Ordinarily, who becomes the chairperson of a non-statutory organization like the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(N.G.F) should not evoke any public commentaries, because, it does not confer on who becomes the Chairperson, any usufructuary benefits. But in a country like Nigeria, given the antecedence of the past weeks, one is tempted to contribute to this concurrent diatribe and show case how morally bankrupt Nigeria’s political leadership and society had become. We as a nation, had regressed geometrically, almost approaching the point of no redemption in our moral values as a nation.
Trying to recap the events leading to the NGF’s election and the aftermath of a predictive suspension of the governor and all legislators of the People Democratic party, who stood on the side of democracy, but a remote controlled executive of the People Democratic party (P.D.P). One thing remains clear, like Prof Wole Soyinka once said when asked if he would contest to become president of Nigeria, he replied that he does not have the “temperament” to participate in Nigerian brand politicking.
Some Scholars have opined that, too many years of military regime in succession, have greatly impacted on our national psyche to the point that,we as Nigerians acknowledge the show and use of brazen or brute force as part of national life and means of achieving any purpose. Clearly, this”Nigerian disease” gets infused in the mainstream of many of our leaders, who prefers trickery to transparency. We most times deceive ourselves when we hope that the future generation, would fare better! Far from that deception because the new generation,are witness to this unwholesome corruption process which in many cases, begins from the family strata, where parents encourage bribery, corruption to get their children good placement in universities, primary or secondary school or even jobs. This vicious circle would for ever continue because, the family is the microcosm of the larger society, even our campuses of higher learning reflects the values of what goes on. We exert external influence and corruption in student governing council elections/leadership. We have universities Vice-Chancellors, exercising pseudo-military powers and authority over who heads the student body, yet not too many find or see anything wrong with that.
I undertook this long analogy to buttress the point that, a seeming insignificant N.G.F election, has being brought to national focus to expose the morally bankrupt political mechanism in this country. Many civilized democracy have such informal gathering which is used to compare notes and seek bi-lateral cooperation with one another. First, it started with the creation of PDP governors forum, absolutely nothing wrong with the formation of that body. What is however wrong with as per the ongoing imbroglio, is that, it’s creating was aimed at thwarting the “alleged” political aspiration of River’s State governor. Be that as it may,the choice of and alleged involvement of the president in choosing His Excellency Godswill Akpabio is rather a justification that corruption is endorsed as official policy of the administration. For those who may question this reasoning, please take a moment to watch the you-tube video in which, a governor in a democratic country admitted to rigging a senatorial election, who knows what else he had rigged?
The most shocking and disgusting of it all in this saga, is that an Executive governor of a State in a democratic country have integrity to the wind in utmost disregard to how the nation will perceive them. It clearly shows that, and i believe most Nigerians know that, most political leaders are not elected , but selected into office. We the voters have encouraged that and keep on encouraging it. Where the Governors are scared to openly take a stand on a simple issue like electing a forum leader is scary for our nation.
When i read this morning that the P.D.P had suspended the Governor of Rivers State pursuant to whatever party regulation, most Nigerians anticipated that as part of a grand orchestrated plan of events to happen. Predictably, the next move would be to hire hoodlums to create chaos and paid sycophants will urge the president to declare or impeach Governor Rotimi Ameachi and his supporters, who also will be suspended from the P.D.P. How possible is it for the media and police to acknowledge the presence of a protest rally in Port Harcourt by an ex-militant ? laughable as it may, Ex-Militant position is now given credence by a desperate political administration.
Our media unfortunately many have become infested with the Nigerian virus and have blinded their eyes to precedent issues like the need to address electoral succession in this country. Our neighbors like Ghana , have since zoom past us. We have a President who missed his chance to give a speech at the last African Union event and yet nobody is asking the question of why and how, somebody and everybody needs an answer rather that expend resources on ousting the outcome of a non-statutory governors forum. This who saga is a test for our democracy and the defining the job function of the president and state governor in a federal system. It seems to me that, we are operating a central system of government that Late Ironsi the Head of State got killed for, but we project that we practice federalism. If is is truly federal system, then, let the system truly work.
