We have about three weeks now left for the security services to perfect the magic they claimed they were going to perform in Sambisa. We have just 21 days to see the end of the ‘mago-mago, wuru-wuru’ that made itself the harbinger of catastrophic disappointment to the masses of this country.
March 28 is around the corner and it is our hope and prayer that the magical puppeteers in Abuja will not come up with another ‘abracadabra’ to shift the goal post in the middle of the game once again.
The hapless masses of Nigeria, all the citizens of the West Africa sub-region, the whole of Africa and the international community are waiting and watching, to see whether Nigeria will be free from its man-made shackles and be counted among civilised nations or it will be despatched to Somalia and Afghanistan.
We have condemned in the strongest terms the treachery, the misuse and abuse of office, the impudence of power, the arrogance of timidity, and the brainlessness that informed the postponement of the elections last February. The whole world had been waiting for the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections it had been preparing for in the last four years, respect the elections time table entrenched in the constitution and usher in a brand new government in Abuja or entrench continuity when the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria loaned his voice to his National Security Adviser (NSA) and his service chiefs to arbitrarily postpone the elections.
It was a huge disappointment. And the shenanigan lamely based on security concerns sent shock waves across the globe. It was a masterstroke calculated to weaken the opposition and demoralise Nigerian voters. And the worry became pronounced when placed against the backdrop of a promise made by the same security chiefs three days to the drama that they were ready for the same elections!
It is now clear that the so-called INEC is only ‘independent’ in name. In reality, the commission is a pawn on the president’s chess board. It is a shame, though, because it was the same view the disgraced President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire had of his country’s electoral body before he was chased out of the presidential palace almost naked.
We, therefore, can call on one person, just one person – the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to make sure that the elections now hold on March 28 as re-scheduled. Nobody is in doubt that our president is now a god at whose feet every mortal must worship to have access even to the breath of life!
The Nigerian president dictates to the police, the armed forces, the intelligence services, the Nigerian airspace agency (if such a body that controls private jets ever existed) to the Immigration and even to Customs. Nobody disputes the enormous powers of the Nigerian president, but we, the common people, now serfs in our own country, are begging the president not to ride roughshod on all of us. The president must make sure that Professor Attahiru Jega is allowed to do his job unhindered and without anybody breathing down his neck.
The president owes the international community some respect. He should let the world know that his word is his bond, and must immediately repair the damage of ‘unreliableness’ which his aides have plastered on him.
Nigeria needs the confidence of the international community. This Abuja government will go as did the governments before it, and those coming after it shall also go. But Nigeria remains, and that is why nobody should be allowed to drag the name of Nigeria in the mud. Nigeria is neither Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nor All Progressives Congress (APC); Nigeria is Nigeria and all the political associations playing in the field will disperse at the blow of the whistle.
The Nigerian president must restore the faith of the Nigerian people in the ballot. President Jonathan rose to the pinnacle of power in Nigeria on the ballot. That system, respected throughout the civilised world, should not be toyed with. The toga of ephemeral power does not confer on any one the right to destroy old-age tradition and decency.
Those advising Mr. President to hang on to power at all costs and run away from testing his popularity with the masses are not doing him good service. I have no doubt in my mind, as stressed and collaborated by an insider, that left to Jonathan, he would have got the elections behind him and moved on to his village if he lost. Jonathan has become a prisoner of sorts in the hands of the hawks who hold him by the jugular.
The unprecedented criminal corruption, the reckless impunity and the crass incompetence that have come to characterise the Jonathan administration in Abuja came about by the same forces that had caged Mr. President since his days as Acting President. These self-serving vainglorious vultures should, please, in the name of God, leave Jonathan alone and let him be free to answer to his conscience and to his God.
Elections must hold on March 28, to restore hope to the Nigerian people. Nigerians have suffered a lot and they should not be subjected to further suffering by pushing their country to the precipice of war and anarchy.
All devilish plans being hatched on daily basis to scuttle the elections and certainly put an end to our fragile democracy can only lead to nation-wide chaos and ‘Liberianisation’ a la Samuel Doe!
By the way, who is mortally afraid of the elections? Why should anyone be afraid to sit for examinations at the end of the academic year? Who is it that believes he or she will fail woefully, even when he or she had not sat for the examination?
The issue at hand is very clear and unambiguous. The Nigerian constitution says there should be presidential/governorship/ national/state assembly elections every four years. And the elections must be concluded latest six weeks to May 29 of the election year.
It is no longer about whether Muhammadu Buhari was in hospital in London or whether Jonathan does not have a Ph.D thesis to back up his doctorate claim. The issue is about the problems of Nigeria; lack of electricity, over 40 million unemployed youths, serious stealing and perverted plunder, and overwhelming insecurity. The issue is also about our naira, our symbol of sovereignty, now turned to toilet paper in the world currency market. These are some of the issues.
Pedestrian thoughts and outright lies in the name of cheap propaganda are not what we need at this crucial time.
I beg, Mr. President, summon the courage to let go. Free your clenched fist and let independent agencies do their job.
Elections must hold March 28. The consequences of an alternative are inconceivable!
