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Third Term Agenda: Matters Arising (3) By Chido Onumah
While the great fiddler was consumed with the agenda of self-perpetuation, a part of the country went up in flames, literally. Once again the nation has had to endure another preventable tragedy. In a country that produces so much oil, why do citizens have to make ends meet by stealing oil from vandalized pipelines? There ought to be a probe to explain this irony! That was exactly what our President instructed. And for effect he also ordered patrol of the pipelines.
That’s great, except that this problem didn’t start yesterday. "This has been going on for a long time, those people were just unlucky they caught fire this time ... People are making so much money from selling stolen petrol that I'm sure they'll come back", a boat driver told reporters. The recent oil fire at Ilado, Lagos, that killed more than 200 people was a disaster waiting to happen. Yet our leaders hardly took note.
Further confirmation that the Presidency shares the greater responsibility for this tragedy came from Governor Bola Tinubu who told reporters he had written to President Obasanjo on "the need to provide additional casing barriers for the pipelines that pass through Lagos State". The governor "regretted that the Federal Government took no action as regards his suggestion before the latest tragedy struck, noting that the present state of the pipelines constituted a major source of temptation to vandals and economic saboteurs, who were ready to commit suicide for monetary gains". Where is the time to fix dilapidated infrastructures when the government is dealing with an important national issue as extra tenure for the President?
But the major news of the past week wasn’t the heap of charred remains of ordinary Nigerians caught up in the infernal politics of oil. Nigerians were preoccupied with deliberations in the National Assembly over the Third term Agenda (TTA). When the news came that the Senate and much later the House had thrown out the bill to give President Obasanjo a third term, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief. At least for now, the President can’t get a tenure elongation constitutionally. But that is not to say those who orchestrated this evil agenda are about to take a break.
The President says he accepts the decision of the National Assembly. He calls it a victory for democracy! If you just landed from the moon you would think you were dealing with a true democrat. Is this the same Obasanjo who was threatening fire and brimstone before the vote in the National Assembly? What happened? Was there another directive from God that Obasanjo is not revealing? Remember he told us not too long ago that "God is not a God of abandoned projects. If God has a project, He will not abandon it". What does Obasanjo have up his sleeve?
The most intriguing aspect of Obasanjo’s response to the defeat of the third term bill is the fact that he blames everyone but himself for the crisis occasioned by the TTA. He blames the "media excesses that accompanied the Constitutional Amendment exercise" for creating and deepening conflicts and divisions within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and by extension the country. It is convenient for the President to play the blame game and to deny knowledge of the third term plot, but his antecedent does not support his position.
Just two weeks ago, Obasanjo was willing to pull the country down to achieve his desire. Before the vote in the Senate, he was reported to have ordered the leadership of the National Assembly to the Presidential Villa and instructed them do everything possible to make sure the TTA succeeded. Clearly upset with the way things were going, the President reminded the Senate President and the Speaker of the House that as a former military officer, he would not entertain any excuse from them. "You know that I am a soldier; soldiers do not retreat from battle. I have started a fight and therefore I will not retreat, I will not surrender," Obasanjo reportedly said.
The President also told the delegation that "third term is a policy of the PDP". He warned that "voting it out on the floor of the Assembly amounts to defeating the policy of party that controls the Assembly," adding that it is "totally unacceptable to me and I will not accept such a defeat". What a difference a week makes. Suddenly, Obasanjo is singing a new tune. He is willing to accept the defeat of the third term bill in the National Assembly as part of the democratic process. But rather than address the nation on the heartache caused by the TTA, he sought refuge in the PDP. The President wants to create the impression that this is a party policy gone awry.
But contrary to the President’s claim, the TTA is not a policy of the PDP. The party did not campaign on this agenda in 2003. I don’t think the President can provide the minutes of a meeting where the PDP resolved to pursue the TTA. If the TTA was the policy of the PDP, why did the VP and other senior members of the party oppose it? Obasanjo must have believed he could, through his errand boys, persuade Nigerians to give him an extra term based on his so-called track record or he is a gullible leader.
I am inclined to believe the former. Forget the talk about Obasanjo being prodded by "hawks" within his administration and some elements in the PDP. It reminds us of the fable about General Babangida being misled by "junior officers". The whole TTA had Obasanjo’s imprint all over its putrid fingers. If Obasanjo wanted to stop this unnecessary diversion and waste of public funds he would have done so a long time ago. Either this was some kind of masochistic ritual for him or it was a prelude to a more sinister plot.
Obasanjo should stop sounding like the victim in the third term crisis. He may be the vanquished, but he started this war. If he feels "maligned, insulted and wrongly accused" it is because he created and nurtured a monster. It can’t be business as usual, Mr. President. The rhetoric that it was now time to heal the wounds caused by weeks of angry debate on the third term issue is an insult and is not helpful in any way. The third term campaign threatened the very basis of the country’s incipient democracy. It is simply not enough to criticize both sides for using "blackmail, intimidation and violence" in their campaigns.
The allegations of bribery certainly makes a mockery of Obasanjo’s much touted anti-corruption crusade. ThisDay newspapers quoted a senator as saying that "unlike the supporters of the (third term) project, who got offers of N70 million with a down-payment of N50 million, (he) was offered N100 million with a down-payment of N70 million" to get him to join the third term camp. We need to know what transpired.
What kind of perverted logic made it possible that while the police arrested opponents of TTA agenda, even for such innocuous actions as carrying an anti-third term placard, a terrorist group, Youth Coalition for Democracy, was busy threatening elected lawmakers. Where does this Abuja-based group that sent letters to anti-third term senators threatening "unpleasant consequences for you and your family" if they failed to "ensure tenure elongation for Obasanjo" belong in the President’s blame game? Can we forget the humiliation of the VP because he was opposed to TTA?
In spite of Obasanjo’s shenanigans, we must commend the National Assembly for letting common sense and the rule of law prevail. Nigerians from all walks of life deserve praise for their efforts. But we must be vigilant. I don’t think we have heard the last of the TTA. Obasanjo has shown that he can’t be trusted. For him the TTA is not about democracy or the rule of law. It is about ego and power. Those lawmakers who acted as henchmen of the TTA must be made to reap the full benefit of their role. And for the likes of Festus Odimegwu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries plc who do not have a constituency, we can only hope they have learned their lesson.
It is often said that most Americans remember where they were when they first heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot (Nov. 22, 1963). Many Nigerians will remember where they were and what they were doing on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, when they heard the news that the Senate had dumped the unpopular third term bill.
That singular action rekindled hope in the country’s democratic future. Whatever happens after, Nigerians should make sure we do go one step forward and two steps backward.
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