Nigeria on the fringes

This same hypothesis by the US group was later corroborated by John Campbell, a one-time United States Ambassador to Nigeria to the effect that if care was not taken, Goodluck Jonathan might as well be the last president of united Nigeria. When the corroboration from the diplomat came, what we saw from our government as […]

This same hypothesis by the US group was later corroborated by John Campbell, a one-time United States Ambassador to Nigeria to the effect that if care was not taken, Goodluck Jonathan might as well be the last president of united Nigeria. When the corroboration from the diplomat came, what we saw from our government as usual was refute, rebuffing and all sorts of castigations against a statement made in order to keep the ruling class and the people on the alert on the possible dangers that lie ahead.
I frowned several times at the negative stance of government of that very loaded hypothesis and the subsequent corroboration because, in my humble view, what the Nigeria state establishment and its intelligence services needed to do on getting such a tip was not to engage n romanticization but begin immediate work on uncovering, identifying and possibly mitigating those factors that were identified as possible causes of the predicted national disintegration.
That was not to be and instead, the government in its wisdom or the lack of it has continuously and consistently walk the way of disintegration though either deliberate or unconscious or possibly conscious efforts. It will require very serious brinkmanship to patch the ship of Nigerian state between now and 2015 in order to avoid the possibilities of a gargantuan national calamity.
Let me begin with the ambition of President of Jonathan to go for another election. The constitution has though never anticipated that a vice or deputy could take over and reign for more than two years of a four year term. The ambivalence in the Nigerian constitution, unlike what obtains in that of the United States where we copied ours, is that definite statement has not been made to the effect that if an incumbent dies and the vice or deputy takes over, such taking over after a specific period in the tenancy shall be deemed as full term.
The same Nigerian constitution however talks about executive officers been sworn in twice and also speaks about a maximum of two terms of four year each. The constitution never talks about any extra year by a president or a governor and that is probably the reason why the Supreme Court the other time ruled against the four or five governors whose elections were initially annulled and re run conducted with the victory counting from the date the governors were inaugurated after the reran victory.
In any case, that is left for the courts to sort out but as a student of power and politics, one thing that has put the government off my mind in recent times is his rebuttal to the agreement which Ibrahim Shehu Shema, the governor of Katsina state told us through a prèss conference after that eventful National Executive Committee of their party that the governors of the PDP had decided to support President Jonathan to run for one term in 2011 after which he will vacate.
This I heard, and I challenge either Governor Shema or any other person for that matter to refute this statement. The way and manner weak politics was put into this presidential contest of one term or not in my view is one other sign of the likely coming to pass of that American prophecy. Politics without conscience and morality. It is not about constitutional bouts and battles but also integrity.
Some of us have argued time without number that what makes democracy works is not the perfect constitution or laws but the character and willingness of those who live by the constitution and laws do objectively deploy them to the later. In Nigeria we lack that. Every elite desires that government must run on the dictates of his or her wishes.
That is why to the Easterner for instance who is preparing for the Jonathan circus show of diversion, justice and fairness is only seen and done when a state more is created for the region due to a farce called parity. The principle of true federalism which is anchored on proportional representation is thrown to the dogs and so every ethnic group is agitating for equal, representation at the center. If this were possible, then, why are we a federation?
The issue in contention is that Nigeria’s leadership and followership are in confusion and it is this confusion that is leading the nation to the unfortunate. I hope those who are supposed to be more dedicated by the positions of leadership that they occupy would listen and do what is right.
Another dangerous indicator revolves around the ease with which President Jonathan and his cohorts drove the governor of the Central Bank out of office not because he is corrupt but because he blew whistle on grand corruption in the Nigerian oil industry. The bottom line is that such fundamental infractions might have happened throughout in the history of the industry but the difference is that those who ought to report it had never done so.
Instead of going through the allegations and finding solutions those involved are so powerful and thus the whistle blower be ousted, investigated for the over four years he has reigned as the governor. In my view, any person who has approved expenditure in government could be implicated no matter how honest his approvals were. This is simple and basic. Preferences of people are not the same.
The suspension and trial of Sanusi may not be the most dangerous issue here but the desperation with which the government desires to find him guilty and possibly bury the huge gaps in revenue remittances which is the case in point that brought us this far. Again, I am ashamed, the senate just sat back in the heat of the controversies. I am beginning to believe that with David Mark in charge nothing good will come out of the senate.
The desperation by those in authority and their cohorts to implicate Sanusi Lamido is getting deeper and grievous by the day. The recent claim by a supposed presidential aide that Sanusi and Umar Mutallab are sponsors of Boko haram says all about the quality of this government and those who run it. It is dangerous to just make anybody anything.
Nigeria could collapse if effective structures that would ensure the evolution of institutions and leadership are not in place. I want to think that the quality of leadership of leadership at the center is very minimal and lacks the national zeal and patriotism to see the nation out of its woods.
We have said time and again that Nigeria was in turmoil in the past but the nature of leadership saw it through each time. I am jittery that this crop of leadership seem more interested in being part the problem than its solution. This is dangerous.
I am of the view that truly Nigeria is on the fringes. What can save it is leadership but it appears the leadership is either bereft of the magnitude of the problem at hand or it is incapable or a party to the problem or both. Truly we are in deep confusion.