February 2, 2010
Save Nigeria from looming political calamity; the need for Urgent Intervention in Nigeria constitutional/political crisis. The Secretariat of the All-Africa Students Union, AASU presents its compliments to you and wishes to draw your attention to current constitutional crisis in Nigeria as a result of the disappearance of President Musa Yar’adua which has created a power vacuum in the most populous black nation.
Save Nigeria from looming political calamity; the need for Urgent Intervention in Nigeria constitutional/political crisis. The Secretariat of the All-Africa Students Union, AASU presents its compliments to you and wishes to draw your attention to current constitutional crisis in Nigeria as a result of the disappearance of President Musa Yar’adua which has created a power vacuum in the most populous black nation.
We wish to say that the passivity of the ECOWAS at this point in time without urgent intervention may spell doom for the entire West Africa sub-region if we allow the impending political disaster to occur without being pro-active about how the power transfer will be done to the Vice-President with immediate effect to steer the course of the nation who has remained without the president for almost three months.
It is a clear fact that any political upheaval in Nigeria will have a multiplying effect on the entire continent. The West African region will be worst hit with the effect of irregular and regular migration, smuggling of light arms and disturbance of peace in the entire sub-region. This is the major reason why the ECOWAS commission must act without further delay in order to save Nigeria from the looming political disaster. We should not wait any longer based on the lesson learnt from the crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and the present scenario in Guinea.
It is not a gainsaying that the long absence of the President Yar’adua who also doubled as the Chairman of ECOWAS has impaired the activities of ECOWAS and the commission activities has remained in the state of inertia since the sudden disappearance of its Chairman. There is an urgent need for the ailing president to transfer power to his deputy to be in acting capacity in order for him to assume the chairmanship role of ECOWAS in order to move the organization forward.
Your Excellency, the present situation in Nigeria deserve an urgent extra-ordinary summit of the ECOWAS member states to take urgent political decision to rescue Nigeria from the path of anarchy and also prevent the military adventurists from taken the advantage of the present situation to stage a bloody coup against the political class who are presently toying with both political and economic future of over one hundred and fifty million suffering Nigerians. The coming and unborn generation will ask us question on how we saw it coming but we fail to prevent it from happening. The Rwanda genocide is still very fresh in our memory and we must do all we could to prevent such catastrophe on African soil once again.
It is important for the ECOWAS commission to consolidate on its present achievements in restoring peace in the sub-region by compelling the ailing President Musa Yar’adua of Nigeria to relinquish power to his deputy, Mr. Jonathan Goodluck on moral and humanitarian ground and also in line with Nigerian constitution. The President should strictly adhere to the counsel of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to toe the path of honor and behave like a “servant leader” and release Nigeria from present captivity by presenting his letter of resignation due to his failing health.
In conclusion, it is time now to act or we will fail in our responsibility and also violate the spirit of letters of peer review mechanism of NEPAD. The ECOWAS has the responsibility of engaging Nigeria government in high level diplomacy to resolve this imbroglio by taken a proactive approach. The AASU has resolved to mobilize the entire youth and students in the sub-region for a peaceful protest at the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja to compel the ECOWAS commission to act in such a time like this.
Yours faithfully,
Oludare Ogunlana
Secretary-General, AASU
We wish to say that the passivity of the ECOWAS at this point in time without urgent intervention may spell doom for the entire West Africa sub-region if we allow the impending political disaster to occur without being pro-active about how the power transfer will be done to the Vice-President with immediate effect to steer the course of the nation who has remained without the president for almost three months.
It is a clear fact that any political upheaval in Nigeria will have a multiplying effect on the entire continent. The West African region will be worst hit with the effect of irregular and regular migration, smuggling of light arms and disturbance of peace in the entire sub-region. This is the major reason why the ECOWAS commission must act without further delay in order to save Nigeria from the looming political disaster. We should not wait any longer based on the lesson learnt from the crisis in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and the present scenario in Guinea.
It is not a gainsaying that the long absence of the President Yar’adua who also doubled as the Chairman of ECOWAS has impaired the activities of ECOWAS and the commission activities has remained in the state of inertia since the sudden disappearance of its Chairman. There is an urgent need for the ailing president to transfer power to his deputy to be in acting capacity in order for him to assume the chairmanship role of ECOWAS in order to move the organization forward.
Your Excellency, the present situation in Nigeria deserve an urgent extra-ordinary summit of the ECOWAS member states to take urgent political decision to rescue Nigeria from the path of anarchy and also prevent the military adventurists from taken the advantage of the present situation to stage a bloody coup against the political class who are presently toying with both political and economic future of over one hundred and fifty million suffering Nigerians. The coming and unborn generation will ask us question on how we saw it coming but we fail to prevent it from happening. The Rwanda genocide is still very fresh in our memory and we must do all we could to prevent such catastrophe on African soil once again.
It is important for the ECOWAS commission to consolidate on its present achievements in restoring peace in the sub-region by compelling the ailing President Musa Yar’adua of Nigeria to relinquish power to his deputy, Mr. Jonathan Goodluck on moral and humanitarian ground and also in line with Nigerian constitution. The President should strictly adhere to the counsel of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to toe the path of honor and behave like a “servant leader” and release Nigeria from present captivity by presenting his letter of resignation due to his failing health.
In conclusion, it is time now to act or we will fail in our responsibility and also violate the spirit of letters of peer review mechanism of NEPAD. The ECOWAS has the responsibility of engaging Nigeria government in high level diplomacy to resolve this imbroglio by taken a proactive approach. The AASU has resolved to mobilize the entire youth and students in the sub-region for a peaceful protest at the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja to compel the ECOWAS commission to act in such a time like this.
Yours faithfully,
Oludare Ogunlana
Secretary-General, AASU
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