|
No Atiku No Elections? By Abubakar Atiku
As the country counts down to the conduct of general elections, the polity is engulfed in crises that threaten the peaceful conduct of credible polls. The spate of political violence across the country at the moment is indeed worrisome. More worrisome however, is the vicissitudes of the Vice President's political life.
As the government, through INEC is bent on frustrating the VP's aspirations and with the latter poised to exercise his fundamental right, the effect of this face-off on the polity is hard to imagine. But ultimately, it is the ordinary Nigerian who would be at the receiving end.
As an ordinary Nigerian, it gives me a lot of concern that the same people who worked in concert to make life unbearable for Nigerians through myopic and malevolent reform programmes and electoral processes are again working hard to put the future of the country and its citizens in jeopardy.
Much as it is wrong for INEC to violate the VP's fundamental human rights, it will be equally wrong for the VP to resort to unlawful means to seek redress. Thus, the statement credited to the VP and some of his supporters to the effect that if he was not allowed to contest the elections there would be no elections is unfortunate. This is because there are adequate legal provisions which the VP can take recourse to. Did he not recently win against the government at the Court of Appeal?
Much as one does not take delight in the unenviable situation the VP finds himself in, one may be tempted to see him as one of the architects of the current political morass. What happened during the 2003 general elections is now history but the resonant echoes of it are still with us. Had the VP allowed the wishes of the people to prevail at that time, we wouldn't have been having the present situation in our hands. Consequently, if the president is a monster today, he is partly a creation of the VP :and if the VP is devoured by the political sphinx he created, he certainly deserves little pity.
It is regrettable that though democracy is the global desideratum, what we have in Nigeria is only a semblance of it. The responsibility for this lies in the repulsive docility and the incomprehensible gullibility of the ordinary Nigerian which make him continuously susceptible to the supercilious antics of selfish politicians. This is in addition to the perfidious disposition of the average Nigerian elite whose actions and inactions are always wrapped in the garb of opportunism. Without doubt, considering what we have witnessed in the past eight years, one can safely conclude that democracy has failed and it is difficult to say whether or not what we have as a democratic government is better than the worst military dictatorship we have ever had. Recent happenings lend credence to the insinuations that this government has a penchant for making laws and policies that pander to the interest of some people over and above the rights of others.
It is therefore considered appropriate at this point to call on the VP to reconsider his threat and be a democrat. This writer believes, the tacit acknowledgement by the presidency that the VP is a political colossus, the fear of whom is the beginning of wisdom, is no mean feat. That president Obasanjo has a blurred vision over the transient nature of power is only part of human nature. As soon as he hands over power, he ceases to be politically relevant even if he succeeds in putting a surrogate there, that is. The year 2011 will be another election year and going by the dynamics of the country's democracy, the VP is sure to trounce whoever emerges the president in the 2007 polls. That is if his disqualification from the forthcoming polls remains irreversible. A little patience your Excellency! As a major contributor to the abortion of the third term plan, wouldn't it be ironical that you would facilitate the extension of President Obasanjo's tenure by engaging in any act that could scuttle the planned polls?
Abubakar Atiku Zagga, Minannata, Sokoto. |