Yar'Adua's Government of National Unity
By Reuben Abati

President Umar Yar'Adua's decision to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) is, on the face of it, a good development; it is reassuring that negotiations have now started among the key political parties that have formed governments at the state levels. These are the parties to which the initiative is restricted, viz: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Action Congress, the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). But there are challenges and issues to ponder about.

The President articulated the objectives of the proposed GNU as follows: (a) to see if we can reform and change the political culture of the political class in this country, (b) to work out a framework and parameters for the political reform process and then (c) to also discuss the possibility of any political party in opposition that wants to participate and under what circumstances. Yar'Adua's proposal is an admission that there were indeed problems during the 2007 elections which brought him and others to power.

Those problems have created gross disaffection within the political class and deepened cynicism among the populace. A coalition, broad-based, inclusive government would seem useful as a means of building consensus and assuaging the fears of aggrieved constituencies. President Yar'Adua has spoken about patriotism, and the need for collective effort in building the nation and moving it forward. This is a clear departure from the winner-takes-it-all mentality that is often exhibited by the professional political class at both state and federal levels.

The politics of division alienates otherwise relevant constituencies and could create other consequences including threat to security and political stability. The GNU is an attractive vehicle for reducing tension, and managing differences within the polity. It has proven popular in many jurisdictions including Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom during World Wars I and II, and the United States during the American civil war when President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican chose Andrew Jackson, a Democrat as his Vice President. Most recently, the GNU has been adopted in South Africa, Togo, Macedonia, Sudan and Iraq. Nor is it, or an imitation of it an entirely new concept in Nigeria. The Tafawa Balewa Government (Northern Peoples' Congress) in the First Republic had formed alliances with the opposition (NCNC/NNDP) even if this was self-serving on the long run, resulting in serious clashes among partners in 1963 (over the Census) and in 1964 (over the Federal elections) In the Second Republic, the Shehu Shagari government brought the Nigeria Peoples Party led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe into power even if this arrangement later collapsed.

In 1999, President Obasanjo had given political positions to the Alliance for Democracy and the APP. Talks about Government of National Unity have however never really worked in Nigeria. The reason is that the so-called Government of National Unity invariably stops at the ( c ) part of President Yar'Adua's objectives, that is the sharing of political positions to the aggrieved rather than a meaningful effort at building consensus on key national priorities. For a Government of National Unity to truly reflect the diversity of opinion and interests within the community, the political parties involved in the negotiations must be truly representative of the people's interests.

The first limitation of the present government's proposal is that the four political parties involved are at best, narrow vehicles, dominated by certain personalities. I doubt if any class of Nigerians would accept that whatever negotiations that may be going on among the four political parties entirely represent the interest of Nigerians. What anyone can hold on to at the end of negotiations of this nature is that the Yar'Adua government would probably be decorated with a few faces from the other political parties and that would be a GNU? In the past, the concept was used at both state and federal levels, as a short-hand for co-optation.

Persons who were offered political appointments soon abandoned their own political parties and dissolved into the ruling party. These then are the two major challenges: lack of true representation in the negotiations, and the danger that this may be a strategy of political containment. The worst indication is that it may become a means of compromising the other principal political parties. The Nigeria Peoples Party did not quite recover from the fall-outs of its early romance with the Shagari government. Chief Bola Ige's decision to join the Obasanjo government as a Federal Minister in 1999 was later cited as one of the many sources of the conflicts that led to the virtual disappearance of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) as a strong political movement. No one should be surprised that already, the ANPP and the Action Congress are both divided among their ranks as to what should be the nature of their collaboration with the Yar'Adua Government.

A Government of National Unity is meant to provide opportunities for sharing power and ideas and the building of consensus. In many countries, the concept is enshrined in the Constitution and the terms of engagement properly spelled out, and this is an option that the Nigerian legislature may well consider, but a situation whereby one party exercises supreme power in the context of a GNU ultimately defeats the idea.

An assessment of the negotiations between the PDP and the other political parties so far as reported indicates that the Yar'Adua government is not really seeking to share power. It wants to negotiate peace and stability with the opposition. One of the President's original conditions is that as part of the negotiations, the other parties will drop petitions at the tribunals against his election as President. So, the question can then be asked: is this whole thing about GNU, a trade by barter, face-saving proposal? And should we decide to give the President the benefit of the doubt, the greatest threat to the negotiation process is the PDP itself.

The kind of nice promises that have been made by the President as the basis for a Government of National Unity are at variance with the signals that have been coming from the ruling PDP, his party. This is a party that is currently torn apart by desperate jostling for positions. The available positions are not even enough for the PDP hawks. There is also the supreme ruling body in the PDP, the Board of Trustees now chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who in that position may soon begin to exercise power illegitimately as a "Senior President" or President Emeritus"(?)

Whatever agreements that are reached with the opposition would still have to be subjected to the PDP test. Before the elections, President Yar'Adua and others seeking elective positions on the platform of the PDP were made to sign "a bond of conduct" which states clearly that the position of the party is supreme on all issues. What is the position of the PDP as a political party on the concept of a Government of National Unity? A reconciliation committee led by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme has been set up by the party's National Executive Committee but is the party qua party honestly ready to work with the opposition? Is the position of the National Executive Committee of the party the same as that of the Party's Board of Trustees? This is an issue that President Yar'Adua is yet to clarify.

It will also be interesting to watch how the negotiations progress. For now, the parties involved have been either stating the obvious or seeking vendetta. There has been general talk about electoral reform, the energy sector, the contracts awarded at the eleventh hour by the Obasanjo administration, and what has been referred to as "some grey areas on the economy". The ANPP Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari says the only way he can participate in any negotiation is if the President fires the INEC Chairman and reorganises the electoral commission. The final test is in what the Yar'adua government is able to do with the negotiations. The President has expressed his sincerity, but the problem is that there is absolutely nothing that makes whatever agreements that are reached by the negotiators binding in any way. Can anyone trust Nigerian politicians to act in utmost good faith as gentlemen?

The exclusion of the other political parties, which did not win any states in the April elections, from the GNU initiative should however not mean that the Yar'Adua government does not intend to reach out to them through other channels. Political parties are valuable not necessarily because they win elections but because they represent a value in society. The concept of national unity in our situation should be taken beyond the political parties. Far more representative of the country's diversity and popular aspirations, relatively that is, are ethnic self-determination organisations, and constituencies such as labour, the women coalition, and civil and minority rights groups. Is there a strategy for ensuring a broad-based coalition at the level of ideas by reflecting the concerns of "this significant other?" There are many urgent issues which if addressed, can provide a foundation for the "reform and change" that President Yar'Adua is seeking. These are the same issues which previous administrations conveniently ignored, and they include the objective bases for national unity, federalism, minority rights, and the place and purpose of government in the lives of the people.

Should the proposal succeed, it must be subjected to periodic assessment of progress made. A Charter of Agreement should be prepared and made public. A Government of National Unity should not be conceived as a mere "deus ex machina" , or as an ad hoc strategy for gaining legitimacy, or as a Greek gift to the opposition, or as a typically Nigerian booty-sharing, "come-and-eat" arrangement.

However, a Government of National Unity does not automatically guarantee national stability; it can indeed prove more problematic as has been seen in Sudan, Iraq and Macedonia. And if the idea fails, the Nigerian politician in the other political parties, driven to desperation usually by the fear of the unknown should not be afraid of belonging to the opposition. The existence of a virile opposition also has its uses for the purpose of ensuring stability.

President Yar'Adua wants national unity? A starting point for his administration should be a keen focus on issues of governance: respect for the rule of law, promotion of equity and justice, transparency and fairness in the conduct of government affairs, respect for citizenship rights and equality of persons, and a capacity for public empathy.

Robot  # 1 | 29.06.2007 01:10

President Yar'Adua wants national unity? A starting point for his administration should be a keen...Read the full article.

ariteni  # 2 | 29.06.2007 07:20

Here we go again! Reminds me of "KO's" terminology in 1979 - "ACCORD CONCORDIAL" How I wish Dr Abati's proposition held water empirically. Well, there is no nicer term to use - President Yar'Adua is simply calling upon the opposition to "come and chop". That was the case in 1979 and 1999. Opposition rejects the offer at its peril!