Why Goodluck Must (not) Contest in 2011?
Whenever I read the Nigerian newspapers especially the article sections, I am always flabbergasted and puzzled. The sovereign national conference is the sure way out of this mess. More so now that the Nigerian Army has been accused of
partisanship in the massacre of women and children in Plateau State.Please listen to the views expressed in an article I read in one of the Sunday newspapers. Since PDP has barred Dr Goodluck Jonathan from contesting for the Presidency in 2011, he should either resign or deputise for one of the governors from the North or better still deputise for IBB? Mhm! Yet in the same article I read the same author accusing Nigerians of being selfish! But it is okay by him for Dr Goodluck Jonathan who is presently the acting president to wait and deputise for a governor or IBB in 2011 since Goodluck Jonathan is not by birthright from the ruling class section of Nigeria.
In fact the writer is so vexed that Dr Jonathan should be grateful for being made the Acting President. As far as he is concerned even if Yar'adua is in a vegetative state as is being widely reported, since it is the turn of the north by PDP agreement, then Goodluck Jonathan can never become substantive president of Nigeria. What happens to the legal jargon that says 'He wants equity must do equity?' As far as he is concern that suits him and the system right since Dr Goodluck Jonathan is a 3rd Class Nigerian and therefore has no right to aspire to lead Nigeria whatsoever. The sovereign national conference is the clear way forward from this mess. Some Nigerian commentators are too parochial to a fault. I have checked and browsed through the internet and libraries to see where in history a sitting acting president or vice president was doubly demoted just for the sake of a political class of power mongers will cling unto power via hook or crook but I have not seen. Kindly anybody who has such information please send it to my e-mail ( [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
I was thinking that any objective and right thinking commentator will berate the PDP, the Party of the Deceptive People for their undemocratic principles of rotational presidency between the north and the south only which unfortunately does not apply to the states or local government. This undemocratic principle of the PDP is not even in their constitution. It was said to be an (un) gentlemanly agreement between OBJ and who? For that their agreement to hold water, it should apply across board in all elective posts in PDP and the states they control nationwide. The fact is that they only apply it when it suits a certain section of the country. Otherwise it is on records that the governor of Adamawa State, Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako and the PDP chairman in Adamawa State Mr Kugama are blood brothers from Mayo-Belwa local government area of the state. Even the PDP stalwarts in the state like Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Dr Jonathan Zwigina and Professor Jubril Aminu have raised concerns about that yet nothing has been down.
But if I may ask, which one is superior in the scheme of things, is it the PDP gentlemanly agreement or the constitution of the “Federal Republic of Nigeria?” If the primitive undemocratic rotational principle of PDP is suitable for presidency? Why then is PDP not insisting on its application at state level especially in states like Kaduna, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno and many other states where there is glaring marginalisation of some sections. In fact the PDP rotation must be amongst the six geo-political zones for it to make any sense to some of us.
Dr Goodluck Jonathan is more qualified than any other person to contest for the 2011 presidential election on the platform of PDP.Some writers memory is shorter then their pen. We are all aware of the fallout of the 2003 PDP primaries where OBJ was said to have bend down with all his pride to beg Atiku Abubukar not to contest again him. Atiku Abubukar even confirmed that on our national radio the BBC Hausa service. I can see Manir Dan Ali and Isa Abba Adamu laughing now and thumbing their barrel chests with pride.
The major reason why we the Serve Nigeria Group (SNG) have been calling for the full implementations of the Justice Uwais report is that so that we can have a free and fair credible election where PDP and their rigging arm INEC cannot rig election in their favour any longer. Tribal and religious bigots who mask as columnist to promote sectional interest using the undemocratic, unconventional and one-sided power rotation principle of PDP is a shame to any society that is desiring to be egalitarian. Same commentators will use the Obama election in America when it suits their ego. President Barrack Obama was elected the President of America not rotational principle but on merit. Nigerians must elect their next president on merit not on power shift or whatever it is called.Any commentator who has nothing to contribute to true national development should please shut up.
Nationalist writers and commentators should promote the rule of law and supremacy of the Nigerian constitution, which gives every Nigerian irrespective of geo-political zone, tribe or religion the right to aspire to rule Nigeria any time any day. It is the failure of leadership of the political class and national commentators that have suddenly turned parochial and sectional in outlook that have put us in this mess.The three wasted years of Mr. Yar'adua as President of Nigeria is arguably part of the locust years of Nigeria. That is what you get when have useless rotational presidency. Every country scouts and presents its best to lead but in Nigeria the reverse is the case.
I cannot seen any justification for a commentator in a standard national daily to justify the fact the President of Nigeria was smuggled into the country in the middle of the night without the knowledge of his vice, without the knowledge of the leadership of the National Assembly. Even his senior military chiefs are claiming not to be aware of his mid-night arrival. This is despite the fact that Nigerians were urged to pray for the quick recovery of the president. We prayed for his quick recovery and he recovered and returned back and there is no thank you to Nigerians for our ceaseless prayers and fasting. This is the greatest height of ungratefulness. This is supposed to be the President of Nigeria. The definition of a president is he or she who is in the front and not in hiding. As the president, let us remain ourselves that he is the number one citizen of the land maintained at taxpayers' money.We have the legal right to know about his health. The Aso Rock Village is not a private building, it is public building.
There is no justification whatsoever that the Nigerian President has been ill for about four months and nobody in his government can tell the citizens his state of health. Rather some charlatan will grant interviews to foreign media organisation as having visited him.
The Acting President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of Nigeria as leaders of other arms of government must be allowed free access to the ailing president if he is in Aso Rock villa . If the relatives don't want that then let them evacuate him to his village. That is the ideal thing to do.
The Nigerian type of democracy talks of the supremacy of the constitution and not of political party gentlemanly agreement.One is at a lost as to why some people are afraid to even invoke the necessary sections of the defective constitution as it were.
As Umar Musa Yar'adua has treated Nigerians with utter contempt and disdain, is he still going to seek our votes for a second term in office? Is he really going to go round the country on a PDP rally talking us and saying fellow Nigerians? We live to see wonders in Nigeria. Only honest clean Nigerians must seek to lead Nigeria, not people who have been running away from the law or whose middle name is corruption. Those who are known nationally and internationally to have institutionalised corruption in Nigeria should stay clear from the political terrain.Let the National Assembly invoke the sovereign national conference, if the various component states of Nigeria will still want to live together, we will live together. USSR had to break up eventually because of a forced union. The two German states had to re-unite despite the forced break-up imposed on them after the Second World War.
Sovereign national conference is the answer to all this intricate intrigues. That notwithstanding Dr Goodluck Jonathan has all the rights and privileges to contest the 2011 presidential election whether on the platform of PDP or any other party for that matter. Atiku Abubukar set a precedent in 2003 and in 2007. There is no reason why Dr Goodluck Jonathan's case will be different. Whether Yar'adua is seeking for a second term in 2011 or not Dr Jonathan has the prerogative to decide what to do with himself but for now he is the most qualified candidate to fly the PDP flag if he so desires. Otherwise see Atiku V. Obasanjo 2003 unreported.
Ndiameeh Babrik [email protected]