Sam Aluko's Caution on the Polity

By

Musa Ilallah

musahk123@yahoo.com

THERE is no doubting the fact that Nigeria is abundantly blessed with human and natural resources spread across the length and breadth of the country. This is an undisputed fact that that has not and cannot be faulted.

Some of the country’s outstanding human resources have made their effects seeing and felt within and outside the country.

My concern now is to in my own little understanding look at one of the finest professionals Nigeria has and whose contributions, resourcefulness and ingenuity have been felt across the globe.

Professor Sam Aluko, is no doubt a household name in and out of Nigeria particularly when economic matters are being discussed. Born into a strict Christian family in the present Ondo state, Professor Aluko has distinguished himself as an elder statesman, academician, economist and administrator of note. He was on the think tank team of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the First Republic. He is presently a professor Emeritus at the University of Ife.

Professor Aluko has, as an elder statesman voiced his concern on the current and unending feud between President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Vice President Atiku Abubakar. He did not stop there; he drew every Nigerians attention to the consequences of a ‘similar leadership crises that led to the dire consequences’ in the past and called for the sheathing of swords by the ‘combatants’ in the interest of peace and unity of the country.

We should not mistake Aluko’s statement to an uncalled alarm. He is not an alarmist. Rather, he is a concerned Nigerian who has a stake in the peace or otherwise of the country

Professor Aluko’s recipe for averting the impending catastrophe was contained in a letter he sent to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. His words of caution should be listened to and acted accordingly as words of our elders are words of wisdom. He should not be ignored especially in view of the antecedents he had illustrated in his letter.

In the graphic illustration of Economist Aluko, ‘the cost to the nation of the rift between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy, Chief Samuel Akintola in 1962/63 led to the military takeover of the then government of our country’. It could therefore be said that such became an eye opener for similar or near similar consequences to accompany such disagreements.

One can here recall the rift between late General Sani Abacha with his deputy, so to say, General Oladipo Diya which led to the life imprisonment of Diya.

At the state level, Aluko recalls that the face-off between Governor Adekunle Ajasin of Ondo state and his deputy, Akin Omoboriowo led to the political turmoil of 1983 and eventually to the December 1983 military coup which made the military government that took over to last till May 1999.

Currently we are because of the selfish motives of some of the operators of the 1999 constitutional the highest levels charged, in fact over charged the polity and have reached a point of ‘anything’ happening.

 Take the cases of abuse of the constitution since 1999 by President Obasanjo by disrespecting budgetary provisions, abuse of rule of law, justice and constitutional provisions. It is on record that the EFCC under the guidance of OBJ have virtually paralysed states like Bayelsa, Oyo, Ekiti, Plateau and Anambra where in some cases the governors were unconstitutionally removed from office.

In as much as some of the governors have been engaged in corrupt practices, it does not give anybody the right to interfere in the state affairs, not to even initiate and finance impeachment processes.

The Obasanjo government has no moral or legal right to in any way interfere with the affairs of the state. The 1999 constitution has clearly spelt out how issues and problems will be addressed as they arise by various arms and agencies of the governments. Anything short of this is aimed at achieving selfish desires.

A number of Nigerians are of the view that Obasanjo is deliberately charging the polity so that his ultimate desires of creating tension so that elections in 2007 cannot be held and thus extend his stay in office through the back door.

Professor Aluko’s caution the federal legislators that ‘if not adroitly handled and with the necessary hindsight, our democratic governance can be derailed. You should handle with the greatest care and dexterity the on going rift between President Obasanjo and his deputy on the allegations and counter allegations of corruption in the handling of the nation’s finances.’

It is important to at this point say that I fully subscribe to the example offered by Aluko using the advantage of one’s office and power to smear an opponent, saying that our history is replete with such cooked-up commissions of enquiries.

In 1956 the colonial government wanting to prevent Dr Nnamdi Azikwe from contesting the 1957 eastern region elections and from mobilizing Nigeria and Nigerians for independence, he was accused of benefiting fraudulently from African Continental Bank, ACB lending facility. Justice Forster Sutton, a High Court Judge headed the notorious inquiry.

Also, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had his taste of powers of the leadership to smear him and frustrate his ambitions. The 1963Coker Commission of Inquiry was headed by a supreme court Judge which tried to maneuver and discredit Awolowo, leader of the Action Group (AG), as corrupt. That contributed to the political turmoil of 1964/65 and to the military coup of 1966..

In summary I like to use the words of elder statesman Aluko thus: “the two of them have been together since 1999 and even before. Why, on the eve of the end of their tenure, do these fault-findings on only one issue of deposit of money in two banks become so dominant in the affairs of our nation? Obviously, that one issue could not have been the only one handled by Vice President Atiku Abubakar since May 1999. And if it was the only one on which he was found corrupt, he must be a political angel, worthy to be praised rather than be hanged.” I completely agree with the learned professor. The truth of the matter is that Atiku is just been victimised for no other reason but his desire to contest the presidential ticket of the country come 2007.

One only hopes that these past experiences will assist us get of our OBJ created problems.

Musa Ilallah

Kaduna