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Obasanjo, Boni Haruna and the Political Turbulence in Adamawa By Zayyad I Muhammad An interesting episode of the current Nigeria’s political drama is unfolding in Adamawa state, courtesy; obasanjo’s desire to get vice president Atiku Abubakar at all cost, on the course, Obasanjo has certain obstacles to do away with , thus, some state governors were fallen victims, and Adamawa state governor Boni Haruna is obasanjo’s another extensively targeted precious ‘ prey’. It is no more news that Adamawa state is one among the important centrifugal battle ground for the 2007 election, courtesy, Atiku-Obasanjo political feud; but to a certain extent, some important elements are intertwining in the current happenings in Adamawa state: Obasanjo want to politically injure Atiku in his home state whatsoever way it is accomplish, political opponents of Atiku saw the whole scenario as an opportunity to snatch power from Atiku who for quite some time is in firm control of Adamawa politics, but Boni Haruna who happens to be the political son of the vice president has tenaciously remain loyal Atiku, thus becoming an obstacle in the war to obliterate the political influence of vice president Atiku Abubakar in Adamawa.
Political opponents of Atiku who are desperate to get political power, make-out the removal Boni Haruna as the only way to achieve their political goal, and this cannot be feasible without Obasanjo’s Gestapo-like, the EFCC, threatening and coining some members of Adamawa state house to commence the process of impeaching their governor, who for the past eight years they enjoyed a good cordially relation with.
President Obasanjo’s today’s political paradigm is; defeating his perceived political adversaries by the use of blackmail and brutal force; interestingly, this has led to a new political-matrix being implanted in the minds of some politicians- bare-fear, thoughtlessness, opportunism and desperately becoming pushy to actualize their longing political ambition, regrettably Adamawa state deputy governor has falling in such midst; it is unfortunate, in view of the fact that , a promising young man like Bello Tukur, has woefully failed to read the crystal clear writings on the walls. Few hours after the Adamawa state house of assembly allowed him to be the Acting Governor of Adamawa state, Tukur went on ‘rampage’ purportedly ‘sacking’ the twenty-one caretaker local government council officials who were elected by an electoral-collage, not satisfied, the man went ahead to ‘sack’ the members of Adamawa state executive council, who in pointblank told Tukur; “ you are joking!, one irony of the whole issues is , Boni Haruna who is the elected executive governor of Adamawa state, is not dead, nor has he resigned his position , neither has Boni become incapacitated, nor the Adamawa state house of assembly had impeached him.
Never in the history of any democratic cultured society , that a deputy who will act as Governor for few days can do such bizarre, though, we must sincerely admit that, the PDP who the deputy governor is in ‘romance’ with, is desperate to remove Boni Haruna seeing it as the only way to win election, but one wonders what is the rational behind this thought, though Political pundits my not be surprise, because the current PDP so much believed on, the use of state machinery as tools in rigging elections and the PDP is in a great deal of state-of-fear to face their political opponents in a free and fair elections, the PDP has used political blackmail, lawlessness and rigging to gain political goal in a manner Nigerians had never till now, contemplated feasible in Nigeria, a country that has proudly produced some best mines in the world.
The senseless punctuating of natural justice with blackmail, brutal force and lawlessness by the powers that be, has a reached a dangerous point, one is not being an alarmist, but it is the reality at the moment in Africa’s biggest country, but is this the price of democracy that Nigerians have pay for? When countries like South-Africa, Ghana, Benin republic are determinedly strengthening democratic ideals, Nigerian leaders are busy reversing the country to similar scenarios of her ugly past. The situation has reached to a level of; the international community has come to realize the level of pretence of high morality being exhibit by president Obasanjo. In an article with a caption: ‘Fooling people some of the time’ written by Herman J. Cohen, a former US assistant secretary of state for Africa, he said: “Unfortunately, Obasanjo's role in Nigeria's internal affairs has been far less laudable. His energy policies have done little to alleviate Nigeria's crushing poverty and social unrest. Moreover, as Obasanjo enters the final months of his second four-year term, he is subverting his country's fragile democracy in order to prolong his personal power… All politicians were beholden to him for money. He established an anti-corruption commission. But the record shows that his friends were exempt and his enemies were investigated whether or not they had dirt on their hands. He also manipulated the awarding of contracts and mineral concessions to intimidate potential rivals. Governors who refused to cooperate were threatened with impeachment for corruption” (the full article is available on http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/fooling-people-some-of-the-time.html)
Similitude to scenario of perplexity at the tail-end of most dictatorial regimes, the Obasanjo government has reached same point; any thing the government perceived to be an obstacle must be crush. In an undiplomatic way the federal government announced the canceling of her ‘Heart of Africa’ contract with the CNN, because the cable television has broadcasted what the government does not what to hear- This is civilize democracy, Obasanjo’s style!
Zayyad I Muhammad writes from Jimeta |