The Press and the Third Term Agenda^*

By

Akin Oyebode

kayoladele@yahoo.com

 

Introduction

 

Of all the traumatic developments in post-military Nigeria, nothing has perhaps been more worrisome, if not in fact more heart-rending for Nigerians and our well-wishers than the much-rumoured and now quite visible Third Term Agenda (TTA) of President Obasanjo. When he first announced to the world that he was labouring under the pressure of some unknown forces to entertain the idea of staying in office beyond his term, many laughed it off as another delusion of malevolent, misguided sycophants in the corridors of power who, in reality, could only have been fending for themselves. After all, not a few of our political actors would be willing to take advantage of the visage of a general who had earned a lot of kudos from the entire world some 25 years previously for deeming it fit and proper to surrender power to an elected administration when he could jolly well have elected to declare that the handing-over date was no longer realistic…

However, today, the endeavour to, as we say here, ‘enlongate’ the tenure of the President has since assumed a life of its own as all manner of opportunists and self-seekers have jumped on the bandwagon of the TTA. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to aver that whenever two or three Nigerians are now gathered, there is a strong likelihood that the topic of their discussion would be the TTA. Right now, the country appears split right down the middle on the issue and the acrimony which the matter has engendered across the nation compels serious re-thinking by all and sundry in order to prevent the ship of state from floundering. Since the test of any policy shift should be the enhancement of the common good or protection of the national interest, it seems to this observer, at least, that it is apposite to re-examine the role and place of the press within the unfolding scenario.

The choice of the press in this enterprise is pretty much obvious. Among all the other organs in society, the pre-eminence of the media is self-evident. As watchdogs of our collective rights and liberties, mass media practitioners have a bounden duty to ensure that urgent matters of the day are well ventilated and properly washed with cynical acid in order to afford the rest of us the opportunity of making informed judgment with a view to taking any necessary action(s) pursuant thereto.

Now, this is an awesome responsibility without which any aspiration towards a free and democratic society would only amount to a pipe-dream. Put differently, a free and critical press is the surest antidote to oppression and dictatorship and where and when the press is able to discharge its duties as the sentinel of the rights and liberties of the rest of the population, tyranny cannot thrive. It is for this simple reason that the press is always on the first line of attack by fascists and other anti-democratic forces. There is no gainsaying that intolerance of a free marketplace of ideas and disrespect for dissentient voices constitute the hallmarks of antics of the enemies of the open society.

 

The Press and the Common Cause

It bears restating that the press has always had a hallowed place in the scheme of things within a liberal democratic setting. This is presumably why George Washington reportedly once observed that if he was faced with having to choose between government without a free press and a free press without government, he would most eminently opt for the latter. Even an arch-priest of militarism like Napoleon Bonaparte had also declared his preparedness to face a thousand bayonets rather than confront just one newspaper! 

The power of the written and, or spoken word has always terrified forces out to constrict the political space and compel the rest of the population to view political superiors with fear and trembling. Where and when bad, un-accountable, self-serving and self-seeking government is rife, the tendency is to erect bastions of political intolerance, obscurantism and arbitrariness. Uncomfortable with the notion of the pen being mightier than the sword, dictatorial regimes have always sought to put the press in chains in a bid to further their survivalist agenda.

Nevertheless, a conscientious and well- tutored press must be able to discern its role and anchor its activities on the yearnings of the people for good governance and an open society. This necessarily entails apprehension by members of the so-called Fourth Estate of their role as disseminators of truth and the ultimate personification of the right of the people to know. The right of the people to know how they are being governed includes, as a matter of fact, the circumstances of their governance, particularly allocation of values or resources within the polity in order to fulfill the desideratum of accountability and public probity. If it is fully understood especially by political actors that the people are the true sovereigns in the state, then the investigative role of the media in the performance of their reportorial duties would be seen by all concerned as a necessary elixir for good governance and social amity. The fact of the matter is that though government is or should be accountable to the electorate, it is primarily through the press that the interests of the generality of the population can be safeguarded.

The press serves as the eyes and ears of the population and, in so doing, formulates and sets the social and political agenda in the country. Once this fact is grasped by all concerned, the import of the role and place of the press in any system of democratic governance would be self-evident. While legislators might continue to exercise their oversight functions through public hearings, select committees, etc., the role of the press in the entire system when properly harnessed is, quite simply, incomparable with that of any other social organ. All one need canvass at this stage, therefore, is greater commitment and social consciousness among media practitioners themselves in the discharge of this critical obligation so that they would act without fear or favour or any expectation of reward.

The press must become a willing ally of the masses for the canalization of the aspirations of the preponderant majority of the people. For far too long has the Nigerian press allowed itself to be perceived as being preoccupied with matters which pertain mainly to the elite. The time is now ripe for an organic link between the press and those who Awolowo said God so loved that He made sure they outnumbered the rich, powerful and famous in the millions.

 

The Press and the Third Term Agenda

It now seems ages ago when Wole Soyinka had observed that President Obasanjo’s body language belied his disclaimer on any extension of tenure. However, the beauty of great intellect is tremendous capacity for foresight bordering on clairvoyance or how else should one characterize the insightful observations of all those who very early in the day were able to see through the shenanigans of the TTA? The interesting situation we now have on our hands is the increasing capacity of the general population, not just the intelligentsia, to be as smart, if not in fact smarter than the government. While a healthy dose of skepticism is supposedly good for the polity, the credibility gap between the government and the people has become so wide as to assume proportions of cynicism with cataclysmic portents for the nation.

Long before it became the official policy of the ruling party, the TTA, or, as some would have it, tenure extension, had become perhaps the nation’s worst kept secret. A people that had endured Babangida’s endless transition and survived the antics of the Nzeribe’s ABN and Daniel Kanu’s Youths Earnestly Yearning for Abacha should be credited with some sense or, at least, the ability to recognize a pig-in-poke when they see one. The rise in popular consciousness is, arguably, one of the most potent albeit unintended consequences of the TTA debacle.

From the unheralded efforts by the inter-party constitutional review committee to the overly partisan National Conference on Political Reform as well as the infamous Mantu Joint Constitutional Review Committee, the Presidency has been fighting a losing battle to present itself as a honest broker actuated only by what was constitutional or in the best interest of the country. To a credulous population, good faith demanded putting all cards on the table and allowing a thousand flowers to bloom on such an incredibly important subject. Besides, enlightened persons were more interested in what was the right way to proceed regarding ordinary amendments to the Constitution vis-à-vis wholesale revisions of the document. To put the question, should the National Assembly be undertaking a task better suited for a Constituent Assembly in lieu of its workaday function of enacting laws for the ‘peace, order and good government of the country’?

Admittedly extension of tenure is just one of a list of proposals for constitutional change but as stated earlier, political pundits have, by and large, ignored the other issues and focused attention on the possibility of President Obasanjo continuing in office and wielding power beyond May 29, 2007. The questions that have been raised on this matter include the legality of the proposition, its morality, the consequences of a constitutional amendment authorizing such a contingency both in Nigeria and beyond, etc. Proponents of the TTA argue that it was pointless changing a winning formula or replacing shoes which were not well-worn! If President Obasanjo had done so well over the past seven years, it is argued, people should not stop the music, more so as better the devil you know than the angel you are yet to meet. Indeed, to supporters of the extended stay in office by Obasanjo, there is simply no alternative, at least, for now.

Ranged against this position is a formidable group who argue that the failure by the Obasanjo presidency to throw up a successor was itself a manifest evidence of leadership failure since good governance was really about rational bureaucratic domination by rules rather than charismatic domination. Accordingly, the society is better governed where emphasis is placed on structural development and institution-building than the whims and caprices of a self-opinionated messiah. More importantly, it is simply dishonorable, if not in fact, sinful for someone who swore by the Holy Book to serve for two terms to go back on this solemn undertaking and accept an extension of his tenure. For good measure, it is suggested that in the unlikely event of the Constitution being amended, it would be well-nigh unconscionable for President Obasanjo to be an immediate beneficiary thereof.

The first point which should be made is that the epic confrontation between protagonists of TTA or term extension and the opposition is, in reality, a contest for the political soul of the nation. The forces that desire more of the same are mortally scared of a change in the tenancy of Aso Rock which would inevitably herald not only a change of the guards but, more importantly, roll-back of the socially prohibitive, IMF/World Bank-inspired market forces-driven policies of privatization, liberalization and rationalization. This is why those who have made good from the policies of the Obasanjo administration-MAN, NACCIMA, TRANSCORP, etc.-have felt no compunction in lining up behind regime continuation while members of the current coalition against the TTA are perhaps united only by the desire to terminate the Obasanjo presidency and not necessarily because of a common world-view as to how Nigeria should be organized.

Next, the long anticipated implosion of the ruling party now occurring before our very eyes presents a fine opportunity not only for those anxious to re-arrange the deck seats on the Titanic, but also for carpetbaggers and adventurers out to garner political capital from the misfortunes of an erstwhile behemoth. If many had seen the current travails of the President’s party coming, it has taken doubting Thomases the official adoption of the TTA by the PDP to come to grips with the reality that things would no longer be the same on the political terrain. That matters could degenerate to the extent of party apparatchiks exchanging brickbats with the Vice-President and Governors confirms the severity of the malaise occasioned by the TTA.

Finally, fears being expressed in some quarters that the Third (Fourth?) Republic might be imperiled on account of the situation on the political front while being somewhat over-exaggerated, should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. The capacity of the ruling party for fissiparous action appears elastic so much so that ordinary Nigerians need to worry about a possible Samson complex among elements of the PDP. If the party is unable to depart from its defining character of inability to manage success as it goes about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it should be prepared to forfeit even the questionable support which it has been claiming across the land. If this is the beginning of Awolowo’s forecast of re-alignment of political forces, then the goings-on between and among the power elite would be most welcome.

However, something deep down tells me that President Obasanjo is much too smart to fall for such a spurious and unintelligent dummy like extending his stay in Aso Rock beyond 2007. He is sufficiently wise to recognize that failure to identify and groom a successor would be a chink on his armour. The elaborate noise over the TTA might well be a diversionary tactic to confound his adversaries with a view to playing his joker at a time they least expect. After all, he has stubbornly held all his cards close to his chest while seeking an alibi from Providence when cornered by inquisitive foreign reporters.

The reason for my doubt has more to do with the general’s penchant for history than anything else. It just does not add up that an officer and a gentleman who had set his eyes on carving a niche for himself in the Nigerian firmament would suddenly throw it all away at the twilight of his chequered career. As of now, he has hardly lost any battle, whether on the economic or political front and it would be foolhardy indeed to bargain all that away in exchange for the uncertain slippery totem pole of post-2007 Nigeria.

In view of the foregoing, it would seem that the press has its job cut out for it. It must deploy its ablest hands to ferret out the thought processes of the President and all his men (and women too!) in order to discover the impulses behind the posturing and shifts of allegiance among the Abuja power group. Even if Nigerian politics appears Byzantine and inscrutable, intrepid reporters should be summoned to import some logic and coherence into the bizarre actions that have littered the Nigerian political landscape especially in recent times.

Although the jury is still out regarding the winners and losers of the Third Term debacle, it can hardly be disputed that the political health of the country could only have benefited from the gangrene. Today, many Nigerians firmly believe that our country is not just another banana republic where a tin pot dictator can push everybody around. Others pin their hope on a deus ex machina that would save the nation from catastrophe at the right time. However, whatever attitude we adopt on this topical issue, we can bank on the centrality of the role of the press in unraveling the conundrum.

 

^* Lead paper presented at the Centre for Legislative Studies symposium, Int’l Press Centre, Ogba, Ikeja April 26, 2006.

 

^** Professor and Head, Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Lagos.