Sunday, December 25, 2005

New route to tenure extension Sunday, December 25, 2005 Login Subscribe       O N L I N E   Towards a better life for the people DAILY NEWS FROM NIGERIA Home | About Us | Advertising | Contact . Headlines Cover Stories National News Niger-Delta East South West North Politics Business Sports Education Health Environment Entertainment Fashion Technology The Arts Law Labour Tourism Viewpoints   COVER STORIES   New route to tenure extension TONY MOMOH Posted to the Web: Sunday, December 25, 2005 THE battle lines on the fate of Nigeria are being drawn and if we do not attend to the issues now, we may have so many problems on our hands in 2007 that the tenure extension we are all opposed to may be the only reasonable solution in the circumstance. But those who think so may be underestimating the determination of vested interests in this country to maintain the status quo even if, as has been for years, it offends against justice, fair play and equity. The regroupings in the North that have seen the birth of the Movement for the Defence of Democracy (MDD), and the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), both headed by PDP kingpins who in 2003 did not see anything wrong with writing up results of elections that were not held and/or declaring losers as winners where elections were held, seem to have tickled the South into overreaching itself in setting conditions for remaining part of this giant in the African sun. The Northern interests say the Presidency must return to the North because by 2007 it would have been in the South for eight years. They say we are in a new dispensation and people should not be calling history to back their claim that the North had monopolized this position for 35 years. The South says there is no going back on its decision that power must remain in the South and that the rotation of power should not be between North and South but from one zone to the other. History is their witness that East has sniffed it, that was the word used in the communiquéé of the Southern Forum in Enugu last Monday, for a period of only six months. And the South-South which everyone knows has been the financier of Nigeria to the tune of 85 per cent of all the monies in the Federation Account, has not tasted the power apple for even one minute! The presidency must, therefore, go to the South-East or the South-South Zone before it can move back to the North. The argument looks like this - if it goes to the South-South for eight years, it will move to the South-East for eight years. It will then move to a zone in the North. That is that by the time it moves to the North, the Southern zones would have had it, in our history, for 24 years and six months, which would not have even clocked the 35 years the North had had it between 1960 and 1999! Babu, says the North. And they are serious about it. They allowed their power (that’s what Governor Bafarawa of Sokoto State told Tell Magazine in April, 2002) to move to the South to pacify the Yoruba who had been restive because of the annulment of the June 12 Presidential election which their son Moshood Abiola won in 1993. Bafarawa said they in the North wanted their power back because Obasanjo had failed them. He said the oil in the Niger Delta was their own investment because once upon a time, the North sustained this country with their groundnut! OBJ came back in 2003 and by 2007, God willing, he would have been there for eight years. Now that it is time for power to return to the North which should hold it as the counter-balance for the economic control the South has on the country, some people are coming out with funny theories! Baba wants to remain in power and all the talk about reviewing the Constitution is meant to legalize his scheme. So, the whole of the North is united in objecting to any word or phrase being touched in the 1999 Constitution. It must remain as it is and if any Northern leader in the National Assembly supports any moves to alter a word in our Road Map, he will see when he returns home…… The South says no way. The Constitution must be amended to reflect certain realities; the census must accommodate where people come from and what their religions are; and the presidency must remain in the South. If the Constitution is not amended and the presidency does not remain in the South, the South would take certain drastic actions. One - the South would boycott the 2007 elections. And two - the South would take over control of its resources and remain in Nigeria only if it becomes a confederation of the six geo-political zones. One thing is common to the gladiators - they are by and large leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They were opposed to these very positions canvassed by those who genuinely believed that Nigeria should be restructured so that we have a true federation, like in the United States and Canada, where the federating units would develop and grow at their own pace. The brief to the National Political Reform Conference came from the President, current leader of a reformed PDP. He told everyone that the status quo must remain. No one was allowed to discuss the presidential system or the restructure of Nigeria. The Yoruba who have championed a restructured Nigeria on regional lines, sold out in Abuja and were the laughing stock of those who had looked up to them for leadership. But the Afenifere said those who spoke for them in Abuja were those who stole the people’s mandate in 2003. Even the South-South opted for states as the basis for federating in the Nigerian arrangement because that was what the PDP wanted. The North itself never showed interest or had any stomach for a restructured polity. Now, at Enugu, from the blues, we have advocates of not just a strong federation, but the threat of a confederation or outright secession. And who were dominant at that meeting but PDP kingpins! I am happy at what the new breed of progressives are saying, but I smell a rat. With the North so rigid on what it wants and the South so rigid on what it wants, what will happen? Who will blink first? I know as a fact that those wanting to speak for the North now in the MDD and MRD are by and large ousted or marginalized members of the PDP. If anyone is familiar with how spineless politicians can be, the two groups will melt away if today overtures are made to address their grievances. What binds them together more than anything else is that Obasanjo is said to want his stay extended. If that fear is erased today, the basis for the existence of the two groups will be vaporized. But the fear will remain, will be sustained, because the group wants their power back. The pattern is familiar, and has been since independence. One group will rise against the other, and there will be reprisals. And things will be so bad that the conditions for holding elections will not be there. There will be a stalemate and the tenure question will emerge from the blues. People will ask how we can hold elections in a troubled country! And because of greed, we will return this country to the 1960’s when Ghana took our warring military leaders to Aburi and our people came back with different interpretations of what happened there. The East declared itself the Republic of Biafra. War came, and the rest is history. If there is chaos and Obasanjo stays, what will his stay bring to Nigeria? Will it lead to the North accepting that the South East or South South produces the President? Or they will look hard at what is happening and declare, as Gowon did in 1966, that the basis for one Nigeria does not exist. Or will someone go to war to make Nigeria one, without addressing the crippling problems of justice, equity and fair play? Yes, we shall see who blinks first, the vested interests in the North or the vested interests in the South whose common linkage is a fragmented Peoples Democratic Party which is interested more in what it gets from Nigeria than what it can give in service! But what must we do? I address this next week.     Home |About Us |Advertising | Contact Copyright ©1998 - 2005 Vanguard Media Limited All rights reserved.  11:00:38 AM    comment []

Negotiation’ll be based on mutual respect—Nnamani Sunday, December 25, 2005 Login Subscribe       O N L I N E   Towards a better life for the people DAILY NEWS FROM NIGERIA Home | About Us | Advertising | Contact . Headlines Cover Stories National News Niger-Delta East South West North Politics Business Sports Education Health Environment Entertainment Fashion Technology The Arts Law Labour Tourism Viewpoints   NATIONAL   Negotiation’ll be based on mutual respect—Nnamani Posted to the Web: Sunday, December 25, 2005 The Chief Host, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani made out time after the conference to field questions from the newsmen who covered the conference. Excerpts: I SUSPECT you are one of the  moving spirits that drove  the event. What is the driving force and where are we going? You said it was unthinkable a few months or a few years ago, it is all part of globalization; Nigeria is joining the global community, joining the comity of nations, watching CNN, BBC, CHANNEL-0. With democracy, people are becoming more assertive, more independent. You know that the decades of military rule were associated with wanton degradation and erosion of the dignity of our people. With democracy, six years now, I believe the dignity is being restored to some extent. They are becoming more assertive . They are becoming independent, they are becoming more aware of their rights, because what can you do essentially? For example with democracy, if you detain people, you need to get them out within 24 hours if it is bailable. So people are becoming more assertive, more independent. And you can see from the response today, despite the problem with people, despite the short notice, you can see the passion of the discussion, the energy is palpable. I believe it is just a natural response to what is going on; it is a genuine attempt for people to restore their position in the Nigerian concept, respect not just for themselves but for their children and for posterity. I think that is what is going on. This is a follow-up question, please elaborate on what is going on? The Nigeria project, if you listened and watched my address, you will find out that finally, there is a self-realisation that the Nigeria project is not a forced project, it is a voluntary project. I  Our forefathers, our fathers, met together and discussed. The Nigerian nation was not forced on us, the various regions, the Eastern Region, Western and Northern Regions. They were somehow independent. They had pacts with foreign nations and we agreed to come together in 1958/1959. Each of those regions could have gone on their own, either the East, the West to the Northern Nigeria. So, our fathers agreed, even with the Mid-west Region. They agreed, but because of what I choose to describe as some form of neo-colonialism, new African nationalism, the tragedy that those who essentially sought for independence were not the people in control post-independence. So, you now have a group of new Africans, new colonialists, if I may call it that. A polity that maybe was not functionally ready in terms of capacity building, to handle the responsibilities of a newly independent African state, and of course, you had the alternative and many years of military dictatorship without debate. There was no debate. So, somehow, it appears as if the Nigeria Project is a forced project, forced in the sense that the parameters are carved on stone. They are not carved on stone. Like any union, like any partnership. there is the need for a continuous discussion to fine-tune it, to keep it viable. I believe there is a sudden realization, especially by the people in the south, that it is a continuous negotiation. The Nigeria project is a project under a true democracy that needs continuous negotiation and re-negotiation, unlike a military rule or arbitrary rule where it is carved on stone. One thing I want to find out is that, everybody agreed that power should shift to the south/East or South/South, why not decide on the zone, why not say South/East or South/South?  I must make it very clear that the highlight of the meeting had nothing to do with power shift, had nothing to do with presidency. The history of who gets the presidency is almost personal, personal when you consider the level of maturity of the polity where the two actors and actresses at the scene, as it were, are not true leaders or true politicians. We have artisans, we have pedestrians in the corridors of power, they are without ideology, moving from party to party, administration to administration. So, that is not the issue, the big issue is not who gets the presidency. The big issue is restructuring, the big issue is about the Nigeria project; how do we live together? How do we govern ourselves? How do we protect ourselves? How do we share our resources? True fiscal and physical federalism, devolution of powers. If these are done, whoever gets the presidency is immaterial. So the highlight of today’s meeting is not who gets the presidency. It’’s about constitutionalism, how do we review our constitution to reflect the true Nigeria project, to answer the national question? Then our census, how do we plan, how do we get viable statistics; it’s about state creation, undeveloped Nigerian polity, largely undeveloped. I don’t believe the issue is essentially who gets the presidency, it’s about poverty, it’s about hunger, it’s about gender empowerment, it’s about Universal Basic Education (UBE) it’s about infant/maternal mortality, it’s about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). So, let the base not be who gets the presidency, that is not the highlight of our meeting today because if the problems are correctly addressed, whoever gets the presidency becomes immaterial. The struggle for power in the polity is because of a contracted middle class with little or nothing to do, an aggressive search by many who are poor for little available resources, that is why everybody targets the presidency. The presidency is important, but for me, it’s almost ephemeral if the main issues are addressed - that is my personal opinion. Congratulations on the success of today’s meeting. Your speech was very good,  but the allegation is that Obasanjo sponsored this, all part of his plans for a third term. Can you please level with us on this?  Sometimes, I wonder if you journalists realize the level of responsibility you have. Few years ago, journalists would not be allowed into that meeting. You come in, take the  picture and go, but I must acknowledge that some of us realized the importance of communication and transparency, that was why you were there all through. So, I will ask you the question, from what you saw, was it likely Obasanjo sponsored it? Was it likely something that will end in a stalemate and then third term was what we came for? I should ask you that question. So Obasanjo sponsored Falae to that place, sponsored Ebitu Ukiwe to that place, sponsored Senator Okurunmu to sign the communiqué? It doesn’t mean anything, it’s totally meaningless. We have a true democracy that guarantees two terms, eight years. So, do you do a third term, you review the constitution and say go and do a third term, with or without election? It’s not possible, there is nothing like that. If you need help and you want people to help you define it, I can help define it but how do I define it for you?. How do you do third term when you have the constitution saying two terms of four years each? So you now amend the constitution and add a third term? We had a meeting, everybody was there, so how do we end up in a stalemate for the president to do a third term? What kind of stalemate is that, why would you even believe that the president of Nigeria would convince governors to come to Enugu and come out with such communiqué?. Sponsored? Did he give us money? How did he get Falae down there, sponsored Ebitu Ukiwe? The gathering we had today has never happened in  the history of this country, not even  UAPGA Alliance could pull that through, so it calls for celebration, not undue speculation because if the south is strong, the North will also be strong. It’s not going to end up with the south because the South will now reach out to the North. It will now be a negotiation based on mutual respect. So it does not arise at all, there won’t be any stalemate. There is nothing like third term. Still on third term and constitutional review, please expand on that?  What we tried to say all day is that we cannot allow the issue of third term or no third term to affect constitutional review. Why not now? If it wasn’t done last year or two years ago, why not now? In Igbo, we say “Taa bu gbo”. I don’t think you understand the level of the problem in this country. Maybe I don’t get too graphic because I don’t want to be misquoted. Do you realize we are in 2005, and you can’t find a plane to get into Enugu Airport? Do you realize that, you see how life changes. When Enugu Airport was there, how many airports were in Nigeria? If not for historical revisionism, if not for a discussion of Nigeria debate, if not for a misplacement of the values of Nigerians. When this country started, by the time Okpara and Zik, by the time they were building an airport in Enugu, how many airports were in Nigeria? It is man’s inhumanity to man, it is because of man shirking his responsibility, man’s refusal to attack the crux of the debate that is why we are looking for a plane to land in Enugu Airport and you are telling me third term.You are looking for a plane to land in Enugu Airport. Do you know how we started this country, do know how this country started, our fathers started the debate of Nigeria whether you like it or not. The Igbos ran the engine of Nigerian economy. We brought dignity to Nigeria. So we are not talking about third term I have not come all this way to this place to talk about third term I have come a long way. Remember, I have a lot on the plate, am not a professional politician, am a professional like most of you. I didn’t come down here to talk about third term, that is not the issue, it is confusion; it’s elite deceit, pure elite deceit. It is about constitutionalism, it’s about true fiscal and physical federalism; it’s about the problems that are causing restiveness all over the country, it’s about sharing resources. Are you following me? It’s about self respect, it’s about dignity, it’s about self-determination, it is not third term. I have told you that the polity is not mature enough. It is not based on ideology, it’s not based on right or wrong. The system is incapable of even producing the best - what is the literacy rate, how many people watch your television or read newspapers? We have a society where over 90 per cent live on the periphery, even more than 90 per cent. Their wives die routinely from child labour, their kids die from diarrhea. A society where hunger is the norm, you can’t even find planes to fly. The issue is not third term, the issues are much more better than that. So you have a responsibility to help shape the debate. I have told you that political office in Nigeria, quote me, is personal to the holder. It’s is not based on ideology. How many people come out and say I want to be governor? Is it not when you contest for the office of the governor, you didn’t win, you now say, can they compensate you with senate, Is that not what is going on. You become a local government chairman, you finish it, can I go to House of representatives? No vision! Pure artisans, those who come into the system who otherwise, under a level- playing field, cannot even have a say, but because of decades of arbitrary rule that fostered mediocrity. Are you following me? Commissioned agents, contractors were profited from the system. We are at the right place at the right time. Is that what you call politicians, leaders? That is not the issue. The issue is, why some of us are involved in this business is, because of our belief in what is right. The reason why you are having third term debate, the reason why you are not debating hunger. You are not even talking about the aviation crisis, apart from the sympathies, what else, no real debate of the issue! There is a disconnect, disconnect by fostered the elite, it is ignorance. If you were in the developed world, and you are talking about third term, I can understand, but not Nigeria. There is an elite deceit in this country, quote me. About 98 per cent of people in office have no idea. They just got there because the system got them there. When you go to America, they have professionals, they have been in their profession, and they want to play politics or they inherited wealth or they were injured socially; the guy went to war on an insurance scam or something happened. He now wants to go to congress to correct it. That is why Americans go to congress but that’s not the case here. Amendment of the constitution So the issue is not third term, the issue is about going back to where our fathers started so we can achieve our dignity and self-respect, dignity and self respect are very important, I don’t discuss in terms of third term. If there is an amendment of the constitution and you say four years, of how many terms? If you say four years of three tenure, it is twelve years; if you say five years of two tenure, it’s ten years. So where do you get this third term from, why third term, third term? The so-called third term campaign is a distraction, a total distraction, an elite deceit, there is nothing like that. You are not going to do a constitution for one man. Today’s communiqué was far-reaching. And you have told us that democracy is negotiable, so all that were  raised in the communiqué are  negotiable, or do you think there are those that are not subject to debate? As at now, they are all irreducible, it is not negotiation. What was agreed was that the southern states will now reach out to other geopolitical zones. The Southern States are made up of three geo-political zones, and I believe they are three out there, we now reach out to see whether there are regions or zones that have similar aspirations and we go from there. What practical steps are you the leaders of Southern area putting in place  to ensure that all you had discussed did not end up as mere rhetoric? Well, today is just the beginning. Today, we have set up the secretariat. We have set up a committee that has a Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary and I am sure you know that the committee membership ran into some problems because some people wanted to produce their members. We are talking about chairman, deputy chairman and secretary and I believe that some consultations are going on, so that all the interested parties will produce committee membership. It is now left for the committee to drive the process. That process is going to be self driving. You just have to be praying that nobody loses control of it. It is not something that you worry about whether it is going to go ahead or not.     Home |About Us |Advertising | Contact Copyright ©1998 - 2005 Vanguard Media Limited All rights reserved 10:36:36 AM    comment []

Our stand, by the North Sunday, December 25, 2005 Login Subscribe       O N L I N E   Towards a better life for the people DAILY NEWS FROM NIGERIA Home | About Us | Advertising | Contact . Headlines Cover Stories National News Niger-Delta East South West North Politics Business Sports Education Health Environment Entertainment Fashion Technology The Arts Law Labour Tourism Viewpoints   NATIONAL   Our  stand, by the North Posted to the Web: Sunday, December 25, 2005 In March, the North came up with a position paper on issues before the National Political Reform Conference. their position is reproduced here because they are as relevant today as they were then. Excerpts: GEOPOLITICAL ZONES WE have noticed with dismay the current emphasis on and  reference to the so-called geopolitical zones as though they were some forms of administrative and political regions of Nigeria. The origin of this new concept was highly suspect and at best, the zones should be used as geographical definitions with no constitutional or legal jurisdictions. We reject in its entirety any attempt to convert the zones into regions and any reference to them as such should be expunged in any official documents enactments or record of proceedings of  this Conference. We recognize only the three tiers of government: Federal, States and Local Government as enshrined in our constitution.  ROTATIONAL PRESIDENCY The concept of rotational presidency among the so called zones should be discarded as it is subject to manipulation and abuse by unpatriotic Nigerians. It is neither in our constitution nor in our electoral laws. It was used by various political parties as their strategies for winning elections or gaining political power and power sharing among various component units within the Federal, States and Local Governments. The Presidency should rotate between the North and the South and this time around it is the turn of the North. We realize however, that constitutional provision needs to be made for rotation within the States to provide opportunity to the various minority groups have access to the position of governorship within the States and to give them a sense of belonging. PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: We reaffirm our support for and solidarity with the Presidential System of government we are now operating. We believe that the current problems the Nation is facing are not the product of the Presidential System of government but the attitude of those operating it, their inability to grasp the true principles of democracy, and respect for the rule of law. We have moved fairly well under a Presidential System and any attempt to abandon it in preference for other systems such as parliamentary  ` democracy midstream will be retrogressive, divisive and crises ridden. What needs to be done is to consolidate on the Presidential System we are operating, undertake a finetuning of the system and make necessary adjustments in the constitution where necessary. It is clear that the ‘parliamentary form of government is inherently unstable considering the known behaviour of Nigerian politicians to be easily persuaded or ‘lobbied’ to change positions on critical issues.” Again, according to the report of the Political Bureau, ‘in a presidential system it is easy to constitutionally limit the tenure of office of the President to one or two terms. It is more difficult to impose a similar limit on a Prime Minister.., in as much as he is the leader of his political party.” Indeed the President being the Chief Executive “must function as (i) a symbol of national unity, honour and prestige; (ii) a political leader in his own right; (iii) someone who can give leadership and a sense of direction to the country. “ It has the merit of unity, energy and dispatch in accordance with true African tradition, culture and history and  belong to the entire federation and should not be subjected to the derivation formula. It must be noted also that during the period of colonial conquest all Nigerian communities wherever they might be have lost automatically their sovereignty and resources such as mineral wealth. It was the collective will and nationalist struggle of all Nigerians that liberated the entire country and restored to the entire people of Nigeria their sovereignty and independence. The communities in the oil producing areas and any others who may in the future talk of resource control should know that the oil or resources they so much talk about does not belong to them but to the entire nation. Even in present times the vulnerability of oil production to international politics and interest is a practical reality and we have the duty to safeguard our territorial integrity, sovereignty and resources. Besides, itwas other national resources such as cash crops, solid minerals and other agricultural products that were used in the exploration and development of the oil sector. RESOURCE  RESOURCE The North views with great concern the land degradation taking place in the Niger Delta and other oil producing areas of this country which has brought some hardships to the communities of those areas. We feel even more concerned that this situation is happening in spite of the huge sums of money being allocated to the oil producing States under the derivation formula of 13 per cent. Between the years2000 to May 2003 alone the total allocation to the oil producing States amounted to N280.5 billion with Delta State topping the list with a total allocation of N89.3 billion followed by Rivers State N62.5 billion, Bayelsa N53.7 billion, Akwa-Ibom State N45.9 billion, Ondo State N 13.6 billion. These figures rose sharply by the year 2005. The communities, of the oil producing areas need to know the truth about the  resource accruing to them from the Federation Account monthly and  annually which in our opinion are major concessions made to them in recognition of their particular plight. We believe that no development is taking place because the States and the bodies created have not done so in spite of the enormous amount of funds allocated to them. We recommend that these accounts of expenditure be published for the entire nation to see and the communities to know what happened to their money. In our opinion this is a more plausible cause to pursue rather than for the un ending clamour for resource control which cannot be granted under the circumstances as the nation has granted fair amount of concession of up to 13 per cent allocation under the current revenue allocation formula. We already believe there is serious imbalance and distortion in these allocation and call for a review in order to undertake even development in other parts of the country and other sectors of the economy     Home |About Us |Advertising | Contact Copyright ©1998 - 2005 Vanguard Media Limited All rights reserved.  10:20:08 AM    comment []