Dem Nervous Supremes 

Last Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed the final challenge to the April 2007 election of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Observers, local and foreign, had been appalled by the brazen rigging of the election by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). 

Subsequently, the opposition candidates, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Gen Muhammadu Buhari, who headed a military government in the early 1980s, went to court to have it overturned. The Supreme Court has now determined that Mr. Yar’Adua can keep his job. 

There is no branch of the legal tree left to climb, and so I congratulate Mr. Yar’Adua on his good fortune. Good fortune because even he knows he should be in bed, not in politics. And he knows he never won the 2007 elections. First, he was handpicked for the presidential candidature of his party; he never had to prove he was better than anyone else. And then the massive and ruthless PDP machinery went to work to ensure he became president. 

Let us be clear: neither the lower courts nor the Supreme Court have said that Yar’Adua won the election. What they have affirmed is that the lawyers for Atiku and Yar’Adua did not provide evidence that was compelling enough to overturn the shameful collusion between the electoral commission and the PDP. 

Even then, this may have simply been a convenient plantain leaf for the justices of the Supreme Court to hide under. As far back as last October, some of them were alleged to have been accepting compensation to award justice to Mr. Yar’Adua. There is nothing that vindicates them in their wishy-washy verdict over an election in which they needed to make a point that was as political as it was legal. 

I believe that the Justices of the Supreme Court failed the nation last Friday by not voiding the April 2007 farce. That would have sent the appropriate message. They had either been truly compromised, or they lacked that moral strength by which strong men change History. The PDP has proved that it lacks the self-confidence to invest in fair elections. Its consistent recourse is to the dishonourable and the dishonest; by their verdict, the Court has sadly endorsed this menace. 

Meanwhile, only last week, their colleagues in Thailand courageously bundled the country’s Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, out of office. They found the country’s biggest party and its coalition partners guilty of fraud in last year’s general elections. What did they do? They banished 59 top officials of the three parties, as well as Mr. Wongsawat, from politics for five years. Twenty-four of them who are also of the Thai legislature were also kicked out of their parliamentary seats. 

In contrast, our lily-livered justices swallowed hard and said, in the words of Justice Niki Tobi “This appeal failed and is dismissed. Accordingly, Umaru Yar'Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan are the president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” While the Thai justices will heroically walk the streets of their country with pride and dignity, ours will hide their little wigs and wait for the cover of night. 

This returns us to the past. In the one and a half years since Mr. Yar’Adua assumed office, he has appeared frozen in place by the challenge of his position. From wondering whether he was merely a cautious, considerate operator, Nigerians now recognize his considerable deficiencies. 

Yar’Adua’s era has been remarkable not just for the debilitating corruption, but also for the embarrassing incompetence and amazing impunity of his key personnel. The commitment to combating graft which he professed appears to have been just campaign noise: Yar’Adua has not demonstrated the readiness to confront a rambunctious monster like Nigeria. 

In the end, the problem is not how filthy his ascension to office was, but his lack of courage. He does not seem to possess the heart for the momentous decisions that alter nations. He seems to lack a firm grasp or opportunity, and to hold time in contempt. If he makes personnel decisions in the manner of a man who, when he goes to the bathroom, must hold a seminar to determine the first footstep, and a different seminar for every footstep thereafter, how does he make decisions on issues? 

It is instructive to reflect, for instance, that United States President-Elect Barack Obama was yet to win the nomination of the Democratic Party when Yar’Adua announced he would reconstitute his cabinet. Obama has almost filled all the posts in his; Yar’Adua is going to celebrate his “victory.” 

And while Yar’Adua could not attend the United Nations General Assembly in September, Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, proudly stated: “Today’s Brazil is very different from what it was in 2003, when I became President…Our Government and society have taken decisive steps to transform the lives of Brazilians, creating nearly 10 million formal jobs, distributing income and wealth, improving public services, lifting 9 million people out of extreme poverty, and bringing another 20 million into the middle class.” 

If Thailand and Brazil are too far away, Nigerians may want to take a quick look at Ghana, where both local and international observers are praising the conduct of this week’s presidential elections. 

And if you are looking for an example of commitment and focus, let us remember that only two months ago, former Botswana leader, Mr. Festus Mogae, won the 2008 Mo Ibrahim Prize. He was cited for “outstanding leadership” in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic which threatened Botswana.

If we have comparable local drive and focus, it is probably in the Yar’Adua government’s muddled hounding of the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu. And of course there is Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa’s battling of the British courts on behalf of one of our most corrupt, former Delta State Governor James Ibori. 

Still, Nigeria is more important than any of its components. And so, while leadership remains in Yar’Adua’s hands, I hope he now has the confidence to come out of hiding, and lead 

Messrs Buhari and Atiku also need to come out of hiding. Even though the effort was flaky and sometimes amateurish, their challenge of the 2007 elections was important, and I congratulate them. 

What happens now? Nigerian politicians often have a problem when there is no band to lead, or when they are not the band-leader. I hope neither man reacts by seeking only to reposition himself as the next top gun. Hopefully, each will see the opportunity to participate in building national structures and institutions—including political parties—capable of attracting nationalistic and competent candidates to politics, as well as frustrating electoral malpractice. 

And finally, gentlemen, let us see you support the younger, fresher talents you have found on your journeys so far. If you have yet to find any, you are in the wrong trade. 

• sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

Robot  # 1 | 13.12.2008 23:34

The Supreme Court has now determined that Mr. Yar’Adua can keep his job. There is no branch of the legal tree left to climb, and so I congratulate Mr. Yar’Adua on his good fortune. Good fortune because even he knows he should be in bed, not in politics. And he knows he never won the 2007 elections....Read the full article.

akuluouno  # 2 | 14.12.2008 05:24

Sir, Until we get ready to get it right, all other departments of progress will remain in jeopardy. There is one thing about ideas especially when you have institutions to enable you get it correct. It facilitates growth and development. In this case the state as an agggregation of the wills of all Nigerians has not been institutionalised because of fraudulent elections. The learned Justices have spoken, but their words may not be enough, in the usual Nigerian cliche, to move society forward. On Buhari vs UMYA, the decision was too close to call and that for me, remians an ominous signal which only good governance by UMYA can erase.

Dapxin  # 3 | 14.12.2008 12:43

A short post-script, nicely titled with beer parlour pidgin. Somehow mr. SO manages to say a few new things ---> a citizens helpless attempts to remain hopeful. in the midst of titanic inversion of fate The way this result didnt shock 99% of us perhaps says something a lot about the role of SAHARA-REPORTERS, in our lives, more than the Kutigi judges. SR had teleported us to the future, weeks before the clock passed, so it was just a question of your brain playing pranks on you... Not that I thought dem Atiku/Buhari proved the case well enough, especially knowinng how cr00ked their own warchests are in the mix of things. Still, Judges that dare, are judges that are! Wishy washy is perhaps a nice way to put some of the escapist analysis of dem judges. At any rate sha, 3 of them dissented, and I would like to read how they went about their reasoning. I was never for this nonsense of waiting for deedi-b00di president. He is a non starter and to think we are again stuck with these gang over the next 700days.... Whither Nigeria ?

Danmeka  # 4 | 14.12.2008 13:35

Brother Sonala.Olumhense, Nice article, our judiciary have murder sleep but things are about to happen, borrowing a leaf from late Fela Anikulapo Kuti song,"Authority Stealing" Now let's turn our attention to the right wing That's where the Oga people are - "authority people" Unlike workers, authority people are called "officials" Unlike workers, officials ride with motorcades Unlike workers, officials fly in helicopters And instead of walking, workers walk for them However, these authority people do steal too When the public contributes lots of money authority people steal it Authority people do not pick pockets Oh no, that's just petty cash Authority people steal big While the armed robber needs gun to rob, the authority man needs a pen to rob He's in charge of the money His pen is mighter than the gun If the gun steals 80,000 Naira the pen will steal 2,000,000,000 Naira But when that happens, you won't hear anyone shouting "thief, thief, thief" Nigeria-failed state, any hope for the next generation