February 12, 2009
Talk about Nigerian leaders fiddling while their country burns. Nobody in Abuja seemed able to figure out how the country was to be run when Umaru Yar’Adua commenced a two-week vacation.First, it was announced that Yar’Adua had handed over to his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan. Then Segun Adeniyi said Yar’Adua had not handed over to anybody.
Meanwhile, the legislature griped that Yar’Adua had not put it on notice about his leave. Then a number of actors, including Tony Anenih, said Yar’Adua was under no obligation to tell anybody about his vacation plans.
The see-saw underscored something more fundamental than mere disagreement over protocol or continuity of leadership. After all, whether Yar’Adua is embedded in Aso Rock or in a Saudi hospital is of little or no consequence to Nigeria’s fortunes. The man is dogged by a continuing burden of illegitimacy that is compounded by his health woes.
Since he moved into Aso Rock, Nigeria’s precipitous slide has only accelerated.
It would be wrong to argue that Yar’Adua is an inconsequential factor in Nigeria’s development. Truth be told: he’s indeed a major negative factor. It is hard to think of one area where he has provided admirable leadership or made a salutary contribution. But it’s easy indeed to identify a litany of sectors - among them, power supply, road development, corruption, and health - where he’s gone to sleep while things worsened.
Therefore, the debate over Yar’Adua’s vacation is important only as another evidence of the cluelessness of those who presume to be leaders.
It all points to the dysfunction of the class that has hijacked power in the country. This class excels only at stealing public funds, making spectacular displays of their loot, and using the instruments of the state to protect themselves.
Nigerians recently witnessed another provoking exhibition of mindlessness by their rulers. Governor Isah Yuguda of Bauchi took one of Yar’Adua’s daughters as his fourth wife. It was as if Nigeria shut down for this vulgar exercise in conspicuous opulence in the face of crushing poverty. Some estimates were that the governor squandered more than N300 million to stage his marriage.
Newspapers reported that the trio of Ibrahim Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar drove to the event in the same car. These men left public office with enormous wealth, but left a pauperized nation.
Yar’Adua, the father of the bride and current despoiler of state, was of course on hand along with numerous current and retired governors.
Did public funds go into this unconscionable event? If they did, then it behooves labour union leaders and other enlightened citizens to take measures, legal and industrial, to ensure that the funds are immediately repaid to the public coffers.
In a country where most citizens can’t afford a decent meal in a day, politicians and their relatives should not be permitted to gorge at public expense. While millions of Nigerians go hungry, the men and women who fertilize misery in the country bask in iniquitous jollity.
Two weeks ago, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar paid a surprise - to many, shocking - visit to former President Obasanjo.
In response to the harsh criticism that trailed his visit, Atiku alleged that national interest informed his reconciliatory gesture. He also turned ecumenical theologian, invoking Biblical as well as Koranic precepts about forgiveness.
Atiku’s reasoning is so naïve and untenable that one seriously doubts that he believes himself. First, if he has any sense of history, he would realize that Obasanjo did not sin personally against him as much as he undermined the collective democratic aspirations of Nigerians. In that event, it is hardly Atiku’s place to “forgive” Obasanjo. Besides, the former president has neither demonstrated contrition nor asked for anybody’s forgiveness.
How then explain the haste to make up with a man who has not acknowledged that he did anything wrong? And how does Atiku defend the fact that he went to Obasanjo’s abode to advance rapprochement?
At any rate, if Atiku’s reconciliation with Obasanjo was dictated by the national interest, does it then follow that they both betrayed the nation in their original falling out - over Obasanjo’s third term ambitions?
One’s hunch is that Atiku’s visit to Abeokuta had nothing to do with national interest. As Nigeria groans and moans from man-created disasters, these two agents of our misfortunes met to consolidate their narrow interests
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