CONTEMPLATING NIGERIA WITHOUT YAR’ADUA AND JONATHAN

It is perfectly legitimate at this point in time to contemplate an era without an invalid and underachieving Yar’adua at the helm of affairs in our dear country. And there is no just reason why Jonathan should survive his boss after the latter will have vacated Aso Rock. This writer has just completed a trip to Abuja and is in a position to attest that this seems to be the prevalent view amongst established politicians and ordinary citizens alike. The average Nigerian is acutely aware that the nation has been saddled with a debilitating yoke of illegitimacy and incompetence by way of a nondescript duo comprising the ex-Katsina governor and his second-in-command, Jonathan, thanks to the criminality and electoral brigandage of the former dictator called Olusegun Obasanjo. It has to be mentioned that advocating for the resignation or the judicial destitution of both the ailing Yar’adua and his partner needs not be cast in sectional, not to mention sectarian terms. The nature and manner of the Obasanjo-inspired heist , that is to say the obtuse and grotesque rigging and thuggery that attended the ascendancy of Yar’Adua and Jonathan must be seen as a profound and indelible scare, an unpardonable transgression against the entire citizenry whose sovereign will to freely choose its representatives was badly trampled upon by a decadent and medieval tyranny hell bent on having its way through the immoral imposition of misfits on the country. We are today living witnesses to the unwholesome consequences of the ex-tyrant’s imposition of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan pair on a badly bruised nation on its knees. Compounding this very grave and pre-eminent matter of the incumbent president’s illegitimacy is the equally grave question of his obviously bad health. Yar’Adua’s reported health problems, to the extent that they are bound to impact (and are apparently impacting) negatively on his ability to manage the daunting challenges facing the nation, cannot be wished away. Neither the spurious excuse of a “national security” concern nor the convenient alibi of a soi-disant Islamic injunction coupled with the invoking of mythical traditional courtesies should be accepted as valid arguments to avoid dealing openly and transparently with the ponderous issue of Mr. President’s illness or even the possibility of his sudden death while in office. Any attempt to postulate a sectarian solution to the Obasanjo mess called the Yar’Adua/Jonathan-led regime should be resisted by well-meaning Nigerians. This means that we must reject any PDP-brokered schemes that seek to perpetuate mediocrity by pandering to tribalism or religious intolerance. Let it be made crystal clear that compared to the backward and kleptocratic Obasanjo dictatorship of 1999-2007, the current Yar’Adua administration can be said to provide a sharp contrast. The lawlessness and reckless impunity that characterized the loud and hypocritical ‘born-again’ profligacy of the ex-soldier have largely been replaced by a sober, more subdued, if tentative style of governance that nonetheless suffers from a serious credibility crisis, thanks chiefly to the electoral illegitimacy conundrum alluded to earlier. It is not too late, it is in fact timely, to call for the immediate dissolution of the lacklustre Yar’Adua/Jonathan regime. Such a dissolution, it has to be mentioned, can come about ideally through any of the following scenarios: 1. By the voluntary resignation on the part of the president and the vice-president. 2. Through a judgement of the Supreme Court. The organized civil society as well as the entrenched political opposition must be prepared for a robust and concerted mass struggle aimed at reversing the untenable status quo should the president refuse to resign and in the event of a judicial ruling that seeks to consecrate the electoral injustice of 2007. At any rate, it is hoped that the Supreme Court justices will demonstrate sobriety and integrity by repudiating the inequity that allowed an ex-tyrant to continue to toy with the collective destiny of the people of this otherwise great country. This should spare the nation unnecessary bickering by letting us elect a leader of our choice. It is a stark statement of our collective self-indictment that the characters most responsible for the sorry state of affairs in our country are laughing their way to the bank, at our expense! Obasanjo and his sordid cast of fellow buccaneers whose criminal impunity has inflicted so much suffering on the nation and its people must be very contented with what is going on today in Abuja in the name of governance. In June 2007, shortly after the tragedy that was the criminal imposition of Yar'Adua on the nation by Obasanjo, I wrote to denounce the travesty by suggesting that the only way the ex-Katsina governor can hope to redeem himself in the eyes of fellow citizens is for him to consciously and transparently repudiate the rotten legacy of his godfather from Ota whose selection of him as his replacement was clearly done out of spite toward the man, but mostly toward Nigerians in general. Titled “The Illusion of a Yar’Adua Presidency”, the article in question is also widely available elsewhere and on the Internet. So far, apart from a few timid gestures and an otherwise commendable "rule of law " mantra that has of late provoked cynicism on the part of the public, thanks, in part, to some recent faux pas, Yar'Adua has studiously refused to entertain any talk of the necessary rendering of accounts by the profoundly sleazy Obasanjo and his confederates. Importantly also, an impuissant Yar’Adua has ensured that most of the key structures that are responsible for much of the malaise in the land are left intact. A case in point is the now notorious electoral commission, INEC, which is still headed by none other than the corrupt and obnoxious Iwu. It is worth stating that beyond a pathetic exercise of power and its trappings, the current Yar'adua administration is bedevilled by an acute sense of truancy and puerility that is at once scary and unfortunate considering the many strategic dossiers requiring the attention of Nigeria and its people. In a sense, the recent sacking of the secretary to the government (SGF) can be said to reflect the painful abdication of the Yar'Adua government more than anything else. Babagana Kingibe's removal is an eloquent testimony to the fact that today, the business of governance in Abuja has sadly been reduced to the settling of scores by a tiny and increasingly paranoid clique that is apparently bereft of ideas about how to move the country forward. Kingibe is first and foremost a fall guy, a sacrificial lamb of sorts who needed to be given the boot if only to show that the gauche and rag-tag band of amateurs around the sick Yar'Adua is in control. We are faced with the grim reality that an indolent and uncritical media has, instead of asking the tough questions and helping us understand clearly what is at stake, opted for a mindless rehash of government-inspired propaganda that seeks to erroneously paint one man - kingibe - as the critical factor most responsible for the current state of administrative paralysis plaguing the Yar'Adua regime and the nation as a whole. The anticipated cabinet reshuffle, not unlike the sacking of Kingibe, must be seen as a measure that is bound to produce no tangible results as long as the fundamental issues associated with the Yar'Adua imposition are left untackled. These days, thanks in part to a compromised local press and its allies, the ex-dictator, Obasanjo, and key elements of the ancien régime seem determined to have our public discourse diverted and focused on those tactics and issues that are largely divisive and bound to perpetuate ignorance, the surest guarantee for their continued political survival. The point needs to be reiterated that Jonathan cannot in good conscience survive Yar’adua at Aso Rock. This has nothing to do with the vice-president’s person per se. It most certainly has nothing to do with his religion. Neither does it have to do with his geographical or tribal provenance. The simple fact is that both Jonathan and his boss are impostors whose terrible moral choices have deprived Nigeria of a golden and historic opportunity to grow and prosper as an enlightened democracy. Their continued stay in Abuja must be considered as deeply offensive. A chronically ill and distracted Yar’Adua is good news for Obasanjo and his gang of fellow predators as well as all those who wish evil and underdevelopment upon our society. A spineless and illegitimate President Jonathan may even be better news for the ex-dictator. In 2003, shortly after the “419” selections of 2003, this author was one of the few voices who cautioned the nation regarding the “dangerous fantasies” of the ex-tyrant, that is, his crazy determination to ensure his political and economic survival, that of his acolytes, meaning the determination to be left alone, beyond 2007, to enjoy the unprecedented massive looting of the country’s collective wealth by himself and his associates. As Nigerians in their majority continue to suffer from the viciousness of a largely contrived governmental inaction, let me seize this opportunity once more to draw our attention to a document which I consider as immensely instructive in understanding why we are where we are nowadays. But more importantly, the document which bears the apt title of “President Obasanjo and His Dangerous Fantasies” (2003) and is also available on the Internet and elsewhere, should be seen as suggesting what needs to be done to, amongst other things, transcend this terrible legacy of orchestrated lethargy and incompetence that is the Yar’Adua/Jonathan regime. Aonduna Tondu New York

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