By AbdulRahman Agboola
The year 2014 has witnessed series of technical and tacit maneuver by political gladiators switching allegiance and cross carpeting from one political party to the other. Whether justifiable or not, the trend of dumping a political party for another has dominated the present Republic led by President Goodluck Jonathan. The trend shows the ruling party’s desperation to hoodwink the opposition to do the bidding of President Jonathan.
Mr President has coerced many Nigerians to support his continuity bid and the PDP has offered her platform for the dubious task even without scrutiny and compliance with the norms of the party. Notwithstanding the misinterpretation of our Constitution by PDP on tenure of office, the reality remains that President Jonathan succeeded late President Yar’Adua in 2010 for a first term and succeeded himself in 2011 which translates to a second term and his current bid to succeed himself again in 2015 is a rape of our constitution which allows a president to take an oath of office just twice.
Power of victory is vested with the electorate but the society is rewarded by what it breeds. Our society today has bred young people without ideological leanings or principles on the ideals of governance; Nigeria has a vast population of misguided youths deeply involved in heinous criminal activities. Many youths are willing tools in the hands of demagogues and retrogressive political class who engage them to propagate falsehood and blackmail against progressive inclinations.
When the deadly Ebola Virus broke months ago in Lagos state, the federal government quickly declared a national emergency against the disease while Lagos State Government spent millions of naira to tackle and curb its spread. Mr President did not see any wisdom in visiting Lagos state or applaud their efforts but Mr President hastily visited Prophet TB Joshua to commiserate with him over the Synagogue building collapse in Lagos.
In spite of the insurgency that has engulfed the North-east, President Jonathan is yet to stop the killings of innocent Nigerians under his nose against all appeals, he has concentrated on actions capable of heating up the polity with his campaign strategies. Mr President has watched his assigned aides and non-state actors labeling the opposition party an Islamic Party.
In the interest of our dear nation, ethnic and religious sentiments must be downplayed. While some elected officers on PDP platform decamped to APC; elected APC officers, APGA and Labour Party have equally decamped to PDP. As the cross carpeting favoured the interest of President Jonathan, he openly welcomed them to PDP even at a wrong place like the Presidential Villa without clamping down on them for abandoning their former party for PDP but Mr President has never hidden his disdain for those that decamped from PDP to APC.
When you withdraw the security aides to an elected officer, you have simply wished the officer death by exposing him to insecurity. Mr President seems to lack the good conscience to be regarded as a leader and his latest onslaught against Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal must not go unaddressed. The Inspector General of Police erred in the withdrawal of the security aides of the speaker after his decamping from PDP to APC in the power game at fore in the country today.
The silence of Mr President on the matter and the antics of PDP leaders against Tambuwal means the action of the speaker hit PDP below the belt which is a good omen for the common people of Nigeria. PDP has won all presidential elections since 1999 whether sincerely or crookedly, but because the opposition does not have any member in authority at the federal level since 1999 it has found it very difficult to check the fraudulent tendencies of PDP. The presidency and PDP are rattled by the decamping of the speaker to APC for the edge it gives the opposition party to defeat PDP at the presidential election. In 2007 Presidential Election, it was reported that 60% of the ballot papers required for the polls did not arrive the country from South Africa until after the elections were concluded but INEC announced results that captured over 70% voters’ turnout.
In 2011 presidential election, figures were conjured for President Jonathan in the South-east and South-south at variance with the true result of the elections in the regions. I would have simply dispelled this as a fabrication but the total numbers of votes recorded at the keenly contested governorship elections in the regions among parties show about 40% upwards at the presidential election which confirms the sham.
With the decamping of the 4th Citizen, it will be difficult for PDP to manipulate the presidential election as usual with the in-depth understanding of the game plans of PDP by the speaker which is the source of apprehension by PDP and President Jonathan. In the second republic, Speaker of House of Representatives was from minority party. The rules of House of Representatives permit the actions of the speaker and as such the efforts of Mr President are a nullity.
Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives has been desecrated by the withdrawal of his security and the meddlesomeness of President Jonathan in the green chamber. The Inspector General of Police, Sulaiman Abba, must ensure the safety and security Tambuwal, restore his security immediately and concentrate on reforming the poorly motivated Nigeria Police Force.
With the condemnation that has greeted the rude action of IGP and the ongoing appraisal of the scenario among political activists, I will not be surprised of a mass action in support of the speaker in the couple of days. It is our collective responsibility to protect the speaker against the machination of those trying to derail the cause of good governance in Nigeria.
Comrade Agboola is National Coordinator, Mass Action for Good Governance and Grassroots Development in Nigeria. Email: [email protected] (08032813279)