SNPA & NDPVF: Same Difference

By

Babayola Toungo

mtoungo@gmail.com

 

 

Alex Ekwueme’s major claim to national prominence was his serving the nation as a vice president in the second republic.  He went into hibernation after their government was overthrown only to resurface as a delegate to the Abacha organised National Conference in 1995, where his major contribution was the proposal for the balkanisation of the hitherto three regions into what he called “six geo-political zones”.  We all thought Ekwueme was a nationalist and a statesman who got the short end of the stick from a military lusting for power and an unappreciative political class.  When he floated the Institute of civil society in 1998, we all rushed to join believing the man was a Nigerian at heart not knowing he is a closet Biafran.

 

I was therefore shocked by the vituperations contained in the press statement released by the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly to find the name of Ekwueme as one of the signatories alongside Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu and Edwin Clark.  Their statement came on the heels of another one by unrepentant militants, issued from the Bayelsa State Government House.  The press statement by those who may otherwise be statesmen in more civilised climes was to all intents and purposes an intimidation and blackmail on the person of Professor Attahiru Jega the INEC Chairman and Nigerians.  While every Nigerian was well aware that the president wanted the February elections cancelled for no discernible reason other than self-preservation, the threats and intimidation were unnecessary and uncalled for.  The tone and language of the Ekwueme press statement was not substantially different from the one earlier issued by Edwin Clark, Tompolo, Dokubo and Boyloaf.

 

The Jonathan administration is the most divisive government ever in the history of this country and I say this with all sense of responsibility.  This government succeeded in balkanising the country along all its known fault lines and is continuing to do so just to achieve its selfish ends.  We have seen how it has courted, nurtured, pampered and protected hate merchants and hooligans and exalted them far and above their fellow law abiding citizens; we have seen how hate speech has developed into a trade for some unscrupulous people.  Nigerians were treated to the most divisive campaign ever in the political development of the country led by our neo Goebbels Fani Kayode and the chief proponent of Janjaweed politics, Olisa Metuh.  The duo and Doyin Okupe seem to derive joy and satisfaction in pushing Nigeria towards the road to Kigali while the president stand by watching with amused satisfaction. 

 

It is to this group that Ekwueme decided to lend his name – not as a Nigerian elder statesman but as a regional champion.  Nigeria is finished if the likes of Ekwueme will allow their names to be associated with barefaced lies, which are easily verifiable.  We thought his horizon goes further than those of Edwin Clark and Okorunmu because of the exalted office he was privileged to occupy in the past.

 

Those who signed the press release know very well that all the allegations contained in their release are baseless and without foundation.  And this can easily be verified, like I said earlier.  The allegations seem to have been cooked in the presidency’s dirty affairs department but in the Southern Nigeria Peoples’ Assembly’s haste to do the presidency’s bidding, they threw decorum and decency to the dogs and issued a tissue of lies knowing them to be lies to an already tensed country, no thanks to their off-springs – the militants.  Jega’s reputation and the general consequences of their action are of no significance to them.  As for their reputation, it doesn’t exist.

 

Basking in their earlier pyric victory of blackmailing Jega into suspending the long overdue constituency delineation exercise because it didn’t favour them, they have now embarked on the most dangerous leg of their irredentist campaign and the whole country seem to be stupefied.  The campaign against Jega and INEC now seem to be a systematic and continual chiselling of Jega’s reputation and integrity until such a time that Nigerians lose faith and confidence in his ability and that of the Commission to conduct a credible election.  Their logic appear to be, “since they failed woefully in their efforts to destroy Buhari’s reputation and people pulling power, why not destroy that of the umpire.”  And in this, there is no discernible difference between Ekwueme, Dokubo and FunnyI-Kayode.

 

The truth behind their press conference and other actions is gradually unfurling for all Nigerians to see.  It was clearly to find an excuse of postponing the February elections and they have succeeded – to an extent.  Sadly for them, due to the incoherence nature of their ill-plans, they couldn’t find common ground as to why the elections must be postponed – is it because PVCs have not been properly distribute or insecurity in the northeast or logistical problems as par Fani-Kayode?  They couldn’t agree on one thing even among their small circle. 

 

The Ekwueme group appear to be competing for recognition with the militants whose understanding of democracy begins an ends with Jonathan remaining in power until kingdom come.  Their threat of taking up arms against the rest of the country rings hollow to someone like me who is living in the north and has been living with war in one form or another since the ascension of Jonathan Goodluck to the office of the president.  Breaking up Nigeria wouldn’t be a big deal to the average northerner and may in fact welcome such a development, so I don’t think it is still an issue whether the country remain the same or not to most of us.  Insulting one’s cultural values, religious beliefs and most of the things cherished by one has already broken up the country, so no amount of threats will make most of us change our political beliefs.  Though it is immaterial to them that Jonathan is a total failure as universally agreed, it is very crucial to those who still love the country, warts and all.

 

Either by acts of omission or commission, the federal government has brought the north to its sorry knees.  Its agents provocateurs persistently denigrate the north and its leaders; its economy destroyed and its territory under the boots of murderers on a rampage unchecked by a federal army more interested in mounting roadblocks in towns and cities, molesting the poor than engaging the murderers.  While the north is bleeding from all its economic and social veins, the president’s supporters are inflicting more cuts on the country and the region.

 

Now that Jonathan has gotten his wish by pre-annulling the elections and shifting it to march, what is in store for the north?  Can we continue along these destructive paths by wallowing in self-pity or do we have at least the mental capacity to stand-up to those bullying us? 

 

Unsavoury comments have been making rounds like the replacement of Professor Attahiru Jega with the younger brother to governor MImiko.  Such allegations should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand because we have seen how the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was eased out of office for blowing the whistle about the sleaze in the government.  He who is down, fears no fall.