Yar’Adua, Starting on a Faulty Ground

By

Bala Dan Adoro

adoroson@yahoo.com

As at the time of writing this piece, no government has officially sent congratulatory message to Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as the true winner of the sham that Iwu and Obasanjo said were free and fair elections. Only Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Obasanjo’s Siamese twin brother and staunch supporter of Robert Mugabe congratulated Yar’Adua. And this is not surprising because South Africa did the contract of printing the ballot papers worth billions of naira.

Even locally I am yet to see any powerful delegation of traditional rulers – known to identify with government no matter its unpopular stance – met with the ‘president-elect’ to pay homage. Forget about the Northern Union endorsing Yar’Adua. They can’t live without subsidy on their lives. By the way what else do you expect from the Union’s boss, Sola Saraki who has his son as governor, daughter a senator etc? He certainly will not want to see them out.

This, however, is not to say that there won’t be one or two individuals who have been leading a government subsidized lives will not by space in newspapers begging to be noticed. But still, deep down inside them, they know their actions are just necessary so that the subsidy on their lives would not be withdrawn.

In fact, rather than attract the sympathy of the international community, the reverse seems to be more prominent. The chairman of the United States Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Senator Russ Feingold, urged President George W. Bush not to recognise Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua as Nigeria’s president-elect.

Also, the secretary of state for foreign and Commonwealth affairs in Britain, the Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett, said the British government was deeply concerned about reports from international observers that the elections held in Nigeria had fallen short of international standards and were seriously flawed. A statement signed by Graeme Bannatyne noted that "in many states and local districts there were serious organisational problems, including the ballot papers.

Senator Feingold, apparently saying what majority Nigerians want to hear over Iwu’s murder of what remained of his battered reputation said, "Obasanjo’s leadership over the last eight years has been called into question by the failure of efforts to reform Nigeria’s electoral system and combat political corruption. The administration should not legitimise this election, as doing so would undermine our commitment to good governance and transparency and to building strong democracies."

For the first time also, members of the opposition have rejected PDP’s offer to ‘come and chop’ as a way of breaking their ranks. As for Buhari and Atiku, forcing Obasanjo out in May seem to be their major aim, and we must support them on this. When the man is successfully chased out, fresh elections can be conducted and credible leaders elected.

Despite all these, and what Nigerians know about Saturday’s disgrace, the beneficiary of Maurice Iwu’s stupidity is adamant that he is not a product of rigged elections. Yar’Adua, apparently drunk even before tasting the power beer, said the process that saw his emergence was transparent. He even referred to those who say his emergence was flawed and a product of rigged elections are not fair to the majority of Nigerians who voted for him in last week’s presidential election. If Yar’Adua was a popular candidate, why was security beefed before he was declared the winner? How many people took to the street to celebrate the ‘victory’ of their candidate?

Perhaps the question here is, can Yar’Adua swear by the Holy Qur’an that his election was free and fair? Can anyone say that on his behalf? The problem with Nigerian leaders is their shameless capacity to associate their bad acts with the will of God. Well God is a living God and H shall definitely show that to those who are in doubt. People will stand before Him to answer for their deeds. And that will be a day when Obasanjo, Ahmadu Ali and the rest will not be of help to anyone, perhaps not even themselves.

If Yar’Adua wants to test his acceptability, let him subject himself to a popularity contest with Buhari right inside his domain (Katsina) and see who is most popular.  

Actually, it is not as if Umaru is a bad guy, but he is in their midst, and they are doing all they could to ensure that their investments yield result.

Many of us used to see Yar’Adua as a man of integrity but he is allowing himself to be used by people who don’t have any credibility left in them.

Yar’Adua could not have won any election in which General Muhammadu Buhari is a contestant. He cannot win his region the North-West not to talk of Nigeria giving fair-play ground.

This is surely not a good start for someone who wants to win the confidence of Nigerians.

Bala Dan Adoro, Katsina. adoroson@yahoo.com