it will still be northern president based on PDP zoning formula. And there is no opposition party organized enough to face the PDP. The police and army will not also let you secure votes for another presidential candidate. How I wish things will change by merely wishing them. But they don’t. Before, it was voting and no counting. Now, even voting is no longer allowed and results written, declaring millions of votes for an anointed the candidates, sometimes before the polls and declared and the siren sweeps the 'victor' to the government houses. So where and how do group and reclaim our dear country?

Danmeka  # 3 | 15.02.2009 14:14

"The price of greatness is responsibility"-Sir Winiston Churchill

"The Puppet Master"  # 4 | 15.02.2009 14:55

"What exists now are primordial cleavages that allow us to only narrowly define national issues from ethnic perspectives and to limit and confine them there." The above statement clearly captures the ONLY reason Nigeria is going nowhere as a nation. Try as many may, tribalism has single-handedly ruined Nigeria forever. PDP is not a political party but a huge final nail in Nigeria's coffin.

Desgiezd  # 5 | 16.02.2009 10:55

=Law Mefor;325650>Those who fail to learn from history are permanently condemned to a repeat class. Your call is for the progressives to reclaim their country. A clarion call, but who are these progressives and how can they go about this reclamation project? The north will produce Yar’Adua’s replacement, don’t forget and not the whole country or the so-called progressives. The process has already been perfected through what PDP calls affirmation of a single candidate. Our vote won't matter at the PDP congresses and it won't matter at the general elections because of behemot party the PDP! You can’t stop the PDP for now; they have over 30 governors, the Police and Army. You know the way out? Revolution. But how many Nigerians are ready for this? Not many. Do you even have a common platform to canvass a national agenda as gargantuan as revolution? None. What exists now are primordial cleavages that allow us to only narrowly define national issues from ethnic perspectives and to limit and confine them there. The fundamental restructuring the nation needs cannot even be achieved democratically. For example, how do you get the north to vote for fiscal federalism (2/3rd of them in National and 2/3rd of northern states must vore in favour)? That is what it takes to get round the bottlenecks constitutionally and democratically. And you know they will not. The more I think of this is the more I believe we have not seen the last of the military, because only they force such truth upon us. But do we still in our military those who are nationalists and nationalistic through and through? It is doubtful, unless we are praying for converts. More importantly, your position is called for; if not for anything for the need to keep educating our people on what needs to be done, because the federal structure as it is, does not even favour the north; the north now over rely on oil revenue and unwittingly allowed their productive base like the groundnut pyramids to die away. We need to challenge and change these things but it won’t happen with Yar’Adua going in 2011 because the structure that brought him up and unleashed on us cannot be dislodged by merely going to vote in 2011. It will take perhaps a decade or more. 2011? Yar’Adua will remain in power even if dies there. But if the north manages to discourage him then, it will still be northern president based on PDP zoning formula. And there is no opposition party organized enough to face the PDP. The police and army will not also let you secure votes for another presidential candidate. How I wish things will change by merely wishing them. But they don’t. Before, it was voting and no counting. Now, even voting is no longer allowed and results written, declaring millions of votes for an anointed the candidates, sometimes before the polls and declared and the siren sweeps the 'victor' to the government houses. So where and how do group and reclaim our dear country? You have just painted the picture the way it really is. It is so, so unfortunate that we as a nation would remain in the cul-de-sac we have found ourselves while other smaller nations like Ghana, whom we ought to provide leadership, are busy developing their democracies and perfecting their acts and getting it right. Why is it that we can not point to anything in our national life that we have gotten right? This is so sad.