|
T T: Yet Another Syndrome By Zayyad I. Muhammad
For the last twenty years, all governments in Nigeria have had the privilege of suffering from a unique ailment, at the tail-end of the life of every administration, the disease have a sole primary target; the heart of the leader of the government; and it impinge on it rigorously, IBB experienced ABN, late Abacha suffered the YEAA phenomenon, today president Obasanjo is swimming in the pool of TT. The magnitude of disapproval of TT among Nigerians is so much that, nowadays every policy or program brought by the present government is seen by both the common man and the elites, as a ploy in actualizing the Third Term (T T) plot,
Amazingly, like the previous ABN and YEAA, TT also originated from the mouth of one man. Senator Nzeribe started ABN, Daniel Kanu brought YEAA, and today TT was started by Ambassador Greg, the question that the society is asking is; are these Gentlemen being seen and used by those in authority as cheap vehicle to kick- start the course of their hidden agenda or it is just their selfish personal desire?
It started like a shaggy dog story by Greg Maduekwe, but so far it has reached it tipping point; it has walloped many on it way; Wabara, Ogbe, Osuji, Hamisu Mairago and couple of others and its continue to do so, it has cause disaffection, it has broken alliances, it has led to the betrayal old friendship, it has cause resentments, it has relinquished many from their jobs, and created jobs for the opportunists, it has turned many into liars, it has stripped-up many their hard earned reputation, it has triggers many to write, it has make leaders to bend rules, it has lead to replacement of democratic principles with personal desire, it has replaced elected with selected, it has forced real politician to cede for political jobbers , it has forc ed many into silence; it has turn hitherto normative leaders into thin-skinned and reality blind, TT knows no borders.
The general consent among political commentators is; three factors were responsible for the agitation of TT by president Obasanjo and his close political think tank, first, the Stick To Power Syndrome among most African leaders, secondly the Succession Issue, and thirdly What Life Would Be At The End Of Tenure of this government for both the president and those that felt without being in the corridors of powers, it is a doom!
In Africa, the stick to power trend have so much eaten the fabric of morality among the political class; where leaders can toy with the national security of their countries, cast a blind eye on rule of law and democratic principles; caged their nation in perpetual prison of poverty and they can go to any extent in their mission to steal authority from the people, most African civil wars were end result of greed for power and inflexibility in exercising authority among the ruling class; the sit tied to power by leaders have sent many nations into civil wars and instabilities ; DR Congo, Chad, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, to mention but a few; mind bogglingly no leader have ever succeeded in perpetuating himself in power; Mabuto, Samuel Doe, Hussein Habre, Idi Amin, IBB, Abacha,Tailor, etc. are classical example, only one who wears his thinking cap as it should be, can read the larger knowledge in it.
The self-succession issue is today Nigeria’s hottest ‘market square’ topic; the more President Obasanjo denied it, the more Nigerians believe upon the issue and see its emerging posture from the actions and assertions of president Obasanjo’s foot soldiers, political events are also contradicting Mr. President continual denial; the proposed non elective PDP convention, the attempted removal of Speaker Aminu Massari, the much talked events in the just concluded National Political Reform Conference: the circulated mysterious constitution, the proposed six years one term for the President and the Governors, nevertheless it seems all avenues employed by TT advocates are degenerates, but they continue to place Mr. President in the illusion world that the project is succeeding , it has become a transgression to say the tenure of the governments ends by 2007, Massari and VP Atiku are special example, it is also a sin not to be in line with the T T agenda, the elected PDP executives have since been punished for posing as an imaginary ‘antidote’ for the ‘venom’ called TT
One interesting character of TT backers is, they have been participating in almost all undemocratic governments in Nigeria, they have done that too often that today’s Nigeria nick–named them Chop- Meka-Chop, AGIP, My Belle First; these people have so much insulted the intelligence of this nation to the extend that they thought the freedom, aspirations and rights of Nigerians can be cheaply traded like a rotten basket of tomatoes; they have so much used different technique to guarantee their continual closeness to the corridors of power to ensure their illegal hostage of the Nigerian state; today TT is their weapon to grantee the license to the Gates of Aso Rock, but the road out of Aso Rock is getting shorter while the road to third term is getting longer; opposition is m ounting, Nigerians are getting glum, to the extend that any body who opposes TT , receives rapturous applause.
It is disheartening to note that, in our today’s world we too often forget past events that surrounded us; from 1975 to date, no Nigerian leader was ever given a chance to be Head Of State, Gen. Obasanjo came to power impromptu, after the demise of late Gen. Murtala, Shagari ambition was to be a legislature, the NPN invited him to be the president, in 1984 Nigerians wake up to the news of the arrival Gen. Buhari, IBB stage in 1985, no one had ever thought Shonekan can lead the nation, then astonishingly Abacha came in, bolt from the blue in 1999 president Obasanjo picked the mantle power from a platter of gold, some people are of the believe these histor ical incidents are peculiar to the Nigerian state; that is why TT will witness a colossal crash, those pushing president Obasanjo to venture into this mess, are first-rate enemies of the Nigerian nation and are resentful of his statesmanship, and they are mucking his old age. Mr. President your rating is at its lowest among Nigerians and your hard earned global reputation and statesmanship is at stake, put those advocates of TT in a ‘political sieve’; certainly non of them will scale.
Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from 5B Abeokuta Street, Jimeta-Yola zaymohd@yahoo.com
|