Sesan Bello
Journalist/Social Critic/Volunteer-Watchdog London, GB
Is Obasanjo in this
category, and what kind of a man is Umaru Yar’adua? It will be too
early now to claim to know Umaru Yar’adua but; yes, Obasanjo, as we
all know him is very militaristic. He’s rudely jovial, humorously
blunt, and primitively sociable; and sometimes, if not most of the
times, can be very erratic when it is time for crucial decision. In
addition to other pejorative names, some people closer to him say he’s
arrogant and wicked. Whatever they call him, I have no regret in my
tenacious belief that his mannerism is in normality with what our
democracy deserves at this time. In 1999 when the journey towards the
land started; Obasanjo had just regained his freedom from captivity
and was least expecting, but eventually reluctantly agreed to heed, a
call turning out to be a divine call today. Any idiot could have been
invited, packaged and presented to the people as their saviour in the
same way. The choice will be that of the people, where they have it.
But did we have it in the first place? This is capital NO.
MARCHING US TO THE LAND by Sesan Bello
Increasing demands for
good governance in Nigeria has, no doubt, pushed political analysis
and commentaries to the limit. But a rather disappointing aspect of it
is its recurrent failure in helping to shape up and refine opinions
where they matter most. Rather, what people offer are so bursting with
absurdities and ambiguities that the listening electorates sometimes
become confused while justifying diverse opinions they’ve got to
struggle with. As events proved recently, the truth is that every
analyst; every commentator had obscured political background with
equally bigoted mission in the shape of his own sectional interest
rather than that of the generality of the Nigerian public. On another
parallel perilous line are the unreasonable political campaigns. These
are the enormously funded political jingles that blazed regularly
across the nation’s Television and Radio stations when elections
approach. They are, almost definitely, purposeless because; they
transcend in purpose and in tactic the true need of an ordinary
electioneering campaign a politically developing nation like Nigeria
actually needs. Above all, they seem to get it wrong as the cause for
followership lies in good governance and its intrinsic issues. Though
all these political talks and jingles can be very harmonious and
professionally packaged; they are basically noise. It will be silly
not to catalog here the equally damaging role of monetisation in
politics. This is the worst political phenomenon of our time, cashing
in on the vacuum created by the lack of issue-based political
analysis, commentaries and jingles.
The damage these are
doing to our democratic culture and the institution of politics itself
is very huge; very huge to the extent that they have changed the focus
of both the politicians and the electorate from those
far-and-distantly-affecting National issues to the immediate
trivialities such as looking up to political personalities, in-party
benefits and, considering people and party proximity to power before
aligning with a party. Little surprise therefore that an average
Nigerian, if interviewed, will only know that he’s suffering ‘in the
midst of plenty’ but does not know why it is so or how he can get out
of it other than believing in his own personal efforts. Of course I
know, he will complain about light, road, food, shelter and
unemployment but; give the same man the opportunity to cast his vote
tomorrow and ten times thereafter, he will by himself and for himself,
push those things he complained about, far away. This is because he
lacks the in-depth knowledge of how Democracy operates in relation to
his existence as a citizen. Crying wolf, or walking head down
thereafter the election, what has been done can never be undone again.
What then makes Obasanjo
stand different to those we have voted in power before, under the same
selective system? The answer is this: conceiving a democratically
disadvantaged Nigeria for socio-political and economic development,
bearing in mind that the masses of electorate remain largely
uninformed and, where those informed have been dispossessed and were
almost completely shackled by uselessly witty politicians’ whims and
caprices; it will only make sense that the solution be sought out of
non-conventional means - seeking righteousness in brutality, i.e.,
combining autocracy and righteousness together as attributes to watch
for in a leader good enough for Nigeria. This might sound strange to
some people, and might even provoke the ‘Little-Brains’’ vituperations
at me, but I know if we want to avoid the Ghana experience, where the
past corrupt military and civilian leaders’ execution restituted the
peoples’ power, that is the way to get out of our present mess. The
approach is somewhat relatively mild, effective and all-conquering -
having a positively autocratic leader in power to march us to the land
by force.
Is Obasanjo in this
category, and what kind of a man is Umaru Yar’adua? It will be too
early now to claim to know Umaru Yar’adua but; yes, Obasanjo, as we
all know him is very militaristic. He’s rudely jovial, humorously
blunt, and primitively sociable; and sometimes, if not most of the
times, can be very erratic when it is time for crucial decision. In
addition to other pejorative names, some people closer to him say he’s
arrogant and wicked. Whatever they call him, I have no regret in my
tenacious belief that his mannerism is in normality with what our
democracy deserves at this time. In 1999 when the journey towards the
land started; Obasanjo had just regained his freedom from captivity
and was least expecting, but eventually reluctantly agreed to heed, a
call turning out to be a divine call today. Any idiot could have been
invited, packaged and presented to the people as their saviour in the
same way. The choice will be that of the people, where they have it.
But did we have it in the first place? This is capital NO.
Wherever people lack
knowledge and capability to decide about their fate like us in
Nigeria, the rest is in the hand of God. God made Obasanjo to succumb
later, he heeded the call and wonders began to unfold. The first
casualty of his positively arrogant and prudently wicked government
was his benefactor who had, under the illusion of ‘esprit de corp’
invited him to come and serve a pre-planned Government. All other
stories need not be retold; we all know it. In the national political
arena, Obasanjo has been known to be very dexterous and dogged in his
fight against those who dare to challenge him to a gladiatorial
combat. Within his party, he employed all he had in his political
arsenal to change the face of his party which initially terrified
Nigerians. And in fulfillment of the purpose of his coming, he sucked
all the party powers away from all those who would have hindered the
safe delivery of his divine message in order to get this far, on
behalf of Nigerians.
What experience have we
got here? In situations such as this; where the decision of who calls
the shot in the government predominantly resides in the hands of a
cabal as we had it in 1979 [Obasanjo {military}/Shagari], almost had
it in 1993 [Babangida{military}/Abiola], Aug 27,1993 [Babangida
{military}/ Shonekan] and Nov 17, 1993 [Shonekan/Abacha {military}] or
the incumbent government and the few elites siding with them, as we
had it in 1979, 1999 and now, rather than the hands of the people, the
likelihood of good governance will, in the same vein, depend on that
incumbent or the cabal by making the right choice for the people. In
the light of this, if we will not be inundated out of truth by
political sentiments, Obasanjo’s sacrificial submission to purifying
both civil society and civil service and his utter commitment to
bringing economic disorder to an end in our land through reforms
as-well-as his firm resistance to continued plundering of the land’s
treasures have all signified a good beginning and made his coming, at
this time, a blessing to Nigeria.
About Umaru Yar’adua:
His choice of Umaru Yar’adua must have been the wisest of his life,
knowing fully well what the implication of his failure will be.
Though, as I said earlier, it will be too early to claim to know the
President-elect but to me, and from what I have read so far of his
interviews, the man seems even more intelligent, more capable and more
resolved to tackle our problem headlong than Obasanjo himself. And
that, in a way, has issued some kind of ‘all clear’ certificate to the
present trend till we know what come next, going by our nature. The
next President to succeed Yar’adua must be better. Let’s just keep our
fingers cross and be prepared to give necessary support when the need
arises. The saviour, taking us to the promise land is definitely on
the way.
