A President And His Party Cards

By

Abubakar Ibn Kachalla

phoenixbix@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Despite President Olusegun Obasanjo’s exhortation about the need not to overheat the polity, the activities of desperate anti-democratic elements within the party, actively aided and abetted by the President himself, is a contradiction of whatever good intent such moral message may have contained. With the imposition of non-elective congresses and convention, which represent a direct and contemptuous slap in the face of democracy, President Obasanjo and his hatchet men are once again pushing the country’s political temperature to dangerous new levels. Consequently, public fears of the shape of politics we are to witness in the coming weeks and months are increasing. Early signs of the nature of politics likely to be played in 2007 are already troubling, thanks to the reckless disregard for popular opinion and the genuine democratic sensibilities of Nigerians.

 

The latest assault on the democratic rights of Nigerians is the entirely needless issuance of fresh membership cards to PDP members by the self-imposed party leaders. Indeed, the latest move to tear the guts of democracy, despite its inherent danger to the stability and cohesion of our polity, has already started to create early signs of tension across the country. According to press reports, anger and distrust are running dangerously high among PDP members across the country.

 

One of President Obasanjo’s proxies in the South-South, Chief Tony Anenih, was reportedly attacked by angry youth over the raging controversy of the issuance of fresh registration and revalidation cards. It is uncommon in African tradition for elders to be openly questioned, let alone physically assaulted by youth. But as one Indian sage remarked, “nobody is an elder by mere look of grey hairs; he is an elder in whom reside the truth and justice.” For audaciously defying popular and righteous protestation of aggrieved party members over the injustice in the selective issuance of fresh membership registration cards, the new PDP self-imposed leaders are already endangering peace and the very democracy Nigerians had worked so hard to bring about.    

 

Mistaking the pacific attitude of aggrieved party members for inevitable submission to injustice, the new PDP lords appear to be playing the ostrich, naively assuming that they will have a smooth ride to their ultimate objective between now and 2007. The seeming helplessness of party members so discriminated in the issuance of fresh registration cards, rather than pricking their conscience or sense of justice, is instead giving them added audacity to assault whatever democracy stands for. Indeed, their constitutional responsibility to preserve peace and social harmony no longer counts on their conscience as long as they are desperate to achieve their ultimate objectives. 

 

Perhaps because of the general apathy of the citizens towards this government, few Nigerians ever care to contemplate the silent danger the activities of President Obasanjo and his men pose to national security. Already, there are indications that the President and the anti-democratic movement he has created in the PDP are determined to impose their will, regardless of its consequences to public order and peace. In particular, discerning Nigerians can easily notice that the President is bent on making Adamawa State ungovernable in order to impose their agents on the reluctant citizens of the State. And evidence of this dangerous but irresponsible move is the manner the so-called issuance of fresh registration and revalidation of membership cards is being handled in Adamawa State.

 

In their desperate and ridiculous zeal to humiliate and hound Vice-President Atiku Abubakar out of the party, the fresh registration cards were issued by the National Headquarters of the PDP directly into the hands of Atiku’s publicly avowed enemies. Professor Jubril Aminu, a political turncoat who was the making of Atiku Abubakar, is now in charge of the registration and revalidation exercise in Adamawa State.  The Professor needlessly warned so-called trouble-makers that it is  now “fire for fire,” and the sheer bellicosity of his language gave him away as a sponsored fly in the ointment of Adamawa State politics. By deliberately refusing to let a neutral party handle the fresh registration of members in Adamawa State, President Obasanjo’s hatchet men at the national headquarters of the PDP have revealed their dark and dangerous intentions. They must therefore, bear ultimate responsibility for the security consequences their designs could have on the stability of our democracy.

 

If indeed, the President and his proxies mean well for democracy and peace, why should they choose Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s open enemies to handle the issuance of fresh registration cards? And in an expression of righteous indignation at this glaring injustice, the entire officials of the Adamawa State government have reportedly boycotted the exercise. Even more ridiculous and dangerous is the fact that the Vice-President is expected to make himself personally available before Professor Aminu to register afresh as PDP member! If there is no mischief intended, how can anyone in his right mind expect the Vice-President submit himself to this level of abject treatment at the hands of his sworn enemies? In fact, nothing could possibly be more demeaning politically to the Vice-President than being subjected to this deliberate provocation.

 

Of course, it is wise to take a neutral stand in the current friction between President Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, but sometimes we cannot afford to remain neutral between justice and injustice or between cruelty and compassion. Therefore, if the Vice-President has adopted a stubborn posture in response to this crisis, the malicious attitude of the President himself should be blamed for feeding the obduracy of his deputy. The principle of loving your enemy is impractical in politics. A President who has not disguised his hostility and open contempt for his deputy’s ambition to succeed him, despite the latter’s submissive loyalty, should be blamed if the faith of the Vice-President in him begins to snap.

 

The political development in Adamawa State is evidence of the disgusting extent our President could go to destroy a man who, for seven years, has served him loyally, sometimes to the point of being regarded as a lap dog of his boss. For long, the President had nursed a silent hostility to his deputy and now that he declared his aggression towards Atiku openly, the Vice-President has to fight to preserve his own dignity. As most Nigerians perceive this friction between the two men, Obasanjo is the aggressor and Atiku his victim. Asking Atiku to apologize without defining his offence, as Professor Jerry Gana had reportedly advised the Vee-pee to do, is like turning the knife into the wound of the victim of injustice!

 

Turning the other cheek when you are dealing with relentless enemies is a weak weapon in dealing with those who have no sense of honour and gratitude. Surely, the President and his men are desperate to drive Atiku Abubakar out of the very party for which he sacrificed his enormous resources and energy. The current strategy of thoroughly humiliating Atiku Abubakar at home is intended to turn him into a psychological jelly, which will ultimately force him to quit the party, so that the enemies of democracy can take over the PDP and run Nigeria like their personal fiefdoms.

 

However, the Vice-President should never play into their hands with this desperate strategy. Already, the Vice-President has scored a moral victory so far, because most Nigerians are now wondering that, if truly General Obasanjo and his proxies are popular, why are they afraid to follow the party constitution, which enshrines election as the democratic procedures for choosing delegates to congresses and convention? With the federal might behind him, including the support of INEC, the bureaucracy and the security agencies, why should our President be scared of democratically organized congresses and convention for the PDP? If they are not afraid to cover-up their tracks or their low point popular rating, why would the new enemies of democracy in the PDP to go the wasteful extent of issuing fresh registration cards, mainly to their stooges?   

 

As the late Senator Barry Goldwater of the United States had argued, “extremism in the defence of liberty is not a vice, but moderation in defence of justice is not a virtue either.” In this regard, there should be no surrender to the enemies of democracy who are hell bent on giving us leaders we did not elect. The foundation of stable polity is the ability of the people to choose their leaders freely. Because he successfully got away with imposing a traditional ruler on the people of Owu in Ogun State, our President thinks he can try the same tricks in the arena of democracy. The “favour” of being registered as a party member in the on-going exercise is reminiscent of the order thirty years ago in such backward countries such as Zaire and Bokassa’s Central African Republic. At that time, they used to call Mobutu “God”. Nobody should be deceived that 30 years after,Nigerians are so docile to embrace leaders they did not elect. The contagion of democracy is spreading so rapidly and can ultimately overwhelm despots who believe that they don’t need popular good will to govern!

 

Atiku Abubakar should not regard his current travails as a personal struggle. His is a symbolic resistance to the despotic designs of those who hate the basic virtues of democracy, including the freedom of choice and participation. He should therefore, neither resign his post nor desert the PDP until the enemies of democracy are morally and legally defeated, thereby restoring the people’s right to elect leaders of their own choice.

 

The deliberate choice of Adamawa State as the political laboratory for creating confusion by President Obasanjo and his minions on the anti-democratic train is intended to set the stage for emergency rule in the State. Deliberately upsetting the State in order to provoke and humiliate perceived enemies, with a view to installing yes men that can automatically endorse the hidden agenda of those bent on deracinating democracy is the biggest threat to public security. Even as the issue of disregarding the PDP constitution through the imposition of unpopular non-elective congresses and convention is before the court, President Obasanjo and his men are still determined to execute their agenda. If they fail in this desperate agenda, let us hope that they would not invite the military returns to power rather than surrender to popular and genuine democratic practice.

 

ABUBAKAR IBN KACHALLA

MAIDUGURI