2007: Atiku for President, God Forbid

By

Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

ugoe@swissinfo.org

What luck for the rulers that men do not think”---Adolf Hitler.

Somehow, I seem to have begun to gradually inch towards the most shattering conclusion that the most compelling alternative today may perhaps be to simply give up on Nigeria’s likely survival and then go on to live my life as if this obviously cursed enclave called Nigeria does not exist. No doubt, Nigeria, perhaps, ranks as the only country I know of where people are deliberately and continuously eating and drinking poison, and yet wishing and hoping that they would still be able to live. Who has ever heard of a people that devote so much time, intellect, energy and resources to enthusiastically plot their own stagnation and even destruction, mortgage their future and that of their children, just because of some negligible, transient crumbs falling to them today! What indeed will Nigeria look like in the next ten to twenty years? Will there even still be any safe space for the unconscionable smart-asses among us to enjoy their fatally contaminated crumbs obtained today by gang-raping Nigeria with poisoned shafts? While other nations are busy laying solid foundations for stable and prosperous future, a growing gang of heartless and ungodly Nigerians is going all out to ensure that, for this nation, such a future never comes.

Now somebody has recently raised an alarm that there appears now a determined effort to turn Nigerian masses into “perpetual voters.” So, all that matter in Nigeria today, as far as those who call themselves our leaders and politicians are concerned are just elections and assumptions of rulership and “looter-ship. There is also the need to add that these same hapless masses have in addition remained perpetual losers in this grand game, as if there is a strong determination to punish them for daring to still remain alive.

Now let me explain. Shortly after General Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in for the first term of his presidency that commenced in 1999, Mr. Tony Anenih was already telling Nigerians that there was no vacancy in Aso Rock come 2003. In fact, at that time, Nigerians were yet to see their new ruler who was by then practically living abroad. So for Mr. Tony, the only things that mattered were the twin evils of “winning” elections and assuming rulership, and not giving purposeful leadership. And like an infectious disease, Mr. Aneni’s pernicious desperation caught on in the states and the battle for second term almost turned deadly even when people were still three full years to the expiration of their first term! Nobody was interested in the well being of the people any more. All the resources in the states were poured into the second term craze.

Now we are back to the same evil game. Obasanjo and his gaggle of parasites have just re-conquered Aso Rock amidst hopelessness and abounding despair among the citizenry. Everybody is trying to adjust his mind for the next four years of crushing hardship as we are once again being forced to continue subsidizing the incompetence and profligacy of an insensitive regime. Now in the midst of all this, our ears are being assaulted again by the news all over town that for Election 2007, we just have to choose between General Ibrahim Babangida and Mr. Atiku Abubakar.

Now, the question is: how can a nation struggling with a life-threatening ailment hope to ever survive when all it does is recycle expired drugs in its polity and force same down its throat? Indeed, this is quite inexplicable. Now, the Atiku whose noise is everywhere is the No2 man of the present government which appears to have adopted a clear policy of inflicting gratuitous pains on hapless Nigerians. The worst part of it is that these pains are clearly not meant as temporary sacrifices to lead the country out of its present choking adversity. They are either unleashed due to hazy vision or outright directionlessness, or even to further service the leisure and comfort of the oppressors. In fact, some have even hinted at unvarnished sadism, but, well, why not? Now, let somebody out there tell me what clear policy Atiku has for post-Obasanjo re-building of Nigeria except to continue the damage from where his Oga left off? Now apart from the man’s famed bottomless pocket now firing the unholy zeal of his unprincipled advertizers, what indeed makes Atiku attractive as a choice leader? What is the man’s track records at the Customs where he worked before he came out to become almost richer than the entire North East? Atiku has many friends in every hole and cranny in Nigeria, but is anyone trying to look at the character and reputation of those friends who certainly will become powers behind an Atiku throne? Are my dearly beloved brothers in the North saying that aside Atiku and IBB, the North is incapable of producing any sincere, altruistic and Nigeria-loving leader who would be more interested in nursing Nigeria to health than appeasing and empowering a thousand god-fathers around the country.

Let’s learn from the Obasanjo mishap. The South-West recently voted for Obasanjo due to clannish sentiments even when they knew very well that the man who failed woefully in his first term had not acquired any fresh insights. With their vote securely in his pocket, the General rigged his way through the other zones (with the active connivance of a tiny gang of unconscionable locals) where his unimaginable misrulership has given him a near-irredeemably bad name. But right now, is the South-West better off in the regime of suffering that their man has unleashed? Do they have light now better than the man in Ohazara or Damboa? Is the non-existent kerosene abundant and affordable in any Egba town? Is the South-West exempted from the unspeakable decay and total collapse of the Educational sector? That the South West made the Obasanjo mistake is no reason why the North should repeat it with Atiku. A vote for Atiku is a vote for eight more years of the locusts after Obasanjo! His several like-minded associates from several parts of Nigeria will still be the only ones to grow richer and richer during his presidency while even his next door neighbours at Adamawa who have always been poor will become further impoverished. Atiku can only benefit Atiku and other 'Atikus' everywhere. Apart from the unbeneficial emotional satiation that "my brother is president", what more would the long suffering Northerner benefit from Atiku who would just become a continuation of the ruinous Obasanjo era with another name? Time has come for us to say a big NO to the few privileged elites among us who beat ethnic drums when it is convenient, just to ride on our calloused backs to glory, leaving us still suffering and starving, and coming back to us again only when they need us again to ride to further glory. Atiku just can't be a fait accompli ! Nigerian youths have a responsibility to stop Atiku, his likes in either the South or the North, and their eager trumpeters like Wada Nas, because it is their future that is at stake. They should insist on the termination of the destructive era of the implacable rapacious vampires and save their future from a receding generation.

Well, only two weeks ago, Atiku displayed a sample of his leadership style when his security men, in his presence, beat to coma a Daily Independent photo-journalist, without Atiku intervening to save the dying young man. As the nation recoiled at this clear advertisement of pre-historic cruelty, some fellows like Olusegun Adeniyi of ThisDay went to town in stout defence of Atiku telling us that the V.P. was not as heartless as he showed himself to be. In fact, Segun’s anger was instead directed at the journalists who staged a walk-out to protest the clear attempt to murder their colleague. Well, with editors like Adeniyi abounding in Lagos, the likes of Commissioner Dele Alake could retain the guts to threaten to blacklist journalists instead of the other way round. In a civilized ambience Atiku would have since resigned and returned to Adamawa. But who can make a man of such amazing wealth and clout to shake, when some editors are already falling over themselves to be his press secretary in 2007? And as for Babangida, …well, as for Babangida? Adolf Hitler was right: what luck for the leaders that men do not think!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

ugoe@swissinfo.org