DESPERATE DAYS
Sonala Olumhense

The EFCC has published a highly controversial list of people who, it insists, are unfit for public office because they are corrupt.   The Independent INEC, on whose shoulders rest the challenge of credible elections that Nigeria has nearly always failed, is screening candidates to determine those who meet the criteria for office.   

The problem is that these developments are being called into question by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s agenda.  The president has now announced that there are, in fact, people to whom he will not hand power over next May: “criminals,” and those who do not want to carry on with his “reforms.”   

The President, to be fair, does not, and should not have to hand over to criminals.  But what criminals is he talking about?  By definition, a criminal is someone who has committed an illegality or an immorality.  To that extent, Obasanjo expresses the obvious.  But the status of criminal is not his to determine.   

Even if it were, he would need to change his glasses because the PDP, his own party, would be the runaway champions.  In the past eight years, the PDP has become synonymous with the crooked, the duplicitous, the illegal and the corrupt.  Its reputation is of a gang so repugnant the only short cut to justice would be to build a roof over it with a gate sign proclaiming, “Peoples Democratic Penitentiary.”  What Obasanjo has done for eight years is in effect, a witness protection programme for some of the nation’s worst crooks.   

With this background, it is alarming that in addition to Obasanjo’s categories, he has characterized the April elections as a “do or die” contest.  He has also stated on separate occasions that the PDP will rule “forever,” or “for the next 60 years.”   

His agenda is obviously to keep in power.  That is not unknown in politics.  In this case, however, the tragedy is that when he speaks this way about bed bugs, he is not referring to the filthy maggot matted all over his agbada and crawling all over his skin: he is attacking the candidates of the other parties.  He is not motivated by the best interests of this nation, but by his own.  Given his obvious desperation to win the elections, he has abandoned the rules as defined by the constitution he swore to uphold, in favor of a winner-take-all.  He is saying that unless he continues to be in charge, he has no intention of giving up power in May.  To achieve that, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua would win the presidency and Nigeria will continue to be defined by the PDP. 

This is all very interesting when you consider that his third term bid was rejected nationwide. 

But the structure of the PDP is such that power does not reside in the party, the executive, the Board of Trustees.  All power is that of the leader.  That is Obasanjo who will run the party full time when he leaves the presidency in May.  The plan is to run Nigeria through the PDP. 

In view of these dynamics, the question is how far President Obasanjo is willing to go to ensure his candidates win.  He seems rather desperate.  Why would a man be desperate in an election in which he is not a candidate?  Perhaps for the same reason Obasanjo never permits his so-called reforms to be evaluated.   

One can only hope that Nigerians recognize these dangers, and are prepared to stand up for their country.  The constitution is bigger than all of us, and it governs our elections.  A man is not a criminal because the President, himself a product of that document, says so.  Despite the political manipulations some of the states, a criminal is not a saint because the President so announces.   

This is why, on polling day, the constitution puts the power in the hands of every voter who steps into the polling booth.  Whoever they choose from the names on the ballot in front of them, even if he has been called a criminal, becomes known as the winner.  To say that you will not obey those voters is to subvert the constitution.

As long as an individual appears on that ballot legally, he can be voted for, and he can win.  That is what democratic choice is all about.  If an individual wins, he is in.  This is no banana republic where a colonel in over-starched khaki debates whether to transfer power or not.

Every Nigerian must keep an eye on the Obasanjo agenda, or be a victim of it.

Robot  # 1 | 17.02.2007 20:18

DESPERATE DAYS ...Read the full article.

Proudlynigerian  # 2 | 17.02.2007 23:32

Good write up.Nigerians must realise that for our Great country to get better we must learn to follow the rule of law to the letter.I believe it is time for us to use our votes right and vote the PDP out. It has been 8yrs of failure, BAD ROADS,NO eLECTRICITY,NO jOBS FOR THE YOUTHS, No Security,High cost of living,Increase in poverty and lastly BAD POLICIES THAT IS SENDING US BACKWARDS. THANKS OTUNBA.

abidde  # 3 | 18.02.2007 14:54

I labored for almost two hours to make the point you have so succinctly and profoundly made: The constitution is bigger than all of us…A man is not a criminal because the President, himself a product of that document, says so. Despite the political manipulations some of the states, a criminal is not a saint because the President so announces.” Sabella Abidde

nelggio  # 4 | 19.02.2007 08:30

...nice brief...the end has inevitably come for the monster at the aso villa...and it does not matter to him anymore what the rule of law is....what due process is all about...what ultimately the constitution says....for him to hell with all that...waht matters to him now is to achieve his dubious goal no matter what it takes...our advise goes this way - raw state power has never defeated tact and the collective will of the people...something tells me that this monster will end up badly - thoroughyly humilated and battered...look at his utterances in the past 1 months and u will realise it was like a drowning man desperatley pushing to stay afloat...why are those advisers around not telling this man the honest truth ...I thought this is the time for "brave" men like el-Rufai to look the president straight in the eye and tell him the honest truth- that the game is up...

Bobman  # 5 | 19.02.2007 13:31

I think we have learnt more about the true OBJ in the last 12 months than all his years in public/personal service put together. He thinks he has the preserve to determine who is a criminal and who is not. As far as he is concerned the courts are ceremonial institutions meant to rubber-stamp his whims and caprices. He has not learnt form history that Nigeria has acquired a level of sophistication, not quite up to speed yet, but sufficient to reject despots of his ilk and persuation. He has achieved nothing in his last 7 years and we have had yet so many more wasted years. How can someone fritter away so much goodwill following a stint of improsonment that should have taught him to respect democratic rights? We must stand up and reject his corrupt "anti-corruption" crusade.

MrOneNaija  # 6 | 20.02.2007 12:58

THE DESPERATION OF A DROWNING DESPOT Rigging in advance - Daily Trust editorial Daily Trust Abuja Tues., February 20, 2007 If Nigerians had any doubts before about who has been behind the apparent determination by the so-called Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to bar some candidates from running in the April polls because they are ‘corrupt’ politicians, such doubts must have been cleared by now. In the past few days, the actions and utterances of the Presidency, or to be more specific and truthful, the President, have shown very clearly that he is the inspiration, the motivation and the mastermind behind the INEC and EFCC move. Acting on the EFCC’s ‘advisory list’ of politicians under investigation as if those persons have already been tried and found guilty by a court of law, the President set up an Administrative Panel of Inquiry made up essentially of his men, to look into the case of the ‘indicted’ candidates. Its mandate was obviously to rubber stamp EFCC’s verdict. Most of those who were invited to face this panel and ‘defend’ themselves rightly refused to honour the invitation. Two days later, the President set up a White Paper Committee to issue a White Paper on the panel’s report. Within 24 hours, the President summoned an emergency meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to ratify the whole kangaroo trial and conviction of the politicians by EFCC. The President has not only been acting in a manner that would not inspire public confidence that he is concerned for the nation’s good, he has also been speaking in a way that betrays his less than altruistic pursuit. Not long ago, he vowed in a public forum that he would not hand over to ‘criminals’. The other day, he came out even more clearly to say that for the PDP, the 2007 is a do- or-die matter. The implication of this statement is that the ruling party will do everything both fair and foul to win the April elections. The crude and extremely distasteful attempt to prevent some strong political opponents of the PDP and enemies of the President’s from running is obviously part of that do-or-die battle. We can not possibly have a free, fair and credible elections if the ruling party uses dubious powers to deny formidable opposition candidates a chance to participate. This is a most blatant form of rigging even before the elections are held. The cynical manipulation of agencies of government like the INEC and the EFCC that are supposed to be fair and impartial, to achieve some ignoble personal objectives is immoral and should be condemned by all Nigerians. It is painful that even in the face of this glaring manipulation the President still keeps a straight face and claims that he is fighting corruption. Thankfully, Nigerians are all too aware of the deceit and absolute lack of sincerity in the so-called anti-corruption war. We are extremely worried by the growing tendency on the part of President Obasanjo to give the impression that he is the all-knowing philosopher-king who alone has solutions to Nigeria’s problems; that he is the all-powerful leader whose powers can not be checked by parliament or by the law courts or by the laws of the land; that he is the only patriot in Nigeria and that he is the only saint in town. The President has also become a one-man democrat with veto power to decide who is suitable for what office and who is not. This is bad for the system. Nigerians certainly do not want greedy and corrupt politicians to lead them any more. But the President does not have the prerogative to decide for millions of Nigerians who criminals and corrupt politicians are. That right belongs squarely to the law courts. We are supposed to be running a democracy. The President must be seen as one who leads in the respect of due process and the rule of law. Professor Maurice Iwu and the leadership of INEC and Chairman Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC must make up conscious efforts to resist the pressure to become tools in the hands of the presidency to use to prosecute their political agenda.