Before many of you reading this accuse me of plagiarism, let me say, up font, I borrowed this title from MSNBC Al Sharpton. The President and his handlers thought they could pull a fast on Nigeria by putting the trumped charges against General Shehu Yar Adua and General Oladipo Diya in the same category with the criminal conviction of his former boss Alamieyeseigha who was an embarrassment to the whole country by jumping bail in London for an offense the corrupt legal system of Nigeria could easily have condoned.
Before many of you reading this accuse me of plagiarism, let me say, up font, I borrowed this title from MSNBC Al Sharpton. The President and his handlers thought they could pull a fast on Nigeria by putting the trumped charges against General Shehu Yar Adua and General Oladipo Diya in the same category with the criminal conviction of his former boss Alamieyeseigha who was an embarrassment to the whole country by jumping bail in London for an offense the corrupt legal system of Nigeria could easily have condoned.
Here was a Governor who had looted the treasury of his state and got away with it because his hand-picked Deputy and partner in crime was now Head of State and could let him get away with murder on a “quid pro quo” kind of conditionality. The whole development stinks to the high Heavens confirming the hopelessness of the PDP as the ruling party in Nigeria.
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It was clearly an outrage that confirms President Jonathan and his party as the front and center of Corruption in Nigeria. The country is more corrupt today 52 years after independence and the worse is yet to come as long as the PDP remains in power. The party knows no other way to govern judging by their track record in Nigeria. Nigerians’ tolerance and shock absorber for this kind of outrage clearly dents the image of Nigeria any way you slice it. At a time patriotic Nigerians like Jasper Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa, Julius Adeluyi and Chief Majasan to mention a few were still student leaders in some of our Universities, this kind of outrage would have resulted in massive demonstrations against the President and his Government.
I recall University students massive demonstration in the early 60s to force the Tafawa Balewa’s Government to drop a secret defense pact with Britain. The opposition led by Obafemi Awolowo had kicked against the move, but the move was raised to a different level as University students all over Nigeria team up with their colleagues at the great University of Ibadan to put the Balewa Government in retreat just like the alumni of the University of Lagos recently forced President Jonathan to beat a retreat on his unilateral decision to rename the University after M.K.O. Abiola. If the whole nation speaks with one voice on the foolish state pardon, I can see this President reversing himself with immediate effect. Instead of the President trying to appeal to the United States and the European Union to understand his reasons for granting the pardon, his first order of business should have been an apology to Nigerians at home and Nigerians in Diaspora who did everything in their power to support the President when some elements in the North tried to subvert the Nigerian Constitution when they argued another Northerner had to pick up the mantel from late Yar Adua. Many of us in Diaspora did what we did because we had thought the first Ph.D holder to rule Nigeria was going to deliver what he promised on fighting Corruption not knowing he was going to be the “fons at origo” of corruption in Nigeria by condoning the Alamieyeseigha’s type of criminal behavior just because he could.
The Defense Pact with Britain like I hinted earlier was viewed by the opposition and the students as an attempt by the Balewa Government to silence or muzzle the opposition and to give the Balewa Government a license to do what it liked with power because fighting the Government at that point in time would have been interpreted in certain quarters as fighting the British Government and her limitless power to defend the Balewa Government from criticism as long as the weak Government continued to favor the British Government which would have continued to rule Nigeria using the Balewa Government as a front or accomplice. If the pact had been sustained, the January 15 coup would probably have been nipped in the bud and the excesses of the Balewa Government would probably have been swept under the carpet. The huge advantage the new independent nation was supposed to get from her greatest asset of oil and liquefied Gas would have gone to the British Government which could have delayed Nigerian Independence to begin with if they knew Nigeria was sitting on such a huge reservoir of the black gold.
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The Defense Pact would easily have neutralized our new sovereignty making Nigeria a pawn in the chess game of Britain. Nigeria as a newly independent country and a leader and a role model to other African countries at the time had the least appetite for any confrontation or war with any of her neighbors and other countries at that point. The Bakasi Peninsula had not become the bone of contention it later became between Nigeria and the Cameroons. If the Balewa Government had any enemies at the material time, it was enemies within. The agreement was projected as a Defense Pact only to make it acceptable to innocent Nigerians but the opposition and the University students saw the move as a ruse and they rightly shot it down.
I strongly believe that Nigerians can still force the Jonathan Government to withdraw the state pardon to Alamieyeseigha because it was a foolish and clandestine move that totally made a mockery of Jonathan’s promise to lead the war against Corruption. It was a war the country badly need to fight if Nigeria is to survive as one nation I expect Nigerian University students to get their acts together and let their voice be heard on the Alamieyeseigha’s outrage. Believe it or not, I can tell you that the state pardon was a national disgrace to say the least. It must not be allowed to stand The way and manner the pardon was orchestrated by Jonathan was disingenuous. The development speaks volumes about the integrity of President Jonathan and his top aides like Reuben Abati who was supposed to know better.
If that was the best advice the so-called Council of State could offer the President, I can tell youthe Council of State comprising of state Governors and former Heads of States have outlived their usefulness and it needs to be scrapped. I cannot imagine Dr. Yakubu Gowon who left a fine legacy of incorruptible Government for the more than 8 years of his regime advising Jonathan to grant a state pardon to Alamieyeseigha at a time Jonathan is still nursing the ambition of seeking a second term on the platform of the PDP. I served under Yakubu Gowon as Head of State and I knew he was a good man and the Civil Service was far superior to what it is today if you ask me. I can understand IBB or Abdul salam Abubakar or Obasanjo looking the other way because of their own track record in condoning corruption. I will be surprised if Ernest Sonekan would ever have supported such a move. If it can be established that the President did not run the pardon or clemency by the Council of State before going ahead to make it public, he stands condemned by the court of public opinion and he deserves to be impeached.
President Jonathan’s integrity is compromised if you view his activities and those of his wife who was appointed an absentee Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa so she could continue to get her full entitlements as permanent secretary and first lady. The decision could not have been made by the current Governor of Bayelsa without the consent of Mr. President. That he would allow the appointment to be made shows the kind of President he is. The President recently told the nation he was currently struggling to build his private house at Otuoke his home town when the whole nation knows the truth.
The President is behaving no less than his boss President Obasanjo who got a mansion built for himself at his home base in Owu, Abeokuta by taking undue advantage of his position as President. The same Obasanjo built a presidential library forcing most of the PDP state Governors to donate money to the project. I can write a book on many of the corrupt activities of Obasanjo’s regime. President Jonathan is a terrible disappointment. Only a corrupt party like the PDP would have supported such a man as its nominee for re-election.
The President recently appointed Chief Anenih the former Works Minister to another juicy appointment at the Ports Authority where the man could go repeat the mess he had previously created in the Federal Ministry of Works. The PDP cabal running Nigeria is very corrupt. Their appointment of Annenh as Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees again is another outrage. It is another license for him to enrich his pocket again at the expense of the nation. What is worse is the domino effect of the PDP corruption on individuals like Dr. Reuben Abati who was a highly respected journalist and public commentator before eating out of the forbidden fruit of power. I used to respect him a lot. Not any more
The nation has not heard the last about the state pardon granted Alamieyeseigha. The nation has to bring pressure to bear on the President to withdraw the pardon. If the opposition parties drop the ball on this, they have forfeited their right to dislodge the PDP and its fumbling President in 2015 assuming that the President escapes impeachment by a lackluster Federal Legislature in Abuja.
I rest my case.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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