The recent comment credited to the former president on the health of President Yar’adua during the Trust dialogue and the eventual unguarded utterances of his stooge, Dora Akunyili, buttressed my point. The absence of the president for a lengthy period of time without notice should in every democracy ordinarily, in respect of the circumstances, attracted comments and opposition, but the way and manner the whole quandary was managed by the politicians, print media, the Obasanjo clique, the pro Yar’adua cabal, the civil society groups, the religious bodies, the Judiciary, the National Assembly, and the Federal Executive Council, had exposed the fragility, weaknesses, and palpable division along ethnic, religious and regional line of our country. This is indeed a very dangerous omen for the most populous black nation on earth. My heart bleeds when I wake up every day and read any piece written on the state of our nation.
Nigerians loathe the way the presidency managed the secrecy of Yar’adua’s health issue, with its avoidable logjams if all publically consumable information on the state of his health is made available. Now the polity is unnecessarily overheated, the selfish ones in the corridor of power and the so-called king makers engage in the battle of supremacy, all at the detriments of pauperizing a populace who cannot even enjoy the meagre 6000 MW of electricity promised to them by this administration or the three square meals that become a mirage, with incessant ethnic and religious cleansing that is repeatedly swept under the carpet of history and the perpetrators going Scot free without being held to account for their vile deeds, as if human lives mean nothing to our leaders.
No thanks to the imprudent, unpopular and undemocratic decision of rotational presidency by the People Democratic Party (PDP). Leadership position in a civilized democracy is open to everybody at all times based on one’s competence, ability, honesty, intelligence and charisma, etc. But since the return to civil rule in 1999, after the protracted military rule, appointments having been made base on regional, religious or ethnic considerations, which grossly negate the basic tenets of democracy and smudges its beauty. The appointments under both Obasanjo and Yar’adua administration reflect who is in charge and which region or religion is in control of the presidency. This is dangerous and in the not so distant future will spell doom for our nation.
If at all we choose to continue as a nation, then we have to be meticulous and exercise restraints in the way we approach, manage and react to national issues. For how long shall we continue to be a lame duck and a toothless bull dog in the comity of nations, in spite of our God given favorable condition with no history of natural calamity like the ones that engulfed Haiti and Chile, coupled with our human and natural resource, enough to take us to the Promised Land. The crisis of leadership bedeviling our society has made some disgruntled elements to start making a quest to dislodge the weak and none performing PDP- controlled administration. Those visible cracks, on the wall of the Nigerian State, threatening our corporate coexistence, due to poor political arrangement by some handful of selfish elites in PDP, must be stopped by enthroning a true democracy devoid of ethnic or religious divide and agenda. It is only when this is done that the eventual disintegration of this country can be avoided.
Ibrahim Ribwan Ayagi writes from NO 157A, Ayagi Quarters, Kano [email protected]
