Impeachment Saga Or Trash?
By
Ahmed Tafida Jalingo
[KADUNA]
Nigeria is a country that is more in the news, than in the lives of its
people, more heard of have than visible. Everyday we talk about the dividend
of democracy; our normal expectations three years into the journey are still
mirages, our dreams for the transfer of power from the North to the South,
are still dreams. We have since been waiting for the goodies in whatever
form they may come, and it seems we have been waiting in vain.
We have as a nation allowed our selves to be taken too deep into the abyss
of bad governance, that poverty, lack and insecurity have since toppled the
confidence reposed on the civil regime, the generality of the populace have
lost confidence in everything government, the dispositions of the local
government councils of near memory, the present state governors and their
legislators caped with the posture of presidency, ministers and the national
legislature have left the average Nigerian lost, desolate and confused.
Is this the democratic dispensation the world and we have all these years
been yeaning for? The despotic military have stepped aside, moved to the
back row and handed over to the beloved civil authority, duly elected by us
in the wee ours of 1998. We in Nigeria are yet to know or understand what
the whole world liked for us in this thing called democracy, we are today
three years into the first term, and live is gradually becoming the more
unbecoming, the reader knows better than me what I am talking about, as
there is no single industry in Nigeria that is not affected by the distress
syndrome.
To say that there is no change since April 1999, is a lie because changes
are there and visible all over, there are more people in government today
than in the military days and more loot is displayed to the general
annoyance of the public than the military days, today we have the
legislature where many a village boy is today shining and making enough
noise to make the whole scene amicable to us and acceptable to the western
world. I cannot say there is no change, as one can visibly see political
party offices all over the land, with no politicking anywhere.
Our roads are the less motor able by the day, public utilities are being
auctioned in all directions to a level that soon we may have to pay to
breathe fresh air in our only country, the most populous black nation of the
world, is being sold to the white man all over again without any regard to
the colonial struggles of our heroes past, the situation is reversed to
square zero, pre- nineteen forties stage. This time around the G8 is buying
the land for cash, in the name foreign investment. Our ever-flying president
is with them everyday with his "Almajiris -dish in hand" daily begging
for
more foreign investment, re-colonization of the fatherland and
Zimbabwenization of our country, all in the name of investment.
Industrial capacity utilisation is approaching its lowest ever levels,
particularly in agro-allied and textile sectors, the technical sectors that
have all along been creeping has finally died a natural dead, as even
trading that use to flourish in all conditions seems to be on the decline,
now the only paying vocations are politics and gangsterism in both the rural
and urban places.
(Good people are not given bad leaders; it is one of you that will always
lead you) (Prophet Muhammad pbuh) as this saying goes I get confused the
more, and ask my self and now every body: Are we this bad? As to deserve
such a despise from even our creator, that even with the ample opportunity
to have made a good choice for our selves, choosing leaders that will
salvage us from the melancholy of deficiency amidst the lots we are blessed
with: materially, human and natural, yet we fumbled again?
If President Obasanjo is a bad case, the type no regular advocacy can
redeem, then our legislators are a worse variety whose case are certainly
beyond redemption. This drama bizarre' we have before us today in the name
of impeachment saga is just another of the 'Side- shows' we have been having
every other time, since the inception of this regime, the game plan of
'pot
calling kettle black and vice versa' have been going on too long, that most
of us don't bother who is on the podium any more.
Are these not the same legislators that on arrival at the assembly, elected
with an overwhelming majority Mallam Salisu Buhari, a 29 years old artful
forger and a multi millionaire with no business record to be there first
speaker? Are these not the members that collected enough as to even have
excess for display on the mace and till today no inquiry in the saga? Are
they not the beneficiaries of the initial invasion of the national treasury
that awarded to themselves stupendous allowances, palatial furniture
allowances and a retinue of ghost and fake personal aids?
Now that we are beaten in the game we choose for our selves and allocated
the goal to a keeper we can trust, from the tribe that prides in producing
the best of everything on earth, in the person of Mr Obasanjo, today we are
about to be told that the same Obasanjo is the only problem in the team and
it is not the whole team that is bad. The bone of contention is the dreaded
budget, the budget that does not have any direct bearing on our day-to-day
lives, irrespective of what the price of oil is anymore, for which we are
told to throw Obasanjo and the bath water overboard.
As Jesus would say "let one of you that has never committed no sin cast the
first stone" The house of representatives should have checked its self for
the number of Obasanjos among their ranks and file, the house should have
directed all members to go organise a public opinion in there various
constituencies and collate the views of the electorates on the issue at hand
before such a stupendous motion that afternoon, if we the electorates are
the true beneficiaries of the motion.
Believe you me that if such a process was embarked upon, the members would
have resolved to resign collectively from the house as an admission of total
failure and non of them would dire contest such a position the second time.
The resolution would have read as:
WHERE AS we as representatives of the people have confirmed that we as a
wing of the democratic government have collectively with the upper house and
the executive completely failed Nigerians.
WHERE AS the live of an average Nigerian have not been positively affected
in the past three years of our four-year term.
WHERE AS our president and cabinet have failed in every budget
implementation and have compounded developmental, security and social
problems of the nation
WE hereby pass a vote of no confidence on the president commander in chief
of the federal republic of Nigeria and call on him to resign immediately
WE members of the house of representatives of the federal republic of
Nigeria hereby resolve to collectively resign our individual membership and
pass an unreserved apology to the nation.
WE call on the senate to do the same.
This is the only measure that may give the nation a way forward, a new lease
of live and a new beginning without the prejudices the type we started with
pre- 1999. The disciples of June 12 have by now savoured the national
economy to a level that they have made a child play of all the years the
Hausa man have been eating alone, they have as well seen for them selves the
result of the much touted Yoruba rule that have been scampered for all this
years since the time of the Awolowos.
As much as I believe I will die, I as well believe that the national
assembly does not mean to impeach the indolent Obasanjo, inspite of all the
grievous allegations levelled against him, I state that it is not the love
for the nation that brought about this impeachment of a thing, it is just
one of the usual drama we have been seeing in this country. Obasanjo could
be disgraced and blocked from contesting the second time, neither will help
in the mess we all are today.
Or is the national assembly saying that the nation could have whatever
dramatic changes in the remaining few months before the next election, by
replacing Obasanjo with Atiku who has all along been only psychologically
fit to manage his native Adamawa state and circumventing the political will
the PDP could muster in the North East as a power base. Atiku that is still
battling for acceptance of his larger constituency (the north) will not
foster any thing new for the nation in the interim period, the only
achievement could be for Atiku to have his name imprint in our national
history books as the shortest ever served president, we ever had after
Shonekan.