THE
PRESIDENT & COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE NIGERIA ARMED FORCES,
PRESIDENT
OF THE SENATE,
HON.
SPEAKER – HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
FEDERAL
REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA - ABUJA
Dear
Sir,
“The
man who does not take far view, will have near troubles – Confucius, Chinese
Philosopher.”
The
National Interest Group (NIG) is an association of Nigerian Professional men and
women from both within and outside the country that is non-profit making,
non-governmental, non-religious, non-sectional, but men and women who had made a
mark in their chosen professional careers.
Our aims and objectives among others include the provision of
professional input to governments on critical social, economic and other related
issues towards promoting national integration, good governance and responsible
citizenship.
Through
our professional contributions to governments we intend to create a strong,
national think tank to serve as a source of informed analysis and meaningful
recommendations on national issues for a well informed and effective decision
making.
We
note with great concern the widening gulf between the Executive and Legislative
arms of government. What began as a
routine disagreement between both institutions of government few weeks ago is
now snowballing into major crisis, the outcome of which appears too scary yet to
even contemplate.
Cutting
short its vacation on August 13, the House of Representatives had in an
unanimous resolution issued the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a two-weeks ultimatum to resign or be
impeached. To justify this
unprecedented move, the House has listed nine actions of the president perceived
to be unconstitutional. In the
intervening period, the presidency,
however, described the allegations as unfounded and, therefore, dismissed the
impeachment threat as unwarranted.
Spokespersons
for the presidency moved further to allege that the course of action being
under-taken by the lawmakers was prompted by motives that were selfish than
nationalistic.
Worried
by this development, not a few stakeholders in the polity including the
organized labour (Nigerian Labour Congress), members of the political class,
statesmen, non-governmental organizations, have responded. Quite naturally, the
messages were varied in nuisances and temperaments.
But from all, one thing surely runs through: concern for the nation’s
young democracy.
Predictably,
the leadership of the ruling party swung into action by initiating series of
meetings to contain the situation. Such
move was no doubt prompted by the strategic reasoning that since the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a comfortable majority in both chambers of
the National Assembly, the challenge of brokering a truce would be easier.
But those who nursed such optimism must have been disappointed by the
decision of the House last week to press ahead with the impeachment move at the
expiration of the ultimatum. Clearly,
what this suggests is the failure of the peace moves by the leadership of the
ruling party.
Rather
than abate, the crisis, on the contrary, seems to have festered the more, given
that the senate has also joined the fray, in fact, towing a hard-line against
the president. This is clearly a
food for thought, considering that until now, the upper legislative chamber had
always played the moderating role in the relations between the presidency and
the House which, even at the best of times, had always been fragile.
For
the purpose of its present engagement, the legislative arm of government readily
invokes the spirit of its statutory power as an institution conceived to be a
counter-veiling force to the executive. In
theory, no one can controvert that. For,
ever since Frenchman, Baron de Monteseque, propounded the theory of Separation
of Power that has been accepted as a settled question in the art of governance.
While
we do not dispute the foregoing, we, however, wish to sue for caution in the
present face-off between both arms of government in sober awareness of the
tortuous journey the nation has endured to this point in our history.
To continue to encourage acts capable of heating up the polity is to
assume that what we have is durable. But
to hold such assumption is to forget the lessons
of our own yesterday. The truth of
the matter is that ours is a democracy that is still evolving.
We
will be deceiving ourselves if we assume that both arms of government have not
erred since the return to democracy in 1999.
If we stretch the logic further, it follows therefore, that whoever seeks
equity must do so with clean hands. But
the failings so far demonstrated on both sides, we believe, are excusable in the
over-riding awareness that we are still in the “learning process”.
Often,
it is said that the greatest challenge confronting the political class is the
capacity to exercise caution precipitated the political crisis that eventually
coagulated to the military incursion of January 15, 1966.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is agreed today that unfortunate event
was the precursor to the Civil War that broke out in 1967 and lasted till
January 1970, inflicting incalculable damage on the nation both in human and
material terms.
History,
as a thinker once said, has a way of repeating itself: First as tragedy and
later as Comedy. Events of 1983
certainly confirmed that immortal saying, as the immaturity of the political
class would drag the nation back to the 1963 scenario.
The nation quaked in pains as arson, murder and allegations of rigging
marred the general elections of that year.
Of course, that opened the door for the military adventurists to bounce
back to power, returning the nation to the Stone Age for the next fifteen years.
In
a curious turn of history, the nation was again dragged to the precipice
precisely a decade later (1993) with the annulment of the June 12 presidential
elections. With the benefit of
hindsight, we can say that, save for the sad episode of the Civil War, no other
event has pushed the nation to the verge of disintegration as the unfortunate
development of 1993. Indeed, the
wounds so inflicted cannot be said to have healed fully up till this moment.
Given
the pattern of these developments, many have been tempted to resort to political
superstition. Their fear being that
the nation is doomed to suffer calamities at an interval of every decade.
And now, we are on the threshold of 2003!
This
is why we, therefore, urge both the executive and legislature to be a little bit
circumspect and exercise a little bit of self-restraint at this trying moment of
our political history. It would
amount to self-delusion to assume that the commencement of impeachment process
at this juncture will not have dire consequences for the nation.
If we are to be honest with ourselves, we will admit that it is a process
that is usually long-drawn. The
next general election is barely five months away.
If that course of action is to be pursued to its logical conclusion now,
there is no way it will not derail the coming elections, thereby subjecting the
polity to a constitutional crisis.
This
is why we sue for caution and maturity at this point.
For emphasis, we stress that compromise in this particular circumstance
will not be a sign of weakness but a mark of statesmanship.
The leaders should seek to disabuse the mind of those who cling to the
superstition that the action is fated to political pestilence at the interval of
ten years, 2003 being the next “harvest”.
We challenge them to hearken to the words of a sage that: Statesmen think
of the next generation while the politicians think of the next election.
This is our message.
We
have the faith that those at the barricades now will sheath their swords and get
back to task of building our nation.
Nigeria
has over the last three years or so gained wide recognition and acceptance at
the regional, continental and at the international level, anyone therefore that
may truncate this nascent democracy from either the executive or the legislative
arm of government will derail the expected benefits the country will derive from
such developments. Substantial gains are expected from the Africa Growth &
Opportunity Act (AGOA) 2000, the new Enterprise for African Development (NEPAD)
2001 and other multilateral and bilateral arrangements so far entered since the
inception of this administration.
As
concerned professionals, both within and outside the country, we are calling on
both the executive and the legislative arms of government to please resolve this
impasse in a mutual way for the benefit of this great nation and in the best
interest of our dear motherland.
Sustainable
economic development cannot be achieved in an era of chaos and disagreements.
The much-awaited dividends of democracy can only be achieved when there
is peace and harmony between all arms of government.
A
word is enough for the wise!
Yours
faithfully,
pp:
NIGERIA INTEREST GROUP
S.
B. SAMAILA (DR)
O. A. JOKOSENUMI (ENGR.)
PRESIDENT
SECRETARY
NATIONAL
INTEREST GROUP
SPDC
Plaza,
Plot
1154, Off Aminu Kano Crescent,
Near
Hotel De Horizon Wuse II, Abuja
%09-6702124,
09-4130240
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