Ahmad
The most poignant backdrop to the political process of the past few weeks in Nigeria was Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to Jos, in the aftermath of the tragic killings in that city.
There was Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor and chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), standing behind Jonathan like his ADC! Any student of Political Science 101 knew we were in the midst of remarkable political changes. Since 2007, Bukola Saraki has grown a political stature as one of the most important schemers in the nation’s affairs; he literally flaunts closeness to Umaru Yar’adua, because in fairness to the Kwara State governor, he played an important role in ensuring the emergence of Yar’adua and subsequent election (well, not quite, since Yar’adua was actually RIGGED to power!), Bukola has used his position as chair of NGF to shore up Yar’ adua’s flanks. So much has Bukola been involved in the Yar’adua presidency that he spends far more time out of Kwara where he is governor than should normally have been necessary.
And at the beginning of the crisis around the health of the helmsman eighty days ago, Bukola Saraki and Isa Yuguda told the elaborate lie that they had seen Yar’adua in a Saudi hospital and was responding to treatment, when they did not. Again, they were attempting to uphold the illusion that all was well, even when Nigerians knew they were not. The refusal of the people around the president to allow people like Bukola Saraki to see the ailing president, with hindsight now, was one of the seeds of the process which culminated in the ILLEGAL investiture of Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s acting president on Tuesday this week. Nigerians recall the arrogant manner various individuals within various arms of government spoke about the vacuum which Yar’adua left in the process of governance. There was the authoritarian command for all of us to engage in prayers for the president just as one of the leading senators told a bemused country that Yar’adua could stay out of the country even for a year. The Attorney General, Aondoakaa leaned on legal props to tell us with an arrogant posture, that Yar’adua can actually rule Nigeria from wherever and however.
There seemed to be a unity of thought and action between all parties to the detriment of the Nigerian people. But like a pack of cards, why did the delusion crumble faster than it took them to keep the lie? It was due to a number of factors ranging from the seizure of the streets by the Save Nigeria Group; the apprehension of the international community; the incompetence and arrogance of the Katsina clique around the president and finally, the need to save their own political careers by the Nigerian governors, led by Bukola Saraki and Babangida Aliyu, not to mention the deeply-felt fear that the military might just sweep away the fraudulent political system. In two weeks, governors, who never used to see Goodluck beyond a colourless paperweight, all of a sudden began to genuflect before the man, as the campaign to make Jonathan acting president gathered steam. Nigerians were fed up with the incompetent arrogance of the Katsina clique and the campaign to move away from an ailing leader became unstoppable.
Spurred by the need to save their own insatiable appetite for power, the governors like rats abandoning a sinking ship chose to dump Yar’adua and latch on to the new rickshaw of a Goodluck Jonathan era. In the past week, we have been in the thick of the intrigues which culminated in the ILLEGAL way that Jonathan has been foisted upon our country as acting president. A resolution of the National Assembly clearly isn’t the way to do it. Absurd as it sounded, the assertion by the Attorney General, that the president has not flouted the constitution by not transmitting a notice to the National Assembly still rings true, and I say that as somebody who has remained critical of Yar’adua from the beginning.
The “doctrine of necessity” used to impose Jonathan as acting president could not displace Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, but as has become the norm since the beginning of this dispensation; our politicians have chosen to circumvent the constitution again to achieve tactical ends. Nigeria’s politics is built upon unending layers of intrigues, illegalities and subversion of the constitution which does not have an end; our politics is lost in a black hole: Yar’adua remains critically sick; his sidekicks arrogantly mismanaged the situation; FEC was busy awarding contracts but eventually fell apart through Dora Akunyili’s volte-face; the NASS suddenly found refuge in dubious patriotism and a doctrine of necessity”; the governors re-asserted themselves as the masters of intrigue and on television Jonathan Goodluck appeared like a vaunted coup plotter!
On a final note, in his speech Goodluck Jonathan said “… this administration is …committed] to Good Governance, Accountability and Transparency….In particular, the war against corruption will be prosecuted more robustly”. Very good words; but Goodluck Jonathan should show PERSONAL example of this commitment. Last year, Jonathan also said “corruption is due to insecurity as most people accumulate wealth for fear of the future”. Interestingly, “in one month while (governor) the EFCC seized from his wife, N104 million…. that was August 2006, and the EFCC obtained a court order to freeze (the) N104 million…. Weeks later, on September 11, 2006, the EFCC seized $13.5 million from the same woman…. Nobody has ever said another word about these… monies…. (On becoming) Vice-President, Jonathan (also)… declare (d) his assets… put at a… conservative N295 million.
But… since (he was) Governor of Bayelsa for only 17 months, the arithmetic suggested he had grown pretty quickly, at over N17 million monthly”, according to Sonala Olumhense. Acting President, Jonathan Goodluck, should clear our minds about these monies! It is clear that we are entering what might become a post-Yar’adua era with political actors positioning for the greatest influence they can muster for themselves in the days ahead!
