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As Ex-Speaker Ghali Na’abba Spits Fire Again By Aonduna Tondu
In his heyday as speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives from 1999-2003, Hon. Ghali Na’abba pricked the collective conscience of the nation when in 2002, he led a formidable attempt at the National Assembly to institute what the citizenry by and large saw as long overdue impeachment proceedings against the incumbent imperial ruler, Olusegun Obasanjo. Armed with intrepidity, the youthful and energetic speaker read the riot act to a delusional tyrant whose constitutional transgressions had become more damning in their scope and frequency.
Badly battered and rankled, Kabiyesi sought refuge in what had become the hallmarks of his regime – corruption and intimidation. Complacent segments of the national press, also derisively referred to as Kabiyesi media on account of their genuflecting attitude to the dictator and his ways, were deployed to counter the impeachment threat. Na’abba was to later pay for his defiance when in 2003, the vindictive Obasanjo resorted to his characteristic sleaze to deny the former speaker a ticket on the platform of the PDP for a House of Representatives seat. During the Third Term saga, Hon. Na’abba joined forces with the then vice president, Abubakar Atiku, whose staunch and consistent rejection of the diabolical contraption must be regarded as a major factor in what is increasingly looking like the slow but sure crumbling of Obasanjo’s evil empire.
Some weeks ago, like his fellow Kano politician, Abubakar Rimi, the former Kano state governor and one of the founders of the PDP, Ghali Na’abba left the AC to rejoin the ranks of the PDP. Many consider the return of these individuals who were marginalized by a sinister clique that had adopted mostly undemocratic and violent means to take control of the PDP a tactical maneuver aimed at redeeming the party from the depths of rot and iniquity where it is currently located. The point needs reiterating that under Obasanjo, the PDP became synonymous with a one-man bazaar erected on the props of impunity, disunity, lawlessness and anti-people conduct. It is worth mentioning that Hon. Ghali Na’abba’s advocacy since his return to the PDP seems to coincide with the expectations of those Nigerians who in their majority desire a thorough sanitization treatment within the party that would eventually help the democratization culture in Nigeria which, as we all agree, must be based on the precepts of due process and the rule of law.
Na’abba’s message is simple. He and like-minded souls want the former dictator removed as the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BOT) chair person. Citizens remember how the party’s constitution was illegally altered to have that position open only to a former president! And to make matters worse, that coup did confer on the BOT chairman, that is Obasanjo, the prerogative to supervise the activities of the incumbent president, not to mention the responsibility for the party’s legislative agenda! This is Third Term in disguise. Ghali Na’abba verbatim: “My position is that you cannot have the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party and the Speaker of the House of Representatives from one state. Therefore, one of them must give way and it is Obasanjo that must give way” (Sunnews online, Sun., Nov. 25, 2007).
Of course, Na’abba is referring here to the current speaker, Hon. Dimeji Bankole. It would appear that the Kano politician’s marching orders intended for the ex-dictator have found an echo within the Integrity Group at the National Assembly. Almost at the same time as Na’abba was issuing his injunction, a leader of the group, Faruk Lawan, in a VOA Hausa service interview monitored in Abuja and reported by Leadership, called on Obasanjo to retire from active politics. He said it is unbecoming for a former ruler to want to participate in the day to day governance of the country, not to mention wanting to actively involve himself with the affairs of his party. Whether or not one agrees with some of the ideas advanced by the voices advocating for the caging of the ex-ruler, it seems that a consensus is emerging as to what to do with Obasanjo and his legacy of administrative truancy and recklessness. It can even be said that the noose is getting tighter around the neck of the character who in his perverse fantasy once thought of himself as kabiyesi of Nigeria (KON). Thanks to the Alex Ekwueme reconciliation committee, it seems that Yar’Adua is about to heed the more rational minds within the PDP. And if Na’abba’s posture has a note of revanchism to it, the Ekwueme committee’s recommendation, on its part, does offer a rare philosophical premise Yar’Adua and the rest of the PDP need to undertake a fundamental reorganization of the party.
A few days ago, it was reported in the Nigerian press that Yar’adua paid a visit to Obasanjo last Sunday at his Ota farm. He is said to have gone there to tell the former tyrant that the conclusions of the Ekwueme reconciliation commission do indeed anticipate his stepping down as PDP BOT chairman. Excerpts from the Alex Ekwueme assignment read as follows: “The recent re-composition of the Board of Trustees (BOT) should be revisited and efforts made to right the wrong...Many members who appeared before the committee took strong exception to the amendment of the party's constitution carried out during the 2006 convention. "Some members who appeared before the committee expressed strong reservation about the amendment which seeks to reserve the position of the chairman of BOT for a former president. "Party members, leaders and elders who appeared before the committee condemned in very strong terms the recent reconstitution of the BOT. They insist that the original members be reinstated". It is interesting to note also that the PDP’s National Executive Council (NEC) has reportedly agreed to the dissolution of the Obsanjo-led BOT.
There is every indication that Yar’Adua is a wily politician. He knows that handling the Obasanjo mess by being on the people’s side is a good selling point for his regime. Yet, he and the likes of Na’abba and the forces within and outside the PDP that want to bury the Obasanjo legacy should realize that the ex-dictator is an unfortunate distraction that needs to be dealt with decisively so that the nation can move on to the business of consolidating our democracy through policies that build instead of alienate. In the light of all this, any under-handed moves aimed at needlessly postponing the PDP national convention must be deemed as both unacceptable and counter-productive.
Aonduna Tondu
New York.
E-mail: tondua@yahoo.com
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