Introductory
Remarks
Nigeria’s ruling party—the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), prides itself as the
largest party in Africa. Now, that is a bragging right that even the most bitter
members of the opposition parties in Nigeria would be willing to concede to it
even if grudgingly. And chieftains of the PDP would not miss an opportunity to
remind whoever cares to listen of the size and reach of this incredible
political machine that has dwarfed everything else before it in the past.
Discounting IBB’s political contraptions—the National Republican Convention
(NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a cursory look at the history of
Nigeria’s political parties would reveal that before PDP there was the National
Party of Nigeria (NPN), and before that there was the Northern People’s Congress
(NPC)—all of which controlled the government at the center based on their
respective performances at the polls. Needless to add that their victories were
all seriously challenged at the courts by the losing candidates with all the
legal challenges ending up at the nation’s Supreme Court.
However, while all three parties were able to control the national government on
the basis of their electoral victories, only the PDP was able to muster the
required constitutional majority to go it alone without entering into alliance
with another party to form the government at the center, and this was not
necessarily due to the presidential system of government as that allows for
minority rule as opposed to the Parliamentary system of government in the First
Republic, which is entirely based on majority rule. Thus, the NPC in the First
Republic could not form a ruling majority in the National Assembly without going
into alliance with the Azikiwe-led NCNC. Similarly, the NPN could not form a
ruling majority in the National Assembly in the Second Republic without going
into alliance with another Azikiwe-led NPP. But the PDP needed no alliance to
form a ruling majority in the National Assembly having won over two thirds
majority in both Houses of the National Assembly to rule on its own. It’s the
only national party that has achieved that distinction in the nation’s
democratic history.
It all began in 1999, repeated in 2003, and re-confirmed in 2007! Thanks to
former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees! The
PDP political machine in its present Frankenstein-like killer form is a
political creature of OBJ—such that many of those who actually founded the party
have ended up in its belly! OBJ infused the fledging political outfit with some
bands of military muscles to toughen it up for the battles ahead as soon as he
took charge of the party, and thoroughly transformed it into the invincible
political killer machine that it is today.
An amalgam of former Vice President Ekweme-led G34 and the late Yar’Adua-led PDM,
the PDP was birthed when former President Olusegun Obasanjo was donning prison
uniform in Abacha’s gulag as the Most-Important-Prisoner in Nigeria (MIPN) until
for military Head of State, General Ibrahim Abubakar, ordered his prison uniform
removed and replaced with the politician’s trade- mark Agbada outfit with cap to
match.
As a result of General Abubakar’s order complied with, with immediate effect,
the Nigerian Prisoners Association (NPA) lost one of its most distinguished
members. But not to worry, a freed Obasanjo promised to fight for them outside
of the prison to better their lots inside the prisons. With that promise
Nigerian prisoners took Obasanjo, their most distinguished member, into
confidence and let go off him. That might explain why OBJ and the PDP have
consistently overwhelmingly won (?) the votes of the huge population of prison
inmates in each and every election to defeat the opposition hands down.
Perhaps, Buhari and Atiku should re-do their petitions and take a look at the
votes that came from the prisoners. I’m not sure they have that issue in their
petitions as of now. If they do perhaps, they will find something that might
make their cases stronger before the Supreme Court and turn the tables against
Yar’Adua. This is just a gratuitous legal advice, anyway, that I think might
help them to win their cases that should be considered seriously with their SANs—but
they are not obliged to take it!
That said it’s not entirely clear whether OBJ and the PDP reciprocated the
massive electoral support they received from prisoners in Nigeria by bettering
their lots as OBJ had promised them. For all I know, the conditions of prisoners
and the prisons did not improve much under OBJ—a betrayal of trust that might
predispose the prison inmates to switch their electoral support to Buhari and
Atiku if only to teach OBJ and the PDP an unforgettable lesson in the next
general elections, if President Yar’Adua does not move fast to make good on
OBJ’s promise to better their lots.
Now, I hear that the inmates want him back at the Bauchi Federal Prisions and
they have contacted General Theophilus Danjuma, Afenifere, Speaker Bankole,
Alhaji Na’Abba, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, and others to plead their case with
President Yar’Adua to send OBJ back to prison from where he allegedly escaped
under false pretences. The only problem though is that they are having a fight
with the inmates of the Kuje and Kirikiri Prisons in Abuja and Lagos
respectively, who also want the whole piece of OBJ in their midst to enhance
their prestige and bragging rights. But Bauchi would have none of that—it wants
its prized member back in one piece for keeps!
And to worsen matters for the PDP, Buhari and Atiku are waiting in the wings to
snatch that vital electoral asset from the PDP in the next general elections as
the courts nullify one gubernatorial election after another and their
Presidential Election Petition heads for the Supreme Court on appeal.
So much for the fun part and let’s get serious: Want some more?
Now, let’s get one thing clear: Tthis is not exactly a funny business, folks—the
prisoners mean business and they are dead serious about having OBJ back in their
fold. Acting on a petition from the Nigerian Prisoners Association (NPA),
Speaker Bankole of the House of Representatives has set out to probe OBJ over
alleged expenditures on the nation’s power sector.
While President Yar’Adua claimed that the OBJ government spent $10 billion on
electricity projects with “little or nothing to show for it” even though there
are numerous power plants under construction that he has himself acknowledged,
and electricity generation went up from 1,700 megawatts in 1999 to about 4,000
megawatts in 2007, under OBJ, amid a host of other reforms initiatives in the
power sector including, but not limited to the setting up of Nigerian Energy
Commission (NERC), and unbundling of NEPA, Speaker Bankole contradicted the
President by claiming that it was $16 billion that was actually spent.
But he would not supply the proofs of how he arrived at that figure and went
ahead anyway on a fishing expedition to constitute a so-called House Committee
Probe Panel which promptly summoned him and Yar’Adua to come forward and justify
their claims. Even when Oby Ezekwesili, Vice President of the World Band and OBJ
former minister, explained that there were no contracts awarded to the tune of
the amounts being bandied about that were actually paid for before the
administration left office, the House Committee now claims to have found
contracts awarded to the tune of $12 billion. It did not say, however, that they
were paid for but not executed.
So now, we move from Yar’Adua’s claim of $10 billion, to Bankole’s claim of $16
billion, and then the committee’s claim of $12 billion contracts that were
manufactured overnight. How could it take all these officials from the
presidency to the House Committee forever to substantiate their allegations? As
with irresponsible government officials in Nigeria who are out to damage the
reputation of their opponents, they opened their mouths first before they had
the figures and the facts to substantiate their irresponsible allegations and
that’s why they throw out different figures they can’t substantiate. How does
anyone reconcile the different figures they are throwing around as ‘wasted’
money?
Whoever claims that OBJ did not make a difference in the power sector is being
economical with the truth and has a sinister agenda. Even the Guardian Newspaper
while calling for a probe in one of its Editorials disputed the claim that the
money spent on the power sector has not made any difference and pointed to the
power plants under construction. Are those power plants being built for Nigeria
by foreigners for free? Were the massive rehabilitation works carried out on
NEPA now (PHCH)’s power plants and the new transmissions lines built done for
free? Or for that matter was the unbundling of NEPA and the setting up of NERC
done for free?
No one has told us that all of that should have been done for us gratis. But the
witch hunt continues unabated…until OBJ is returned to the prison inmates if
they have their way. Too bad there is no guarantee the inmates will have their
way and OBJ is still the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees and the Father of the
PDP notwithstanding the machinations of the so-called G21 led by Senators Ken
Nnamani and the irreverent Na’Abba Ghali. It appears that the dissident group
was founded for the sole purpose of undoing OBJ rather than fighting for
democracy as it claims. They forgot that the PDP is the largest party in Africa
today and in control of 27 out of 36 states which President Yar’Adua was
bragging about at the Convention, courtesy of OBJ. They forgot that PDP has been
the ruling party since 1999 because of OBJ. They forgot that but for him there
would have been no PDP that the dissident group would be fighting over today.
PDP started just like ANPP and the AD, which was its breakaway faction. PDP at
its inception was no bigger than the ANPP. Today it has eclipsed the ANPP and
the AD and forced them into their zonal not even regional corners of the country
as mere shadows of their former selves. The AD is no more and the ANPP is on the
verge of demise—gasping for air and drawing its last breaths!
That would have been the fate of the PDP but for OBJ had Olu Falae or Buhari won
the elections. We can argue all day about why the other parties are dying and
blame whoever we want for that. But that is beside the point: PDP is what it is
today because of OBJ and people should not bite the fingers that fed them.
Nigerian politicians have no nobler aims than politics of personal destruction.
Everything is reduced to personalities rather than issues. I’m sure President
Musa Yar’Adua realizes this and that’s why he refused to be swayed by the antics
of the Nnamanis and the Na’Abbas to ditch OBJ and dethrone him from the
Chairmanship of PDP’s Board of Trustees through the back door after he had been
elected in accordance with the party’s constitution.
Is that too much of a reward for a man who has built such a formidable political
machine that every Nigerian wants to join? Is that too much for a man that has
sacrificed so much including losing his personal freedom for the sake of his
country, Nigeria? What has Nnamani, Rimi, and Na’Abba done for Nigeria? How many
wars have they fought for Nigeria and how many hours, days, months, or years,
have they spent in prison for the sake of Nigeria? Where were they when Abacha
was ravaging our land and our economy? I know where Abubakar Rimi was—with
Abacha of course, who murdered Musa Yar’Adua, Saro Wiwa, MKO Abiola, and almost
added Abraham Adesanya and Felix Ibru to the list of his victims! Yes, Rimi was
there with Ikimi, Chukwumerije and Abubakar Atiku to massage Abacha’s ego as he
hounded Nigeria’s best brains into exile, silenced opposition at home, and made
Nigeria an international pariah—all because of his life-presidency project.
Today Nigeria is a destination of choice among investors and one of the three
economic growth drivers in Africa that include Egypt and South Africa, according
to the ADB/Word Bank Report published last year.
OBJ restored the middle class in Nigeria that had all but disappeared under the
military. Today, Nigerian roads are choked full with glittering brand new cars
as one might find in the streets of New York, London, and Tokyo— owned by the
middle class as well as a housing boon that is un-equaled in the annals of
Nigeria’s history. Nigeria’s Stock Exchange capitalization hit the roofs under
OBJ’s administration. And guess what: I can pick up my cell phone from anyone in
the world and dial my relatives and friends back home in Nigeria! That was
unheard of before OBJ where telephone was declared by a government minister, not
meant for the poor!
What are we really talking about when we consider the statistics not the
sentiments? Don’t get me started! How short are Nigerians’ memories!!
OBJ’s Grand Entry into Partisan Politics
OBJ came out of prison and literarily acquired the budding PDM/G34 political
outfit that metamorphosed into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP was
an untested party then just like the others before OBJ came in and it had no
better chances of winning the 1999 general elections than then APP which paraded
political heavy weights with national outlook just like the PDP. It was OBJ’s
presence that tilted the scale in PDP’s favor with the support of the military
and the Northern political establishment even though his own South/West rejected
him and voted for the AD. However, the more he was rejected by the Yorubas, his
own ethnic group, the more he was accepted by the rest of the country, because
it showed him as a detribalized leader both in perception and in fact.
Unleashing OBJ from prison was for the sole purpose of drafting him into
politics to succeed General Abubakar in order to placate the Yorubas whose
beloved (?) son, Chief MKO Abiola, and presumed winner of the 1993 Presidential
Election annulled by IBB the ‘evil genius’ had been murdered in jail just like
OBJ’s ex-Chief of Staff and PDM founder, Gen. Musa Yar’Adua, before him. But for
the over-aching need to placate the Yorubas on account of MKO’s sudden and
mysterious death in prison, OBJ might have ‘expired’ in prison just like his
former Chief of Staff, Gen. Musa Yar’Adua—the senior brother of President Umaru
Yar’Adua.
This is not an article to sing the praises of OBJ. But one could say without
fear of contradiction that God preserved the man’s life in prison to play an
historical role in the establishment of an enduring democracy in Nigeria. OBJ
has been instrumental to the emergence of democracy in Nigeria right from his
days as Military Head of State when he voluntarily handed over power to the
civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979, which was Africa’s first—an
act that was hailed within and outside the country by lovers of democracy.
That unmatched record has been further improved upon by his voluntary transition
from one civilian government to another civilian government in 2007, again,
Nigeria’s first—an act that has equally been hailed by lovers of democracy
notwithstanding the electoral disputation by Yar’Adua’s opponents that has now
being put to rest by the Court of Appeal. Thus legally, factually, and
constitutionally, the 2007 civilian to civilian democratic transition marked a
watershed in the history of Nigeria and someone deserves to take credit for that
and I suspect it’s OBJ and Iwu, Chairman of INEC.
No wonder then that OBJ was declared by the Ali-led PDP as the “Father of Modern
Nigeria” and President Musa Yar’Adua would call him “My Leader”. Without a doubt
these appellations are justified. OBJ deserves to be called ‘Father of Modern
Nigeria’ not only on account of his far reaching revolutionary reforms in almost
all facets of our national life, but because he gave Nigeria democracy that we
are presently enjoying and kept the itchy military permanently out of
governance. Nigeria has enjoyed a steady run of democracy for nine unbroken
years, since 1999! Again, someone deserves credit for that and I suspect it’s
OBJ!
Now, having a run of democracy for nine unbroken years is a record and Nigeria’s
first. And there is nothing in the horizon to suggest that this unmatched record
will be broken anytime soon or ever, for that matter. President Yar’Adua will
complete his term and hand over to another democratically elected successor as
the nation works to perfect its electoral system. The major and minor
imperfections witnessed in the last two elections are part of the learning
process in a polity that has been militarized by the jackboots who held the
nation hostage for decades. Now the process of civilianizing the polity has
begun in earnest and it can only get better not worse with President Musa
Yar’Adua— an out and out civilian, who professes fervently, his belief in the
rule of law and the integrity of the democratic process.
OBJ—Bridge-in-Transition To Democracy
This writer has always held the view that given the circumstances surrounding
the annulment of the 1993 presidential election and the subsequent death of MKO
Abiola in the hand of the military, OBJ’s administration was necessarily a
transitory one from the military to the civilian. But it was a transition as
much at the political level as it was at the personal level. General Olusegun
Obasanjo transited to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo simultaneously with the transition
from a military regime to a civilian administration. OBJ, a former military Head
of State, needed to transit from a military ruler that he was in the past to a
democratic ruler paralleled to the nation’s transition from a military regime to
a civilian one.
Thus the nation had in OBJ two major transitions going on at the same time.
However, transiting from a military to a civilian administration meant the
gradual shedding of military habits and instincts—the demilitarization of the
polity and governance at both personal and impersonal levels. How did OBJ fare
in these double duties? Naturally, OBJ’s military side took charge in his first
term and it showed! However, keen watchers of the OBJ administration including
the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Masari and ex-Governor
of Kano State Alhaji Bafarawa, have noted that the OBJ of 2004 was less
militaristic and more civil than OBJ of 1999. OBJ was less overbearing in 2004
and onward than he was in 1999 up till 2003.
In his first term he ensured that his candidate was imposed on both the Senate
and House of Representatives. Thus we had Alhaji Buhari as Speaker of the
Houses, Evans Enweren, Pius Anyim, and Aldolphus Wabara as Senate Presidents—
all candidates of President Obasanjo. The only one that was not his candidate
was the erudite late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo (of the banana peel fame) who barely
lasted six months in power before he was shoved by OBJ forces in the Senate.
That OBJ subsequently allowed the Senate to freely elect its leadership in which
a first term Senator Ken Nnamani emerged as Senate President without undue
interference from the Presidency showed how much the transition from military to
civil rule had progressed under him in the course of his presidency. The same
thing could equally be said of the third term gambit. He did not bulldoze his
way through as tyrant might have done in similar circumstances. In this regard
developments in Putin’s Russia are instructive where Putin succeeded in making
himself Prime Minister through constitutional amendment to achieve a virtual
third term. OBJ didn’t do that even though the Anthony Enahoros of Nigeria were
calling for constitutional amendment to introduce the position of Prime Minister
under the Parliamentary system. That progression continues till today. Thus OBJ
and the nation have come a long way in civilianizing the polity with the
military totally removed from governance and democratic institutions—Judiciary,
Legislature, Executive, INEC and even the civil society groups are now wakening
up to their responsibilities.
Transition to Intra-Party Democracy
Yet it can safely be argued without fear of contradiction that while the nation
has successfully transited from military rule to democratic rule at the macro
level, the transition to internal democracy at the party level has not been
accomplished. Today, virtually all the parties— not just the PDP—
exhibit undemocratic militaristic tendencies in their intra and inter party
affairs. Democratic ethics have yet to permeate in sufficient mass the substrata
of intra party leaderships. This then is the second phase of the transition from
military to civilian rule and the task now falls on President Yar’Adua’s
shoulders to demilitarize the polity and restore internal democracy at the party
level.
And the PDP, as the ruling party, should lead the way as always. Having crossed
the threshold of civilian to civilian transition the remaining task is to refine
the democratic process and purge it of all militaristic encumbrances.
PDP Suffered a Relapse at Eagle Square!
Unfortunately, those who followed the events at the PDP’s National Convention
held at the Eagle Square on March 08, 2008 to elect its national leaders must
have been reminded of a similar event at the same venue about the same time last
year where a dark horse, then Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, emerged literarily
overnight as the party’s presidential candidate, to the consternation of other
more grounded contestants—thanks to the superior strategy deplored by the former
President Olusegun Obasanjo. Whether his disabling strategy, which routed the
opposition in the last hour, is good for democracy or not, will be examined in
the later part of this article.
Before the dark horse, (a closely guarded secret) was revealed to the nation,
the likes of Governors Peter Odili and Donald Duke, ex-Generals Ibrahim
Babangida, Ebitu Ukiwe, Marwa, Gusau, and many other heavy weights and
presidential pretenders alike, had dominated the scene. As a matter of fact, one
of them, Governor Odili of Rivers State, had established himself nationally as
the front runner from the South/South, who was to square up with Generals
Ibrahim Gasau and IBB from the North/Central, and Generals Ebitu Ukiwe and
Alison Madueke from the South/East, the South/West having been denied the slot
on account of OBJ’s presidency. OBJ’s constant visits to Rivers State and his
chubby relations with Governor Odili made everyone to think that he was the heir
apparent to the throne. Therefore, all attention was focused on him while the
dark horse was securely kept away from the public in far away rural Katsina
State.
True to his reputation as a military strategist, OBJ had let it be known that
the contest for the party’s presidential nominee would not be limited to the
North in deference to the Party’s zoning formula as vociferously demanded by the
North. And so, as the PDP presidential gladiators stormed the Eagle Square last
year to sell their wares to PDP convention voters, little did they know that the
rug had tactically been pulled from under their feet!
In a blistering moment ex-Governor Ibori of Delta state ably assisted by
Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State, moved briskly to introduce the ‘Dark
Horse’, Governor Musa Yar’Adua, to the Convention Delegates as their Consensus
Candidate of the PDP Governors! And as they say, the rest is history!
Did you see any similarities with the role played by the PDP Governors in Abuja
in the emergence of the Vincent Ogbulafor as the PDP Chair? It’s the same old
script written and played by the PDP GrandMaster himself a year ago that was
dusted up and applied to annihilate the other candidates at the eleventh hour!
A dark horse emerged overnight literarily from nowhere to clinch the party’s
nomination for the presidential election— leaving the generals dazed and
flabbergasted. No elections were held and no votes were cast. All the elaborate
preparations for election were a mere smokescreen carefully designed to fool the
other contestants and the gullible party members and the general public. That
was the magical OBJ formula that yielded Governor Yar’Adua as the ‘Consensus
Candidate’.
Meanwhile the main opposition PDP challengers, the AC and ANPP, who had been
waiting on the PDP to lead the way promptly followed suit and announced
Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as their ‘Consensus Candidates’
respectively. OBJ’s own emergence as the Chairman of PDP’s Board of Trustees
benefited from the same formula.
That same formula was applied in the emergence of Chairman Ahmadu Ali the latter
day ‘internal democracy convert’ who is now complaining about alleged evils of
god-fatherism in the PDP having been one of the greatest beneficiaries thereof
and having collaborated with the party’s godfathers and actively participated in
the emergence of Chief Vincent Ogbulafor as his successor. Who is fooling who?
Like Obasanjo in 2007, we heard President Yar’Adua making a similar declaration
that the contests for the party’s national leadership positions would be thrown
open to all and not limited to any one state in the South East. With that
declaration, Ciroma’s so-called screening committee was effectively de-fanged!
Yar’Adua’s declaration, taken right out of OBJ’s playbook, was carefully
tailored to an answer that had been arrived at by the power brokers of the party
behind the scene—the Dark Horse!
The brutal fact is that OBJ, Mark, Yar’Adua, and a few governors had settled for
Obasanjo’s ‘Plan B’, Chief Ogbulafor, while publicly pitching for a free and
open election by all the contestants in order to promote their so-called
internal democracy. And just like everyone fell for OBJ’s dummy during
presidential nomination at the Eagle Square a year ago, the public also fell for
Yar’Adua’s glib talk about internal democracy and open contest.
And here again, just like the governors paraded Yar’Adua at the Eagle Square as
their Consensus Candidate to intimidate other contestants who were effectively
kept in dark, the PDP governors paraded Chief Ogbulafor at the Eagle Square
before the delegates to intimidate the other contestants who spoke their minds
through Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who barely hid his disgust and disappointment
in the process that led to the emergence of Ogbulafor as the party’s Chair
without a single vote cast. And even when only five inconsequential candidates
out of the 26 heeded Ciroma’s call to come forward and openly declare their
formal withdrawal from the contest Ciroma still went ahead to declare Ogbulafor
as having ‘won’ the contest un-opposed, directly contradicting himself that the
election would go ahead if all the contestants did not come forward to signify
their withdrawals from the contest. It is important to note that not one of the
major candidates came forward to announce his withdrawal from the race. And
Iwuanyanwu’s purported acquiescence with the notion of withdrawal on the behalf
of the other candidates is not valid in law, save with the express permission of
the other candidates because one candidate cannot speak for another without his
express permission. And the fact that the other major candidates, like Governor
Sam Egwu and Chief Pius Anyim, refused to honor Ciroma’s call to come forward
and announce their withdrawals, is conclusive proof that they were not privy to
the consensual arrangement, and therefore, not bound by it. Chief Iwuanyanwu
himself confessed that much, while purporting to announce their withdrawal from
the race on their behalf.
What’s more: the absence from the Convention of the G21 members who have been
championing the cause of internal democracy in the PDP further belies any
pretence to internal democracy in the PDP at least from the point of view of
formal election which is the main litmus test of democracy. Save for one of the
contestants who openly challenged the process there is as yet no official
protests from the major contestants who were forced out in the last minute, and
President Yar’Adua and the PDP’s hierarchy have been beating their chests for
what they see as a ‘successful’ convention.
If beating contestants into line in the name of consensus and accepting
imposition of candidates as a fait accompli, is evidence of a successful
convention, the PDP’s Convention can be said to be a roaring success.
Unfortunately, our democracy is the poorer for it. While consensus building is a
key feature of democracy, especially in legislative processes, it must not be
used to trump and undermine the major distinguishing feature of democracy—free
and fair elections to elective political offices.
In every stage of the democratic process the people must be given a chance to
participate directly in the constitution of executive and legislative
authorities in the land whether at governmental or party level. Consensual
arrangement hatched behind their backs short-circuits the democratic process and
thus shuts out people’s participation in the process. Consensual candidacy is
not the way to “deepen and broaden democracy” as stated by President Yar’Adua.
If anything it is the very antithesis of the entrenchment of viable democratic
culture in Nigeria which the President has been preaching. The consensual
arrangement by which Chief Ogbulafor emerged as the PDP Chairman is clearly at
variance with the President’s stated democratic objectives for the
party—internal democracy.
To tell the whole world that the process would be thrown open to all in a free
and fair contest only to turn around to announce a consensus candidate secured
in backroom deals behind the other contestants, does not strike me as a ‘free
and fair contest’. If anything, it was a free ‘selection’ or ‘coronation,’ if
you like.
President Yar’Adua must endeavor at all times to bridge the yawning gap between
his public declarations on the one hand, and his actions on the ground on the
other hand. Matching words with action enhances the credibility and
trustworthiness of a government and a leader. There is a disquieting disconnect
between his publicly stated positions and his actions in specific instances. A
good example is the purported government re-acquisition of the shares of NITEL
and NICON at a time the Yar’Adua administration and President Yar’Adua himself
were busy telling the whole world that the private sector would be put on the
driver’s seat to drive the nation’s economic reforms, and that the privatization
program of the previous administration was on course and irreversible. Now, the
government has been forced to reverse itself and NITEL is back to Transcorp and
NICON is back to its owner, Alhaji Ibrahim Jimoh.
It’s either that the President has allowed his aides to mislead him or he is not
been fully briefed before certain major actions are taken by his ministers.
Whichever is the case the buck stops at his desk. A serious government must
thoroughly think through its position based on its policies before taking and
publicly announcing government decisions that would be reversed the next day.
It’s a demonstration of government’s incompetence in dealing with economic
issues as important as privatization of government owned commercial entities in
accordance with its own policies.
The government owes the Nigerian public better coordination of policy matters
between the presidency and the ministries so as to avoid embarrassment and
sending wrong signals to the international community regarding government’s
position on the reforms. The reported pressures coming from certain
geo-political groups especially from the North on Yar’Adua to reverse the sale
of certain entities simply because they were not sold to Northerners must be
stiffly resisted by President Yar’Adua. We must not play politics with our
economy. It is that understanding that informed the administration’s recent
energy policy that gives priority to the Lagos industrial zone in gas supply.
Nothing in the foregoing presentation must be interpreted as a repudiation of
consensual arrangement in a democracy. As stated above, consensus building is
one of the hallmarks of democracy. However, it should not take the place of
direct elections. Any system of government that is devoid of direct election
cannot lay claim to democracy. Even Cuba, China, and the former Soviet Union
which the West usually condemns as undemocratic hold elections periodically—some
direct as in Cuba, others indirect as in China—through their one-party systems.
The fact that the PDP has successfully organized ward and state congresses
through direct election shows that the party is capable of holding election at
any level if it chooses to. Why that same democratic formula was not extended to
the national offices beats me hollow. The resort to the consensual arrangement
was an anti-climax and the low point of the entire process of re-inventing the
party, deepening, and broadening its internal democracy.
It is to be hoped that this would be the very last time the constitution of any
elective office is secured on a backyard deal that deprives voters of their
rights to participate in the election of their leaders. Even if there is a
consensus worked out behind closed doors such consensus must still be validated
through the electoral machinery in an open contest. Let those who secured the
consensus ask their voters to show up and put their electoral seal of approval
on their candidates in an open contest. The process must not begin and end with
consensus candidate emerging from the woodworks. In this case the process began
with a search for consensus candidate in the South/East which failed but ended
with a consensus candidate in Abuja behind the back of the people of the
South/East to whom the post had been zoned.
Without questioning the credentials of Chief Ogbulafor for the chairmanship
position, it is doubtful if any significant input came from the South/East in
his choice for the position. A situation where a PDP caucus of Yar’Adua, OBJ,
Mark, and a handful of governors who are not even from the South/East, would sit
down in Abuja and determine for the people of the South/East who should be their
nominee for the position zoned to them, is to say the least, outrageous and robs
the Ogbulalor’s choice of any democratic pretensions.
It is fundamentally unfair to zone a position to a people and proceed to
determine for them who should fill that position. It makes nonsense of the
zoning formula. I can hear voices of dissent from the South/East raised later
when the dust finally settles. And I won’t blame them for that even though it
can equally be argued that their leaders may have sold out and compromised their
positions. The inability of the South/East to manage the process was a direct
invitation for outsiders to come and impose their will on the process.
The South/East should have put their acts together and present a consensus
candidate if consensus was their option, failing which, they should have
insisted on full throated election by the candidates in an open field and let
the chips fall where they might. That way, the South/East would have taught the
rest of the country a good lesson in democracy—that democracy has no place for
imposition of candidates or back room arrangement that disenfranchises the
people from choosing their leaders in a free and fair election.
PDP has robbed democracy of its beauty and glitters. The Convention was denied
the elements that make democracy as much a process as it is an entertainment
genre—the intrigues, tension, surprises, maneuvers, victory and concession
speeches, congratulations, and celebrations! That’s what makes democracy, a
democracy, not a secret cult. The PDP must therefore, resist the temptation of
allowing power blocks to mushroom in the party. Rather, it should strive to
empower the members of the party to determine who should lead them—from the
grassroots all the way to the state and national levels.
That is the essence of internal democracy, and if cannot do that internally then
it will be extremely difficult to convince Nigerians it can do that at the
national level during general elections conducted by a PDP government involving
other parties. That in part is the problem that is hunting the present PDP
government of President Musa Yar’Adua. Charity must begin at home. If PDP cannot
give itself democracy it cannot give it to the nation either. This is
encapsulated in the legal maxim: Nemo dat quo non habet—one cannot give what he
doesn’t have in the first place—even if he promises it. It would be an empty
promise that is utterly incapable of fulfillment.
Conclusion
I believe that the PDP is capable of giving itself internal democracy. I believe
also that the party is utterly capable of giving Nigeria true and unfettered
democracy by putting Nigeria first before the party and other parochial
considerations that are constraining the party’s leadership.
Intra party elections must be the rule and standard irreducible minimal process
for leadership change at all levels of the party leadership, and not the
exception. I can assure the reader that if the PDP can do that, the other
parties in the opposition will follow suit without question, because the PDP
leads the way, and the others follow. It is a pity that Yar’Adua’s PDP has
missed a golden opportunity to demonstrate that capability in its internal
processes at the convention. Unfortunately, it calls to question Yar’Adua’s
ability to follow through with his often repeated pledge of electoral reform if
he cannot reform his own party’s electoral process to ‘elect’ its leadership.
When will he have the chance again?
Long Live Nigerian Democracy!
Franklin Otorofani, Esquire (USA)
Contact: mudiagaone@yahoo.com |
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