Nigeria Content Online

Advocacy and
pressure groups, newspaper columns and editorials, politicians and
lawyers, in fact Nigerians in general, high and low all have had a
convergence of opinion that everything must be done to give the country
free and fair elections, no matter what it takes in terms of effort; no
matter the sacrifice in terms of commitment.

Last week the
federal government announced with a tone that had echoes of that old
military alacrity and immediate effect that students in the country at
primary and secondary levels are to stay home for a full month to aid
the completion of a new – or updated – voters’ register.

It goes without
saying that this announcement was another bungled affair. Depriving
children of one month of education isn’t something that you announce
with fiat and for the Jonathan administration to disregard the
feelings, consequences and implications – financial, social, legal and
constitutional – for our federal system and the millions of parents and
children across the country, only goes to underscore the amateurish
hands that guide it.

Of course we are
aware that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has a
major task ahead of it to buck the trend of past elections and
efficiently manage the logistics, planning and implementation to
produce a contest that is free and fair in the scant three months it
has left.

The current
chairman of INEC came into office to clean up a mess he had no part in
creating. Nigeria spent 2010 trying to avoid a constitutional crisis
forced upon us by the selfishness of a cabal intent on keeping one man
in office so much that we could not focus on the important task of
equipping our electoral commission to organise elections worth having.
Seen simply in this context, it is not difficult to understand the
imperative that has driven the decision to extend school holidays by a
month.

It is indeed
possible that one extra week instead of four could be all that is
necessary to complete an exercise that we have known for well nigh two
years now, was vital for clean elections. The late President Yar’Adua
was dogged by the spectre of the rigged election that brought him to
power in 2007. His inaugural promise then was to reform our electoral
system. He never made it, dogged as he was by the ill health that
should, all things considered, have made him ineligible for the
presidency that he ‘won’. It is an object lesson that what is done
improperly can never be made whole. So too with democracy.

That now is the problem with this arbitrarily decreed closure of schools.

There is the
argument that it is impossible to use many other alternatives, such as
places of worship, to conduct the voter registration exercise. There
are barely 1, 000 post offices, less than 20000 eateries and less than
1000 local council offices we are informed. Of the 120, 000 locations
slated for voter registration, 85% of them are schools. There is no way
that the exercise can properly function if these schools are in
session. Common sense should have dictated then that the programme be
scheduled for when the schools were on holiday. Even with the chaos
that has accompanied our chequered path to this election there surely
should have been someone thinking of this. We have been down this road
before.

That this did not
happen is only symptomatic of the adhoc behaviour that substitutes for
planning in the PDP administration that has been in government for the
last twelve years. Add to that the abysmal handling of education at all
levels and it is clear why the political leadership can see nothing
untoward in making school children and their parents pay the price for
‘credible elections’, and on top of that imagine that Nigerians would
‘just take it’.

At eight o’clock on Tuesday night, my attention was drawn to the coverage of the National Convention of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on NTA Live. I abandoned the football game I was watching and tuned in. A band was playing behind which was what looked, oddly, like a large open space. A couple of minutes later the music stopped and focus switched to a crowded podium. One man was in a smart suit, six or seven others in various agbada designs. There was now just background noise but the compere soon appeared to introduce Senator Faruk Bunza who we were told was going to get the Convention to approve the nomination of General Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential Candidate of the
CPC, Buhari being the sole contestant. It took several minutes for Bunza to show up during which time there was a lot of pointless comings and goings on the stage. Bunza said he wanted to “hear vibration (sic)” from the audience. “C P C,” he shouted, but his voice is a low, miserable susurrus and he failed to get the feedback he expected. He asked for ayes and nays. Three times he put the question: all those in favour of the nomination say aye, those against say nay. Each time a resounding aye. No nays. Each time the focus turned to General Buhari who seemed to be very pleased with the endorsement seated in the front row in a chair royally set apart from all others. But he fidgeted and there was something unsettling and suggestive of the late Umaru ‘Yaradua about him.

With his candidacy approved, General Buhari was then invited to address the Convention. Standing in front of the microphone on the busy stage Buhari cut a very uninspiring figure. Many of Buhari’s fervent supporters set store by the image of the stern, no-nonsense Military man standing upright in his polished shoes and starched khaki with a smart cap to match. But this was a very different Buhari. Dressed in an ill-fitting blue babbanriga, he looked like a spent, retired dispenser out of some rural store east of Kauran Namoda.

And when he spoke, the disappointment was greater. He held his speech in loose sheets in his hands and as he spoke, a man standing alongside him would move to retrieve each read page. This, a Presidential candidate’s address this year! Long before Mrs Margaret Thatcher began her political career, she had taken elocution lessons to polish her English speech which she deemed a handicap, and which she was determined to address if she was to realise her ambition of leading the Conservative Party in Britain. For General Buhari, English, despite it being for all intents and purposes our National language and despite the period he spent in Military school in England, has remained very much a Foreign language he sees no reason to master. Buhari’s talk of ‘suportatas’, ‘folowas,’ ‘smoos’ and ‘sru’ ‘sik’ and ‘sin’, quite apart from being cringeworthy served to divert our attention from trying to understand what he was attempting to say. Many people mock Mrs Patience Jonathan’s English speech but she must have sat in the same classroom with General Buhari because he picks his words as she does hers, requiring you to listen very carefully to make sense of what is being said. Not many of the new supporters Buhari must win if he is to realise his dream of the Presidency will be willing to take the patient, attentive listening, route.

Buhari spoke for only a few minutes. He came across as petty and embittered. He complained about the ANPP and about previous elections manipulated by the PDP; said “only the PDP believes that we are practicing democracy in this country;” and tried to curry favour with the current head of the Electoral Commission. That was all. His manifesto for change, he said, has been widely circulated. I later asked about half a dozen random persons if they had seen it and not one person said yes. Perhaps you have. That a Presidential Candidate of a Party can speak at its National Convention aired live to a National audience without outlining his programme is astonishing. That his speech did not contain a rallying cry to get his suportatas and folowas out to electoral battle is absolutely beyond belief. General Buhari did not name a running mate either; the Convention was all about him.

A man introduced as Madam(!) Hamma did speak about the CPC’s manifesto. It was a very muddled presentation. He did not have a document to present. He blustered extempore. He regretted that there was not enough time to go into it. However, insufficient time is never a valid excuse in organised events like this. Whatever happened to preparation and rehearsal? It was just as well that we were spared an extended listening. Hamma said their “manifesto does not believe (sic) in privatisation, it believes in proper privatisation.” He was trying to convey a rejection of a Western economic agenda for Nigeria but he had a hard time doing it. Some of what he said was truly bizarre: “How many people know how many zeroes to write a trillion? So we believe we will speak language of the people.” And other non sequiturs in the same vein.

An hour later and it was all done. The only other business, ratification of amendments to the CPC’s Constitution, done without demurral. Reflecting on the organisation and conduct of this Convention, one cannot fail to wonder about the whereabouts of the substance of the Buhari platform and the quality of its officials and aides. They failed to put on a good show. It is evident that Buhari has a poor speech writer and, worse, that he lacks the intelligence to make useful revisions to what is presented before him. A truly great man of thought and accomplishment, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had argued with clarity and conviction more than thirty years ago that a Political Party worthy of the name “must present a coherent and unequivocal programme,” and a leader must make “binding undertakings.” How could Buhari spend eight years campaigning for the Presidency and not have a clearly articulated and coherent agenda which is understood by all as well as subscribed to and promoted by his supporters and followers? How can the presumed personal integrity of one man alone be deemed a sufficient political platform when it cannot even organise a Convention in a professional and inspirational manner?

I have argued elsewhere that Buhari is the nostalgia candidate; those who support him expect him to pick up from where he left off twenty five years ago. They choose not to evaluate today’s version and what it has to offer in what are now very different circumstances. This Covention has highlighted the vacuity of the wizened babbanriga version. But there’s one more thing. No one has succeeded in stamping his imprint on a Nigerian government to the extent achieved by the late General Tunde Idiagbon. How much of the credit attached to the Buhari/Idiagbon regime is attributable to General Idiagbon? In looking at what is today on offer from Buhari and his apparently inadequate advisers, one is increasingly led to the inescapable conclusion that the earlier work, such as there was, was all Idiagbon’s.

At eight o’clock on Tuesday night, my attention was drawn to the coverage of the National Convention of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on NTA Live. I abandoned the football game I was watching and tuned in. A band was playing behind which was what looked, oddly, like a large open space. A couple of minutes later the music stopped and focus switched to a crowded podium. One man was in a smart suit, six or seven others in various agbada designs. There was now just background noise but the compere soon appeared to introduce Senator Faruk Bunza who we were told was going to get the Convention to approve the nomination of General Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential Candidate of the
CPC, Buhari being the sole contestant. It took several minutes for Bunza to show up during which time there was a lot of pointless comings and goings on the stage. Bunza said he wanted to “hear vibration (sic)” from the audience. “C P C,” he shouted, but his voice is a low, miserable susurrus and he failed to get the feedback he expected. He asked for ayes and nays. Three times he put the question: all those in favour of the nomination say aye, those against say nay. Each time a resounding aye. No nays. Each time the focus turned to General Buhari who seemed to be very pleased with the endorsement seated in the front row in a chair royally set apart from all others. But he fidgeted and there was something unsettling and suggestive of the late Umaru ‘Yaradua about him.

With his candidacy approved, General Buhari was then invited to address the Convention. Standing in front of the microphone on the busy stage Buhari cut a very uninspiring figure. Many of Buhari’s fervent supporters set store by the image of the stern, no-nonsense Military man standing upright in his polished shoes and starched khaki with a smart cap to match. But this was a very different Buhari. Dressed in an ill-fitting blue babbanriga, he looked like a spent, retired dispenser out of some rural store east of Kauran Namoda.

And when he spoke, the disappointment was greater. He held his speech in loose sheets in his hands and as he spoke, a man standing alongside him would move to retrieve each read page. This, a Presidential candidate’s address this year! Long before Mrs Margaret Thatcher began her political career, she had taken elocution lessons to polish her English speech which she deemed a handicap, and which she was determined to address if she was to realise her ambition of leading the Conservative Party in Britain. For General Buhari, English, despite it being for all intents and purposes our National language and despite the period he spent in Military school in England, has remained very much a Foreign language he sees no reason to master. Buhari’s talk of ‘suportatas’, ‘folowas,’ ‘smoos’ and ‘sru’ ‘sik’ and ‘sin’, quite apart from being cringeworthy served to divert our attention from trying to understand what he was attempting to say. Many people mock Mrs Patience Jonathan’s English speech but she must have sat in the same classroom with General Buhari because he picks his words as she does hers, requiring you to listen very carefully to make sense of what is being said. Not many of the new supporters Buhari must win if he is to realise his dream of the Presidency will be willing to take the patient, attentive listening, route.

Buhari spoke for only a few minutes. He came across as petty and embittered. He complained about the ANPP and about previous elections manipulated by the PDP; said “only the PDP believes that we are practicing democracy in this country;” and tried to curry favour with the current head of the Electoral Commission. That was all. His manifesto for change, he said, has been widely circulated. I later asked about half a dozen random persons if they had seen it and not one person said yes. Perhaps you have. That a Presidential Candidate of a Party can speak at its National Convention aired live to a National audience without outlining his programme is astonishing. That his speech did not contain a rallying cry to get his suportatas and folowas out to electoral battle is absolutely beyond belief. General Buhari did not name a running mate either; the Convention was all about him.

A man introduced as Madam(!) Hamma did speak about the CPC’s manifesto. It was a very muddled presentation. He did not have a document to present. He blustered extempore. He regretted that there was not enough time to go into it. However, insufficient time is never a valid excuse in organised events like this. Whatever happened to preparation and rehearsal? It was just as well that we were spared an extended listening. Hamma said their “manifesto does not believe (sic) in privatisation, it believes in proper privatisation.” He was trying to convey a rejection of a Western economic agenda for Nigeria but he had a hard time doing it. Some of what he said was truly bizarre: “How many people know how many zeroes to write a trillion? So we believe we will speak language of the people.” And other non sequiturs in the same vein.

An hour later and it was all done. The only other business, ratification of amendments to the CPC’s Constitution, done without demurral. Reflecting on the organisation and conduct of this Convention, one cannot fail to wonder about the whereabouts of the substance of the Buhari platform and the quality of its officials and aides. They failed to put on a good show. It is evident that Buhari has a poor speech writer and, worse, that he lacks the intelligence to make useful revisions to what is presented before him. A truly great man of thought and accomplishment, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had argued with clarity and conviction more than thirty years ago that a Political Party worthy of the name “must present a coherent and unequivocal programme,” and a leader must make “binding undertakings.” How could Buhari spend eight years campaigning for the Presidency and not have a clearly articulated and coherent agenda which is understood by all as well as subscribed to and promoted by his supporters and followers? How can the presumed personal integrity of one man alone be deemed a sufficient political platform when it cannot even organise a Convention in a professional and inspirational manner?

I have argued elsewhere that Buhari is the nostalgia candidate; those who support him expect him to pick up from where he left off twenty five years ago. They choose not to evaluate today’s version and what it has to offer in what are now very different circumstances. This Covention has highlighted the vacuity of the wizened babbanriga version. But there’s one more thing. No one has succeeded in stamping his imprint on a Nigerian government to the extent achieved by the late General Tunde Idiagbon. How much of the credit attached to the Buhari/Idiagbon regime is attributable to General Idiagbon? In looking at what is today on offer from Buhari and his apparently inadequate advisers, one is increasingly led to the inescapable conclusion that the earlier work, such as there was, was all Idiagbon’s.

Born on Thursday the 17th December, 1942 in Daura, Katsina state, to a Fulani Chief, Ardo Adamu of Dumurkol, a village near Daura, and Hajiya Zulaihatu, a Hausa woman. He was a Gambo or Leko, as he arrived after the death of his older twin siblings. It is what the Yorubas would refer to as Idowu. That is the story of the parenthood of Major General Muhammadu Yassim Yinusa Buhari, the officer gentleman who , at three critical times, was well positioned to amass wealth for himself illegally but did not.

After attending primary schools at Daura and Mai’adua between 1948 and 1952, followed by a year stint at Katsina model school in 1953 and Katsina Provincial secondary school (now Government college Katsina) between 1956 and 1961; Buhari had a choice of training as a teacher, studying agriculture or joining the Army. He chose the profession of the arms. As a cadet, he was made a sergeant which was an early recognition of his leadership qualities by his superiors.

It was in August 1975 that Muhammadu Buhari first came into national visibility when he was appointed Military Governor of the North Eastern by the Murtala Muhammed’s regime. After the death of the General Murtala Muhammed, the new Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo government appointed him as the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum resources (March 1976-July 1978) and later, Chairman of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, June 1978-July 1978. It was during his stewardship at the Petroleum ministry that two of the nation’s refineries (Warri and Kaduna) were built.

In 1983, the patriotic fervor of Buhari was rudely put to test when the Chadians, in a mindless expansionist adventure, invaded and occupied 19 islands in Lake Chad within Nigerian territory. As the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the 3rd armored corps, the then Brigadier Muhammadu Buhari successfully carried out a blockade forcing the return of the territories and thereafter pursued the Chadians as far as 50kms into Chadian territory. On an Internet discourse, Major-General (retired) Ishola Williams commented on this military feat thus: “He applied forward defense strategy at its best.”

Major-General Muhammadu Buhari bestrode the nation’s governance when he led the military putsch that overthrew the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Prior to the take-over, the four-year-incursion of the civilian government had been horrific for Nigerians. The economy had been recklessly mismanaged to the extent that a chieftain of the ruling National Party of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, once asserted that there was no poverty in Nigeria because he had not seen any Nigerian feeding from the baggage dump! In his maiden speech, General Muhammadu Buhari left no one under any illusion that his regime came on a rescue mission from the executive brigandage of the civilian regime. As a last line, he opined: “This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.”
The 20-month era of strong leadership espoused what later became known as ‘Buharinomics’, which simply put is an admixture of frugality, probity, respect for contractual agreements, expunction of all covert or overt attempts at subjugating the Nigerian economy to world powers and above all, economic policy with Nigeria as the center-piece. It is therefore, without any whiff of equivocation to state that the boldest attempt in the last thirty years at alleviating the pains of the teeming masses was during the enactment of Buharinomics. It was not surprising that the inflation rate was lowered by more than 18 points, from 23.2% in 1983 to 5.5% in 1985! The Buhari regime rebuffed all entreaties by IMF and World Bank to devalue the naira, remove subsidies on services and increase pump price on fuel.
It was arduous for the regime to cleanse the mess of the Shagari regime, which was characterized by unprecedented indiscipline -fiscal, institutional and governmental. With the mantra of War Against Indiscipline (WAI), a new direction was charted for Nigerians in ethical behavior in Public places.

With a persona that is hinged on self-abnegation, it was possible to insist on transparency within the polity. A military governor was relieved of his appointment for awarding N163,000 (one hundred and sixty three thousand naira) contract without due consultation with the state executive council. The preceding politicians that corruptly enriched themselves were prosecuted and given long prison sentences. The former Director of NYSC, Col Peter Obasa and his accountant, Folorunsho Kila were found guilty and sentenced to 21years.

Owing to the damaging effect of currency trafficking outside the Nation’s shores, the Buhari administration decided to change the colors of the currency notes in April 1984. This yielded the desired result as N5Billion excess liquidity was mopped off! As a back-lash on this exercise, there was insidious story from a section of the media that the Buhari regime allowed the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Jokolo to bring in 53 suitcases during the currecy change, thereby insinuating a case of double-standard. Let it be said from the onset, the opinion tenaciously held on to about this incident was what was sold to the unsuspecting Nigerian public by a section of the press. So much hoodwinked that Buhari’s explanation had never been heard!

This is what Buhari said about this:

“This is a typical case of the press believing what they want to believe. I hope it is not a reflection of the Nigerian society. I hope one day you will find the time to interview the Vice President on this. I understand he was the Customs officer in charge of the Murtala Mohammed airport, perhaps he knows more about it than myself. I have explained this so many times but the press write what they want to write and not what is factual.”

Going down the memory lane, he added: “I recall the day in question. We were playing squash with my ADC when his father, the late Emir was returning to the country. He was a well-respected person. I prompted Jokolo to go and receive him even when he had no intention of doing so. By some coincidence his father was returning with my late chief of protocol who was an ambassador in Libya. He returned with his three wives and about 16 children. Everything about him including the handbag of his wives was counted as a suitcase. I explained this myself but nobody believed me.”

The Vice-President referred to is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the man that is now desperately fighting for PDP nomination.

Some months ago when he Alhaji Atiku Abubakar gave inkling into his interest in the nation’s presidency, anxious journalists wanted to know from him how he would manage the formidable competition from IBB. He smiled and calmly told them, “You people do not know that my friendship with General Babangida had been for at least ten years before i knew the late General Shehu Musa-Yar’adua.”

As an undergraduate, I did a little bit of mathematical induction. Without doubt, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was very friendly with General IBB (the serving Chief of Army staff) at the time of this 53-suitcase saga. We cannot infer anything yet, it is necessary to delve a little into IBB’s subterfuge and fifth-columnist-posturing during the Buhari regime.

During the infamous Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)-induced doctors’ strike of 1984/85 , Dr Fashakin (a former NMA President in Ife zone) had in an internet discourse, graciously acknowledged the ‘logistics’ support extended to the ‘fleeing’ NMA executive members by the same Gen. IBB.

Col.Halilu Akilu (as Director military Intelligence) was reporting to Gen IBB as the Chief of Army staff. For inexplicable reason (except for sheer idiocy), Akilu ordered soldiers to invade the 2-park-lane-Apapa residence of the late Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Sometime ago, General Buhari was cornered and asked specifically about this incident. He said, “I did not order anybody to do this. It was the handiwork of the fifth columnist in our midst.”

The Newsprints ordered by Concord Press (owned by Chief MKO Abiola) were seized by the Buhari regime because of infraction of the subsisting importation regulation. On the day (27th August, 1985) the Buhari regime was toppled, an airplane owned by Concord airline ferried General IBB from Minna to Lagos to assume leadership of the Nation. Did that suggest a friendship that facilitated the successful removal of the regime?

Was there a possibility of an alliance by General IBB and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to embarrass the Buhari regime? I strongly believe so! I therefore make bold to declare that the 53-suitcase issue was a hoax! You are at liberty to hold on to your impression.

Buhari may have his foibles (as all humans do) but what his detractors cannot take away from him is his personal discipline with no avaricious desire for unjust gain. This means he is a man who has succeeded in putting his own self into some form of self -abnegation. Such is the man that can usher in a fresh air from the fouled political atmosphere within the polity. I challenge anyone to point to any assassination or assassination attempt (with the imprimatur of the state) during the Buhari regime. But what happened after his removal? All the succeeding regimes have been guilty of clandestinely eliminating voices of dissent within the polity. Though Gen IBB came smiling at everyone, including the Press; but before 15 months of his reign, a notable journalist had already been ‘parcel-bombed’! We virtually lost count of unresolved state-organized murders during the infamous civilian regime of Baba Iyabo the imperial president. The explanation for the unresolved assassination Chief Bola Ige SAN, the regime’s minister of Justice still leaves much to be desired! This spate of murders to settle political scores has, unwittingly or wittingly, been replicated by the state governors. It is a rarity to find a state governor without murderous squads roaming freely for the next assignment to satisfy their sponsors.

It is against this backdrop that Nigerians, I mean concerned Nigerians believe that the next leadership is critical in moving the nation to the next level. It is clearly important that we can no longer operate the culture of government by settlement whereby less than 600 individuals collectively consume 25% of the nation’s budget; according to the recent startling statistics by the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Buhari had said he intends to extend the work-hours of Nigerians to 24-7; which means the people should be free to move about at whatever time of the day as they choose. Who is able to do this? It is not what someone reads to us from a speech prepared by a consultant; but from someone whose antecedents bespeak of refusal to pander to the antics of the Breton Woods’ institutions to further impoverish our people.

It was a clear attestation of his Spartan lifestyle that the Abacha military regime entrusted the management of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under his watch. There is no gain saying that PTF literally became the project arm of the government: Drugs supply to hospitals (especially Universities’ medical centers), road projects to hitherto unexplored rural areas clearly attest to his scrupulous assiduity.

What is the state of the republic as we speak? The parlous state of the economy is aptly captured in the fact that for the past eight months, the foreign reserves have been depleted by $8Billion, with the inflation rate as high as 14% and still rising. More worrisome is the depletion of the excess crude account from $22Billion to $470million with no corresponding economy-impacting capital projects to justify the expenditure.

Newton’s second law of Motion states that: “Everybody continues in a state of rest or uniform motion unless compelled by an external force.” If there is no meaningful intervention from a confirmed patriot, our democracy (or demonstration of craze, apology to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti) is doomed for failure.

It is for these reasons and many more that General Muhammadu Buhari has taken up the gauntlet (through the support of Nigerians across the geo-political divide) to save the polity just one more time. The espousal of the new Nigeria would be dependent on the choice we make in April 2011. The Executive Presidents we have had in the last twelve years have not emerged from their visionary desire for the office but as a result of overbearing superimposition by entrenched interests. That would largely account for the rudderless leadership that had, unfortunately, been foisted on us. On the contrary, Muhammadu Buhari, with his antecedents of transparent and impactful governance, has with again shown uncanny indefatigability in offering himself for the needed rescue operation on the nation. Will this third attempt be the defining moment for the Nigerian nation? We stand at the threshold of history as true greatness beckons!

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Rotimi Fashakin is the national publicity secretary of the CPC. He lives in Gbagada, Lagos.

The on-going primaries of most of the 63 political
parties in the country demonstrate that the behaviour of a significant
part of the political class has not changed much in spite of the
specifications of the 2010 Electoral Act, and the warning from INEC’s
Professor Jega that parties must practice international party democracy
in accordance with the law.

Reports from the primaries indicate that
godfathers are still in control. Delegates are being imposed rather
than elected for congresses. Persons disliked by godfathers have been
summarily prevented from contesting for elections. Many aspirants are
rushing out of the parties and joining new ones over issues of
electoral injustice and lack of internal party democracy.

This is an unfortunate development because
political parties constitute the bedrock of multi-party democracy. The
character of legislative, executive and local government institutions
is largely shaped by the ideological platform, objectives and
recruitment procedures of political parties. Indeed political parties
are the single most important institutions in the democratic process.

Our on-going review of Nigerian political parties
today demonstrates that most of them have no functional offices in
Abuja and around the country and that many of their officials are not
conversant with party principles and platforms. It seems as if party
manifestoes are written by consultants and party officials have not
even read what their consultants have written and cannot talk about the
issues their parties stand for. In addition, party membership is a
vague operational concept characterised by party barons “delivering”
crowds that are bussed in and out to attend party rallies and
conventions.

Some political parties appear to have been
established simply to collect and share financial allocations by INEC
while others seem to have been set up as future alternate platforms for
some top politicians preparing for the possibility that they might lose
the nomination of the current party they prefer and belong to. It is
interesting and worrying that within hours, barons that have been
blocked from a party reappear as candidates in another party.

There is however a number of parties that have a
real, and in some cases, growing presence in the country and are
presenting Nigerians with real issues. The future of our democracy
would depend on such parties developing and winning elections. For this
to happen, Nigerian citizens must develop interest in monitoring the
political parties for a democratic and issues-based approach to
politics.

The 2010 Electoral Act sets out clear directives
for the institutionalization and enforcement of democratic norms in the
functioning of political parties. In line with our constitutional
principles, all political parties shall have ideologies and ideals
informing their programmes and the way and manner they operationalise
the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy
enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

The policies and issues articulated in party
manifestoes must therefore be sufficiently clear to enable citizens to
distinguish parties from each other. This would enable prospective
party members and voters make informed choices.

In application of the Electoral Act 2010,
political parties must uphold the core principles of internal party
democracy including openness, transparency and inclusiveness in their
operations. Many of them however are not doing so. What this means is
that both INEC as the regulatory body and we as citizens, who in
principle are potential members of the parties, need to query them on
their bad behaviour.

We need to closely monitor and document the
on-going conventions and primaries of political parties to ensure that
they comply with the basic tenets of internal party democracy enshrined
in universal best practices and the Electoral Act. Those that do not
conform should be exposed and Nigerians should be mobilised to vote
against them in the forthcoming elections.

To deepen our democracy, we need to make political
parties sensitive to the fact that Nigerians are watching and reporting
on what they are doing so that they develop the reflex of improving
their behaviour because of scrutiny. Ultimately, Nigerians need
political parties that subscribe to democratic dialogue as the
principal mechanism for operating their affairs. To get there, citizens
need to start boycotting parties that do not conform to best practices.

One of the legacies of the militarisation of
Nigerian society and its impact on the political process is the
organisation of political parties around personalities, tribe or
religion rather than issues. Issues-based politics has virtually
disappeared from our political landscape. Parties that are not in power
have serious difficulties raising funds for their activities. The
ruling party is rich because it has access to state funds through
government contracts and other creative means of funding.

In a sense, some of the parties continue to
misbehave because they do not really believe that the 2011 elections
will be different from those of 2003 and 2007. I believe that they are
profoundly wrong in their assessment. Attahiru Jega and his team are
determined to organise credible elections this year. This means that we
as voters can use our franchise to punish parties that misbehave by
voting against them. Let’s use this opportunity to sanction the bad
guys so that more good guys can be encouraged to enter the political
fray with issues-based programmes that promote democracy and
development.

Last week President Jonathan convened an emergency
meeting of the country’s security chiefs at the end of which it was
announced that a decision had been made to appoint an anti-terrorism
adviser, who would report to the president.

Jonathan’s spokesperson also announced, “Mr.
President will work with the National Assembly to ensure the speedy
passage of the anti-terrorism bill. Government will also introduce
CCTVs in public places for access control. Regulations are also
underway for the access control for both public and private
establishments.”

While some of these are commendable (we await
further clarification on what will be involved in access control to
‘private establishments’), it is necessary to remind the authorities
that neither an anti-terrorism bill, nor a contract award for the
deployment of CCTVs will by themselves make a dent in Nigeria’s
vulnerability to terrorism.

Two things are required of a responsible
government: one, it must make it as difficult as possible for potential
terrorists to succeed; and two, it must ensure that acts of terrorism
are thoroughly investigated, and the culprits punished.

On both counts the Nigerian government has failed
woefully. There is nothing impressive about the intelligence-gathering
capabilities of our security agencies. The police especially seem to
have perfected the art of being caught unawares by criminals, be they
kidnappers, assassins, armed robbers or terrorists.

The Boko Haram debacle has turned into a revenge
fest. Turns out the mass killings in August 2009 following the attacks
by the group have, ‘scotched the snake not killed it.”

The track record of our security agencies is also
dismal when it comes to investigating security breaches and
apprehending suspects. With little or no forensics capabilities, the
most crucial bits of investigations often have to be outsourced to
foreign experts. At the moment, there are FBI agents in Abuja taking
lead roles in the attempts to get to the roots of the New Year’s Eve
bomb blasts. This terrorist act came just three months shy of the
October 1 bombing in Abuja during the ceremony of the 50th Independence
Anniversary of Independence. The trial of the main suspect in this
case, Henry Okah, has been underway in South Africa since October. The
three suspects held here in Nigeria, Charles Okah, Obi Nwabueze and
Tiemkemfa Francis Osvwo are in detention awaiting the start of the
substantive trial against them.

How does a country serious about fighting terrorism intend to carry on that way?

There’s no way Nigeria can guarantee the safety of
the lives and property of its citizens as long as it lacks the capacity
to launch detailed investigations as soon as crimes are committed.

We also need President Jonathan to realise that an
anti-terror response can only be effective if properly coordinated. As
things currently stand, in the event of terrorist activity in Nigeria,
is it clear to all what the roles and responsibilities of the various
security agencies are? Do they carry out coordinated investigations, or
does every agency set out on its own?

Now, with the addition of the position of a
presidential adviser on terrorism, will an already chaotic set-up not
be further complicated?

What will the role of the adviser be in relation
to that of the National Security Adviser? Will there be clearly defined
reporting lines? On whose table (apart, of course, from the
president’s) will the buck stop regarding terrorism in Nigeria?

As long as these questions remain unanswered,
there is little chance that we will be able to successfully fight
terrorism. We hope President Jonathan realises that this is the perfect
opportunity for him to totally overhaul the nation’s intelligence
system and to find the training expertise and support needed to boost
its capabilities. There can be no cutting corners on the matter.

Last August the Comptroller-General of the
Nigerian Immigration Service, Rose Uzoma, convened a meeting of senior
officers of the service, and lamented, “the infiltration of weapons,
arms and ammunition through the different border posts, particularly
through the land borders.” She added, “in the interest of our national
security, all hands must be on deck to ensure that unauthorised
importation of weapons must not be permitted.”

It is rather curious to find the country’s
highest-ranking immigration service officer throwing her hands up in
frustration at the porous state of the country’s borders. But when we
recall that less than two weeks ago, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives was quoted as saying that “we are all fed up with what
is happening in Jos”, it becomes clear the extent to which despair has
gripped the country’s authorities.

In this state of despair, confusion is bound to
fester. Need we add that government confusion is the last thing a
nation at the mercy of terrorists needs?