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LEAVE NJIDDA UMAR PARIYA
ALONE
By Jide Ayobolu <jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk>
Sept 20, 2006
There is no doubt whatsoever that the
Obasanjo’s government is not tolerant at all. The way and manner
Obasanjo security goons have gone after Pariya is totally uncalled
for and totally unacceptable. The warped report of the EFCC and
kangaroo administrative panel on the vice president is still before
the court as well as the National Assembly. So, why will the aide of
the vice president be hounded for no just cause. If Pariya is being
looked for, all over the place why is Bodunde Adeyanju not being
hounded in a similar manner. This is because what is good for the
goose is also good for the gander. Pariya has committed no sin; he
has not violated the laws of the land in any way.
The fact of the matter is that, after
the doctored EFCC report and the kangaroo administrative panel was
made public by the president; the president had thought that the
tainted report will nail the political future of the vice president.
What is unknown to the president is that the vice president keeps
records that will totally disprove and knock the bottom out of the
Obasanjo’s kangaroo report. And, the vice president has established
beyond all reason doubts that the kangaroo report is not only
spurious but also politically motivated by political vendetta to
score cheap political point. It went on to show to Nigerians that
the president inspite of the public posturing and political gimmick
in the country is a common thief.
Now that the vice president has exposed
the president as a very corrupt person that he is, Obasanjo thinks
that what he can do to intimidate the vice president by asking his
security goons to pick up the aides of the vice president. In the
last two weeks the SSS has raided the campaign office of the vice
president in Asokoro, Mallam Shehu Garba, the spokes person for the
Atiku Campaign Organization, was abducted by the SSS twice recently,
members of the campaign team have been put under security
surveillance, this is all because the president knows the vice
president is telling the public the truth and the president wants to
stop him at all cost.
The country is gradually becoming a
banana republic and an organized police state. What the president
does not know and has deliberately fail to appreciate is that,
Nigeria is greater than any individual or groups of individual, no
Nigerian is more Nigerian than the other, we are all equal before
the law. Two, Obasanjo should know that whatsoever we do today or
fail to do, history and posterity will judge according. Obasanjo has
squandered his goodwill and all the trust the Nigerian people had in
him. Today, he is a lone ranger, engaging in a one-man show.
The bottom line however, is that the
president should ask his goons to leave Pariya and other aides of
the vice president alone. If the president feels very strongly about
anything, he should learn to seek redress in the law courts, he
should not resort to the laws of the jungle, we are not under
military rule, we are in a democratic setting, and hence, we must
learn to do things in accordance with the rule of law and the
constitution, which is the supreme law of the land and hallmark of
democracy.
So, instead of the president running
from pillar to post trying to run down the vice president, he should
gear his efforts towards fixing the national economy. Nigerians are
poorer under this dispensation than under any previous government
that ruled the country whether military or elected. The per capita
income remains low, and corruption, poor infrastructure and periodic
labour strikes undermine economic growth and investment. Most of the
population is engaged in small-scale farming, which accounts for
over one-third of yearly formal sector GDP. The oil sector also
accounts for about one-third of yearly GDP but provided over 70 per
cent of Federal Government revenues and 90 per cent of exports. The
point here is that Obasanjo is utterly confused and he does not want
to relinquish power, in spite of his apparent misrule.
So, the president should stop hounding
the vice president and his aides for no just cause, he should
jettison his intolerant and belligerent disposition, he is an old
man who should not be petty, vindictive and arrogant.
By Jide Ayobolu
No 19, Gongola Street
Garki 2
Abuja-Nigeria.
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