General Olusegun Aremu Obsango Hanging On To Power: The Real Dangers Ahead For Nigeria

By

Dr. Abubakar A. Muhammad

aamu645@libcom.com

 

 

 

 

Call it what you like, Nigerians did not overwhelmingly vote for the PDP to continue in governance beyond 2003 but it carried on anyway and shockingly only a few Nigerians fought the battle against an illegitimate regime to the end, a battle that was shamelessly trashed by the Supreme Court which beyond all expectations gave OBJ the tazarce approval. That was the battle General Muhammadu Buhari, almost single handedly fought gallantly like a true soldier as they say in Hausa: “Ba gudu ba tsoro.” That is why it is sickening to the stomach when some of our amateur so called ‘democrats’ and ‘civil society activitists’ pronounce General Muhammadu Buhari is not a democrat because he seized power only yesterday and so he could never be a democrat in their own nonsensical conception of democracy. It is indeed like saying Michael Govechock, the one time communist leader of the former Soviet Union, who knew nothing throughout his adult life besides communism should never be trusted when he unilaterally dismantled the totalitarian Soviet Communist Empire and embraced a Western style democracy. These midget ‘democrats’ also argue because Olusegun Obasanjo, himself an ex-army General has betrayed the Nigerian Constitution in countless number of ways and continues to rule the country in a totalitarian manner then every ex-army officer can never be a democrat. This argument is so bunkum and false that it drives one to ask the very question: “What are the things our so called democrats have done to the nation today as leaders in the different corridors of power?” One thing I know that has been so common with them is they have failed to provide us the dividends of democracy because unlike General Muhammadu Buhari, most of them, including the president, are in politics to make money; and they have been too busy stealing our God-given resources and running the Nigerian state aground. If this is what democracy is all about I will rather opt for something else.

 

Although most Nigerians, especially our southwestern brothers knew that the man OBJ should never be trusted with power or anything of leadership for that matter, Nigerians gave him benefit of the doubt to represent the south in the equation of power allocation in 1999. It is now coming to the public knowledge that OBJ promised those King makers that he would not even seek the second term in 2003, not to mention his unthinkable Third Term project beyond 2007 which is really the main issue of discussion in this paper, an issue that portends grave dangers to the survival of the Nigerian Nation. True the tazarce as it was first conceived by OBJ and his bootlickers like Mr. Fix it Aneni, Nuhu Ribdu, Ahmadu Ali, Nasir el-Rufa’i, and others has changed its tactics but it should be mentioned for the umpteenth times it has not been completely defeated, so OBJ’s antics on how to successfully circumvent the peoples’ democratic wishes in order to materialize his devilish elongation project, though dented, is still on course, never mind the president’s lies of readiness to ‘hold a free and fair’ election.. Nigerians are fighting the devil of Ota Farms and as the saying goes we need the proverbial long spoon to dine with him. I am not going into the various activities by this illegitimate regime that escalated into selecting Governor Umaru ‘Yar Adua to be the PDP presidential candidate. Numerous writers of proven integrity have given us classified information how Umaru ‘Yar Adua who would have wished to retire into teaching was dragged into the politics of succeeding OBJ only as a proxy candidate. It is generally believed that is one of the last cards OBJ has to use not only to save himself from immediate prosecution as a criminal after May 29, 2007, but also to use this weak and uncharismatic Governor as pawn to continue to protect his so called ‘economic reforms’ from being totally dismantled because they have no human face; they are retrogressive, selfish and a sellout of Nigeria to foreign thieves. Numerous unfounded theories have been postulated to have people  believe that the man OBJ meant well for Nigeria in anointing Umaru ‘Yar Adua to be the presidential candidate of the PDP, from among even seemingly more able prospective candidates, never mind the process itself is unconstitutional and therefore undemocratic. It was asserted that Governor Umaru ‘Yar Adua is the one person, from among others, who is not corrupt; that because of humility he never vied to become a presidential candidate; that he has proven record of achievement as Governor of his state; that the PDM faction of the PDP is strong and fully behind Umaru ‘Yar Adua for victory at the polls; and that OBJ single handedly selected him to pay back the loyalty of his one time second in command, General Shehu Musa ‘Yar Adua. Unfortunately each of these theories cannot stand the test of OBJ doctrine which is deceit, betrayal, greed and outright mischief. Behind the mask is OBJ’s wicked face trying various self survival plots and acrobatics to protect his enormous economic empire built within the eight years of his presidency and so anything else is secondary to this man of evil intentions. He could careless about paying back anybody’s loyalty, otherwise General Ibrahim Babangida, General Aliyu Muhammad Gusau, General Abubakar Abdussalami, vice president Abubakar Atiku, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Audu Ogbe, General Theophalus Danjuma, Soloman Lar, Lawal Kaita, and a host of these once upon friends of OBJ deserve to be paid back by this mischievous president. I am not speaking for them but I am making the point to say that Governor Umaru ‘Yar Adua was General Obasanjo’s handpicked candidate because Aremu Obasanjo is scheming again to rule Nigeria from behind the throne should, God forbid, the uncharismatic and non-performing Governor Umaru ‘Yar Adua win the election. And if in the days a head the PDP dictator becomes convinced his anointed cover up has no chance of winning a democratically held election, and obviously Umaru ‘Yar Adua is not electable, then other plans will be pursued. These are the looming dangers ahead of us.

 

The president as a typical ex-army officer has been fighting for his cause alone; it is not the PDP cause or at best the Nigerian cause. It is the OBJ cause pointblank! Those who are slow to understand the OBJ intrigues are still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt until elections are held and then they will realize it is too late to cry over the spilled milk. Although the president is ready again to unleash all the presidential weapons of mass destruction against our nascent democracy just to stay in power it does not regrettably appear to many of our media that OBJ’s plans for self perpetuation in power remains intact; the chameleon may change its color but it remains the same reptile. True in 2003 OBJ has had numerous collaborators to help bulldoze the Nigerian people and forced himself into ‘victory’ in election that was at best described as raped. This time around he is ready to add to those forces of coercion like the Maurice Iwu’s INEC, Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC, the free SSS and hired thugs to impose Umaru ‘Yar Adua on us. It is significant General Muhammadu Buhari, the erstwhile presidential candidate of the ANPP has already cried out the election results of April 2007 may have already been decided... General Muhammadu Buhari, even as a politician is not known to be a man of careless talk and it will be unwise not to pay heed to his allegation. Opponents from the PDP who would have wished the General refrained from exposing their clandestine plan to steal votes were all over the place, including my good friend Dr. Bello Mohammed Haliru, calling General Muhammadu Buhari a looser. Yet it was well known by all that the PDP thrives in stealing of votes and General Muhammadu Buhari’s outcry only reminds us the ignoble and contemptible armed robbery these politicians of lowest morality committed in 2003. After all, the saying goes: “Once bitten twice shy.” Yet reading and listening to INEC officials, including its chairman, Mr. Maurice Iwu, one would come to perilous conclusion that this time around the ‘Independent Electoral Commission’ is indeed ready to conduct elections that are free and fair. The commission has taken the tactic of repeating over and over to us how ready it is, to perform its job. But then facts on the ground are pointing to other directions of failure and disaster about to happen. If INEC is ready, free and fair why then is it reluctant to tell the world why it insists to use the electronic voting machines [DDC] when the House of Representatives and majority of the electorate have denounced them as unworkable at the present stage of our political education? Indeed the constant hiccups that INEC experienced during the recent voter registration with these machines should have been lessons not to use them further.  If INEC leadership intends to be fair why does it fail to prosecute some of the PDP chieftains like Chief Lamidi Adedibu, who was caught red handed with INEC electronic voter registration machines in his possession? If INEC is going to be a fair referee why has it failed to curb and punish the archaic, abusive, and irresponsible statements of the president, who told the world that he was not going to hand over power to anyone who will not continue with the president’s economic reforms of disaster? Or is the president, as a surrogate candidate above the law and beyond reproach? When the president told the world that for the PDP the election is “a do or die” affair, was he not saying right to INEC’s face that he was going to stick to his infamous method of rigging the elections? And yet INEC has remained mute because the person making these disgusting and uncharitable statements happens to be its employer. Why would INEC take a back seat by allowing the so called EFCC of Nuhu Ribadu to dictate to it who is clean to contest the elections even though this agent of confusion and selective justice has no constitutional role to declare who is free to contest the elections? Time and again Nuhu Ribadu has said his agency does not have the role of determining who is qualified to be chosen as candidate, but then he goes back to threaten and intimidate political parties that ignore his ‘advise’ on candidates they should not allow to contest the elections. Such unguarded and unlawful statements by a commission that serves the interest of its paymaster, the president, must be challenged in court by all the parties, including the PDP, to save our democracy from total collapse. And it is needless to say that all these outbursts and illegal activities by these government agencies are entirely directed, monitored and controlled by the dictator in Asorock. One is helplessly enraged by INEC’s doubletalk Although its role to clear candidates for election is currently being debated, it still has no power to sanction or stop such candidates who may have been indicted pending judgment of the court. Why then has INEC failed to clear Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress just because his case is pending in court? In my view, the man should have been declared innocent until he is proved guilty and because this is not the case one is free to suppose that INEC’s inaction over Abubakar Atiku is coming under strict orders from Asorock.

 

Serious as this may be, the continuing misuse of the so called ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ by the president to try and at the same time pass its legal verdicts on the political opponents of the president is both a laughable and most reprehensible act of desperation. It would appear now the president has three of his agents set in high gear to destroy any chances Nigerians may have to conduct a free and fair election in April 2007. For the first time as we were all aware the ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ was used to declare that the vice president, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku had corruptly turned the PTDF savings into personal use and acting as the prosecutor and judge the panel passed the verdict of guilt on the vice president. Thankfully, the decision to bar the vice president from his office was thrown out even though it still did not stop the president from demonstrating his evil and vindictive desires against Abubakar Atiku. And yes, this was even as a High Court has restrained the president and the PDP from taking further unilateral action to disenfranchise the vice president pending final verdict from the court. The problem then was no one thought this infamous tool of coercion against opponents of the president was going to spread its tentacles to smear other stakeholders who belong to other opposition parties. They have been proved awfully wrong as it did not take the EFCC long to present about 135 names of politicians that it claimed were ‘unfit’ to hold political office on the grounds of alleged financial impropriety or other corrupt practices. The president, true to his stinking manner and indignation with law hurriedly arranged his six-man ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ to meet and invite all those whose names appeared on the EFCC’s corruption report. It is not that anyone is against the legal and constitutional role of the EFCC, ICPC, and even the president’s latest hunting dog, the API. I for one and I believe Nigerians in general welcome genuine anti corruption crusades of EFCC and other anti graft watch dogs. However, it needs to be clearly stated that Nigerians at home and abroad are bitterly against the president’s misuse of these organs over and above the intent of the laws that have brought them about. We strongly abhor and condemn the president’s manipulation and doctoring of these agencies to threaten, coerce and destroy his political opponents as well as our democratic ideals. Indeed such a savage behavior of the president can have unsettling consequences of political disorder which may even lead to the break up of our great country. So the misuse of weapons of power by anyone; a president, a governor, or elected official down to the kevel of a local representative must be frowned at and condemned. It is a pity this president has been the most lawless president Nigerians have ever been saddled with, including the military juntas who governed more approvingly even as they used the military decrees. Interestingly although the recent ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ was rightly boycotted by majority of those it invited, the panel judged the unproven cases and passed its so called verdicts to the president. Not to mention all members of the panel are PDP activists and Ministers of the central government, the panel met and serving as the prosecutor and judge declared the alleged wrongdoers in absentia guilty. And yet there is no clause in our constitution that gave the president’s ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ the power to pass sentence of guilt and to disqualify any individual from contesting an election. Of course the cooked up result of this Kangaroo court was intentional; to allow the president summon his Federal Executive Council to rubber stamp the API’s decision and allow the outlawed government to write up ‘a white paper’ against the heavy weight political rivals of OBJ and the PDP and to declare them ‘unfit to seek election.’ What a travesty of justice and it is decidedly dreadful Nigerians are swallowing this balderdash pill of disaster about to break loose as Nigerians watch somewhat idly.

 

It seems at least some political parties have already taken the case of banning their candidates to contest the election to the appropriate courts and they are sure this reckless and illegal action of a desperate president, the EFCC and the so called ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry’ will be thrown into the dustbin of history where it rightfully belongs. In the end when OBJ and other crooks of the PDP play all his trump cards without success the president may use the political confusion he and his backers have worked hard to create within the various states’ political structures and at the center to hold off the elections, considering it unfeasible. If he can succeed doing that then OBJ will declare it is not ‘safe and orderly’ for him to hand over power to anyone, including his anointed candidate, Umaru ‘Yar Adua. This thinking and prognosis is not far fetched with the kind of devil we are dealing with. What is certain though is if this happens, it will surely be the end of the Nigerian State as we know it. Indeed if this should come to pass, it would also be the end of whatever remains as a democracy while all those who stand against it for the purpose of protecting and sustaining their ill gotten wealth are certain to perish in the raging fire they have labored for too long and so hard to kindle.

 

I will conclude to remind Nigerians exactly what our Constitution stipulates with regard to barring someone, men and women, from participating in an election process in Nigeria. Here it should be stated that our primary guide is the Electoral Act of 2006, that dealt with the legality and procedures for having an aspiring candidate for election to be disqualified. The subsections of this Act stipulate the following:

 

1)      That every political party shall not later than 120 days before the date appointed for a general election under the provision of this Act, submit to the Commission in the prescribed forms the list of the candidates the Party propose to sponsor at the elections.

2)      The list shall be accompanied by an Affidavit sworn to by each candidate at the High Court of a State, indicating that he has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into that office.

3)      The Commission shall, within 7 days of the receipt of the personal particulars of the candidate publish same in the constituency where the candidate intends to contest the election.

4)      Any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a candidate in the Affidavit is false may file a suit at the High Court of a State or Federal High Court against such person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the Affidavit is false.

5)      If the Court determines that any of the information contained in the Affidavit is false the Court shall issue an Order disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election

6)      A Political Party which presents to the Commission the name of a candidate who does not meet the qualifications stipulated in this section shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a maximum fine of 5000,000…”

 

 

So where does it state the president’s ‘Administrative Panel of Inquiry,’ the Federal Executive Council or the Economic and Financial Crime Commission have any role whatsoever to disqualify Nigerians from participating in elections under our constitution? It is unequivocally clear that as the law pertaining to disqualification of any person for any elective post stands, it is entirely the right of our courts to do so and not the president’s handpicked political agents. It needs to be emphasized nobody but the president has anointed his Kangaroo Administrative Panel of Inquiry, in cahoots with the EFCC, to wear the legal shoes of the courts and bastardization of our constitution by this president must be stopped once and for all. While I do not hold much hope that our spineless National Assembly is ever going to impeach this lawless and criminally minded president; and while there is not much hope that INEC as it is constituted will stand up fair and square for all in the coming elections, I would still urge Nigerians to stand up bravely and defend their inalienable right to elect leaders and representatives of their choice no matter what it takes as their sacrifice and in spite of all odds. As General Muhammadu Buhari would say, Nigerians must not only vote but stand up to protect those votes to be counted. No one and no peril should deter us from electing leaders who are capable of building the democratic ideals all of us will be proud to sustain; leaders who above all are truly patriotic and God fearing in words and deeds. This can happen and if it does we are sure to put behind bars the callous and greedy monster and his collaborators who have caused so much pain and havoc to the millions of Nigerians. On the other hand if OBJ and his gang of looters should succeed to perpetuate themselves yet again one may be rest assured this time around the dangers they will unleash will be too grotesque to imagine. For Nigerians, the April 2007 elections portend two matters: it is either going to be peoples’ choice to be free for ever or regrettably, they may be forced with the choice to continue in bondage. The latter, which is hard to imagine, will be euphemism for disaster of unimaginable proportion. God forbid!

 

 

 

Dr. Abubakar A. Muhammad writes from the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America.