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Renewing
His Contract with Nigerians
By TONY IYARE
Not many Nigerians
are happy with the near putrid image of the bulk of politicians
of the post Abacha civilian era. For them the protracted struggle
against the move by erstwhile dictator, General Sani Abacha to perpetuate
his rule via the five leprous parties is virtually lost. While it
lasted, they jeered and lampooned the pro- democracy activists who
oiled the fulcrum of the anti-Abacha protest machine as some mindless
unpatriotic extremists. Many indeed were hirelings of the permutation
plots and still make no bones about their infamous role in reining
in a dictatorship on their country.
Even the Chief
Security Officer to the late bestacled general, Major Hamza Al Mustapha
has fingered some of them as wheelers and dealers for Any Government
in Power (AGIP). Many are now more engrossed with a rat race to
lift themselves out of a prolonged poverty via the cornering of
the people’s resources and would do anything including mortgaging
the country’s interest for money. In short they are making sport
of the people’s demands and aspirations. We do not seem to have
the privilege of making too many excuses for the manner of politicians
our resolve to hurriedly terminate the rule of the military have
engendered. When good men were too enmeshed in the anti-military
struggle and could not be counted in the preceding elections, charlatans
filled the void and decided to make hay. They got elected and now
decide our political fate. We may be blurred by over generalisation
not to expect any good from the political elite which took the mantle
of office on May 29. 1999.
It is not too
farfetched to expect a flawed political process to produce men whose
commitment to the common good is in doubt. Those who are familiar
with the theory of the functional relationship between a basis and
superstructure would appreciate this analysis. However the rise
and rise of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar
Na’abba who in his anxiety to strike some chord and chart an independent
line of thought amongst politicians offering you almost little to
chose from is particularly significant. He seem to be raising his
head among the pack. Like a cat with nine lives, Na’abba has so
far survived all the plots to remove him at the behest of the presidency
which appears not too warm to a man less amenable to playing the
role of a marionette. Since his emergence as Speaker, Na’abba who
has been clever to galvanise other members of the House in a power
game with the executive seem to have come out of each battle stronger.
Either on the
issue of the purchase of a presidential plane, to the ill fated
Electoral Act which the presidency was accused of infusing a controversial
clause 80, Na’abba may be emerging as the nation’s chief whistle
blower. He also found an ally in former Senate President, Dr Wilberforce
Chuba Okadigbo with whom they share a predilection that the legislature
should be independent of the executive. But the twosome could have
also been naďve in thinking that the general who now wield power
as civilian president has suddenly forgotten he is a thrown up from
the barrack. Okadigbo, a compelling and charismatic political philosopher
who had some teaching stints at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
was the first to fall against the avallange of missiles launched
with the tacit consent of the presidency. He found out too late
that what Obasanjo wanted was just a teetledee and teetledum and
not one too deep in philosophy or radiate the power of intellection.
The desire was for someone who can hardly raise his finger against
the antics of the executive.
The presidency
could hardly stand the effrontery of an ever questioning Okadigbo.
The plot thickened and Okadigbo was shown the way out before he
had the time to dust his arsenals. The process for the termination
of the reign of the recalcitrant speaker had just begun. But Na’abba
with his popular standing in the House has been able to stave off
the challenges of a rampaging executive. While the House has tried
to find its voice on crucial issues affecting the nation, the Senate
particularly after the enthronement of Chief Anyim Pius Anyim is
receding, and it’s in dire strait disentangling itself from the
web foisted by the presidency.
Away with an
Okadigbo who will look at the president straight in the face, we
now have an Anyim ready to do the bidding of the executive. Can
you imagine his initial arrogance not to give in to the review of
the Electoral Law which is a process for the enthroning a civilian
dictatorship in the country? It was a clear way of telling us that
we made a mistake in not allowing Abacha to transmute to president
for life. For playing the role of a good boy and leading a spineless
Senate, Anyim got the Grand Commander of the Niger (GCON). I’m not
too sure whether the Anyim led Senate understands that the people
have taken a resolve not to be led by the nose. In spite of his
leap, Na’abba will need to convince the Nigerian people that he
was actually not party to the insertion of the insipid clause in
the Electoral Law through the back door.
The speaker
must resolve between him and President Obasanjo who actually cast
the first stone. If Na’abba did, he may have squandered his contract
with the people of Nigeria.
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