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Authority Stealing By Isaac Ehikioya Fela Anikulapo Kuti; Bless his soul. He coined that phrase at a time when almost every malfeasance about government and its top functionaries was rumour, an undocumented body of sordid tales told by unidentified person or persons. No more. The cat, as they say has been let out of the bag. The accusations and counter accusations coming from the Presidency in the past three weeks, as sickening as they are to most Nigerians, have authenticated what we have always suspected which are: 1. That our government is made up of men and women who are engaged in unbridled Stealing of public funds. 2. That there is enough money in Nigeria to adequately address the problems facing the Nation 3. That the problems facing the nation are amplified by lack of attention to nation building by those in power. 4. That personal interest rather than public good is what motivates men in power in Nigeria. Now that the two men who have presided over the affairs of the nation for the past seven years have decided to open a window into how they managed our finances and by extension our lives, and we do not like the little we have seen and heard, what do we do about them and the structure that allowed them to do what they did? Before proffering suggestion to that question, I would like to point out that there are three institutions here that, in my opinion, have failed us. These are the Presidency, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Assembly. If the National Assembly had exercised its oversight responsibilities, the Presidency and the PDP would have been stopped. The options facing the nation are ugly. Ordinarily, one would advocate that the constitutional provisions be invoked to deal with the situation. The impeachment of President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku would see Senate President Nnamani become interim President. This would fulfill the constitutional requirement but the problem is that Nnamani is a card carrying SENIOR member of the PDP, a party that is neck deep in the mess we are in. I hope this little analysis opens my fellow citizens’ eyes to the magnitude of the problem facing us. Ahmadu Alli, the PDP chairman has already called what is going on a” family affair”. Is there any wonder then, that PDP did not stop the two principal officers from running slush accounts from public treasury? Nigeria has a history of sweeping serious issues under the carpet. Remember the annulment of the June 12 election won by Chief MKO Abiola, the Pius Okigbo Commission, Rtd Justice Oputa Commission, the various Niger Delta Commissions etc; they all dealt with serious episodes in our national life. But the government chose to ignore the reports. Much as I feel the National Assembly is partly to blame for not exercising the checks and balances clauses in the constitution, it is the only institution that can lead us out of this mess peacefully. It should, as a matter of urgency, set up an independent body to investigate President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku. I dare to suggest the body should be in the form of the truth and reconciliation commission of South Africa. Every one should be granted immunity from prosecution as long as they tell ALL THEY KNOW. The benefit of such course of action is to enable the nation know how she is being raped and to make provisions to block all such avenues in future. However, all ill-gotten gains should be recovered. Refusal to cooperate with the commission would be an admission of guilt with all its ramifications. The alternative to this peaceful approach to resolving the problem and learning some useful lessons will be a full blown military intervention, come next year. This could occur between May and August 2007. The immediate cause will be the contrived chaos arising from the scheduled elections. The civil society should put pressure on the National Assembly to set up this body. Reputable men and institutions like rtd Justice Oputa, NBA President, ICAN President, NLC President etc should serve in the commission. Meanwhile efforts should intensify to replace the Obasanjo administration with an interim administration. There is no way the Obasanjo administration can provide a level playing field for honourable men and women to contest the forth coming elections.
History is about to repeat itself. After the death of Abacha, there was genuine clamour for return to civil rule. As the pressure mounted, the military hurriedly put together a document with a lot of pitfalls which it proclaimed the Constitution. The late Chief Bola Ige and Chief Gani Fawehinmin warned Nigerians about the pitfalls and suggested delaying the transition from military to civil rule just to enable the nation scrutinize the document that was being put forward. They were ridiculed by the elite class whose members were already selling their houses in London and Washington preparatory to investing in the elections and reaping a windfall afterwards. Of course, they won the argument and we ended up with an “arrange” government. Nigerians have been complaining about the Obasanjo administration since 2001. Any serious observer would see that the rate of development was inversely proportional to the rate of cash flow from oil and annul budgetary provisions. Yet “ordinary water for man to drink for town nko, I no dey” The energy sector has virtually collapsed. My sincere appreciation to Fela Anikulao Kuti for his ability to say a lot in a few words. We must seize the opportunity presented by this crisis to sanitize the polity.
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