It is interesting how the very individuals or groups who for much of the corrupt and clueless Obasanjo regime (1999-2007) were either complacent or did actively participate in the profound and systematic debasement of the nation and its people by the Ota tin god and his henchmen have now found the voice and the pulpit to crusade for the resignation or demise of the incumbent impostor at Aso Rock.
During the greater part of his sadistic tyranny, Obasanjo behaved more like the Roman mad man, Caligula ,than as a normal human. His untold atrocities in places like Odi, Zaki-Biam and surrounding communities are still fresh in our memories. His aimless peregrinations around the globe, not to mention the sobering fact that the Nigerian ship of state was abandoned to the cavernous appetites of the Cro-Magnon and his associates, did actively contribute to the state of anomie and palpable stagnation we are witnessing today.
When in 2002, at the height of his bestial despotism ,the National Assembly did initiate articles of impeachment against the dictator, critical sections of the national media and especially its Lagos-Ibadan axis were known to comport themselves as if they were imbued with a divine mission to save Obasanjo politically. The circling of the wagons around the ex-tyrant and his bumbling and decadent regime thus became like an intuitive reaction on the part of key segments of the media and pro-democracy/human rights organisations or their representatives as was demonstrated through their behaviour in the immediate aftermath of the '419' elections of 2003. I guess saving the nation then was a secondary concern for those who have suddenly discovered the balls to do the right thing.
Qualitatively, after two years at Aso Rock, Yar'Adua and his administration can objectively be said to be in much better shape than the previous Obasanjo misrule though the point must be stressed that each and every PDP administration since 1999 has been both illegitimate and disastrous. But consider this: Between a violent lunatic with a dismal legacy of administrative truancy coupled with the most gruesome human rights abuses and a hibernating invalid, whom would you prefer as ruler? Perhaps the answer to that question is 'neither'! And between the hibernating invalid and a fellow usurper who was imposed on him as his running mate?
Devolving executive powers to his junior partner is the prerogative of the president and under normal circumstances, such devolution should readily be expected but the untidy manner in which Goodluck Jonathan was reportedly handpicked and later dictated to Yar’Adua by the chief gangster of ‘do-or-die’ treachery does call for circumspection. In a democracy, presidential candidates have the first prerogative of determining who their running mates should be. In Yar’Adua’s case, that did not happen.
A vengeful Obasanjo whose diabolical ‘third term’ plot had just ended in a deserved debacle was out to plant landmines for the principal usurper he was about to inflict on the Nigerian nation. Jonathan is said to be his joker – his trump card whose stealth presence was nevertheless intended to serve as the ultimate personal survival instrument for the ex-dictator and his key allies who were dreaming of continued relevance, if not dominion under a Yar’Adua presidency. Crucially, decent Nigerians should consider it worrying that as Yar’Adua’s health problems persist, Obasanjo and his confederates are reportedly regrouping to reconstitute themselves into an irredentist force around Jonathan. This is a scary prospect for the country, the thought of this vermin playing the éminence grise! Everything must be done to thwart the evil machinations of these cave men. In the final analysis, the fundamental question is not Jonathan taking over as president. Our preoccupation should primarily be with the spectre of illegitimacy and programmed failure hanging over the man and the entire scheme which Jonathan and Yar’Adua have come to symbolize. The question should be whether or not Jonathan can deliver where his fellow impostors in the likes of Obasanjo and Yar’Adua have woefully failed. Like his fellow impostors, Jonathan was not duly elected by Nigerians and is thus bound to fail. The nature and orientation of the dubious ascendancy of these PDP riggers has ensured that their continued grip on the levers of power is an insult to the entire Nigerian nation. So, even if Yar’Adua drops dead today, the citizenry should insist for the immediate organisation of credible elections.
The point needs to be made that the rejection of a PDP-led Jonathan presidency has nothing to do with the sectional or religious origins of the current vice-president. It has everything to do with his politics. Any indolent attempt to cast the man’s illegitimacy and unattractiveness as a potential president in primordial terms should be dismissed as eccentric at best.
In my considered opinion, the fuss should less be about Yar'Adua not ceding executive powers to Jonathan who was imposed on him by a meddlesome despot than on the imperative of an uncompromising repudiation by the Nigerian people of what the likes of Obasanjo, Yar'Adua and Jonathan have come to represent today, that is the fact that these products of the leviathan called the PDP are apostles of impunity and imposition. Nigerians must rise and do away with these lawless brigands and their confederates and henceforth ensure that their votes do really count. As for the lynch mob out to draw the president's blood, as I keep saying, episodic, after-thought and selective expressions of patriotic angst and the democratic ideal do invariably come across as louche.
Nigerians should abandon their irresponsible laissez-faire attitude which has ensured that unpatriotic and destructive elements have brazenly plotted to put in power individuals who are not in the first place qualified to lead local government councils. This means that the next time the sinister clowns in the PDP or elsewhere talk of ‘ the turn of the North’ or that of ‘the Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Tiv’, they should be told to shove it…!
A final word: This reiteration of what the country needs to do now has become necessary in the light of the very trying situation we have found ourselves in, all because of our foolish and sedate posture in the face of daunting challenges. Our survival as a nation will ultimately depend on how best we respond today. Readers are advised to avail themselves of a more detailed analysis of these and related issues by consulting the document at the following link:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/...-jonathan.html "Contemplating Nigeria Without Yar'Adua and Jonathan" (By Aonduna Tondu ). Happy reading!
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