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THE PROBLEM WITH THE
PROGRESSIVES IN NIGERIA
By By Jide Ayobolu
jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk Nov 7, 2006
In the last few weeks there has been a
fundamental division in the camp of the progressives in the country. This
schism is not only in the rank and file of progressive political
gladiators, but also amongst human rights lawyers, and indeed the civil
society organizations. I do not just expect that they will all agree, all
the time on contending and complex political issues that have been thrown
up by the political leadership of the country. The reason for this
noticeable fragmentation is as a result of the inability of the
progressives to take principled stand on the unfolding politico-tragedic
drama in the polity. Even very well respected and erudite lawyers have
surprisingly taken dangerous and indefensible political stand that do not
only run contrary to the constitution and the rule of law, but also
negates the principle of due process, commonsense, fairplay, justice and
equity.
No doubt politics is a very sensitive issue,
however, emotions should not be allowed at anytime to override or becloud
our sense of reason and judgment. For instance, when the Nigeria Bar
Association (NBA) made a public pronouncement to the effect that, the
methodology and modus operandi adopted by the EFCC in the discharge
of its statutory responsibility is not only antithetical to the basic
tenets of democracy, it wantonly violates the fundamental human rights of
the people, goes against the rule of law, and this is definitely not how
to fight corruption, hence, the NBA asked that Nuhu Ribadu be removed,
since he is a policeman lawyer and has severally disregarded the
constitution and court orders. In my opinion, what the NBA said is not out
of place, the NBA did not say, it is not in support of the anti-graft war,
what it says is, if the war must be effectively fought, it stands to
reason that, the constitution of the country must be followed to the
letter, and court orders must be obeyed.
The primary purpose for the establishment of
the EFCC is to strengthen democracy, by halting the spread of corruption,
so that, the country can have a sustainable democratic culture. However,
one must be quick to point out that, there can be no democracy in the real
sense of the word, without strict adherence to the constitution and the
rule of law. But to make matters worse, some lawyers and politicians, who
are consultants (another name for contractors) to the EFCC came out
smoking, condemning the observations made by the NBA, and confusing the
public just because of pecuniary gains and undue publicity. The fact that
NBA called for the removal of Ribadu does not mean it is not in support of
the anti-graft crusade. EFCC is not Ribadu, and Ribadu is not EFCC. We
should not be building personality cult in this country; we should be
putting in place enduring institutions. And, for those who are benefiting
from the EFCC today and therefore turned a blind eye to its draconian and
obnoxious operational methods, the gospel truth is that, it could be their
turn tomorrow.
Furthermore, it is very disappointing that the
balkanization of progressive elements in Nigerian politics is attributable
to ethnic consideration, and tribal sentiment. Because, the president is
from a particular section of the country, he must be supported by his
kinsmen or opposed by people from other geo-political zones. This is
besides the issues; the points are what is the government doing that it is
not doing right? Can it be done better? What are the motives behind
government decisions? In what ways, will the people benefit or in what
ways will it make the people suffer? It is only on the basis of this that
positions should be taken on principle, not because of ethnic, religious,
political, personal relationships or considerations. In Nigeria, to today
EFCC has become a willing tool in the hands of the president not only to
give a mortal blow to his perceived political opponents, but also an
agency engaged in political manipulation for the tenure elongation game
plan of the president.
The EFCC played an infamous and has continued
to played perfidious role in the impeachment politics in Nigeria’s
political firmament. Yet, the progressive forces in Nigeria cannot come
together and harmonize their variegated positions, and have a common
position based in principle as well as in the overall national interest of
the Nigerian State. Look at the case of Ekiti, how will respected lawyers
say that the State House of Assembly has the power to remove the Chief
Judge of a state, even after the Chief Justice of the federation and the
Attorney General and Minister of Justice have both on separate occasions
said that the State House of Assembly have no such power? It was because
of the discordant tunes in the progressive camp that made it easy for the
president to declare a state of emergency in Ekiti State. Even, when it is
very clear that the president has no power whatsoever, to suspend a
governor or the State House of Assembly, he still went ahead to do so,
with impunity and ignominy, yet he was encouraged and supported by some
so-called progressive lawyers and supporters, unknown to them that, what
took place in Ekiti State is just a dress-rehearsal for a state of
emergency in several other states, aleast 15 more states, in a bid by the
president to hang on to power at all cost. This is the unfortunate
political development in the country presently which is unduly
over-heating the polity and causing unprecedented political tension. A
state of emergency is the very opposite of democracy, where the rule of
law is not adhere to, emergency rules do not cohere with democratic
tenets, and what has happened in Ekiti State, is imposition of military
rule in a supposedly democratic setting. This authoritarian move must be
stopped pronto.
What the progressive forces in the country
need to do now, is to come together under the umbrella of a single
coalition group that will put the Obasanjo’s government to task on the
critical issues of good governance and obedience not only to court orders,
but also the constitution, which is the supreme laws of the land.
Therefore, what the progressive forces in the country should do is to come
together and harmonize their differences and present a common front to all
the problems bedeviling the country. They should organize mass rallies in
all the geo-political zones in the country to kick against lawlessness,
the unreasonable spate of impeachment saga, tenure elongation agenda,
manipulation of the electoral process through INEC, absence of dividends
of democracy and good governance, disobedience to court orders, disregard
for the constitution, and all such aberrations that can readily put
democracy into jeopardy in the country. This was the same way the civil
society organizations as well as the human rights group came together to
put pressure to bear on the Abacha military junta, and it was this more
than anything else that made the very unpopular military jackboot to
evaporate from Nigeria’s political space. What we have on our hands today
in the country is an emerging civilian dictator, this is a person that has
been in power since 1999 after he had spent, three years, three months and
three days in the prison, and he still wants to hang on to power after
about eight years in the saddle, claiming that he needs more time to carry
out his so-called reforms that have not had any positive and appreciable
impact on the generality of the people.
There is just nothing to really celebrate
about democracy in Nigeria since 1999. There is very little difference
between the past military regimes and the present democratic experiment.
It is a shift from one despotic rule to another. Albeit, one is claiming
to be more benevolent than the other. South Africa with a population of
just 40million people, is doing very well, it is not even competing with
African countries, the South Africa economy is stronger than many Europe
countries economy, and all they have is gold which do not generate as much
revenue as we get from oil, but they have developed all sectors of their
economy ranging from aviation, tourism, agriculture, education, solid
minerals, health, education and what have you, thanks to visionary
leadership. The people of South Africa buy about 600,000 brand new cars a
year. But what is the situation in Nigeria? Nigeria is the sixth largest
oil producing country in the whole world that is responsible foe 23 per
cent of OPEC’s total oil export, yet Nigeria is classified as one of the
20 poorest countries in the world, and according to the UNDP report over
70 per cent of the entire Nigeria population lives on less than $1 per
day. Nigeria does not produce what she consumes, and she depends on
external aids and loans for economic development initiative. In the
country today, there is apparent infrastructural underdevelopment and
decay, the GNP, GDP and per capita income were abysmally low, the capacity
utilization of industry is low, the various critical sectors are in a
shambles. Governance has become a disappearing phenomenon, as Nigeria is
fast becoming a failed state. It is everyman to himself, God for us all,
nothing seems to be working, in fact, everything is at a standstill, and
there is no silver lining in the horizon. And, all what the president
wants now is for his tenure to be extended at all cost, regardless of the
rule of law and the due process on the subject-matter.
For this unfortunate development in our
political history to be averted, the progressive forces must be united,
they must speak with one voice, they must take the destiny of the country
in their hands, and they must jettison all selfish ideas or interests, and
pursue the general interest of all the people for the commonwealth of the
people. The progressive camp must pragmatically mobilize the people, give
them political education, tell the people in government that they are
servants and not master of the people. Democracy is a representative
government, the elected representatives must be accountable to the people,
if this is not done, then we are heading for an imminent political fiasco.
The lesson here for the progressive, is that,
for them to be shinning example or leading light, they must jettison all
selfish intents and ulterior initiatives that are ephemeral and not in the
long run, represent the collective vested interest of the Nigerian people.
The time for change is now, these illegalities in the country must stop
now, we must practice democracy as it is done in other parts of the
civilized world, we can ill-afford this kind of babacracy system of
government that cases pain, sorrow and tears.
By Jide Ayobolu
No 19 Gongola Street
Garki 2
Abuja-Nigeria.
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