The Mote is Clearing
By
Wada Nas
Sometimes ago, I received some thorough bashing on the BBC Hausa Service by a loyalist of Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, largely for my posture on the Obasanjo administration. I must say that if I entitled myself to criticise the administration others must be entitled to criticise me as well. To me this enriches democracy, since democracy is a collection of moulded interests.
I saw through the Obasanjo regime, a month after its take off and I warned of the direction towards which he was dragging the democracy project. I detected the discrimination and said so. I saw him destroying the democracy project by muzzling the party system and the National Assembly, two very important pillars of democracy. Once they are not in place, you can’t speak of democracy.
The next was to threaten the judiciary by his warning to them that they must not indulge in interim injunctions in matters affecting the Federal Government. When the Nigerian Tribune broke the story that he wrote to the Chief Justice saying that Atiku should part company with him or that both he Atiku and Obasanjo should be eased out? Does his saying so mean that he too is against Atiku and the North-East? Is he an enemy of his own mentor and people for saying these things about Obasanjo? Who is more from the North-East than the Senator? Who is more close to Vice President Atiku than him?
The mote is clearing in the eyes of many Nigerians that they are now seeing what people like me have seen long time ago and for which we have been insulted and called names. Obasanjo has made the Nigerian project a failed one, in the last three years, giving excuses for non implementation of all budgets, at a time when no other administration, before, ever got the revenue it has been getting since 1999.
Obasanjo has been to nearly all the states where he commissioned projects executed by them and the local governments. Not one federal project has he commissioned in the last three years. Yet some people believe that we should be blind to this. If a Local Government could execute a project, why not the Federal Government when it has more money at it disposal than all the other tiers of government. There is no way anybody, no matter the blackmail, can stop Nigerians from expressing their sincere views over such a total failure in our history.
Nothing the President has touched in the last three years that has succeeded. He became the minister for NEPA and NNPC affairs and we know where the organisations are today. Every one admits that while he is shouting anti – corruption slang, the situation is worse under his administration. For three years he has been auctioning the property of the good people of Nigeria including even a Hospital. He said that he was doing so because the utilities were not performing. Recently it was announced that the National Stadium in Abuja would be privatized when completed. Was this decision also taken because the stadium is not performing even before its completion? We can see clearly that the reason that they are auctioning these utilities because they are not performing, is not true. They just want to hand over Nigerian property to a few cronies. By the way, the constitution says that government should control the commanding heights of the economy. What has happened to this provision which the National Assembly must be prevailed upon to enforce before the properties of Nigerians are snatched from them by this extremely capitalist government.
It is not only corruption that has been worse under this government but human rights violations as well. No government has killed more Nigerians than this government. I am talking of the state terrorism against Odi and Zaki Ibiam where mass massacre took place on the instructions of the President as Malu recently told us.
And this brings me to the Oputa Panel. It is terrible that the panelist didn’t see anything wrong with the murder of five ABU students and an Ibadan student during the Obasanjo era. What of the destruction of Fela’s house and what happened to his Mother? What of the Oto concentration camp? Nor do we talk of the hanging of 39 military officers, the first in our history, for military coup, two of whom turned out to be innocent of the crime for which they were hanged. Have we all forgotten the number of civil servants sacked by Obasanjo apparently for no good reasons and the closure of the Newbread magazine? It is amazing that the Oputa panel didn’t see these and more.
More amazing is that while it declines action on a petition because the matter has been settled by the Supreme Court, it recommended action against another which has also been settled by the same Court! What a contradiction. After Oputa, I believe there is the need to set up another panel to look into human rights violations between 1999 to date. This is very necessary bearing in mind what happened in Odi, Zaki Ibiam, the murder of Bola Ige etc.
It surprises me that while people are talking of the death of Abiola, in detention and the gruesome murder of Dele Giwa, no one seems to bother about the assassination of Bola Ige, inspite of his towering political stature. Even Afenifere and the crowd of some of our human right pretenders, talk more of the duo than Bola Ige. The question is why? This discriminatory approach to issues can never take us anywhere.
Highlighting these things means seeking to save Nigeria from another four years of failure and not that somebody’s face is not liked. For my critics, I refer them to the resolution of the Council of the South-East and South-South – COSESS that they will not vote for Obasanjo in 2003. People of the former Mid West Region have also sworn that they have nothing to do with the Obasanjo project 2003.
Were these people Wada Nas? No. It is the mote that is clearing from the eyes of Nigerians such that they can now see the truth clearly. With the mote no longer there in their eyes, they can now see very clear. There is no wisdom in having another failed government for the another round of four years starting from 2003. The truth is that 1999 to date and up to 2003 is a bad dream which must Nigerians do not want to remember.
Finally I wish to advice Mr. Vice President to be aware but I don’t want to say much now until his own mote clears, for him to discover his path. I hope it clears in good time.