Monday, June 06, 2005

Obasanjo's vision of Nigeria (Dictatorial style) Obasanjo's vision of Nigeria By Levi Obijiofor Having followed President Olusegun Obasanjo's public addresses since 1999 and indeed right from his days as a military dictator, I am still puzzled by the lack of logic, grace and analytical finesse in the president's speeches. Sometimes, after listening to or reading Obasanjo's public addresses, it all feels like one had just emerged from a dental appointment with some inelegant words pounding on one's head. The president's public addresses are incredibly turgid, circumlocutory, unstructured and indeed could do with a bit of grammatical refinement. As a result of the choice of words and manner of delivery, the impact of certain presidential arguments is often lost on the public. There is a certain feeling of numbness in the head that overwhelms one each time one is sentenced to listen to the presidential address, none more so than Obasanjo's address delivered at last weekend's Democracy Day ceremony. The president could of course be excused on the ground that English is not our primary language. Without dwelling too much on the language of presidential addresses (I'll return to this in future), I'd like to note that there were a number of issues that resonated in Obasanjo's Democracy Day speech. And they were all contestable arguments, depending on how you assess Obasanjo's performance in office after six years. Obasanjo described Nigeria as an "exciting" country with "no dull moments". The army of unemployed school leavers and retrenched workers, who are struggling to survive, certainly cannot have a dull moment in Nigeria. That is perhaps why armed robbery and ethno-religious conflicts have been on the rise since the return of democracy. Obasanjo also said that if he were given a second chance to return to earth, he would not hesitate to make Nigeria his home base. Perhaps there are many other Nigerians who would opt for such a decision. It is their personal choice. You couldn't expect anything different from a self-confessed patriot. However, what Obasanjo did not reveal in his sanctimonious proclamations was whether he would like to return to Nigeria as a common man or as a noble man, a military dictator or an intolerant "democratic" leader. This is crucial and we shall see why shortly. There are two visions of Nigeria, determined essentially by one's social status or where one's loyalty lies. The first vision is Nigeria as perceived by the poor and impoverished majority. The second is a vision of Nigeria as seen by the rich and famous. The former is a Nigeria hated by the common people. It is a country where the poor and less privileged are tossed around as political football by the privileged class. Survival of the fittest is the dominant philosophy in this Nigeria. It is the Nigeria in which the majority go through life wondering what tomorrow would bring. Nobody cares about the poor, the sick and the elderly in our society. No one cares whether the sick have medicines and medical infrastructure to attend to their health care needs. Nobody cares whether the common people have food to eat and water to drink in order to remain alive. In this vision of Nigeria, life is brutish and nasty (apology to political philosopher Thomas Hobbes). When Obasanjo talks effusively about his desire to return to Nigeria in another life, I do not think this is the kind of Nigeria he wishes to return to. In another world and in another life, Obasanjo would like to return to a Nigeria where there is a monarchy in place, with unquestioning elastic powers, where one man has all the authoritarian powers to rule over other men and women. No one should be deceived because Obasanjo sounded like an unrepentant patriot. He was not expressing his inner instincts. In another life, no one would choose to return to a life of misery, penury and hardship. When Obasanjo said he would like to return to Nigeria in another life, we must never interpret that statement to imply that Obasanjo would like to return to suffer for the sake of Nigeria. No Nigerian politician or military dictator who had tasted affluence and luxury would willingly give up a comfortable lifestyle for the pain of poverty. Given the authoritarian element in Obasanjo, it would be hard to see him live at the edge of life, taking orders and instructions from lesser mortals. Although born a commoner, Obasanjo, like all authoritarians, would never like to return to earth as a member of the lower caste. Here is a man who has always seen himself as a leader (not a servant) imbued with superior intellect, a man to whom the gods have revealed the secrets of leadership. It is not difficult to understand where Obasanjo stands on the question of leadership and service. He believes that human capacity for leadership is not open to public contestation. Leaders are born in the same manner that servants are born. Leaders must lead and servants must serve forever. No one must change what nature has ordained. In his quiet moments, Obasanjo would probably dream of a Nigeria where there is no National Assembly, where the news media exist only by the grace of the president, where the president has the powers to decide whether to obey or disregard judicial pronouncements, where the president wields the powers to appoint and dismiss state governors such that there would be no Chris Ngige of Anambra State and Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. This is the reverse vision of Nigeria which Obasanjo would never project to the public. For five years as an elected president, Obasanjo spoke like a monarch, behaved like a monarch, ruled like a monarch, travelled like a monarch, walked like a monarch, treated federal legislators, journalists and judicial officers with contempt, and argued in public and private that Nigerian university teachers, as well as the Nigeria Labour Congress are rabble rousers. Unfortunately, in spite of the evidence to the contrary, Obasanjo would like to be seen as a humble, obedient, God-fearing, faultless leader on a mission to rescue Nigeria from the jaws of financial sharks; a leader determined to disentangle the country from the vice grip of political cowboys; a born-again soul saver despatched by God to save Nigeria from the precipice of political disintegration. Those who disagree with Obasanjo's vision are described as prophets and prophetesses of doom. See how he pokes fun at those who attempted to impeach him but failed. "Nigeria is a country where the House of Representatives can wake up one morning and say the President will be impeached. And the President is going on about his job. And then they say well, a week or later you see in the papers there is a U-turn and you wonder. You ask, what is all this? One man may say, 'we want to rattle him a bit.' " It seems to me that Obasanjo forgot to explain, during his political joke, why he dashed off to the National Assembly on an unscheduled visit in the heat of the impeachment argument. The president likes to present his political adversaries as human beings riddled with flaws but he never admits for one moment that, as a human being too, the president also makes mistakes 11:35:57 AM    comment []

"...Are we going to stand by and watch helplessly?..."--Abati. "...Are we going to stand by and watch helplessly?..."--Abati.   I never thought I would ever see Abati ask the right question. I was wrong. I don't think that Abati would have the nerve to do the right thing. Oh, how I wish to be proven wrong again!   Oguchi Nkwocha A Biafran Citizen From: arigbede2@comcast.net [mailto:arigbede2@comcast.net] Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 8:32 PM To: iidakoji@gmail.com; walyin2@skannet.com; tokunboajasin@skannet.com; oresegun@skannet.com; jideosik@yahoo.com; sowunm@aol.com; oguchi@mbay.net; Bala_Mohammed@amat.com; Pashaolu@cisco.com; vsoneye@worldnet.att.net; bidowu@earthlink.net; cicokoh@yahoo.com; bola@makassociates.com; akintomi@joimail.com; ToyeT@aol.com Subject: They have started again They have started again By Reuben Abati OUR politicians have started again. As we move closer to 2007 and political aspirants are declaring their intentions, and seeking to win the attention and hearts of the electorate, politicians have turned the process into yet another war. The patterns of conflict are familiar, and the implications for our politics and polity are well-known. What subsists, and painfully too, is the failure of the politicians to learn from history, and their inability to move forward and play politics without bitterness. The violence that characterises our politics speaks to the underdeveloped nature of our society and the immaturity of the political class. What we have, invariably is not democracy, that is democracy as an expression of a people's inspirations, as a platform for change and progress, but a blind, exotic competition for power in which any weapon at all can be brought to the battle-field. Last weekend in Ifaki-Ekiti, one of the many hyphenated Ekiti towns which has now become popular for the wrong reason, a councillorship bye-election involving candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conscience Party (NCP) ended in a bloody shoot-out between supporters of the two contesting parties. By the time the smoke died down, Mr. Tunji Omojola, an in-law to the NCP candidate had been clobbered to death. Omojola was the only son of his mother. He had only just arrived from Germany to finalise arrangements for his wedding. He is now in the mortuary. The same weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti state, the inauguration of an executive committee of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) also turned out to be an occasion for war. PDP stalwarts allegedly stormed the AD event and shot into the crowd. From Lokoja, Kogi State came the equally sobering report of how the celebration of Democracy Day on Monday, May 30 became bloody. Some angry young men had taken over the ceremony at the Lokoja Township Stadium , they were fully armed; they shot at the police who buckled under superior fire power; vehicles were smashed; the governor fled. In the confusion that followed, over 20 persons were injured, four persons were killed. Hon. Yusuf Omale, the Chairman of Ankpa Local Government is still in critical condition, having been shot inside his car in the course of the madness. Last month in Osun state, Alhaji Alabi Olajoku, a leader of the Alliance for Democracy, and a supporter of the Oranmiyan Group led by Engr. Raufu Aregbesola, an Osun State Gubernatorial aspirant was murdered. Olajoku had accompanied Aregbesola to Osun State. He returned as a corpse. In the Osun incident, the majority leader at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Jide Omoworare was also abducted by persons suspected to be political thugs and stripped naked. Aregbesola has also been attacked twice . Two days ago, the media reported that a Presidential aspirant, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa has uncovered a plot by a certain group to assassinate him. The planned attack is to be made to look like an armed robbery incident. Marwa's response to this is instructive. He says: "Anybody who attempts to attack me, anywhere should be prepared to suffer casualties. As a retired General, I don't take my security lightly". The emergent picture of Nigerian politics is saddening. It is that kind of politics in which human lives mean nothing, where bloodshed is given and principles are of no use. Any wonder therefore that politics in Nigeria lacks substance? The only thing that matters here is the ego and personal ambition of the power-seeker. And with the political process being a violation of all that is human, and a glorification of impunity and bestial conduct, it is amazing that we still expect any form of good governance from the power-addicts in charge of our affairs. The violence at the heart of our politics drives away good men and women, to the same extent that it attracts criminals and pushes otherwise innocent people to the edge. We often argue that this is largely due to the many years of military rule which turned virtually every Nigerian into a bloody soldier. But there is something beyond this, and it can be found in the Nigerian character. The average Nigerian living inside Nigeria is a special psychological case. He is short -tempered, almost always ready to enter into conflicts, selfish, distrustful, and pathologically insecure. He has no faith in the capacity of government to protect his interests. He is suspicious of other citizens who he is most likely to regard as enemies or spiritual agents of evil, witches or wizards. Nigeria arguably has the largest collection of witches and wizards in the world: the way Nigerians troop to churches, mosques and shrines for protection and deliverance, you would think that the Devil is on asylum in this country, and has chosen to remain here forever. This anti-cultural orientation is played out in the transmutation of our politics into an arena for ban! ditry. The fixation with the next elections scheduled for 2007 is especially frightening. Many politicians are stockpiling arms and ammunition. Unemployed graduates, hungry university students, and touts are taking up appointments as political enforcers. Political parties and their leaders are intolerant of any form of opposition; they are setting up militant wings. State Governors see themselves as lords of acquired territories, anyone who threatens their ambition to remain in office after the next election is a sure candidate for the morgue. They are ready to bribe the people once again, and if bribery would not work, they are prepared to do whatever it takes. To be a politician in Nigeria, you must have the heart of an assassin. With so many arms and ammunition in wrong hands, and "licensed" assassins on the prowl, Nigeria faces, as always, a serious security crisis. The cost of political violence is high, the impact is total. In 2003, the killings did not begin until after the elections. What saved this country and its dirty politics then was the effective packaging of democracy as a kind of blackmail. The people were cajoled, even by the media, to accept the mess and suppress their rights to protest in order to give democracy a chance. Nigerians in 2003 wanted democracy and a successful transition so badly they were prepared to tolerate the shortcomings of the electoral process. The source of this blackmail was the campaign that the people needed to break the jinx that the country could not organise a civilian to civilian political transition. That jinx was broken, but the beneficiaries of the blackmail have not shown any gratitude. Blackmail may not work in 2007. My fear is that the ghosts of 2003 have left the graveyard; they are now out on the streets and the murderers and sinners of the last election may be required to account for their deeds. The clash of the forces needs not be imagined: its nature is aptly summarised in the earlier declaration by General Marwa. Nigerians, especially the politicians, have lost the capacity to listen to voices of reason; so I suppose we can only remind ourselves of these dangers for record purposes. In 1982 or thereabout, for example, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had warned the then Shehu Shagari government that the Nigerian economy was heading towards the precipice. The old man advised that if nothing was done to address the drift, future generations of Nigerians would pay the price. Chief Awolowo was dismissed by the Shagari government as a "prophet of doom". Government spokespersons pointed out that there was no poverty in the land since there were no Nigerians eating from dustbins. By 1985, Awo's prediction had come to pass. Today is the future that he spoke about. But now, in what way is the present different from the past? The Nigerian government is totally unprepared for the future. In six years of democracy, the seeds of future despair have been sown. The violence that we are seeing is an indication of the perdition that is to come. This is in part the message of the Intelligence Report by the Americans. But because we never listen, we have managed to intimidate the Americans with our self-righteousness, so much that they have since offered a diplomatic retraction, a safe way of saying that if the Nigerians want to drown, they have every right to do so. The pity of it all is that some of those people who spoke for the Shagari administration, and led it astray have also been speaking lately from both sides of the mouth. They can be found at the National Confab in Abuja!. These persons are part of our problems. They are parasites of power. A few days to elections, they usually head for the airports with their wives and children, to monitor Nigeria from a distance until it is safe to return. In the last British and American elections, nobody fled; if there was any war, it was the war of words among civilised politicians behaving like sportsmen. In Nigeria, politics is worse than war itself. Anyone who is still in any doubt about the future of present continuous events should read Dare Babarinsa's masterly documentation of the fall of the Second Republic in his book, House of War (Spectrum/Tell, 2003). The politicians were the architects of that implosion. They rigged elections. They killed and destroyed. They hijacked the instruments of power and turned them into tools of terror. For every man that was killed, more men were killed on the other side. The purpose of history is to awaken memory and raise consciousness. In 2003, election monitors and observers reported that Nigerians had invented close to fifty novel methods of rigging. Since then, more sophisticated methods have been invented. More daring methods of political killing have also been introduced. Our politicians have started again. Before our very eyes, they are turning politics into a form of cannibalism. Are we going to stand by and watch helplessly? 11:32:32 AM    comment []

Obasanjo: What I'll Do With Conference Report THISDAY Obasanjo: What I'll Do With Conference Report Adamant on Lagos LG funds as S/west delegates intervene By Tokunbo Adedoja and Ndubuisi Ugah, 06.05.2005 President Olusegun Oba-sanjo yesterday said he plans to use the report of the on-going National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC) to propose amendments to the 1999 Constitution and other existing laws, introduce new laws in areas not presently covered by the nation's statute books and enunciate policies which do not require legislative attention. Speaking last night during this month's edition of Presidential Media Chat, monitored on the network service of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Obasanjo also blamed the Lagos State government for seizure of statutory allocations due to local government in spite of Supreme Courts ruling on the matter. While responding to question on the programme, which also featured the Chairman of the Senate Committee on foreign and local debts, Senator Patrick Osakwe and a delegate to the NPRC, Mallam Kabiru Turaki, the President said “I expect, basically, three things from the conference. I expect the conference to look, in the light of all that they have done, listening to themselves, working in committees, working in plenary, to come up with areas where they think the present constitution will need amendments to strengthen our unity, to strengthen our democracy, to strengthen our security, to strengthen our togetherness and all that.” Noting that there is a process stipulated by the constitution for the amendment of the constitution, which his administration would comply with, he said one of the benefits of the conference would then be that “it would have actually made the process of amendment more popularly done, than it would have been if you had left it with, maybe, a few hands. On his second plan for the conference report, the president  said "there might be areas where  we recommend  that there  should be amendments to the  existing laws, maybe because when those  laws were made, things have changed or orientation has gone differently, or in fact bring  a new  law, completely because there have  not  been a  law  in that  area." He cited  as  example,  the recommendation of the conference committee on the need to come up with a law  regulating the civil society because none exists at  the moment  in all the  statute books. Commenting on his third expectation from the conference, Obasanjo said  he  expects the conference to come up with policies that  may not require constitutional amendments or legal drafting, but which would just be  for  consideration by government for  possible  adoption. "The third thing that I expect to come out of this are matters of policy. It may not be policies that require constitutional amendments or legislative enactment. But  just  a policy to be put in position. For instance, just  for the  sake of  argument, if we now say, look, all Nigerians will marry outside  their  ethnic groups, I would have  been qualified", he added. While  responding to a question from a caller on the refusal of  the  Federal Government to comply with the order of the Supreme Court for the  release of  withheld Lagos  Council funds, Obasanjo absolved himself of any blame maintaining that the appropriate authority to blame  is  the Lagos  State government for being obdurate. Obasanjo said the Supreme Court had ruled that the 37 new  states  created by the Lagos State government are "inchoate" and that  the process can only be completed after the National Assembly has made  consequential provisions, consequently leaving  the state with 20 constitutionally recognised councils. According  to him, the implication is that the new councils are  not recognised by the constitution and were therefore not qualified to draw  funds from the Federation Account. He  said when he was sworn in as President, he swore to defend  the  constitution and  the laws of the country, adding  that for that reason he  would not release funds to bodies not recognised by the  constitution. He, however, said if the  state  government reverts to 20 councils, the withheld funds  would be released within 24 hours. However, some South-west delegates at the on-going National Political Reform Confe-rence (NPRC) yesterday held a closed door meeting with Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos to listen in a move to resolve the differences between the state and the Federal Government on the seized funds. The delegates, six in number were led by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) representing Ogun State. Other delegates, who are said to have represented their colleagues from the zone are Chief Samuel Kolawole Babalola (Ekiti), Justice Bola Babalakin (Osun), Professor Adebayo Adedeji (Ogun), Admiral Akin Aduwo (Ondo) and Alhaji Lateef Femi Okunnu (Lagos). Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, Ajibola said "we are here to pay courtesy call on the governor and to try to discuss with him, the affairs of Lagos State". Ajibola added that they were in the state  to confer with Tinubu in their respective capacity as leaders and delegates at the conference. "We are leaders of the delegates to the conference that is going on right now in Abuja called the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC). We happen to represent our states as we want to see that this matter (withheld LG funds) is resolved amicably between the Federal Government and the state government here. We are visiting them to ensure that the matter would be settled as soon as possible". Asked how the crisis could be resolved in view of the media exchanges between the two parties, Ajibola said "the two parties are showing commitment. We are solving it as the matter is receiving good attention. That is all and I am optimistic about what will come out of the discussions. There is no cause for alarm". Tinubu also told newsmen after the meeting that "the delegates were in the state to see where solutions can be found for the various issues and, particularly that of the local governments". When asked how he felt about the delegates visit, particularly on ways to broker resolution between the Federal Government and the state Government, Tinubu said "the feeling is good. The feeling is a great honour that they came and they have been talking to the two sides, that is, the two governments and that there is no problem without a solution." He added that "we have to find solutions to the issues". On whether he would be ready to shift grounds following the mediation by the delegates should there be need for it, the governor said "I don't want to get into speculative exercises that may lead to disrespect to what conversation we have had with the leaders". Asked to be categorical, Tinubu said that "you can reach any conclusion which you may want to reach. I don't want to give hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions. I don't want to do that; I don't want to equally disrespect the leaders with their efforts and of course make the matter an issue of the press. It is not fair". He noted that "he does not believe in cynicisms. I believe that where there are efforts and good intentions, you will find means of correcting anomalies once intentions are good". Prodded on how soon he thinks the resolutions would be arrived at, the governor said, "I don't want to get myself into speculative time factor or time lying, I mean we have reasonable leaders of this country. They have great pedigree, great experience, and lot of wisdom behind them. Here, it is a great honour and the fact that if they can leave their evening and they are rushing back to the airport to go, we all must respect them, we must all give honour to whom honour is due and that is the most important thing here". "To now start to read meanings into what is not biologically or socially possible in a political situation today will mess things up further and will equally lead to a disrespect of those leaders from my own end. This is not just a media sensational matter. It is a very serious matter in this country. It is a very crucial matter of the rule of law and it is equally not a matter of culture, but the concern of the leaders of this country is demonstrated with their presence here today,” he said. The meeting also had in attendance, the state Deputy Governor, Mr. Femi Pedro, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dele Alake and the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Prof. Femi Osinbajo among other top government officials. 11:28:54 AM    comment []