UNTYING THE GORDIAN KNOT
His first name bespeaks the luck that follows him. I still remember his visit to this organisation sometime in December 2006, a few days to the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where the party presidential candidate was picked. Then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan was the governor of Bayelsa State. He had also picked the party governorship ticket and from all indications, he would have won the election. But fate has another plan in store for him-a higher office. He didn’t know this.Neither did the world.
I also remember that he was told that the outcome of the primaries had been predetermined and that the delegates were just going to Abuja to fulfil all righteousness. He just laughed. We didn’t know that his fortune would change overnight as he left our office for the airport to board a flight to Abuja. As he took his leave, we wished him luck in the governorship election which was then about five months away. We didn’t know that he would not be going into the election as a governorship candidate but as running-mate to now President Umaru Yar’Adua. Today, Jonathan is the Acting President by virtue of a resolution of the National Assembly. He may yet become the president if his luck continues to shine.
Jonathan emerged Acting President despite the machinations of the National Assembly, PDP and Federal Executive Council (FEC). All these institutions are one and the same because of the party link. Majority of the members of the National Assembly belong to PDP and FEC is also composed mainly of members of the party. Even though Jonathan is not only a member but a leader of the party, the PDP hierarchy never wanted him to be officially recognised as Acting President. They preferred a situation whereby he will only be performing the functions of the office without exercising presidential powers. Jonathan too, being who he is, rather than assert himself, played it cool so as not to be accused of disloyalty. Disloyalty to who?
Is it disloyalty to a boss who knew that he is ill but deliberately refused to write the National Assembly and hand over to him before travelling to Saudi Arabia for treatment? The intention was to hide the seriousness of the president’s ailment from his countrymen until he gets well and returns home to his job. But they never reckoned with the power of God to expose their ill-motivated plan. They thought Yar’Adua would be well in a matter of weeks and return to the country before the people become wise to their tricks. When days turned to weeks and weeks to months, it dawned on them that they could not play God. Yet they continued to deceive us by asking us to pray for the president’s quick recovery. We are still praying for him, but his recovery may not be as quick as they thought because he is gravelly ill. Yet they wanted to tie his recovery to the country’s destiny.
I have not ceased wondering why they wanted the country to be at a stand still because the president is indisposed. Must a country run aground because its leader is ill? Are they saying that without Yar’Adua, there is no other Nigerian who can run the country? If for the purposes of argument, the president drops dead, will Nigeria have to die with him? There is no way any country will become extinct because of the demise of its leader. And we don’t have to look far for an example. When former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died in his fortress in Abuja in 1998, Nigeria which he thought he has the exclusive preserve to run, did not die. Thirteen years after Nigeria is as strong, if not even stronger than where Abacha left it.
The emergence of Jonathan as Acting President on Tuesday came to be through the collective will of Nigerians who felt that we should not leave our patrimony in the hands of a few selfish people just lucky to be in office. Rather than use their office for public good, they chose to be on the wrong side of history. They knew that Yar’Adua is seriously ill and that he won’t be returning home soon. But for the people, they would have denied Jonathan what constitutionally belongs to him. By virtue of the Constitution, if a man is fit to be vice president, he is fit to be president in the absence of his boss. But by an unwritten code, they conspired to deprive Jonathan of his constitutional right until one of them, Prof Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information and Communication, saw the light last Wednesday. After Mrs Akunyili broke ranks with them, they knew the game was up and that their lies have caught up with them. Besides, the Nigerians who stood at the barricades to ensure that the right thing was done, we also have Mrs Akunyili to thank for her wake up call to the governors, National Assembly and FEC.
The National Assembly and FEC missed it when they allowed the people to cease the initiative from them. The National Assembly, especially, should have been the champion of due process and constitutional rule to resolve this unnecessary logjam but it chose to fiddle while the country literally burnt. If the National Assembly, the representative of the people, had acted before now, things would not have degenerated to the level where we have two ministers throwing brickbats at each other over a matter on which they should not break bones. We thank the Gowons, Shagaris, Soyinkas, Bakares, Falanas and co., for rallying to the country’s rescue at a time it mattered most. As for the National Assembly, FEC, PDP and its governors, posterity will judge them acordingly.
The army and Jos
Once upon a time, it was rare to find soldiers on the streets. They are always esconced in their barracks which are no go areas for ‘bloody civilians’, the derisive name which they gave to non-military personnel. These days, however, it is common to find soldiers on the streets. At the least provocation, they troop to the streets wreaking havoc on the people they are paid to protect. Ironically, the people they brutalise are the ones who pay their salaries and equip them.
Since the January 17 Jos violence, recriminations have been flying all about on how and when the riots broke out. Expectedly, the muslims and christians are accusing one another of being the aggressor. But according to the account of the ousted Commissioner of Police, Greg Anyating, the crisis started when muslim youths stormed a church in Nasarawa Gwong. “The attack,” he added, “was without provocation.” As an officer of the law, Anyating should know what he is talking about. As the man in charge of security in the state, there is no way he would have spoken without the aid of intellegence reports.
His utterances became his undoing. He was removed not long after he spoke. Apparently because of the seriousness of the mayhem, troops were drafted to Jos. The deployment of troops seems not to have helped matters. Their deployment is believed to have exacerbated the situation. Right from day one, the christians have been exercising fears about the soldiers. On several occasions, they have pointedly accused them of bias. Yet nothing has changed. The people of Jos have been living in fears since the soldiers moved in. Under the guise of maintaining law and order, they are said to be harassing innocient citizens.
It seems there is nobody to call them to order. The General Officer Commanding, 3 Division, Maj. Gen. Saleh Maina, who should exercise control over his men, is said to be in support of what they are doing. This is not how to find a way out of the frequent Jos crisis. If we really want the crisis to end, all the parties should be brought together at a roundtable to iron out their differences.
The use of arms or force against a particular people because of where they come from or what they believe in would not help matters. At times like this, people should also mind their language. The Federal Government has just raised a 15-man panel to look into the mayhem. Instead of waiting for the panel to complete its assignment, some governors have reached a conclusion that the crisis is political and not ethnic or religious. How did they know? Your guess is as good as mine.
By Lawal Ogienagbon