Reject 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?â€
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 Massesâ€. 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 instructionâ€.
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.