REJECTING APC’S TACTICAL CALL FOR ANARCHY

At the end of the 8th Interim National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting of the All Progressives Congress held on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 in Abuja, and was well attended by prominent leaders of the party, a communiqué was issued by the party, directing its members in the National Assembly to block all legislative proposals including the 2014 budget and confirmation of all nominees to the military and civilian positions to public office until the rule of law is restored in Rivers State. Also, sensing that, the call by the APC amounts to shutting down of the government which is against the interest and the wellbeing of the 170 million fathers, mothers, children, poor, rich, young and old Nigerians whose means of livelihood and survival depended solely on the government operation, Honorable Femi Gbajabiamila, an APC member in the House of Representatives asked rhetorically “When Government isn't shutdown and successive budgets have been passed, of

what benefit has it been to the common man?”
Ordinarily, I would have maintained my reticence and confront myself with other pressing national issues, but, because, the call by the APC, a major opposition party in the country waiting to field candidates in the coming February 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, is a disproportionate response to the political topsy-turvy in Rivers State, I wish to use this medium and add my voice to the parochial directive by the party!

First, it should be well understood that shutting the government down is an open invitation to anarchy, and anarchy has to do with a societal state in which there is no structured government or law or in which there is resistance to all current forms of government.

Secondly, as a political organization that is struggling to lead Nigeria; if the government is shutdown and anarchy prevails in the country, which nation would they be scheming to govern after the conduct of the February 2015 General Elections? Or put the other way, if the millions of pensioners, civil servants and all classes of Nigerians whose means of staying alive is directly tied to the government of Nigeria dies, because there would be no payment of workers salary, pension and money to meet and solve their immediate problems and needs, who then will they be scheming to govern in 2015?

It will be recalled that, when the Republican controlled House of Representatives in the United States Congress decided to use their numerical strength in the House to hold President Barrack Obama Hostage by shutting the US Government down from October 1st to October 16th 2013, after the Congress refused to pass a legislation appropriating funds for the 2014 fiscal year, because of the inclusion of “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” otherwise known as “Obama Care” in the budget, about 1 million American Federal Employees were furloughed and over 1.3 million Americans were asked to report to work without pay. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine Largarde warned of the possible consequence of the shutdown on the entire world economy, saying it could led to another global economic meltdown, but, here in Nigeria, a political organization that wants to present its self to the Nigerian electorates is

calling for a government shutdown without minding its effects on the people. Is this another case of “I'm Ok, you (Nigerians) are not Ok?

However, while condemning the call by the APC, the Yoruba Apex Socio-Cultural Organization through its spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said: “The most dangerous of the APC's recommendation is encouraging its members to engage in things that may lead to instability … The APC fails to think of the implications of not passing the budget and its effects on the Nigerian Masses”. In the same vein, Senator Kabir Marafa, an APC Senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District in the Senate, while expressing shock over his party's directive to its members in the National Assembly to shutdown Nigeria said: “I don't think the party gave that instruction because, APC comprises highly intelligent people of immense experience. So, I don't think people of such experience could give that type of instruction”.

Furthermore, Nigerians should ask APC leaders what they had in mind when they asked their members in the National Assembly to block the confirmation of service chiefs; when in 2012, one of them threatened of both the dog and the baboon been soaked in blood?

Until convincing reasons are offered, the party should note that, gone were the days when Nigerian Youths stands idly-by and watch the enemies of our democracy truncate our democratic aspirations. Hence, having seen how President Good Luck Jonathan is transforming and adding meaning to governance through the various policies and programmes he has introduced in the country; and as a way of saying “Thank You” Mr. President, ride-on in 2015, the youths of the country will no longer condone any threat that could cause confusion in Nigeria, as the youths are now ready to defend our democracy and its institutions which President Good Luck Ebele Jonathan is representing! May I also use this medium to warn those who are still planning to threaten the peace, cohesion, stability and above all, the Democratically Elected President of Nigeria to desist from taking further action in that regards; because in the banter of democracy, what is needed is superior

arguments and debates and not threats of any kind!
Comrade Edwin Ekene Uhara, a Democracy Activist and Commentator is the National President of Young Nigerians for Change.

Text him on 07065862479, 08076134054
[email protected]
No. 9, Imgbi Road, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.