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Democracy is a system of government that is distinctively and clearly
differentiated from authoritarian—military, theocratic, and
monarchical systems of government by its permanent and
insistent demands for periodic elections into various
offices in the largely multi-tier governmental structures
presented in the prevailing political environments in place
all over the modern, democratic world. By “multi-tier
governmental structures” is meant the various levels of
government that subsist in given political environments.
While the governmental structures necessarily vary from one country to
another as dictated by their particular political
environments, these structures invariably span local
administrations superintending over municipal shores, such
as for instance; garbage collection, local policing, road
maintenance, water and electricity supplies and/or
regulations, traffic regulations, birth and death
registration, issuance of local permits and licenses for
commercial activities, all the way to national
administrations presiding over national affairs, such as for
instance; defense, security, foreign affairs, post and
telecommunication, customs and excise, immigration, border
control and the like, that affect the nation as a whole
rather than a part or parts thereof.
It must quickly be noted here that the allocation of these functions also
varies from one political environment to another and is by
no means uniform. Suffice it to state, however, that these
functions are contained in the Exclusive and
Concurrent Legislative lists in the Nigerian
constitution with items in the Exclusive list belonging
exclusively to the center and the items in the Concurrent
list belonging to both the center and the states, i.e.,
local administrations.
However, these matters, whether they belong to local or national
authorities cannot be handled by individuals acting as
individuals, but by individuals acting as a governing body,
and that’s why they’re referred to as “the government”. In
reality, therefore, “government” is no more than a body of
individuals empowered by individual members of a society to
attend to these matters on their behalf. “Government” is, by
this definition, an agent of the people who constituted it,
including those who took no part at all in its constitution,
but are nonetheless co-opted into the resulting agency
relationship.
The means by which “governments” are constituted in a democracy is by
periodic elections either to renew the tenure of an existing
government or bring in a new set of individuals to
constitute another government as individual members of the
society may deem fit solely in their judgment or discretion.
Thus a functioning democracy is all about the infinite
succession of governments at various levels of governmental
structures in a political system constituted by individual
members of society for a term certain.
Now their decisions to empower certain individuals to constitute a
government may or may not be wise and prudent in particular
instances, but it’s their decisions, regardless. The wisdom
or prudence of their decisions is not a matter to be
questioned, but taken as fait accompli. Democracy only
requires them to make the decisions, but it’s not concerned
about the wisdom and prudence of the decisions so made by
the individuals at the polls. Thus for instance, if the
individuals in the aggregate decide to elect armed robbery
ex-convicts to lead them, it is their business not of
democracy. If they choose to elect fraudsters, treasury
looters or incompetents to lead them, it is their business
not of democracy. And if they choose to elect complete fools
to lead them into the kingdom of fools, it is their business
not of democracy. What they elect is what they get
(WTEIWTG).
Center of the Universe
However, because democracy is about elections before anything else, it
presupposes the primacy of the individual in making
democratic choices during elections. It is thus incumbent on
the individual member of society to decide who among several
candidates put forward in an election is best qualified to
secure his freedoms and liberties and material wellbeing to
enable him lead a meaningful and worthwhile life along with
his fellow citizens in his neck of the woods. This is not
rocket science and one would think that anyone with average
intelligence would understand this pretty well.
But this decision he must make himself for himself, not through an agent,
intermediary, surrogate or by proxy. And he may even decide
not to decide at all. It’s all in his discretion to decide
or not to decide, which means staying off the polling booths
during polls for whatever reasons. And this is so because
the exercise of franchise is not by compulsion but by
persuasions and personal convictions. Democracy compels no
one to the polls but compels all to live by their decisions
either for good or evil.
However, whether the individual decides to decide or not, his decision
has far reaching repercussions in his life and in some cases
even the lives of others around him in his community
somewhere down the road. But he must live with his decision
until such a time that he’s presented with another
opportunity to change or reaffirm his decision in a fresh
election.
It is fair to conclude therefore that his ballot holds the key to his
future and perhaps the future of others in his community.
This is what makes elections extremely important; in fact,
life changing events on the part of the individual citizen.
And it’s the reason why his decisions cannot be outsourced
to another individual or group, because he alone will bear
the consequences of his decisions down the road even while
taking others down with him. He cannot hold another but
himself responsible for his decision whether it brings him
curse or blessing, pain or joy. In modern times, these
choices are usually expressed through paper ballots,
actually marked and cast by the voter at any given election.
However, what qualifies a citizen to cast his/her ballot at a given
election is his/her prior registration as a voter, which in
turn is predicated upon his/her satisfaction of age and
citizenship requirements including residency status amongst
others. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that democracy
revolves around the individual members of society by
enabling them to make democratic choices. It’s the
aggregation of the individual votes that determine the
winner or loser of a particular election as the case may be.
In this democratic paradigm, therefore, it is the individual, not groups,
that is at the center of the electoral universe.
Consequently, there are no ballots for individual groups,
but the individual voter. There are no ballots for
individual ethnic groups, but the individual voter. There
are no ballots for professional bodies, unions or trade
groups, but the individual voter. He is the one at the
center of it all, not the government or political parties.
He is the bride for whom all the preparations, ceremonies
are rituals are carried out. On no account therefore should
he stay at the periphery as an onlooker, but must step
forward to claim the stage that has been prepared for him.
He must claim what belongs to him and him alone, by law and
the constitution.
But how many voters appreciate the power of the ballots they hold in
their hands? How many of them understand that they alone and
not Ohaneze, AREWA, or Afenifere can fire and hire the
government of the day to lead them in the next four years?
And how many of them appreciate the fact that they alone,
the individuals and not the NBA, NUJ, NLC, ICAN, ASUU or the
People’s Club of Nigeria, vocal and active as they may be,
can hire and fire the government of the day? How many of
them know that CAN and JNI have no vote in an election? I
could wager a bet on this: not a whole lot, and that’s due
to lack of political education. It’s a shame that everyone
knows the value of the banknotes they clutch possessively in
their hands, but only a few know the real value of the
ballots and that’s why they sell them short!
Yet the Nigerian voter must be made to appreciate the fact that no other
entity is entitled to register, receive and cast a single
ballot during election other than the individual voter. Only
individual citizens may have their names on voters
register and they alone may vote at elections. I have
used the word “may” advisedly, because as indicated
above voting is not a compulsory but a voluntary undertaking
on the part of the individual. Yet he/she alone has the
power to vote. The individual voter is the only one
empowered by law and the constitution to determine the
winner and loser of any given election and therefore to him
alone and to no one else must an electoral candidate present
his manifesto, direct his message, appeals and persuasions.
Thus the entire electoral process is geared toward getting
that individual to the polling booth to cast his/her vote
for the candidate of his/her choice. The huge investments in
elections are meant to achieve this singular objective of
bringing the individual to the polls to constitute a new
government.
Obviously, this is an awesome power conferred on individual citizens in
democratic societies that was in the past denied to certain
demographics in certain nations for which many laid down
their lives to help secure for the disenfranchised in such
societies. It is, therefore, disheartening that many have
decided to treat this enormous, life-changing power with
levity and total indifference, almost bordering on contempt
for the electoral process.
The reality on the ground in Nigeria points to the fact that the
individual voter counts for less in the making of democratic
choices. In fact, the individual voter has completely been
relegated to the background. Or I should say the individual
voter has relegated himself to the background and sold
himself short in the democratic enterprise. How so? When
he’s not busy selling his votes for a pot of porridge, he is
using his vote to install known thieves who are out to loot
public treasury and further impoverish him and his family
while paying lip service to the conditions of existing
social infrastructures.
Thus the average voter in Nigeria has sold his future to the highest
bidder and his soul to the Devil. He has abdicated his
responsibility to himself, his family and his community. The
Nigerian voter has elected to place his future in the hands
of political contractors instead of placing it in his own
hands with the power of the ballot. If the Nigerian voter
determines that his ballot is a non-negotiable instrument
for his economic and social empowerment no politician can
steal it from him through rigging anymore than a thief can
steal his hard earned cash from his gritty hands and get
away with it. He will protect it with the last drop of his
blood as the mother hen protects its chicks from the hawks.
He will use his ballot as bargaining chip to secure the
greatest social and economic benefits for himself, his
family and his community. But all too often he has allowed
himself to be hoodwinked, bamboozled and shortchanged, and
winds up holding the short end of the stick.
Effects on Democracy
And because of this prevailing attitude amongst the citizenry, the
unscrupulous politician is able to bulldoze his way through
the electoral process to install himself in power with no
fear of repercussions only to wreak havoc on the polity. And
because of this prevailing attitude the smart politician is
able to ignore and bypass the voter and proceed directly to
power brokers in his community to strike deals behind the
voter that in no way represent the interests and wellbeing
of the voter. And because of this prevailing attitude
opportunistic organizations masquerading as cultural
organizations, which severally go by the names of Arewa
Consultative Assembly (ACF), Afenifere and Ohaneze;
respectively for the North, West and Eastern parts of the
nation have invaded the political landscape to peddle their
merchandize of ethnicity in the public space to hoodwink the
unwary voter.
Organizations that claim to be cultural in their aims and objectives are
anything but cultural in their pronouncements and
activities. Since their founding none of them has been
associated with any major or even minor cultural events in
their domains. No one can count on AREWA, Afenifere or
Ohaneze to sponsor a cultural event in their domains. No one
can count on any of these organizations to sponsor any major
development project in their domains whether related to the
preservation of their cultural heritage or not. They
absolutely have no record of cultural or other developmental
achievement to point to, whatsoever. Instead they have
reduced their organizations to un-official regional
political parties that arrogate to themselves the right to
determine who gets what in the political arena.
Purely political organizations disguised as cultural organizations have
bulldozed their way into the political scene and imposed
their own agenda on their people by standing on the
platforms of ethnicity. And in the process have succeeded in
rendering their respective electorates utterly impotent and
irrelevant in the schemes of things. These undemocratic
bodies have arrogantly and impudently arrogated to
themselves the power to dictate to their electorates their
political choices and preferences. In other words, they have
effectively disenfranchised the voters in their respective
regions.
Youths and even elders alike in these regions dominated by ethnic
organizations have been made to sit on the fence, wait on
and read the lips of these self-seeking elders before they
make up their minds on whom to vote for at elections. Their
minds have literarily been hijacked and subjected to remote
control by their elders who now dictate their political
choices. And this they do without as much as reaching out to
them first to feel their pulse before imposing their
decisions on them, usually through some terse public
statement callously tossed at them after their secret,
coven-like conclaves.
These wily politicians purporting to be fighting for their “marginalized”
peoples were given ample opportunities in the past to serve
and demonstrate their love for their peoples and Nigerians
in general, but turned their backs on their peoples. They
have only records of shame they cannot run on, which
explains why they resort to cheap ethnicity as a crutch to
keep them relevant. But people are too caught up with their
daily grinds to question their motives and unflattering
antecedents.
But it’s hard to blame the unsuspecting voter. These so-called elders are
masters of the game and adepts at changing colors. As soon
as they’re kicked out of power they transform themselves
into ethnic champions seeking to use that platform to get
back to power or bounce back into political reckoning. The
unfortunate aspect of it all is that no one voted them into
power; no one conferred on them the powers they purport to
exercise on behalf of their peoples. No one asked them to
act as their representatives. They’re totally on their own.
Yet they have succeeded in hijacking the common ethnic
identity of their people to promote their selfish political
ambitions, interests or sympathies as the case may be. This
is why their people must be extremely wary of their ethnic
posturing because it is not genuine. It is faked for a
definite objective. Once achieved, they’re quick to reveal
their true colors and turn their backs on their peoples.
This they have demonstrated time and again and only a fool
would allow himself to be their fall guy.
These are individual politicians seeking political relevance in their
domains coming together to exploit the platform of ethnicity
to feather their own political nests in the name of their
people but would not submit themselves to be vetted by the
very people they claim to represent. They’re above their
people. They have imposed themselves on their people as
their leaders just by saying so. But it’s clear that these
individuals are only exploiting the traditional respect for
elders to promote their political interests and are
responsible to no one but themselves. In a democracy all
powers must flow from bottom up and not from top down.
Anything contrary to that is fraud.
Effects on Governance
There is no question that ethno-religious considerations have adversely
affected the quality of government and delivery of services
to the citizens of the country by government ministries,
agencies and developments. Once a top government position is
filled by somebody from a particular ethnic group, that
department or institution is gradually colonized by his
ethnic group from top down. If the head is an Igbo man, that
institution or department is turned into an Igbo colony; if
he’s Hausa, it becomes an Hausa colony; if he’s from the
Yoruba ethnic stock, it’s turned into a Yoruba republic. It
doesn’t matter the ethnic group, the same thing happens
throughout the bureaucracy, including Nigerian embassies and
missions abroad. Federal character, which is provided for in
the constitution, is not applied or enforced at the lower
levels in the government’s bureaucracy. And this extends to
the award of contracts and LPOs for supplies.
The ethnicisation of the public domain has turned public service into
islands of ethnic republics that are shuttered from citizens
from other ethnic groups in blatant disregard for
constitutional provisions mandating a level playing field.
No one gets hired if he does not speak the right ethnic
language, bears the right ethnic name, or carries the right
ethnic facial marks. Certificates and experience count for
less. Competence counts for less. Dedication to duty counts
for less. This is a huge drag on the nation’s forward march
that must be addressed. The nation cannot afford to keep and
maintain the ethnic islands that currently exist in the
nation’s public service system, right from the presidency on
down to the local government.
Effects on Nationhood
It must be emphasized, however, that the centrifugal forces represented
by these selfish organizations have wrought immense havoc on
nationhood. They’re responsible for Nigeria’s inability to
forge a nation out of its mini-nations. And they’re
responsible for Nigeria’s fragile unity and nationhood.
They’re the biggest roadblocks to Nigeria’s attainment of
nationhood and might very well doom the nation’s young
democracy more than anything else including electoral
malpractices. AREWA, Ohaneze, and Afenifere pose the
greatest threat to Nigeria’s democracy than all other things
put together!
These are the groups pulling the nation apart rather than pulling it
together. The only way Nigeria can forge ahead in nation
building is to whittle down these centrifugal forces to be
replaced with centripetal forces. Sustainable democracy
cannot be constructed on the faulty foundations of ethnicity
as the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan has made abundantly
clear. Up till date Iraq is unable to form a national
government months after its general elections due to ethnic
wrangling. We will therefore be deceiving ourselves by
building our democracy on the foundations of ethnicity and
expecting it to last.
All the signs of a troublous future are writ large in the Nigeria polity.
It is therefore imperative on the part of the Nigerian
authorities to subsume ethnic loyalties under national
loyalties for the simple fact that ethnic loyalties cannot
co-exist with national loyalties.
A nation with divided loyalties is like a house divided against itself
and therefore cannot stand as the Holy Book tells us. To
pretend that both loyalties can co-exist is to court
disaster in the now and in the future. To hope that the one
will voluntarily give way to the other is to luxuriate in
wishful thinking.
Ethnicity is stronger than nationalism, and if one will give way to the
other, it is nationalism that will buck first and that
spells nothing but disaster for the polity. It’s the
beginning of the end. The fact that no deliberate efforts
are being made in this direction makes one shudder at the
prospects of the continued existence of the nation as one
indivisible and indissoluble entity. So far providence has
been doing the job of keeping the nation together for us.
But we cannot continue to count on God to preserve the union
without doing our part as a people in the direction of
nation building. At a time God might get tired of doing it
for us as happened in other nations like the Soviet Union
and Somalia.
And the way to foster national loyalties and allegiances is by creating a
level playing field for all constituent units of the union
of nationalities by ensuring that every unit has equal stake
in the union. In the United States this is called “equal
opportunities” for all citizens regardless of the color,
religion, sex or geographical region made possible by
anti-discrimination laws that are vigorously enforced and
breaches sanctioned as a matter of duty.
The Nigerian constitution has similar provisions in section 42(1) & (2),
which I would crave the indulgence of the reader to
reproduce below, because they are so important and germane
to this discourse:
42.
(1) A citizen of Nigeria of
a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex,
religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that
he is such a person:-
(a)
be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical
application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive
or administrative action of the government, to disabilities
or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other
communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions
or political opinions are not made subject; or
(b)
be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical
application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such
executive or administrative action, any privilege or
advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of
other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex,
religions or political opinions.
(2) No
citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or
deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his
birth.
(3)
Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall invalidate
any law by reason only that the law imposes restrictions
with respect to the appointment of any person to any office
under the State or as a member of the armed forces of the
Federation or member of the Nigeria Police Forces or to an
office in the service of a body, corporate established
directly by any law in force in Nigeria.
This is what the supreme law of the land commands the
Nigerian nation and its governments and authorities to
observe and enforce at all levels of government in the land
including private organizations as well, not just
governments only. That being so, it comes as a surprise that
some politicians from a section of the country are seeking
to prevent other citizens from another section of the
country from vying for the position of president of the
nation in utter disregard and contempt for these clear and
unambiguous provisions of the Nigerian constitution by
citing a so-called unwritten bogus zoning agreement, which
to them is superior to the nation’s constitution. And it
comes as a surprise therefore that the Nigerian press has
been complicit in promoting discrimination against a
Nigerian from certain parts of the country by harping on
zoning rather than questioning its constitutionality and
legality in the first place. When a nation’s press indulges
in the inanities inherent in a bogus extra-constitutional
contraptions to promote discrimination against a fellow
citizens from certain parts of the country our fundamental
constitutional rights are in danger. I have yet to see a
Nigerian reporter questioning any of those ethnic champions
championing zoning why the constitutional provisions
reproduced above should give way to a party agreement in our
constitutional order?
Is the Nigerian constitution supreme or not? Does it have
binding force on all authorities in the land or not? These
are the only questions that need to be asked and answered,
not party provisions that are inconsistent with its
provisions, and therefore rendered null and void by the
force of the constitution itself as provided in section in
section 1(1) thereof to-wit:
“This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have
binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
What planet is the Nigerian press living on?
Does it read the Nigerian constitution at all or it’s
reading AREWA constitution drawn up by Mallam Adamu Ciroma
and his ethnic jingoists in AREWA House in Kaduna?
It would
appear that the Nigerian press is more interested in
sensationalism than the enforcement of the constitutional
rights of the citizens. I have yet to have a reporter ask
the question why a citizen should give up his fundamental
right guaranteed in the constitution to please ethnic
jingoists from any part of the country.
This is a
far cry from what obtains in the United States where the
press is at the forefront of promoting defending the civil
rights of citizens for which many fought for and died for in
the past. In giving vents and wide latitude to
arch-tribalists and sectionalists the Nigerian press is
complicit in whittling down national allegiances and
promoting ethnic and sectional allegiances. The Nigerian
press can do better in drawing the line between the
constitution and extra-constitutional shenanigans that are
being hauled in our faces. The Nigerian press can do better
than turning itself into the megaphone of megalomaniacs
trying to force themselves on us all.
Patriotism,
which is simply the love of country, cannot be decreed but
internalized by the citizenry. Ultimately, it is borne out
of individual belief and conviction. However, the state and
the press can help to foster the spirit of patriotism and
nationalism in the citizenry and public office holders and
the press should lead the way.
Figuratively
speaking, every time an Abubakar Atiku, former vice
president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stands behind
his ethnic flag to proclaim his run for the nation’s
presidency; every time a Kenneth Nnamani, former president
of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stands
behind his ethnic flag to stake his bid for the nation’s
vice-presidency, it chips away at the foundations of
nationhood and flies the nation’s flag at half mast.
It’s indeed a matter for regret that those who have been honored by the
nation in the past to serve at the highest offices in the
nation have turned their backs on the nation and retreated
into ethnic sanctuaries to become virulent ethnic
gladiators. Nothing stops Atiku, Nnamani or any other
presidential aspirant for that matter from standing behind
the Nigerian flag rather than behind Ndigbo or AREWA flag to
proclaim his presidential bid. Statesmanship, if it has any
meaning at all in Nigeria, demands nothing less.
The AREWA Challenge
While all these groups are guilty as charged, AREWA in particular has
taken this proclivity to ridiculous and dangerous lengths in
the North. It has left no one in doubt that it is firmly
anchored in the political and not cultural business.
Presently, AREWA is unabashedly engaged in the process of
producing a so-called “consensus candidate” for the
so-called North in the
forthcoming presidential election on the platform of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
In a move that belies its cultural pretensions AREWA rolled out its
political drums in this report by the Nation
newspaper in its 20/03/2010 edition:
“The
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has constituted the biggest
committee in its 10-year’ history and given it a sole
mandate to prepare and execute a political agenda that would
yield results in the 2011 elections and governance issues
thereafter.”
“Findings by our correspondent indicate that the committee’s
inaugural meeting and its election of a pioneer leadership
took place at the ACF headquarters in Kaduna between 11 a.m.
and 3 p.m. on Wednesday when the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu, was
presenting INEC’s timetable for 2011 elections in Abuja.”
“On Wednesday, the ACF Political Committee elected former
Minister of State in the Power and Steel Development
Ministry, Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Gusau, as its chairman,
while the former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Mohammadu
Goni, declined the job, insisting that he
wanted a younger person to take the position.”
The above report shows conclusively that AREWA’s activities are
anything but cultural, and it’s all politics all the time.
That was way back in March, 2010. AREWA has since made good
its plans and has been barring its fangs at President
Jonathan. AREWA is the only ethnic organization in the
nation that has taken it upon its self to pick a political
fight with a democratically elected, sitting president
totally unprovoked and unsolicited.
Pray, is
the nomination of a presidential candidate a cultural matter
that AREWA claims to represent? Who in the North contracted
AREWA to carry out that consensus business for the North?
And who appointed AREWA judge in the matter of vetting
presidential or any other candidates for elective positions
in the nation?
Reports
have it that the AREWA’s other ad-hoc committee, the
so-called
Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) headed by the fast degenerating Mallam Adamu Ciroma,
has even gone as far as not only deciding who the consensus
candidate should be, but who amongst the runners-up will
decide the next vice president, Senate president, speaker of
the House of Reps and even Secretary to the Federal
Government as “consolation prizes”.
Can you
imagine the arrogance and impudence of Adamu Ciroma and
AREWA gang deciding who the next president, vice president,
senate president, speaker of the House of Reps and secretary
to the Federal Government should be! AREWA might as well
take over the Federal Government, for crying out loud! At a
time Nigerians are yearning for the broadening and deepening
of democracy at all levels a gang of ethnic throwbacks led
by one old man are gathered in the bedroom of their leader
to impose a presidential aspirant on the entire north
without reference to the northern publics. And they expect
the disqualified aspirants to walk away without fighting
back and give up their presidential ambitions because the
Almighty Mallam Adama Ciroma has decreed it. It is democracy
Ciroma style!
How about
giving the people of the north a say in who will represent
them in the PDP primaries? How about some democracy, Mallam
Ciroma? How about subjecting the presidential aspirants in
the north under the PDP platform to regional primaries to
enable the people themselves decide who flies the flag for
the north? Why should a handful of elders be allowed to
hijack the people’s right to determine their fate in a
democracy?
But AREWA is not done. In its desperation to produce the next president
for the north AREWA has gone for broke by discarding its
cultural pretensions and disguises and openly coming out to
campaign for northern candidates in the ruling PDP. It has
waged a relentless war against the sitting president,
Goodluck Jonathan who is perceived as an obstacle to the
realization of its ethnic dream of producing the next
president. AREWA has reduced itself to the unofficial
political party of the north, threatening fire and
brimstones should the north fail to produce the next
president. And one begins to wonder: when was AREWA
registered as a political party of the north? These people
have thrown overboard good, old fashioned diplomacy,
prudence and exercise of utmost discretion in their
political activities as they relate to other regions in the
nation.
In other well regulated climes, organizations other than political
parties are not allowed to directly campaign on behalf of
political parties, aspirants or candidates, and can only
give their support in a discreet manner, not in the
in-your–face manner that AREWA has resorted to in Nigeria to
pursue its inglorious and illegal political objectives.
AREWA has mounted more personal attacks on President Jonathan than all
the presidential aspirants in the north combined. It
constituted itself into the mouthpiece and campaign
organization of PDP’s northern presidential aspirants, who
simply sit back and have some expired, old ethnic gladiators
do their jobs for them. They want to ride to power on the
back of an ethnic horse to become Nigeria president. It’s
impossible! They can only become president of the north, not
of Nigeria. Nigeria and Nigerians are looking to have a
Nigerian president, not northern president. At best the
Ciroma gang can only succeed in producing an aspirant for
the presidency of the north, not of Nigeria. And those who
have lent themselves to the Ciroma plot have tacitly and
unwittingly disqualified themselves from becoming a Nigerian
president. They have revealed themselves as sectionalists
and ethnic champions. Nigerians are not looking for ethnic
champions but nationalists to rule over them.
Anyone looking to the nation’s presidency must demonstrate his
statesmanship in real time when it matters most. I don’t see
anyone in the AREWA backed pack doing so at this moment.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated greater degree of
statesmanship that I had least expected given his bitter
experience in previous elections that he lost. He has been
demonstrating his democratic metamorphosis since the
Yar’Adua illness saga all through the PDP zoning imbroglio.
He deserves some credit for that and for distancing himself
from AREWA shenanigans, if for nothing else.
AREWA tactics are dangerous not only to the unity of the nation, but also
present serious danger to the nation’s budding democracy.
This is an ethnic organization representing a region that
has ruled the nation for 38 out of its 50 years of existence
threatening fire and brimstones if it is not allowed to
produce the next president in 2010. The way it’s going about
it, one would think it has never tasted power at all in
Nigeria like the South/South, or to some extent, the
South/East. But this is the North that had permanently
occupied the nation’s presidency to the total exclusion of
other geo-political regions except by default, for crying
out loud!
And now, AREWA had the temerity to call out Jonathan on the nation’s
security. What a sick joke! It’s an organization that had
several of its own sons presiding over the affairs of this
nation sitting idly by when religious militia wantonly
destroyed tens of thousands of lives and properties of other
Nigerians resident in the north in addition to torching
police stations. How in the world would a people with such a
damnable record be heard issuing insane ultimatums for
Jonathan to resign his office because of a terrorist bomb
that claimed what, 12 or 14 lives, when tens of thousands
perished under their watch?
Sure, every life is important and I’m not in anyway minimizing the loss
of lives in the terrorist bombing near the Eagle Square
during the nation’s jubilee celebrations even if it’s just
one life lost, but to put matters in perspective. General
Ibrahim Babangida presided over the first ever terrorist
attack in the nation through a letter bomb and AREWA was
muted in its reaction. His tenure witnessed several
religions riots in the north that caught security agencies
napping.
Even in this dispensation MEND struck at the heart of the nation’s income
stream at Atlas Cove in 2009 destroying parts of the
facility and killing a senior navy officer and others under
the watch of late President Musa Yar’Adua, a northerner, and
AREWA did not call for the resignation of Yar’Adua for his
inability to prevent the attacks. Under the same Yar’Adua
herdsmen unleashed mayhem on innocent citizens in Plateau
state sending thousands to their early graves even with the
security having foreknowledge of the impending attacks. No
one from the so-called AREWA raised any eyebrows let alone
calling for Yar’Adua’s resignation.
Many nations have similarly witnessed spectacular terrorist attacks
claiming hundreds if not thousands of lives at a go without
anybody calling for the resignation of the sitting president
or prime minister as the case may be. But here was AREWA
throwing all caution to the winds demanding the resignation
of Jonathan because of an attack that at best was more
symbolic than damaging in comparison to other attacks in
more developed countries with much better security
surveillance systems than Nigeria.
To AREWA issuing ultimatums to Jonathan was more important than consoling
the families of those who lost their lives and condemning
the terrorists who wrecked havoc on the nation during her
golden jubilee celebrations. AREWA is issuing ultimatums to
even the National Assembly to impeach President Jonathan.
What a sick joke! What will it do if the National Assembly
treats his ultimatum as a piece of garbage that it is fit
only for the trash can? Will AREWA bring the heavens down?
Aren’t Nigerians right then in treating Ciroma as a clown
and comedian deserving of no serious consideration in
national affairs with his insane or at best clownish
ultimatums?
AREWA was more interested in playing politics with the nation’s security
and pointing fingers at the president than condemning those
who were responsible for the attacks. Most probably, AREWA
might have been quite happy if the terrorist had inflicted
more damage than they did. In particular, AREWA would have
been in its own celebratory mood had any serious harm
befallen President Jonathan in the attacks. What better way
to clear the road for the north to produce the next
president?
Thus while the nation was gathered in Abuja to celebrate her 50th
birthday some people apparently with foreknowledge of some
evil happenstance coming the nation’s way, deliberately kept
away from the venue ostensibly, because of the cost of the
celebrations; and patiently waiting for some bad news from
car bombs to go off to enable them have their own sick
celebrations in their evil chambers. But flimsy and
suspicious as this excuse is, it provides a window into the
minds of Jonathan’s enemies in the political field within
the ranks of the PDP presidential hopefuls and AREWA. This
is as wicked and diabolical as politics gets anywhere in the
world.
It would appear that AREWA was out to instigate the military to move
against Jonathan ostensibly for not doing his job of
protecting the nation. That must be the true objective of
the attacks. Unfortunately for AREWA, the attacks did little
damage. Unfortunately for AREWA, the military is no longer
dominated by Northerners, who could be ordered to put down a
democratically elected government by northern oligarchs.
Unfortunately for AREWA the military has been
professionalized under the previous Obasanjo administration
to submit to civilian control and it’s now minding its own
business. Unfortunately for AREWA, coup making has gone out
of fashion and anachronistic in the modern world.
Therefore, AREWA and Ciroma can no longer count on the military to do
their bidding as was the case in the past. All that howling
from Ciroma and AREWA is explicable in terms of the
frustration they’re suffering since there is no military to
carry out their bidding anymore. In the past they would not
utter a word publicly to voice their disapproval of any
government in power. All the nation would have heard would
have been martial music blaring out of the radios early in
the morning. The call by Ciroma and AREWA on the National
Assembly to impeach Jonathan is the equivalent of military
coup they’re used to instigating in the past, which option
has been denied them in this dispensation. One can only
imagine the frustration and exasperation that these old men
have inflicted on themselves in their diabolical designs.
And unfortunately for AREWA also, Alhaji Aliyu Muhammed Gusau, one of the
presidential aspirants from the North that AREWA is fighting
to crown as the nation’s president was the immediate past
National Security Adviser, who resigned just about a month
ago and must therefore account for the intelligence relating
to the attacks. These attacks were not planned on the day
they were carried out but long before then under his watch
as national security adviser. And the ones that happened
when he was in the same position as Security advisor under
the Obasanjo administration he should account for as well,
because the pot will not be allowed to call the kettle black
and get away with it. What does he know about the attacks
before his resignation? For him to have kept quiet when
delusional Ciroma was vomiting his trash in his name shows
him as not fit for the office he is aspiring to. He has not
shown that he is a man of principle who would not sacrifice
the nation’s security on the altar of ethnic interests. A
more principled politician would have quickly dissociated
himself from Ciroma’s senile gaffe.
Gusau is not a stranger to terrorism in his former position as the
nation’s security top dog. And he owes us an answer to this
question since his mentor has obviously gone senile: Where
in the world has a sitting president been asked to resign
from office because of a terrorist attack? Is it in India,
United States, Britain, Kenya, or Spain? Or, is it in Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Russia, or Israel? The answer is simple and
direct: nowhere but in the demented minds of Mallam Adamu
Ciroma and his co-travelers in ethnic bigotry in the
reactionary AREWA political organization.
As against Jonathan who was barely five months old in office at the time
of the Abuja bombings, President GW Bush was about nine
months old in office when Al-Qeda struck the twin towers and
the very heart of the US military establishment, the
Pentagon. Although the Bush administration had intelligence
about the impending attacks, it was impossible to connect
the dots and piece the intelligence together to foil the
attacks. We all know what the reactions of the political
class were in the US. Both Democrats and Republicans, and
indeed all Americans rose up and one voice condemned the
attacks and vowed to take the war to the fortress of the
Talibans and Al-Qeda in Afghanistan. And that was why the US
Congress swiftly authorized the US war in Afghanistan with a
near unanimous vote.
The important point to note, however, is that no one indulged in blame
game by pointing fingers at the president for not preventing
the attacks even if the intelligence was there. No one
sought to make political capital of a national tragedy. No
American politician would descend so low as to make
political capital out of the deaths of over two thousand
fellow citizens, who died at the World Trade Center, the
Pentagon at the crashed airliner over the state of Virginia.
The same goes for the Indians and Britons in similar
tragedies. What planet are AREWA and Mallam Ciroma living
on?
In Nigeria anything goes. Unscrupulous politicians in Nigeria have no
qualms playing politics with a national tragedy and deaths
of fellow citizens because they don’t care about the welfare
of fellow citizens in the first place. They care only about
themselves and their families while pretending to be
fighting for their ethnic groups in order to gain political
advantages. Does AREWA really care so much about the plight
of northerners? If so all would have been well in the north
in the past 38 years the north has been in power in the
nation, including Balewa, IBB, Murtala, Buhari and Atiku
being at the helm of affairs. But we know what their
legacies are in the north. Their legacy is the beggars’
republic that is the north. Their legacy is the mass poverty
and illiteracy that’s the north. Their legacy is the Boko
Harams of the north. Their legacy is the economically
dependent status of the north that cannot survive on its own
without being in power at the center.
It’s a shame that desperate politicians in Nigeria sought to make
political capital over the Abuja bombings. Ciroma and his
ethnic gladiators ought to bury their heads in shame for
their despicable and unpatriotic conduct. Imagine these
people uttering not a single word in condemnation of the
Abuja bombing; and not a single word of succor to the
families of the victims of the attacks. How much lower can
anybody go?
They want to pin the blame for the security lapses on Jonathan who just
got to power less than six months ago? Whatever security
lapses that exist in Nigeria today were inherited from the
Yar’Adua under whose administration MEND became a real
monster and the pogrom that took place in Plateau state.
Where was AREWA then? Where was Ciroma then? He didn’t know
how to issue ultimatums for resignations then? He just
learnt how to write ultimatums when Jonathan declared to run
for the presidency in 2011? Someone has got to have his head
examined for mental degeneration.
And I don’t say this with a cavalier attitude because I was brought up to
respect elders. Elders are supposed to be repositories of
wisdom and prudence in Africa and indeed all parts of the
world perhaps more so in Africa. Their life experiences are
supposed to have imbued in them wisdom, prudence and
moderation in their private and public utterances more so in
a volatile and combustible political climate like Nigeria.
And for that they’re in turn supposed to be accorded respect
and regard by society.
And it is even more so for an elder who has served as both Central Bank
Governor and as Federal Minister, who is supposed to exhibit
some level of statesmanship in his utterances. However, when
a region allows itself to be represented by an elder who
exhibits symptoms of senility in his public utterances
concerning the nation’s security in the name of pursuing
parochial ethnic interests, such an elder has lost all his
privileges and entitlements to respect by reasonable members
of the society. As such, he deserves to be called to order.
Dirty as it may seem, even politics has its own moral and
ethical boundaries too. Nigerian politicians can do with
some code of ethics before they set our house on fire with
their unguarded utterances.
However, it is clear that Ciroma was not speaking for the entire north,
but for himself and fellow ethnic champions in the north.
But the north is bigger than Ciroma and his ethnic and
sectional gladiators. Did he make any consultations with all
the relevant stakeholders in the north before purporting to
speak on behalf of the entire north? The answer appears to
be in the negative. And that is in tune with the basic
premise of this article that some expired politicians have
hijacked their ethnic identities to promote their own
political interests in the name of their ethnic groups. How
did I know that?
Below is a statement by a fellow northerner, Mr. Yakubu Dati, former
Plateau State Commissioner for Information and
Communications repudiating Ciroma’s dangerous antics, and
for whom Ciroma was certainly not speaking:
“In making that
statement, one would want to ask; did he consult the Emir of
Zauzau, or the Shehu of Borno, or the Ohinoyi of Ebrialand,
or the Gbong Gwon Jos? Aren’t they northerners? Did he
consult the north CAN Chairman or the JNI leader in the
north? Did he consult the various youth organisations or the
women body or the Governors in the North, who are elected
representatives of the people? Certainly no, it is very
clear that he is driving at a personal agenda.
“From all our
researches and enquiries, he has not consulted any of these
groups. So, we begin to wonder which north he is talking
about. Is it the north of re-cycled leaders who want to keep
doing it? He has served as minister; his wife has done same;
is it because his son has not been made a minister in this
dispensation that he is busy making inflammatory
statement?” (ThisDay 10-21-2010).
Ciroma has constituted himself into a present danger to the present
democratic experiment in the nation with his unabashed
ethnic crusade. What would happen if other ethnic
organizations in the nation begin to behave unruly like
AREWA by issuing threats to presidential aspirants from the
north? What happens if Ohaneze, SSPA and Afenifere go
political full blast by attacking other presidential
aspirants from other ethnic groups? What happens if these
other ethnic organizations begin to assert the “right” of
their regions to produce the next president of the nation in
the 2011 elections? And where does the voter fit in, in
these scenarios? And who says they’re not entitled to do so?
What makes the AREWA entitled to it?
Is the nation’s next president going to be decided by organizations of
ethnic champions or by the Nigerian voter who is the
constitutionally and statutorily recognized authority in
making electoral decisions? Are we going to replace him with
ethnic organizations in the next and future elections?
If the answer is in the affirmative, then we must proceed immediately to
amend the constitution and the Electoral Act to confer
voting rights on ethnic organizations rather than on the
individual citizens as is presently the case. There is
nothing wrong if Nigeria changes the rules to constitute
ethnic organizations into the nation’s electorate for the
purpose of electing the president or governor of a state as
the case may be. Who knows, it could turn out to be the
greatest innovation in democracy or “ethno-cracy”, if you
like.
And there could huge economic benefits too for this model. The nation
could save itself all the headaches and billions of naira in
revising the voter’s register and acquiring DDC machines;
huge logistical problems and all that, if the nation’s
ethnic organizations such as AREWA, Afenifere, Ohaneze, and
others are simply enfranchised to determine the next
president and next governors in their respective regions.
If, however, the answer is in the negative, then somebody in the position
of authority should immediately call these senile characters
to order before greater and permanent harm is done to the
nation’s democracy and the fragile unity of the nation.
This is why this writer is encouraged by the reported move by the PDP
hierarchy to institute a code of conduct for the party’s
presidential aspirants to base their campaigns on issues
rather than on ethnicity and personal attacks. If every
other profession has a code of ethics, why not politics? A
code of ethics might turn out to be the savior of Nigeria’s
democracy and by necessary extension, the Nigerian nation
itself. It is that crucially important.
But it should not stop with the PDP. INEC should follow suit in order to
cover the field. Perhaps the National Assembly should put it
in the Electoral Act. There absolutely has got to be some
code of ethics for the political class on how they should
conduct their campaigns. Ethnic and religious jingoisms have
no place at all in the public space. It’s getting past
time—to arrest this ugly trend and bring some sanity to the
politics.
Nigerians have no shortage of real issues to engage the political class
all year round, but ethnicity and religion are not welcome
to the table!
Franklin Otorofani, Esq.—Attorney & Public Affairs’ Analyst
Contact:
mudiagaone@yahoo.com
|
By:
Franklin Otorofani, Esq.
Published
October 27th, 2010
