The 1999 Transition Infections

Deji Ogundimu published a note.

THE 1999 TRANSITION INFECTIONS: The Potency of consciousness

The urgency that was accorded the transition of power to the "civilian" in 1999 was not only fraudulent but criminal for various reasons. Having customized the psyche of the majority of the populace, through systematic deprivation, oppression and propaganda, the military had the country in their palms with the primary aim of making the people view whatever they offer as the best for the country. And when Abdulsalam offered to transit the nation to democracy in 1999, rather than ask questions on the sincerity and authenticity of the “transition” we swallowed the bait from the junta hook, line and sinker.

The south-west region was in the eye of the storm, in the later days of the military rule in the pre 1999 Nigeria, they were often at the receiving end of the wanton brutality and injustice, so it was not a fluke that the two presidential candidates for the 1999 “general’s selection” came from the south west, but a grandiose expiation to the region, which brought about the undue complacency on the part of our “elders” who were supposed to have vetted the transition. There is a particular lesson to be learnt from the Egyptian revolution, the people of Egypt never got unduly complacent on ousting Mubarak, they rejected all forms political recyling, simply because they are conscious of the fact that forming another government without a change of constitution will be tantamount to an invitation to another autocracy, Egypt is a nation in waiting, as referendum is being conducted on the new constitution, and at the end of the day, the people of Egypt will be fulfilled to have had their destiny in their hands.

An agitation for a referendum on constitutional review from the south- west, as the chief celebrant in the 1999 transition fiesta, could have made sense of the mock transition. It could have been a solid foundation for a structured democracy and a panacea to the country’s multi-faceted problems. It is quite understandable the nation was only returning from a long walk from the desert of military dictatorship, it is only natural for it to drink any available water and not bother on the source of the water or the motive of the giver at that point in time. There is a need for a genuine constitution for Nigeria and the time to start the process is now.

A constitution to a country or any organization is like a CPU to a computer system, the performance or otherwise of the computer system solely depends on the capacity and efficiency of the CPU. Expecting any meaningful governance from these bunch of sybarites who had been recycling and re-initiating themselves with their political and biological off-spring and stooges alike is like dialing *556# from a different service provider.

Going by the level of our social and human development in the last twelve years of our democracy, It is a common knowledge that running the country with the 1999 constitution will continue to deny the nation the much needed development and it’s rightful place in the committee of nations. The social responsibility of the government to the people as contained in the constitution makes no sense of the duties of elected public office holder, one need not be surprised when a governor or a local council chairman constructs less than ten kilometer road and he believes he has done a big favor for the people. A number of outdated clauses are embedded in the fraudulent document. Nigeria’s entire socio- political machineries are in dire need of total overhaul.

 

There are series of systematic lacunas in the 1999 constitution which is affecting the entire system of the country. Re-modification of the product of Abacha confab as a constitution was the best that can come from Abdulsalam Abubakar, it could be said to be patriotic for the politicians to accept the constitution in 1999 despite it’s flaws, At least to degage the junta from governance, but it is utterly criminal to hold on to a document that was concocted by the group of political jobbers, handpicked across the regions, by the late despot to perpetrate himself in power as a valid constitution to run this country.

 

The stage is being prepared for another familiar but unpredictable show of lawful lawlessness. Rallies and campaigns are in full gear across the nation.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as assembled by the military junta is a pack of charlatans, they lack organization and hierarchy, this is evident in the way and manner they run the country. Anybody and everybody can do whatever he pleases whenever he deems fit to achieve personal goals. It started with Chris Mba vs Chris Ngige to Rasheed Ladoja vs the Unseen forces to mention a few, the two governors were sent out of office for no valid bases, their offense was insubordination to “the powers that be”. Few members of the party who dared to bring some sanity to their style of governance were disgraced out of office and replaced by people who are sharp contrast to their predecessor in deeds, character and composition. Assassination was also employed where and when necessary. May the dogged and fearless soul of Bola Ige rest in peace.

Governor Alao Akala of Oyo state is a clear definition of a typical Nigerian police officer, he never left anybody guessing on his personality, with his trade mark three feet-long necklace, hand bracelets, ankle bracelets, rings on four fingers and a touch of skin bleaching to cap it all. Seeing Alao Akala, one will wonder what business does such character got to do with governance. That was a better choice the PDP deemed fit for Oyo state over Rasheed Ladoja.

The home state of former president Obasanjo had been a breeding ground for lawlessness and injustice as long as when Obasanjo was a sitting president. The Ogun state capital, Abeokuta south local government, had it’s own share of PDP political gangsterism between 2003- 2007, when Abiodun Ajayi, an HND holder was removed from office as the chairman of the council and was replaced by Akeem Odejimi aka Ologbon-owon, whose completion of secondary education was being contested, but his acquisition of skills and possession of the “right machineries” to address issues that concerns the opposition parties and party members alike who may want to “rock the boat” can never be contested.

It was reliably gathered that Abiodun Ajayi’s refusal to share the council’s monthly allocation amongst the “party faithfuls” cost him his office, and the then czar of the state house of assembly’s weight was behind his impeachment. No wonder!, what went round later came round.

 

It is accepted that power play and tussle are part of politics across the globe, but the gambit to be employed shouldn’t often stray the ambit of logical rationale as it has always been the case in Nigeria.

 

How should we describe the sacking of 15 lawmakers by 11 lawmakers “loyal” to governor Gbenga Daniel in a state that has the chairman Board of Trustees of the ruling party as it’s citizen?. The PDP bigwigs in the state and at the national level are dancing round the Ogun state assembly matter, leaving the citizens of the state to find a way out of their albatross. I want to believe that Obasanjo should be able to broker peace in any part of the country irrespective of the political party that is controlling the state, the reason for this submission is obviously numerous, and if for political reasons, he decided not to meddle in the affairs of another political party controlled state, Olusegun Obasanjo is expected to live up to his role and status in the PDP. It is highly irresponsible of Obasanjo to leave the Ogun state legislative impasse, orchestrated by the man he installed as the governor in 2003 through his “Do or Die” campaign and went to another state to campaign for the governor, to even said if he had his way, he will entrench the transfer of performing elected governor in the constitution of the country.

Sometimes, one is left to wonder what qualifies a politician as an elder statesman. The People’s Democratic Party is a refined apparatus for military bastardization of our economy and the party and its members are not in any way living short of the purported intention of its founding fathers. I want us to flash back to 1999 when PDP was imposed on the nation, if we can remember, their slogan was “power to the people” I wonder if anybody has noticed that the only thing they say now is “power”. PDP has never pretended to be a party that is being guided by any rule, guideline or constitution if they have any. Bola Ige, a serving minister, was brutally assassinated right in his house, and one of the substantiated and notable link to the assassination, Iyiola Omisore, was able to win election into the Nigerian senate even when he was in custody over the matter.

Another feather was added to PDP’s cap as the red carpet was rolled out for Bode George on completion of his jail term for embezzling billions of naira. His sentence was considered as a slap on the wrist, considering the amount of money he embezzled most of which still remains in his confines, if he was ever made to refund anything at all. As if that was not enough, the campaign team of president Goodluck Jonathan, in a desperate bid to win Lagos state was holding talks with Bode George to strategize on election victory. We have been taken for this long ride for too long, do we have to wait until we crash with them in this wild and crazy roller coaster ride before we start asking questions?. I am not trying to incite anybody or instigate any kind of unrest, be it civil or otherwise. I am only trying to sensitize us, awake our conscience and recall our attention to the injustice that is going on in the country with no end in sight. No matter how long we wait, we can not change the ways of these looters and sybarites, the best we can do to ourselves and our generation yet unborn is to change our unreliable optimism to pessimism which should inspire a burning desire to make things work in our country which is a CHANGE, an enduring change, a change we can feel, a change we can live and a change that will outlive us.

Election is time is here, the entire system is in a comatose, God forbid any emergency situation or any disaster, rescue operations and evacuation will have to wait till after election, simply because all government agencies are now busy with the presidential campaign and can not afford to do anything else for now.

The only good thing about all these is that, the “ON” switch from the national grid is the only switch working at the PHCN power station where the power for the whole country is been controlled, the “OFF” switch had developed a fault and not until after election will money be released to fix it, so don’t let anybody be deceived that any 4’000 megawatts had been generated. If the power supply remains this constant for six straight months after April election, I’ll personally go to the Obasanjo Hilltop and beg him to take me to Aso rock to beg GEJ and become a PDP convert.

 

It was alleged that the naira is being overvalued because of its exchange rate to the dollar, simply put, more naira is expected to be exchanged for 1 dollar, and when the CBN governor dismissed this claim. Onno Ruhl, The World bank country director for Nigeria came out to say the main issue with the world bank’s proposition to further deregulate the naira is “fiscal recklessness” on the part of the Nigerian government, what else do we need to awake our consciousness?

 

What we are witnessing in Nigeria today is a pseudo-democracy. We should brace up for the challenges ahead, never should we be left in limbo as far as the future of this great country is concerned.

Our foolhardy reliance on politicians for a positive change in our polity will have a grave consequence as we have seen in the last twelve years of our “nascent” democracy.

Successive administrations in this country has always been juggling with the basic structures upon which the country could have stood shoulder high, economically viable and independent in all spheres, while the supposed political umpires who are expected to lend their voices to stem this ugly trend of governmental recklessness are sniggering and applauding this political circus of idiocy.

Not long ago, the legislators were asking for the neck of the governor of the central bank of Nigeria.

His offence: sensitizing the nation on the 25% of the country’s expenditure that is being expended on the national assembly. We can now understand the position of the senate president on the passage of the FOI bill, because information like these is not suitable for public consumption, as such could really undermine “national security”.

 

That was not the kind of tune that was expectd from this PDP’s strange piper called Lamido Sanusi. His undauntedness sent a strong signal to our licensed looters, that the CBN governor was not ready to step down from the podium, he was ready to spill the beans.

Now that Sanusi has decided to lay down his arms on the jumbo pay saga, he must have been given amnesty out of the magnanimous characteristics typical of this administration, only time will tell whether he will be sent to South Africa for a vocational course or talked into considering a career change.

No matter the number of mark the senate president tries to score for himself, or the number of houses the speaker of the lower house could have amassed for himself, the most important thing is that the FOI bill has come to stay, so we can be in the know of the basic information on the nation’s expenditure and other matters of importance.

 

During the Salisu Buhari’s credential saga and the controversial furniture allowance, I posited on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on several occasions that until the remuneration of the elected political office holders are downwardly reviewed, we will continue to experience all sorts of profligacy from the politicians in this country. The retinue of political aides, advisers and assistant are just another factor which should be critically addressed. I was privileged to attend a function hosted by the mayor of Oxford in her office, a mayor is equal to the state governor in our own presidential system, there was no presence of an army of aides, not even office assistant. It was the mayor that was carrying round the tray that contains cake for the guests. What an example?

 

 Sanity has eluded our polity, accountability, the veritable tool for a just and responsible society has long departed every aspect of our system. Government agencies and organizations are all infected with the hydra-headed virus of corruption. It is a common practice amongst government agencies to advertise the sale of application forms at exorbitant rates in national media, for non available jobs, and in some cases where there are few vacancies, they keep extending the sales of forms to several thousands of desperate and helpless unemployed Nigerians, knowing fully well that they have exceeded the number of available vacancies. All these are happening and nobody is asking question.

The People’s Democratic Party does not look like a party that can address the sprawling sensitive issues in Nigeria which requires urgent attention.

In 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo was being flaunted as the PDP presidential candidate, Nigerians were hopeful and enthusiastic, their enthusiasm was based on mere assumption, it was generally assumed that Obasanjo’s military background, as a head of state who handed over power to a civilian government will translate to making him the messiah that Nigeria is waiting for, a true democrat who will respect and facilitate the establishment of an enabling democracy, he refused to sign the freedom of information bill into law. Even in their enthusiasm they were campaigning for the general beyond what he has to offer. People’s expectation was that the farmer will ignite agricultural revolution and Nigeria will again begin to produce her food in abundance and also export them to complement our revenue. No meaningful improvement was recorded in the agricultural sector during Obasanjo’s eight year rule, apart from acquisition of people’s land for the expansion Obasanjo Farms across the nation. The two terms was not even sufficient for the retired general to complete the expansion of Lagos- Sango-Otta -Abeokuta road, which led to his farm and home town.

Obasanjo’s performance as civilian president for eight years and his third term agenda makes me think there’s more than what meets the eyes in the 1979 hand over.

 

Election time is fast approaching, another season of promises and rhetorics. Goodluck Jonathan is telling Nigerians that he is capable of fixing so many things Obasanjo and Yar’adua could not achieve in eleven years, especially the power sector. He seems to have forgotten that his big brothers and uncle’s in the north, on whose back he rode to pick the party’s ticket for the April election are saying it loud and clear that their magnanimity will not exceed 2015, so we are waiting for an x-rayed analysis of how he intend to achieve so much within four years, the March 30th presidential debate of Jonathan is nothing but a disappointment. He said he has no enemy to fight, little did he know that his real enemies are within his party, the earlier he realizes this, the better for him not to be caught off-guard. He kept saying “I never knew I could be where I am today” that is a true statement, but I as a person knew he is only a product of the PDP political mastermindedness, even the Otta farmer who planted him couldn’t have known it will be in 2009.

Even at that, we expect more spices and flavor from the presidential rhetorical gaffe rather than “I never knew I could be where I am today” and “ I am Goodluck Jonathan”, those phrases does nothing but ridicule the person of Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his presidential ambition. We are all aware as I have earlier stated that the PDP knows how best to raise and impose a stooge where and when necessary. We also knew how capricious the south-south geo-political zone became when they realize the PDP led federal government is only playing politics with their agitation for infrastructure and basic amenities in return for their oil, so when Obasanjo, who has succeeded in suppressing the agitation of the region with threat of emergency rule has completed his term, the only logical way to maintain the relative calm in the region was by zoning the office of the vice president to the geo-political zone, and one thing you can not take away from the PDP is their artistry in maneuvring any situation to set and suit their time zone. Every keen watcher of the best selling thriller called “The PDP Government” will have a clearer picture of what is currently happening in PDP. The anti corruption tsunami that eroded Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states governors towards the end of Obasanjo’s tenure was to discredit and disgrace those governors one of whom should have picked the vice presidential ticket. It is not only the three governors that stole our money out of all the 36 governors in the country but the problem the PDP had with the trio was that they had amassed so much money and their global exposure and connections has made them too big to fit into the pockets of godfathers, and PDP kingmakers. After putting things in place in the three states in the PDP way, the only candidate who the PDP cabal find susceptible enough to play the marionette for the vice presidential slot from the region happened to be Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

 

Nigeria’s problem is too complex than to have at the helms of its affairs, a product of failed calculated imposition, someone that never envisaged any solution to the enormous task which fate brought to his shoulders . Being a Nigerian president requires more than mere luck, buck passing and name calling. In my own opinion, I think the type of rascality being displayed by the governor of Lagos state, as the capital of the south west is needed in the entire nation. I do not personally have any problem with Goodluck Jonathan being the next president but his pedigree as a PDP candidate is my only reservation. They are trying to sell him to us but no matter how much of aggression he has for transforming the nation, he will never be allowed to actualize them. The instance of Biodun Ajayi of Abeokuta south local government between 2003 and 2005 and other elected office holders that lost their mandates due to their insurbodination to a few cabals in the PDP was vivid enough to distance oneself from the party’s carrot dangling, not minding the state of the art adverts, jingles and propaganda in the atmosphere.

Babatunde Raji Fashola has all the excuses in this world not to perform in Lagos state, he could hide under the guise of so many spanners the PDP led federal government had thrown and are still throwing in the state’s wheel of progress, thanks to Asiwaju who stood his ground when the “eyes of the tiger was shedding blood” in 2003 and beyond. I am not a card carrying member of any political party in Nigeria but I think it is reasonable and patriotic to say things the way you see them. If BRF were to be a governor under the immoral umbrella of the PDP, all the ideas and efforts this visionary leader was able to employ to achieve these positive and visible changes in Lagos would have only served the interest of the few shameless PDP caucus. The type of unique altruism displayed by this man in Lagos is absolutely commendable.

In his usual style of fanning the ember of bitter and violent politics, Obasanjo, at the Eagle Square venue of the grand finale of Goodluck/Sambo campaign rally in Abuja said he is ready to lay down his life for the victory of Goodluck Jonathan in the coming election. This is the same man who can not tame the Daniel turned lion whom he brought from the den and imposed on Ogun with his presidential might in 2003, who is now running the state like his private enterprise. Nigerians are waiting to see what will become of this Jonah-than, whom Obasanjo is employing all means to bring out of the belly of the whale, we will only hope he will not turn to whale and consume him as the Daniel he rescued from the lion later turned to lion and started chasing him.

 As far as the people of Ogun state is concerned, the man is as good as buried, apart from his employees and the sycophants who sings his praises, the man is of no value to his home state let alone the country as a whole.

 

We are conscious of the fact that there are lots of things wrong with this country, our consciousness is potent enough to heal this nation of all her problems. A Yoruba adage says that “the day a mad man realizes that he is mad, that will be the day he will be cured of his madness”. We have seen, heard and felt enough humiliation oppression and injustice in this country. It is high time all the progressives in Nigeria and in the diaspora began our own “DOOR2DOOR”, NEIGHBOR2NEIGHBOR, web2web, face2face, twitt2twitt, blog2blog and space2space outreach on how to align our conscience towards talking, working and acting against the injustice and government insensitivity to the plight of the people of this great nation.

God Bless Nigeria.

Deji Ogundimu

First Published April 14, 2011