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HOW YAR’ADUA UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY

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By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Nigerians have witnessed some of the most despicable and atrocious acts of betrayals from some elected political office holders at all levels who have cross carpeted from the political parties that catapulted them to their political offices to the so-called ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party [PDP]. Unfortunately, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua has demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubts that he does not care a hoot about the sensibilities and feelings of a cross section of Nigerians who have persistently criticized the defection of these political office holders from their original political platforms that sponsored them to their current offices to the Peoples’ Democratic Party [PDP] in what has been described as ‘Bread and Butter’ political prostitution. The implication of the continuous drive by the Peoples’ Democratic Party to compel by hook or crook all elected politicians from their original political parties to the Peoples’ Democratic Party is that the current administration from the top has a carefully coordinated plot to foist on corporate Nigeria a one party state and ultimately lead Nigeria to fascism or totalitarianism.
Unfortunately, the majority of Nigerians who stood in the sun in some of these states like Bauchi, Kebbi, Zamfara and Imo in 2007 to cast their votes for some of these highly unprincipled politicians to become Governors of these States are yet to mobilize themselves and demonstrate against these acts of betrayals and treacherous abandonment of the mandates of these electorates. Although some of these State Governors who have crossed over to Peoples’ Democratic Party like that of Imo State is believed strongly not to have won the election but was foisted on the people by the Maurice Iwu-led Independent National Electoral Commission who turned out as the most beneficiary of that contraption that was put up in the name of 2007 election in Imo State which produced Ikedi Ohakim, a man described rightly as an unknown political quantity prior to that so-called election which took place after the first Governorship and house of Assembly polls had taken place and the Governorship election results were annulled by the electoral commission illegally even while the results of the State House of Assembly election that took place simultaneously with that of the Governorship was left intact. Iwu’s brother was made the Secretary to the Imo State Government by Ohakim even as his daughter and son in-law bagged juicy appointments in the same administration.

The political environment of Nigeria is truly oozing with stench of tyranny and treachery made manifest through the ongoing arms twisting of these elected political office holders by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua-led Peoples’ Democratic Party to abandon their parties to embrace the Peoples’ Democratic Party and if care is not taken, Nigeria will sooner than later witness unprecedented social anarchy because if the people are forced against their will to illegally cross over to a particular party and that party uses its hold on power to retain the same category of unpopular and unprincipled politicians, then Democracy will be imperilled and headed for destruction. Is this what and where President Umaru Musa Yar’adua wants to lead Nigeria to? Why will a man who has turned out as Nigeria’s first so-called University trained Executive President participate in a scheme whose aim is to truncate and undermine Democracy? Is it that a person’s university degree does not help to shape the outlook or world view of the holder so much so that what matters is serving ones’ partisan interest above national interest as is being witnessed now with the wind of cross carpeting blowing across Nigeria under President Yar’adua where political office holders including elected legislators who are clearly banned by the constitution from abandoning their political platforms are moving massively to the Peoples’ Democratic Party, a party that has not delivered the democratic entitlements to Nigerians over the last decade?

Those who have lazily argued that these set of politicians who are crossing over to the Peoples’ Democratic Party have the human rights to so make their choice of the political association to belong, are dead wrong. It is immoral, illegal and unconstitutional for political office holders propelled and sponsored into offices by a particular political platform to midway into their tenure to abandon that party for the party in power at the Federal level for their selfish reasons. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly recognizes that candidates for political offices must be sponsored by particular political parties and going by the Supreme Court Judgment on the Rotimi Amaechi’s matter versus Celestine Omehia, it is clear that political parties that sponsor a candidate is ultimately sacrosanct. These set of unprincipled politicians have often pointed to the Supreme Court’s judgment that ruled that the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar could not be dismissed by the then President Obasanjo on the ground of abandonment of his original political platform for the newly formed Action Congress. But the case of Atiku versus the former president was different in form, shape and dimension with that of Rotimi Amaechi who was returned by the supreme court as the rightful candidate of the party that sponsored him because Atiku was de-registered by his political party through a deliberate scheme hatched by the then president to deny him a platform to contest the 2007 election because he [Atiku] kicked against the third term plot by the then president Obasanjo. Amaechi was substituted.

Thomas M. Franck in his piece titled LEGITIMACY AND THE DEMOCRATIC ENTITLEMENT carried as chapter one of the widely acclaimed political book titled ‘Democratic Governance and International Law’ co-edited by Gregory H. Fox and Brad R. Roth, warned that if such political misbehaviours like cross carpeting and abandoning the platforms and still clinging on to the mandates of the people illegally could spell doom for that nation involved. He wrote thus; ‘’In the World that emerged after the collapse of the fascist and communist ideologies, the principal cause of war has become unfairness and anomie. How the means of a good life are distributed among peoples and persons and whether people and persons are adequately consulted in the decisions that determine their life-prospects; these are the principal determinants of war and peace’’. How will these unprincipled executive defectors in these states explain to the electorate that they decided to abandon the political platforms that brought them to power and under which they canvassed for votes with solemn pledges to execute the programmes of these political parties meant to better the respective States? It’s shameful.
+Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.

  
 


CAN NLC BARK AND BITE?

By Emmanuel onwubiko
The Nigerian Labour Congress [NLC] has carved a niche for itself over the years as one of the few credible voices that represent the interest of not only the Nigerian working class but the large army of impoverished and pauperised citizenry. During the dark days of civilian dictatorship of Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007 when he was forced to abandon his unconstitutional tenure extension, the Nigerian Labour Congress headed then by a charismatic man, Adams Oshiomhole was at the forefront of series of peaceful but effective agitations for the implementation of policies that are pro-poor and targeted at ameliorating the high cost of living. Though the then civilian tyrant Olusegun Obasanjo used everything available to him in his arsenal including the Nigeria Police to seek to crush the voices of opposition to his grand misrule but the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress did not give up the popular struggle even as the greater population of ordinary Nigerians showed greater loyalty and followership to those popular agitations because they were by and large meant to liberate the impoverished and endangered populace and more so when most people realised that Adams Oshiomhole could have comfortably compromised with the then corrupt political leadership to perpetuate the reign of civilian dictatorship including the churning out of very unpopular and anti-poor policies like the frequent hike in the pump price of premium motor spirit. But Adams Oshiomhole who due to dint of hard work has successfully liberated himself from the clutches of poverty still refused to compromised with the reactionary forces in the Federal Government and ensured that the body of the labour movement gave the then civilian dictators headed by Chief Obasanjo the fight for their money. It is a fact that the then President even sought to disband the Nigerian Labour Congress and did everything under the sun to destabilize the Nigerian Labour Congress by registering another labour platform-the trade Union Congress but little did he know that even those that championed the creation of another autonomous platform for workers in the higher echelon were united with the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress to fight to better the overall living condition of the Nigerian workers and Nigerians in general so Olusegun Obasanjo’s divide and rule politics within the labour family did not click. Olusegun Obasanjo deployed the services of one of Nigeria’s best legal minds Chief Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to use legal means to stop the organized labour from truncating his unpopular anti-people policy of deregulation of the oil sector which simply means increase in the pump price of petroleum products. Obasanjo found a ready ally in the person of the then Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Justice Roseline Ukeje who gave a highly controversial judgement annulling the power of the Nigerian Labour Congress to call out her members on strike to protest unfriendly Government policies.

The regime of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the Labour leader in Nigeria was indeed eventful. It is the thinking of most analysts that the Nigerian Labour Congress under the last dispensation met substantially the mission statement of the labour movement which in summary is to organize and unionise and educate all categories of the Nigerian workers, defend and advance the political, economic, social and cultural rights of Nigerian workers; emancipate and unite Nigerian workers and people from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, achieve gender justice in the work place and in Nigerian Labour Congress, strengthen and deepen the ties and connections between Nigerian workers and the mutual/natural allies in and outside Nigeria and to lead the struggle for the transformation of Nigeria into a just, humane and democratic society. Abdulwaheed Omar assumed the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress at the threshold of Nigeria’s transition from one civilian rule to another and it is the expectation of Nigerians that he should drive the labour movement to greater height because of the fact that he took over from a man who made a mark in the memories of Nigerians and succeeded in making the Nigerian Labour Congress a house hold name in the minds and hearts of most analytical and rational Nigerians. It is true that every leader has his own style but leading the Nigerian Labour Congress is a big and highly demanding job that requires charisma and the ability to mobilize the entire membership of the labour movement and the organized civil society sector including the ordinary Nigerians to achieve good governance and a transparent and accountable leadership in Nigeria. This gentleman Comrade Waheed Omar has been around in the Labour movement for decades and his assumption of the Nigerian Labour Union’s hierarchy was greeted with greater optimism that the vibrancy and the independent -mindedness that the labour movement has been known over the years would not be compromised under his watch. To a great extent, Comrade Omar has not disappointed Nigerians only that he needs to be much more forceful in pushing the popular position of the Nigerian people in matters like deregulation of the oil sector and the issue of electoral reforms and the promotion of respect for Human Rights of Nigerians. Comrade Omar has successfully waged a battle to compel the current Government to reverse a hugely unpopular hike in the pump price of petroleum products. But the battle ahead of the Nigerian Labour Congress is monumental and the leadership are expected to remain resolutely in the pursuit of the policies and programmes that will promote the human rights of all Nigerians and the interest of the Nigerian workers. The warning by the Nigerian Labour Congress to begin peaceful public rallies today to call for electoral reforms and for the rise in the salaries and wages of the Nigerian workers from the current unfortunate slave wage to a more acceptable living wage of N52 thousand Naira must be followed to its logical conclusion. The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress must not allow themselves to be hoodwink into believing those sweet stories by the Nigeria’s labour minister Adetokunbo Kayode to the effect that the Federal Government will meet the demands of the Nigerian Labour Congress. My question to Adetokunbo Kayode is that how does he want anybody to believe him that the Government will meet the demands of the Nigerian Labour Congress and that the current President is a listening one when it is clear that the Federal Government has already rubbished the Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais-led Electoral reform panel’s recommendations? Aluta continua, Victoria asserta.
+Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.
 


BOKO HARAM AND THE BLAME GAME

BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

The closing week of last month for most Nigerians who live and do their legitimate businesses in the North Eastern states of Bauchi, Yobe, Maiduguri and even the North Western states of Katsina, Kano and Sokoto, will remain one of the worst in their lives because of the sectarian religious unrests masterminded by a self styled Islamic fundamentalist group known as BOKO HARAM [Western Education is evil] or the Nigerian Taliban headed by the now allegedly ‘assassinated’ leader MOHAMMED YUSUF. Although most people who live in the Northern parts of Nigeria have witnessed several bloody religious and ethnic conflicts in the past years especially since the re-emergence of civil rule in 1999, but the recent clashes between the followers of the so-called BOKO HARAM Islamic sect and the Nigerian security agents including the Police, and the Nigerian military was unprecedented in scope, scale and levels of casualties and for the first time in recent years, members of the different security agencies have engaged themselves in the game of blaming each other for neglecting earlier intelligence on the activities of the BOKO HARAM which has now led to the open bloody confrontation that has left over seven hundred persons dead including an undetermined number of police and military operatives.

The first Human Rights organizations based in Nigeria to react to the recent crises in parts of Northern Nigeria was the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, which blamed the failure of hard intelligence for the unprecedented scale of clashes between the security agents and the followers of the extremist Islamic sect- BOKO HARAM. The Rights group had stated emphatically that if the operatives in the State Security Service [SSS] and the Police had taken their intelligence gathering jobs seriously, they would have been able to nip in the bud the violence that enveloped most parts of Northern Nigeria for nearly a week which led to a very high and unacceptable casualties especially on the part of the so-called BOKO HARAM members who were initially said to be armed with locally fabricated weapons. Subsequently, some members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly also blamed intelligence failure for the unrests. As expected, those concerned with intelligence gathering jobs in the State Security Service [SSS] were cleverly exonerated of any blame by no other person but the President, Umaru Musa Yar’adua who stated that the activities of the Islamic fundamentalist group BOKO HARAM had come under surveillance for a very long period of time even as he gave his blessing for the military to crush the members of the sect ruthlessly.

The president spoke with the State House media crew at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on his way to Brazil even as violence continued in parts of Northern Nigeria as if to say he was perfectly demonstrating the story told of a ‘man who literarily chased rats while his house burns’. President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, had stated thus; ‘’our security agencies have been tracking them for years. The operation we have launched now will contain them once and for all. We are going to continue with the security surveillance all over the Northern States to fish out any remnants of these elements and deal with them SQUARELY AND PROMPTLY. I want to assure the people of this country that peace and security of lives and properties will be fully guaranteed’’. But what is the essence of security surveillance if the attackers are not stopped before they struck? Secondly, I am shocked at the high rate of killings that took place during the clashes in Maiduguri, Borno State and the reported extra-judicial execution of MOHAMMED YUSUF and the lead financier of Boko Haram – Alhaji Buji Fai said to be a former commissioner of religious Affairs. There must be a judicial commission of inquiry to determine the remote and immediate causes of the violence in parts of the North even as the judicial commission should be empowered to unravel the circumstances that led to the death by controversial means of the two leaders of the Boko Haram who were allegedly captured alive before they were killed by the Nigeria police. If indeed these two high ranking leaders of the violent religious sect were gunned down by the police after being captured alive as being alleged, then those responsible for the dastardly act of extra-legal execution must be named and prosecuted for murder because the members of the Armed forces and police in Nigeria are under obligation to respect the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which in several sections clearly outlawed extra-judicial executions. Section 33[1] of the 1999 constitution states that; ‘’Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in the execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria’’. The import of this provision means that extra-legal and summary execution of suspects in police custody is illegal, unconstitutional and security operatives guilty of such heinous crime must face the wrath of the law in line with the spirit and principle of the RULE OF LAW. Section 36 [5] provides that every person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty. If it is found that the sectarian leaders were captured alive and executed by the police, then the culprits must be fished out and prosecuted. This is the best way to restore hope in the system and re-assure members of the civilized world that Nigeria truly respects the principle of RULE OF LAW and not THE PRINCIPLE OF RULE OF BRUTE FORCE. In quelling the uprising, was excessive military force used? Nigerians demand an answer.


On the ongoing blame game, the States Security Service[SSS] told the Senate of the Federal republic of Nigeria that it prepared several detailed intelligence reports on the activities of Mohammed Yusuf and his Boko Haram sect long before the violent uprisings in parts of the North and that it forwarded same to relevant action agencies like the Police and the office of the National Security Adviser to the President but unfortunately no action was taken to arrest these dangerous religious extremists. The question is why would the State Security Service wait for the police to take action? Is it not the same SSS that arrest journalists arbitrarily? Heads must roll because of this spectacular failure of intelligence. Nigerians are waiting.

+Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.

  
   

 

BETWEEN KIDNAPPERS AND PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA

BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO


Nigerians are confronted by two fundamental problems namely the threats posed by dare-devil, well armed kidnappers and the seemingly inept leadership style of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Of these twin problems one can easily be changed and the other has to be frontally battled before the nation can overcome it. The problem that can easily be positively transformed for the betterment of us all is the seemingly inept leadership style of our President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua either by himself or by Nigerians through legal means of vote-of-no-confidence at the 2011 Presidential election, that is if the electoral system is changed such that the popular will of the electorate will be reflected in the election results to be announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission during the election of 2011 or if he [President Umaru Musa Yar’adua] truly wants to serve Nigerians democratically for another tenure after his first tumultuous and uneventful tenure in 2011, then he has between now and next year to demonstrate his practical resolve to give Nigeria and Nigerians, effective, result-oriented and transparent, accountable leadership style which are the hallmarks of Good Governance. The President must work with the organized civil society and other patriotic Nigerians who are truly determined to lift Nigeria out of her current status in the international community as a near-failed State. Abiodun Adeniyi my professional colleague who just bagged a Doctorate Degree in International Communication from the prestigious University of Leeds, United Kingdom, the same school attended by our own Professor Wole Soyinka, believes that President Umaru Musa Yar’adua has the capacity to transform Nigeria for the better. Before coming to the second problem confronting Nigerians and Nigeria which is KIDNAPPING, let me fully exhaust the topic of how the current federal administration can change the fortune of Nigerians and guarantee maximum security, welfare and well-being of citizens and global citizens resident in Nigeria because the provision of security of lives and property of Nigerians is the most fundamental principle of state policy as enshrined in the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria.

The current Federal administration must immediately reorganize the Nigeria Police for greater efficiency and effectiveness in crime detection, prevention and fight. The hierarchy of the Nigeria police ought to be led by a competent, well qualified and battle ready Inspector General of Police who is ready and willing to implement result-oriented and Human Rights compliant crime fighting mechanisms to rescue Nigeria from the threat of annihilation posed by several well organized gangs of crime syndicates- armed robbers, pen robbers that is those political office holders who have become adept at looting the public treasury and have effectively worked out modalities for evading arrest and prosecution by the various law enforcement agencies like the Nigeria Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC], and the Independent Corrupt Practices and allied offences commission [ICPC]. Similarly, the various police formations across the thirty six states and the federal capital of Abuja must be led by competent and equally well equipped and motivated commissioners of police who will as much as possible remain incorruptible and above the influence of local politics. Secondly, the decision by the Federal ministry of Labour to work out the framework for the legislation of a national policy on social welfare scheme in the country must go beyond the usual pattern of mere sloganeering and inauguration of committees made up essentially of the same old persons that are largely responsible for the impoverishment of Nigerians through their incompetent and corrupt styles while they were in Government. Adetokunbo Kayode, a lawyer, should appreciate the universal fact that the best social policy that any Government can implement so as to pragmatically and practically solve the developmental challenges confronting Nigeria and Nigerians is the enforcement of the provisions enshrined in Chapter Two of 1999 constitution. All that this Government should do is to mount pressure on the National Assembly to amend relevant sections of the extant constitution to make these good Provisions in Chapter two of the constitution legally enforceable. Most Nigerians are of the view that setting up another national committee to work out a national social welfare policy will amount to waste of public funds in pursuit of unrealistic goal. It is a fact that unemployment is a major problem in Nigeria and the fundamental cause of this terrible social problem is the failure of Nigeria’s social infrastructure of Electricity power. How do we explain to members of the international community that Nigeria’s textile industry has collapsed largely due to the lack of political will on the part of the political leadership to implement policies that will protect the local textile industry and promote greater patronage of the end products of these local textile mills by Nigerians and foreigners alike? The current administration must revive the textile industry in Nigeria as the first necessary step for revamping Nigeria’s rapidly collapsing economy and to provide the much needed enabling environment for the creation of employment opportunities for Nigerians. The next critical economic problem that needs to be tackled is the declining productivity of the nation’s agricultural industry due largely to a combination of factors like lack of basic infrastructure of electricity power, good roads, good storage facilities and the needed land reforms, micro-credit schemes that will empower the rural farmers to mechanize and expand their agricultural activities because a nation that cannot feed her increasingly large army of hungry citizens has failed in its fundamental duty of food security and is simply sitting on a time bomb which will inevitably explode in no distant time. How can we effectively manage a revolution to be staged by say forty million hungry and unemployed Nigerians if these set of Nigerians decide to take their destiny in their hands and rally round to demand equity and social justice? The World Bank recently told us that forty million Nigerians are unemployed and if for the purpose of drawing a workable inference, if this forty million Nigerians decide to say enough is enough and stream out massively on the streets of Nigeria to demand that decent jobs be provided for them by all relevant stakeholders, I am sure that the entire army of the world cannot defeat them. This Government must therefore tackle this hydra headed monster before we are all consumed. If these and several other problems are tackled, then kidnapping will be successfully resolved.

+EMANUEL ONWUBIKO heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.                                                  Read more

   
 
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