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Political Resitance In The 4th Republic: The Haruna Ningi’s Model By Abubakar Mohammed, Sambo
Politics, defined by its philosophers, as the struggle for the control of political power in the state by political parties, with the ultimate aim of deciding who gets what, when and how, or rather, having authority to allocate social values in the society. While in Nigeria, it may not mean the same to the predominantly uninformed population in the state, it is seen from a very lay perspective by them as, a stiff or rather bloody political struggle undertaken by political personalities so that these personalities occupy the number one position in their respective sphere of political authority. They may be having their pre-occupations or rather their primordial sentiments on what qualifies one personality to become a president, governor, or any political figure. They place importance more to personalities than of institutions as a rallying pivot for political game.
The politics in the 4th republic was played bitterly, by those that partake in the political struggle in other to have access to political power and political authority. These was so because of some factors, which I may describe as the impact of the military dictatorship in the Nigeria political terrain, and, to be specific, the role the Nigerian military played in governance and in the politics of election annulments; June 12th election as a case in point.
That perhaps bifurcate the Nigerian political electorates in to a deep politics of north-south divides or deepens the dichotomy between the northern and the southern part of the country, the more. This was made possible by some few ethnic jingoist and sectional chauvinists. It was these factor or the consequences of this factors that rather brought about concepts like the ‘Rotational Presidency’, and ‘Federal Character’, Tazarche, and many more the political lexicon and terrain of government official business. The former brought about President Olusegun Obasanjo in to political governance in Nigeria, resulting from the action of president Babangida in annulling the Abiola’s election.
This and a lot of other hustles and dealings lead to the bastardisation of the entire politicking process; having no respects to the constitutional regulations, party principles, rules of the political game and a host of other congenital reasons, made some personalities as Moguls, Czars and demi-deities in the political conflagration of particularly the Peoples Democratic Party, the PDP. This lead to the hidden and corrupt agenda from within the party, which is the 3rd term, that resulted in to too much political thuggery and witch hunt through an anti-corruption agency on the basis of political vendetta to settle scores.
The third term was consciously resisted by almost all patriotic Nigerians. One of these Nigerians is Haruna Aliyu Ningi, who composed a song in Hausa, and titled it BA MU YARDA TA ZARCHE BA, meaning that “we did not agree to continuity”. A lot had been said in the said music. I can not authoritatively say anything about the bio-data of this patriotic Nigerian, because I had never met him, all I read in the media about him is just, but a synopsis! However, from the content of his composition, he is one patriotic Nigerian that we can boost of in recent times, and who has succeeded in documenting the history of Nigerian politics stemming from 1999 to 2007/8 or the 4th republic governance in his song full of examples and narrations.
One of the things that attracted my attention to this political song, and made me conclude that this fellow is but a patriotic Nigerian is that, there is a place in the song where he said that, He has never tasted political power in whatever capacity, but he deemed it necessary to defend his country from wanton bastardaisation of political authority, without undermining his fatherland….. That whosoever agrees to continuity, means he has no foresight. Saying that they did not foresee the consequences the future will hold for them, looking at the 7 years of misrule which Obasanjo subjected the Nigerian state into, and perhaps that is why they are being party to continuity.
Haruna Ningi, has succeeded in documenting both the characters of the 4th republic’s continuity team as well as the events and the trauma Nigerians underwent during the Nigerians fourth republic under the reign of president Obasanjo’s misrule. He has succeeded in putting on record the principal characters that partake in continuity struggle under the guise of new political reforms in Nigeria. He mentioned Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Chief Ojo Madueke, Professor Jerry Gana, Mr. Ahmadu Ali and Alhjaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim as the architects of such a dubious political arrangement. Some of these personalities were in the build-up team for third term because they know fully well that, they will never win election without political fraud or an arrangement that tends to bastardise the rule of the game, like third term agenda are copiously put in place by those lumpen-politicians, as identified by Ningi, and which is engineered and sponsored by the state under the authority of the then ugly looking president Obasanjo. Without such a fraudulent arrangement, they will be out of the nation’s political ball game. Others in the third term team were simply corrupt. They embezzle their state treasuries and can not escape from the EFCC monster, unless they seek the ‘assistance’ of the monstrous almighty Obasanjo. That perhaps brought about the selective ‘call for questioning’ of assumed financial embezzlers during that particular political trial times in Nigeria.
Ningi, whom I believed did not go far in the acquisition of western education, has succeeded in ‘teaching’ those politicians that parades bundles of certificates, as their tickets of having access to where they belong within the political circles, or those lumpen, consumer oriented comprador bourgeoisie politicians. Their education, as well their dirty wealth, devoid of sound ethics and morals did not benefit them positively in all respects.
I have made an attempt to nominate Haruna Aliyu Ningi, last year, for a national merit award, but I cannot make contact with Ningi, as I cannot lay my hands on this Curriculum Vitae and Passport photographs, which are among the criteria for nomination you need to nominate a candidates for National Merit Award. He really deserves a national award because of his tremendous contribution in documenting basically an aspect of our political history through the medium of a song, for our generations yet unborn.
While I call on the various civil society groups in the country and beyond, to consider giving an outstanding award to this personality, I am calling on Nigerians to please nominate Ningi this year for national merit award. Anybody with Ningi’s contact should kindly send it to my e-mail address. For I myself, see it as a national service to nominate this intelligent and wise Nigerian personality for using a unique model to resist Obasanjo’s tenure elongation in Nigeria.
The current revelations in the power sector contract award, as being investigated by the committee of the house of representatives, has confirmed most of the warnings Ningi sounded in this song as the dangers of tenure elongation. God bless Haruna Aliyu Ningi and his talents.
Abubakar Mohammed, Sambo is a Lecturer with the Department of Public Administration, Adamawa State University, Mubi.
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