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I Was Not Invited to Otta

Fa’iz Muhammad

A lot has been written by those against (true democrats) and those for (true sycophants) the unfolding drama of urging the president to re-contest and I am ready to add my (lone) voice to the unfolding drama. Why because I believe the Government’s) or is it the President’s chief spokesman Jerry Gana PHD is insulting the intelligence of the average Nigerian by defending the action as being innocent, not what it really should be called- sycophancy of the highest order. I do not begrudge the Ministers and party members for going to Otta, where your bread is buttered, but the elected Governors make me want to tear my hair out.

The events of the past few weeks have left a sour taste in the mouth of most Nigerians (me included). The President has began to use the same tactics employed by the late army strongman Alhaji Sani to try and get himself accepted as the logical choice for the presidency come 2003. His henchmen have been rallying round urging him to re-contest for the presidency citing all his achievements (are there any?). Is this deja vu or are there no similarities between this and the Two million man march and the endless flow of sycophants into Aso rock during the Abacha years in a bid (out of fear and favour) to get him to declare his candidacy? Two APP governors went to Otta to convince the man to re-contest. What happens if their party fields a candidate? They should be thrown out of their parties right now. What about the three AD governors that signed the document (the holy grail of re-contesting)? Is their party going to throw them out?

We all know that Chief (not General) Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo was a victim of the Abacha regime, getting sent to jail for a (supposedly) planned coup attempt along with his former No. 2 Shehu Yaradua, with Yaradua paying the ultimate price. Chief Obasanjo was lucky to survive the trying times in prison and once out there was a concerted effort to make this man, who once asked Gowon what he forgot in Dodan Barracks when he tried to come back, to seek for the office of the President. He of course wilted under the massive pressure from the likes of IBB to contest for the highest office in the land.

He had a relatively smooth ride in the primaries of the PDP and even in the elections when the APP & AD forged an alliance that unfortunately did not yield the success that the parties envisioned.

Once in power he let us (ordinary Nigerians) know that it was not business as usual. What he meant we were soon to find out. His choice of Ministers (forty something of them) did not give us much hope but we held our breath. His monthly (or is it weekly?) foreign trips were also something to marvel at. We were made to believe that those trips were made to improve the country’s image and discuss the issues of debt reduction while boosting investor confidence. Whether this has been successful or not we are yet to know.

The events that followed the next two years showed us that while it was not business as usual there was some business going on. The nation lost two Senate Presidents and a Speaker of the House during the period. The President engineered the choice of the leadership of his party to suit his needs.

Most recently, we had the saga of the Electoral Act where the President (with the aid of some members of both houses) made changes to the original act passed by the two houses with the aim of scuttling the ambitions of Nigerians by disallowing the registration of new parties. He claimed (please understand this) that he did not know what changes were made in the act before he assented to it. This means that our President does not read his documents-he just signs them.

On the economic front the Naira plunged from a low of 80 to the US$ to a more depressing 135 to the US$ (a depreciation of 70%) and the level of government spending increased with no visible effect on the overall economy. He increased the minimum wage (without due consultation) and this has further crippled the states and local governments making it impossible for them to carry out any capital projects after the payment of salaries. The federal government has not fared any better in that regard either, with workers waiting for up to 2 months before their salaries are paid, this culminated in the strike by the Nigeria Police (Force?) which was unheard for in this country.

Then there is the Privatization programme as headed by Vice President Atiku (Sadiq?) Abubakar. We have managed to sell off the oil companies, we auctioned our GSM licenses, we are still trying to sell off NITEL and we have been informed that NEPA & the Security Printing and Minting Company will all be sold off (before 2003 of course). All the proceeds of the sale are given to the government because these are considered as Federal Government properties. But can we please at least get an account of how much was derived from these sales and what the monies are being used for?

The level of insecurity can never be understated and this culminated in the assassination (?) Of the Attorney General of the Nation. All this is going on against the backdrop of Odi and the Benue debacles, increased ethnic and religious tensions, heightened political tensions & of course Sharia.

The government through Mr President, has assured us that the government is doing everything possible to ensure that all these things go away, but is it really doing anything to protect us the ordinary Nigerian?

I have attempted to give a small picture of what is going on in this country under the leadership of Chief Aremu, so that we can all try and see whether the events of the past few weeks are justified.

While Aremu has every right to want to re-contest for his office, do we need to beg him by lying about his so called achievements? Are you better off today than you were three years? They say that our ability to speak our minds and voice our misgivings (which is what I am doing) is the greatest fruit of democracy. I agree, but where does Alhaji Abubakar Rimi (Presidential aspirant??) fit into this when he is denied the right to air his presidential ambitions over a government owned radio station.

I along with about 120 Million Nigerians were not invited to Otta because our views about the purported achievements of Uncle Sege might have been quite different from those of his henchmen. We are going to march to the polls in 2003 and there we hope our voices will be heard.