By Elder Dr Uma O. Eleazu, OON
Part One
The cry had gone out. Who will speak truth to Power? Former President Obasanjo took up the gauntlet. He can speak truth to power, come what may, even when his truth is less than the whole truth. He has done so in the past. There is hardly any one who has occupied the post of Head of State or President of this our dear Nigeria that he has not found occasion to criticize for one failure or the other. He is a wise man, sagacious in his ways. Besides he knows quite a lot about Nigeria’s ship of state. He has on two different occasions piloted its affairs, and since his second coming in 1999 has more or less been involved in hand picking who pilots the Nigerian ship. So one would like to think that he knows where all the rocks and quick sands are in the journey to becoming a modern democratic state.
Before he jumped on the bandwagon to persuade Nigerian voters to crown Buhari as President, by his own admission, he knew that the man was incompetent: He knew he was “weak in the knowledge and understanding of the economy…..weakness in understanding and playing in foreign affairs….he (OBJ) thought that PMB would fight corruption and financial crimes …..” In short, he is now telling us that the man he backed lacks the knowledge to steer the Nigerian ship of state. He owes us, the Nigerian people, an apology.
It is of no comfort to us Nigerian voters to hear all that from him after the birds have flown out of the nest , after the damage is done. Never the less, I believe that he knows more than he is willing to reveal. May be he is letting sleeping dogs lie in order to cover his own weakness and compromises that have contributed to the rot we have now in our governance system. So what bothers me now, is not so much what OBJ had to say about President Buhari, but what he did not say or simply brushed aside.
The issue of incompetence of PMB apart, the real danger besetting the country is fundamental and structural, compounded by the ineptitude of its current operators. Buhari is not all that incompetent when we view his performance from the point of view of his ardent supporters. They have simply exploited the contradictions in our Constitution, to follow a different agenda from that which OBJ and most well meaning Nigerians want for this country.
Reading through his epistle (and previous ones), one would like to assume that OBJ belongs to the group of Nigerians whose mental image of a modern Nigeria is one of a prosperous, democratic country where there is rule of law and the basic freedoms of speech, of worship and thought, of association and personal security etc . Buhari does not believe in such values and yet OBJ , and the rest of them in APC were still prepared to foist him on the nation. PMB is neither a Democrat nor a Progressive although he will mouth such platitudes as his handlers wanted him to say. In actual fact, he will rather do (and has been doing) all in his power to subvert and undermine the very constitution he swore to protect ,while mouthing democratic platitudes to deceive his handlers and the electorate until he achieved his goal of becoming the President of Nigeria. In political Islam, deceit is a virtue if it achieves ones goals. Hear the man who has sworn to defend the 1999 constitution –:
““I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the sharia in the country”
(News24, August,27; 2001)
Obasanjo was President at the time when Yerima and Co declared twelve states of the Federation to be Sharia states, in contravention of the 1999 Constitution which states in section 10 “ The government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion”, which makes Nigeria a secular state. OBJ presided over that blatant challenge to the constitution and he compromised with it. Compromise and erosion of values are two sides of the same coin. That was the in-road the Sharia movement wanted. Having allowed the twelve insurgent states to have their way, that now gave Buhari the courage to run for president in 2003 to achieve the goal of islamising Nigeria. The rise of Boko Haram and failed Almajiri revolt in Kano and Kaduna all have a link to that one in-road. Buhari actually urged his followers while he was campaigning to vote for only candidates that will promote the cause of Islam.
“Muslims should only vote those who will promote Islam. We are more than the Christians, if you add our Muslim brothers in the West. (Liberty Radio , Kaduna 2003)”
I find it hard to believe that with all his usual perspicacity, that OBJ does not know that Islam and Democracy are strange bedfellows and that Buhari is a confirmed Islamic Jihadist who is sworn to make Nigeria into an Muslim state.
Well, he did not win in 2003 and so he tried again in 2007 and 2011, still pushing his agenda to climb to the highest office in the land so as to implement the OIC agenda all over Nigeria, which includes:
“To eradicate in all its forms and ramifications all non-Muslim religions in member nations ( such religions shall include Christianity, Ahmadiyya and other tribal modes of worship unacceptable to Muslims)
“To ensure the decoration of Nigeria a Federal Sultanate at a convenient date and time from March 1990 with the Sultan of Sokoto enthroned as the Sultan Supreme sovereign of Nigeria.” ( See The Declaration of OIC Ibadan Conference, 1989 )
In its detailed working, the Declaration also includes that non-Muslims should not be allowed to be President of member countries of OIC , also all major/strategic Ministries and Departments of Government in member countries should be headed by Muslims. When it looked like Abiola was going to become President, Abacha thought he was not muslim enough, and between him and the Sultan, they persuaded IBB to annul the election. A little bit of history will be a pros por.
The 1999 Constitution was really an outgrowth of the Abacha constitutional conference of 1987/88. If he had not dropped dead the way he did, he would have decreed it into being and become the President for life. When he died, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar had a problem on his hand. What to do with Chief MKO Abiola who was waiting on the wings to actualize his mandate. Suddenly he too died. With both men out of the way, the retired Generals came together to map the way forward. Abdulsalami formed a Constitutional Debate Coordinating Committee, with Prof Niki Tobi as Chairman. This writer was a member of this CDCC. We were then given the draft Abacha constitution, to go round the country and gather the views of the public on the draft. It was a diversionary exercise because almost all the reports from various sub-committees within the CDCC did not see the light of day . Abdulsalami and his cohorts simply doctored the Abacha draft and decreed into being . The jihadist group based in Sokoto University started planning on how to install one of them in Aso Rock. Partisan political activities started again. To cut a long story short, while we were trying to form political parties, the ex-Generals met and decided to back one of them to run as a civilian. The lot fell on Obasanjo in order to appease the Yoruba nation for the death of their Aare Ona Kakanfo. The Yoruba nation was not consulted on the matter hence the frosty relationship between them and OBJ.
When therefore the Obasanjo administration came into being, his first problem was the confrontation with the jihadist group. Whatever amount of water passed under the bridge built by the ex-generals, we may never know, but all we know was that he allowed OR did not challenge the Declaration of sharia states in those twelve states of Northern Nigeria, as unconstitutionai. That act in itself was ipso facto a repudiation of the 1999 Constitution which now reopened some old arguments ( true federalism; fiscal federalism, resource control; self determination; confederation; secession etc).
Buhari’s persistence in trying to become President, was in pursuance of his islamist agenda. When he failed to win in 2011, first he said he was not going to try again; and being persuaded by his fellow leaders in Niger and Chad, he changed his mind and decided to run once more and probably for the last time. That was when he made the ominous statement that:-
“If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon will all be soaked in blood” (Vanguard ,May 15 2012)
Our neighbours to the north, particularly the Republic of Niger, helped to send their citizens to vote in Nigeria. Even under aged children were seen voting in Kano. The resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano who knew what happened, mysteriously died in a motor accident on his way to Abuja. Besides, the mercenaries who had been imported to help make dog and baboon blood flow , needed to be settled. With no job to return to, they simply were allowed to roam around in the country with or without cows. MYETI Allah was on hand to give them cover by employing them as herdsmen. We have it on the authority of the words of el- Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, that the so called Fulani herdsmen are not citizens of Nigeria, and that he gave (bribed) them money to go home. (He said that on TV) In course of time they have been joined by other roving bands of fulanis and tuaregs from Kadafi’s failed state. So what OBJ referred to as “herdsmen and crop farmers” is more than meets the eye. It is challenging the whole existence of the federation, and so the issue now is not just constitutional but restructuring the geopolitics of the area called NIGERIA.
There are those Fulani herdsmen who are Nigerians by birth, who have been living side by side in the Middle Belt states of the North with their herds and for years have had little or occasional clashes with farmers. The damage caused on both sides is usually minimal. But the new type of Fulani herdsmen, carrying AK 47 and other dangerous weapons are not Nigerians (according to IGP Idris and some foreign intelligence); they invade at odd hours of the night, to kill, steal and to destroy without mercy. Theirs is not “clash” , it is invasion of parts of Nigeria. With all their bravado of python dance and crocodile smile, not one of these invaders has ever been caught and brought to book. No agency of government – DSS, Police CID, Military Intelligence, National Intelligence Agency, National Civil Defence, none of them knows how many non-Nigerians have invaded Nigeria, where they are, their mode of operation, not to talk of tracking them down. But let somebody mention “Biafra”! and all their fangs will protrude their jaws.
Looked at from his point of view, Buhari is achieving his goals for Nigeria and the Islamic world. To wit, his kitchen cabinet is made up of Muslims, mainly from Daura; TheArmed Service Chiefs are all Muslims; Inspector General of Police, all DIGs in charge of zones are all Muslims from the North; All Security Agencies are headed by his kinsmen and muslims; if one goes to the South East Zone, from the DIG down to Commissioners of police are 90% Hausa Fulani, most DPOs are from the North. The governors are just Chief Security Officers of their states in name and the list goes on. The police in the south eastern states are there to protect the Fulani herdsmen and not the people.
There was this sad case of Ndokwa Youths who apprehended two of the “herdsmen” and dispossessed them of the guns. They took the two herdsmen to the police and tendered the guns as evidence that the gunmen were the people who had been marauding the area. The police thanked them and took the herdsmen and their guns into custody. The next day, the police went and arrested the president of the Ndokwa Youths and charged him of stealing and illegal possession of firearms. The herdsmen were left to go scot free. This is the kind of country Buhari has given us.
OBJ says PMB does not know how to play in foreign affairs? He has visited Morocco, and the Niger Republic . In fact, immediately he was declared winner of the 2015 election, he visited Niger Republic where he was given a triumphal welcome and was presented with a horse and a sword. Very symbolic! ! Now he is asking the National Assembly for money from the excess crude account to extend the railway from Kano through Daura to Maradi in Niger, when the one from Port Harcourt to Enugu has not even left the drawing board. That is how much he loves Nigeria or may be it is a compensation for the 97% vote he claims he got. I will be surprised if Oga OBJ claims ignorance of these things
Now back to the fundamental issues : Coalition for Nigeria Movement ; Nigerian Intervention Coalition ; Third Force and 68 new political parties!! Who will mid-wife . emergence of a new Nigeria to achieve what? Is Nigeria moving to become a democratic state or a theocracy? Are we setting up a country where citizens will be equal before the law or where some citizens will be considered above the law? Listen again to someone who is president of Nigeria. During the cacophony of a debate over the declaration of sharia states in 2003, Buhari asked
“Why should Christians be concerned when Muslims cut off their limbs? After all the limbs that are being cut off are Muslim ones and not Christians. So why should Christians bother about it” (Liberty Radio, 2003; Kaduna)
This is in a country whose constitution states in Section 34 subsection (a) that “no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment”
What is the point of having a constitution if it is meant only to serve as window dressing?. When we treat our constitution as trash, any wonder we have acts of impunity which simply means no rule of law. Without rule of law, they can be no justice or good governance and that is where corruption finds fertile ground. Everything else flows from our attitude towards the constitution which is the basic law of the land.
Much as the 1999 Constitution has many flaws and contradictions, it is the good will of the people to live together that will supersede the phraseology of the written word. But when you have a judge learned in Islamic law trying to reduce the British or American constitutional conventions to statute law, it simply does not work. Until we sort ourselves out either through restructuring our geopolitics or through self determination exercises for the entities that want it, there is not much that a Coalition for Nigeria Movement or Third Force can achieve under the flawed 1999 Constitution. Let me close this section by reminding my countrymen that ex President Jonathan spent billions of naira on the 2014 Constitutional Conference. Whoever wants to reinvent Nigeria should first of all read the section entitled
THE NIGERIAN CHARTER FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION AND INTEGRATION
Things have fallen apart so much that until we can find a common ground to hold us together, the centre cannot hold.
Part two
Reinventing Nigeria : The Democratic Way
There is no doubt that Buhari has steered the Nigerian ship off course and into dangerous waters. The oracle of Otta has sounded the alarm and asked Buhari not to seek renomination to run again in 2019. He has suggested to him to take “a well deserved rest”. How kind of him, one should really look out for the interest of ones friends. A few days after, both men were now joined by retired Gen Abdulsalami and were seen having a good time in Davos, Coincidence?. While they were there, the oracle of Niger State, Retired Gen Ibrahim Babangida allowed or authorized a statement to be issued on his behalf supporting the position of OBJ, and then retracted it and issued a more authentic one under his signature. Where does he stand? Typical, a little to the left and a little to the right. Where is retired General Theophilus Danjuma, he has not said anything yet. It seems the ex-Generals are scheming again, probably looking for another retired general to prop up. How about Oyinlola? A retired Brigadier (or was it Colonel) who has already formed the Coalition for Nigeria and gathered a few of his friends to go and invite Obasanjo to join. All this is playing out in the open before the TV cameras so that we will not be in doubt as to who is mid-wifing the new Coalition.
For all we can guess, before anyone of us mortals can think through what is going on, the party of the generals will give us a candidate of their choice, plant him in APC or PDP, and then herd the ever hungry and pauperized voters to elect their candidate. They have the money and they have the power. If that happens, we would have failed in our democratic experiment. Buhari came to power through the ballot box, he should be removed through the ballot box and we would have made it over a difficult learning curve in our democratic experiment. Alternatively,, the best way to remove Buhari would be by impeachment for violating his oath of office to uphold the constitution. This has been demonstrated in part one of this essay. The National Assembly cannot do it because a good number of our legislators have skeletons in their cupboard.
SO LET BUHARI EXERCISE HIS RIGHT TO SEEK RENOMINATION BY HIS PARTY FOR THE 2019 ELECTION.
IF THROUGH A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS WITHIN THE PARTY, HE IS RE NOMINATED THEN LET HIM RUN. I would rather like to see him defeated at the polls so that his 97% voters will show him that he has not performed. If he is cajoled to resign or to throw in the towel, he may go home thinking that he was doing such a great job.
As the 2017 Governorship election in Anambra State has shown, the Nigerian electorate is coming of age. They are learning that money is not everything. We now want people who can perform the functions of the office they seek to occupy. In this regard neither PDP nor APC can convince the electorate to trust them again. The two parties are just vote rigging machines. I see OBJ’s Coalition for Nigeria as an attempt to provide a bipartisan (PDP/APC) platform for the party hopping political prostitutes to jump over and continue the same old game.
A new generation has come of age, a generation for whom AWO, ZIK, and AHMADU BELLO are ancient history; a generation that wants to make its. own mark and contribute to national development. Most of them are above 30 and better educated than those who became Heads of State at about the same age in the Sixties.. So what we need to do now is to restructure and open up the political space for them to come unto the scene. HOW?
- LET THE RETIRED GENERALS GO HOME AND ENJOY THEIR WELL DESERVED REST (DID I HEAR LOOT?)
- WE HAVE DONE ENOUGH TALKING, LET US RESRUCTURE THIS FEDERATION NOW. HOW?
Let the National Assembly legislate an instrument under which a committee of experts drawn from relevant professional Associations ( in particular, lawyers, Economists, Political Scientists, Accountancy, Social Scientists etc) to examine the 2014 Conference Report , taking into consideration views expressed by many ethnic nationalities and produce a draft constitution The draft should focus specifically on the issues of federalism, devolution of powers and internal self government of federating units. (6 months)
- Houses of Assembly within each geopolitical zone to assemble and review the draft, make their comments or suggest amendment and report back to the drafting committee. The most senior judge to chair the zonal Assembly (2 months)
- The Committee of experts meet again to harmonize and issue a final draft ( 2months)
- The draft will be published and subjected to a national referendum conducted by INEC and supervised by UN.
If the exercise is not finished in time, the 2019 Elections can be postponed for not more than six months. All office holders to stay in office until the new constitution comes into effect and INEC will conduct elections under the new Constitution.
The Democratic Process for Leadership Recruitment:
While it is important to deal with the issue of structural imbalance of the federation, we should also deal with the issue of the political processes by which leaders come to power.: the electoral system.
An electoral system is adjudged good or bad, to the extent that it helps the society to select and produce good leaders. The one man one vote- first past the post system lends itself to money politics especially when combined with extra legal processes like zoning, consensus candidate or cabalistic anointing. which tend to
vitiate the requirement of secret ballot. So any idiot with a lot money , and can make a lot of noise in the press as well as buy into the cabal end up getting the nomination irrespective of his credentials or character. The other side of the coin is that good and credible candidates who are not willing to bribe voters, or able to make a lot of noise in the press for one reason or the other, are just shunted aside. That was why we designed the option A4 and open ballot system at the primary level during Babangida’s transition program, and that is why that election was adjudged credible, although there was still the influence of money by the time we got to the national conventions of the two parties.
From all indications, the current INEC appear to be moving in the right direction, especially with the electronic voting method if and when it is introduced. I would therefore suggest that in the restructuring that should precede the 2019 election.
INEC should deregister ALL the political parties and revert to SDP and NRC (Social Democratic Party and National Republican Convention) of the Babangida era
INEC should organize zonal conventions for the purpose of Registering those who want to join and helping to form the Zonal executive of each party. Thereafter, each party will take over the organization of the party within the zone. INEC will ensure that there is internal democracy in each party.
Cost of joining the party should not be less than N1000.00 and not more than N.5000 to get party card.
Those who do not want to belong to a political party, but want to run for office have to register with INEC as ‘ Independents’ under the office they are interested in.
Qualifications for the office of President. Governor, and their deputy must include at least five to ten years’ work experience in the public or private sector, or similar number of years post professional qualification. Screening of the candidates will be the responsibility of the political party presenting such candidates, except in the case of independent candidates who will be screened by INEC. Whatever qualifying credentials claimed by any candidate will be put in the public domain.
Proportional Representation : Seats in the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly will be allocated to parties in proportion to the number of votes polled nationally or state wide. ( Votes cast for Independents are usually subtracted before determining the proportion for the parties.)
Government funding of political parties should not be before an election but after. If a party operates within two out of thirty six states and another party is active in thirty states, it will be unfair to give each the same amount of money ab initio. The funding should be a reward for effort in educating and mobilizing voters rather than a dash for registering a party. Similarly, independent candidates should be refunded part of their election expences based on performance. When people know that they will be given subvention once they are registered as a political party, it becomes the incentive to proliferate parties.
ELDER DR UMA O ELEAZU, OON