Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

THE was a physician, who knew her onions. She proved this by  the way she handled what has  now come to  be known as the index Ebola case. Through the yeoman effort of the late Dr Stella Adadevoh,  the index case, the late Patrick Sawyer, was not allowed to slip away into  the night to spread the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). As we said here a couple of weeks ago, the late Liberian-American, who brought Ebola here from his country had evil intentions.

It was as if the late Dr Adadevoh knew what the late Sawyer was up to. Call it instinct or what, she refused to discharge him despite pressure to do so and by that singular action, she saved countless lives.  The late Dr Adadevoh knew that a walking Sawyer on the streets of Nigeria would be sowing  dead and destruction. So, she was resolute that she would not discharge him. Those who wanted the late Sawyer discharged  may have  even attempted to bribe her to look the other way in their desperate bid to spirit him out of the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, Lagos.

Since many have the erroneous belief that with money you can get any Nigerian to do anything, including selling  his or her conscience, the late Sawyer and his  friends would have been disappointed by the late Dr Adadevoh’s resistance. Just imagine what would have happened if the late Sawyer had been allowed to leave hospital in his condition. With what we have been experiencing since his death on July 25, we would have been confronted with an epidemic, the kind of which had not been witnessed since Ebola first hit the tiny countries of Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. We were saved from that epidemic by the late Dr Adadevoh.

If she had not stood her ground, I shudder over what we would be going through today. This woman of courage, this woman of character, this woman of valour, this uncommon human specie died on August 19 after battling the same ailment she saved millions of her compatriots from contracting by stopping the late Sawyer from spreading the deadly virus. The late Dr Adadedoh did what many of us  wouldn’t have done if we were in her shoes. In a society where people believe so much in money and influence peddling, the late Sawyer and his cohorts would have had their way with a covetous Nigerian. That is just the truth.

We were simply lucky that they met an Adadevoh, a woman, who was more than a match for their wily ways. Those who wanted the late Sawyer out of the hospital at all costs under the guise that he had a conference to attend in Calabar, the Cross River State capital,  knew that he was terribly ill and yet wanted him discharged under such condition. To be discharged so that he could go and die ‘peacefully’ at home or what? To be discharged so that he could go about spreading the deadly virus that he knowingly brought into our country? I just don’t understand why they were so desperate to get him out of hospital in that condition.

The more I think about this sad episode, the more I feel pained because it was a deliberate act of man’s inhumanity to man. The late Sawyer, we have not been told otherwise, was not possessed.  I want to believe that he was also in full control of his faculties, except if they had been damaged by Ebola, which he contracted before leaving Monrovia, the Liberian capital.  We have heard different stories about what he did for a living. Some said he worked in a mining firm; others said he was a diplomat, citing the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol officer, who came to receive him on arrival in Nigeria on July 20 to support their position. That protocol officer has since died of Ebola after being infected by the late Sawyer.

Before coming here, the late Sawyer was in a good frame of mind except, of course,  for his illness. He was mentally alert and was said to have avoided contact with people at the airport in Lome, the Togolese capital.   Did the illness make him lose his senses to the extent that he forgot he should not come in contact with people when he got here? The late Sawyer knew how gravely ill he was and this was why he sneaked out of Monrovia to come here through Lome.  I still don’t understand why he did what he did to us? Was he sent? Who sent him?

These are the posers we must unravel after we must have put behind us this Ebola saga. Thank God that Sawyer died before he could spread the virus further than he did. We owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr Adadevoh for saving our country from being sunk by Ebola. We are eternally grateful to her. How can we leave out the illustrious Adadevoh family in all this? Without the family, there would not have been the late doctor. My heart goes out to this family, which has through its late daughter showed us what it is to be a patriot.

Patriotism is not by words of mouth; it comes by our actions, which will speak louder than any voice. The late Dr Adadevoh rose when it mattered most for her country and through her efforts she saved over 160 million Nigerians from the risk of dying of Ebola. For her country, she gave her life. What will you give for your country? Instead of giving, aren’t our  leaders  stealing the country blind? They loot and loot and loot and stash fortunes abroad. Money meant for healthcare delivery finds its way into their pockets, while they go abroad on medical expedition.

It is not all about our leaders alone. We as followers also have a role to play  in making our country better by following the path beaten by the  late Dr Adadevoh. We owe her big time. She deserves a monument in her memory so that generations unborn will know of her noble deed. Here was a Stella Adadevoh! When  comes such another?

They are never in short supply for those who need their service. Sycophants are always there for the picking of  those in power. Their tribe is so large that you do not need much to get them to do your bidding. They are 10 for N1 or even cheaper than that depending on your bargaining power. At times, you may not need to pay them, just give them food  and booze and the job is done.

To the larger society, sycophants constitute a nuisance, but to those who use them, they are the best thing to ever happen to mankind.  Those in power like to be surrounded by sycophants while at the same time   pretending that they do not have need for such people. Sycophants thrive on mischief.  They deceive a leader into believing that he is the all-in-all; that there is no other person like him and that without him the country would go burst. The late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, was made to believe that without him, Nigeria will crumble. But, 16 years after his death, Nigeria is standing gidigba.

Since we like those who massage  our egos,  leaders generally  are easily taken in by such talks. When they hear such statements, their heads swell and  they  grin from ear to ear, while asking : ”is that so?”  Of course, the response is usually : ”it is so,  your excellency,  without you, there will be no Nigeria. So, you must remain in office forever”. These sycophants, these friends of  any government in power are at it again. They have started playing on the intelligence of President Goodluck Jonathan just  as they did to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former military president Gen Ibrahim Babaginda and the late Gen Abacha, among others.

Last Saturday, a group, the Transformation Agenda of Nigeria (TAN), kicked off its campaign to get the President to declare his second term ambition. It is not  a hidden fact that Jonathan is interested  in a second term. Want to bet? He will run for election  next year. If he does not run, I will go into exile, to borrow the words of those who in the past prevailed on some of our past leaders to run or they will become citizens of other countries if those leaders did not heed their call.

Knowing that Jonathan will run next year whether heavens fall or not, TAN does not need to go into all these pains to organise rallies to beg him to do so. It reminds one of the rallies held all over the country in the Abacha days by one misguided youth called Daniel Kanu. Where is he now? Despite his father’s stupendous wealth, the boy was misled into dipping his hands into a matter bigger than him. No wonder, he ended up the way he did. Kanu was used by politicians, who stood to gain from his ill-conceived project.

The Youth Earnestly Ask for  Abacha (YEAA) so-called one-million man march in Abuja was well funded from within and outside government.  The five  existing parties then also urged the late Gen Abacha to  transmute from a military to a civilian leader to prevent Nigeria from collapse. What a cheek!  All the  parties adopted him as their consensus candidate even when he did not indicate interest in the post  nor was he a  card carrying member of any of the parties. No doubt, Kanu was suffering from youthful exuberance, but what  do we say of the old men and women who saw nothing wrong in picking the late Abacha as their parties’ standard bearer despite not being their member. That was how low we sunk as a nation under his administration.

TAN is following that path. The only difference is that  Jonathan is a politician, who is interested in running, while the late Abacha was a general, who was interested in running but could not come out to declare his intention. He preferred to do it through proxies like Kanu, the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Congress for Nigeria Citizen (CNC), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), which were the parties in existence then. Of the lot, GDM tried to stand its ground but its voice could not be heard in the cacophony created by the other parties and Kanu that were hell bent on installing the late Abacha as president.

We are walking the same road again with TAN’s planned  pro-Jonathan  rallies, the first of which was held in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last Saturday for the Southeast zone.  The next stop is this Saturday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital for the Southwest. The Southsouth edition will hold on August 30 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.  Minna, Niger State (Northcentral) – September 9; Gombe (Northeast) – September 20 and Kano (Northwest) – September 27. Without doubt, TAN has the government’s  backing  in engaging in this shenanigan. The group has the right to drum support for whoever it believes should lead the country, but it should be mindful of public sensibilities.

Is the group reading the mood of the nation at all? Is this the time to embark on such a sensitive  campaign? The man at the centre of it all knows the implication of taking such a step at a time like this, hence he has kept mute on his ambition, to his apparent discomfiture. There is nothing the President may  desire most at this time than to tell the whole world that he is contesting next year’s  election, but his hands are tied by the problems besetting  the country. Although he fixed  this year for his declaration, he knows that it is inauspicious to make such a declaration now.

What will he say to make Nigerians buy into the Jonathan-for-another-term project if he declares now with the prevailing insecurity and the yet to be rescued  over 200 abducted Chibok girls, who have been in captivity since April 14, among others?  What will he say are his achievements since he mounted  the saddle in 2010, following the death of former President Umaru Yar’ Adua? Only a president without a heart will make such a declaration at a period like this. Do not get me wrong, if Jonathan wishes to declare, he is free to do so, but he should do  first things first. Let him bring back the Chibok girls and make the country safe, then he may remain in office for life, if he so wishes!

It is a shame that TAN and its
backers, including the gover
nors and top government functionaries that  attended its Awka  rally last Saturday could lend themselves to such nonsense. Has the quest for power made them to lose their sense of reason? Is being in power more important to them than  the unity of Nigeria? It is a shame that those among them that we hold in high esteem could stoop so low. And for us to have ever thought that these were respectable people. Huh! Do they think it was appropriate to be part of such campaign at this period? If their children were among the abducted  Chibok  girls will they be out in the street campaigning for second term for Jonathan?

Why are they doing this? The answer is obvious, they want to remain in the good books of Jonathan, who is just waiting for the right time to tell us that he will run in 2015. Our security agencies saw nothing wrong in the pro-Jonathan rally; they even provided security for the organisers. Will they act  the same way  if some other people organise an anti-Jonathan rally? If they disperse such a rally,  they will be  indirectly  telling Nigerians that they, too, are for Jonathan. We are told that the hood does not make the monk. How true. In truth, Jonathan does not need TAN or any amorphous group for that matter to do what he already has in mind – run for a second term.

It is as clear as daylight, Jonathan will run in 2015, whether or not TAN and other  related  groups, goad him to do so.

THE world is  at war. Before you say the  Third World War!,  let me quickly add that it is not a war between nations, but a war by man to save himself from extinction. It is  a war to save the human race from being wiped out by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which hereinafter shall be referred to as Ebola.  Until a few days ago, Ebola seemed so  distant  from us.  It was something  we heard about in  other countries.

To the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea (DRC), Zaire, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola is not something strange. They have been living with the deadly virus, which has killed hundreds of people in those countries for years. Ebola kills within the twinkling of an eye if the victim does not pay attention to his health in good time. It can kill as fast as within three to 21 days.

Ebola took the world like a storm in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in Nzara, Sudan and Yambuku, DRC. Yambuku is close to the Ebola River from which the disease got its name. These countries still experience seasonal outbreaks of Ebola, the latest of which has spread to Nigeria, Spain and the United States (U.S). Ebola was imported into Nigeria on July 20 by a Liberian, the late Patrick Sawyer, who flew in through Lome, Togo, to evade being stopped at his home country’s airport since he knew he was an endangered specie.

The late Sawyer, who was also an American citizen,  deliberately brought the disease to Nigeria. We do not need to be diplomatic in expressing our feelings over  this matter; I believe we should say it as it is because the late Sawyer did not mean well for this country by travelling down here in his endangered  state.  It was sheer wickedness for him to have done that.

He knew that he had Ebola and was therefore, literally,  carrying death in his luggage.  He knew that he was not supposed to travel in that condition, yet he did. He knew that he should not have contact with people, yet he sat comfortably with others in the plane.   The late Sawyer, as an  educated man, knew all these, yet his conscience did  not prick him.

What is so important about the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conference he was coming to attend in Calabar, the Cross River State, that he sneaked out of  Monrovia, the Liberian capital, for in his killer state?  We have not been told the whole truth about how he left Liberia.

Through his despicable act, over 160 million Nigerians are today at risk of Ebola. Anywhere you turn today, the fear of Ebola is palpable.  The young and the old have nothing else to discuss, but Ebola – and its cure(s). This is why we have heard of the bitter cola and salt water therapies, among others.

These therapies are no match for Ebola, experts have said. Despite experts’ advice, I can boldly say here  that many will not report to hospital if they take ill, but will try out  these therapies first before going to the hospital as last resort. That is the way we are as Nigerians. But for the sake of our families and neighbours, this is the time for us all to, more than before,  be our brother’s keeper. Let us report all known cases of ill health before they get out of hand. By so doing, we will be saving lives and will not be carrying death all over the place like the late Sawyer.

Through the late Sawyer’s inhuman act, we have lost a nurse, while a doctor, another nurse and others who had primary contact with him are in hospital for Ebola infection. These people contracted the disease while trying to save his life when he was rushed to the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, Lagos, last July 20. They were infected in line of duty by a patient, who knew what he was suffering from, but intentionally kept quite. What a callous and cruel act. Scores of others also came in contact with him at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos from where he was rushed to the hospital.

He has endangered the lives of all these people who did not know that he had Ebola and were genuinely helping a man who they saw was ill. It is so painful that our people showed him so much care in order to save his life, but in  the end got what they never bargained for. Since the Liberian government knew about the late Sawyer’s status why did it allow him to leave the country for Nigeria?  I do not buy the argument that he ‘escaped’. How  could he have escaped if he was in isolation. The thing is that the government left the late Sawyer  to his own devices  despite being aware that he lost a sister to Ebola.

If other countries allow Ebola victims to leave their shores, where will the world be today? Ebola cases will abound all over the place with the risk of the entire world being wiped out. But the late Sawyer’s evil  plan was not against the world but against Nigeria. But he forgot that Ebola knows no boundary once a victim is let loose like the way he sneaked out of his country to  come to  Nigeria where  he died on July 25. There was nothing for the late Sawyer to come and pick here. So, he should have remained in his country to manage his ailment. And who knows, he might have survived if he did not take up the additional burden of travelling in that his very weak and sick state.

We have an emergency on our hands as the government has noted. People who caught  the virus in line of duty should not be abandoned to their fate. This is not a job hazard that they should be left to bear alone.  There are job hazards and there are job hazards, but this  hazard is a different one entirely.  Although the government has risen to the challenge so far, more still has to be done.The government must ensure adequate  protection of health, airport, Customs, Immigration and allied workers if we are serious about containing Ebola. These are the people that will do the job and if there is no protection for them, they may abandon work  and we all know what that means.  The late Sawyer put us through all this stress because of his evil intentions. Why did such an urbane man behave that way?

This is why I agree with President Goodluck Jonathan that the late Sawyer was a ”mad man”. If he was not mad, he would not have brought Ebola here and kept mute when he fell seriously ill.   If he was not mad,  he would have  opened up at the hospital   when his condition worsened that ”look this is what I may be suffering from having lost a sister to Ebola”.  Our people say the dead does not shield himself from those that will bury him. At that point there was nothing for him to hide again.  If he had no ulterior motive that was what he should have done as a gentleman. My fear is that those who came with him from Liberia for the Calabar conference are on the loose.  If they have the virus, they might have infected other participants without knowing.

The problem is how do we trace these people and  those  they came in contact with. We have a hell of a problem on our hands. Because of the callousness  of one man, a nation of over 160 million people is being threatened to be wiped out  by Ebola. If this is the intention of the late Sawyer and his collaborators, they will not succeed. Nigeria will overcome Ebola, come what may.

UNDER the Constitution, the legislature is empowered to check the executive, just as the judiciary is there to ensure that these two institutions do not misuse their powers. In this wise, the National and state assemblies have the powers to deal with the president and governors if they misbehave. Such misbehaviour, the Constitution notes, must be fundamental  to warrant initiating their  impeachment.

In the past 15 years of democratic rule, we have witnessed the impeachment of some governors. In some instances, the process was faulty and it was reversed by the court. The impeachment of then  Governors Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Joshua Dariye (Plateau) and Peter Obi (Anambra) was quashed by the court because their  Houses of Assembly abused the process.

To achieve their aim of removing the governors, the lawmakers were found to have gone too far. They sat either outside their states or at ungodly hours when the stipulated time for sitting is 9a.m. How do you explain a House of Assembly sitting at 3a.m., or 4a.m., all in its bid to impeach a governor? This is the sort of things we have been witnessing  under this dispensation and they were rampant  during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure.

Despite his own serial breaches of the Constitution, former President Obasanjo survived eight years in office because the National Assembly was too timid to move against him. The impeachment of a president is not as easy as that of a governor. Where only the House of Assembly can decide the fate of a governor, the Senate and House of Representatives must concur to impeach the president. So, removing the president will be an uphill task where both Chambers of the National Assembly do not agree.

What counted in Obasanjo’s favour is also playing to the advantage of President Goodluck Jonathan, who despite his claim to being soft, has done what tough  leaders like Gen Yakubu Gowon,  Obasanjo, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Gen Ibrahim Babangida and Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar could not do in their own time. Although moves were made by some members of the House of Representatives few months ago  to make the President answer for some of his misdemeanour they were not enough to rattle him.

But, then impeachment is not a piece of cake as 24 members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly have come to realise. About two weeks ago, the Assembly initiated the  impeachment of  Governor Tanko Al-Makura, for you guessed right, alleged  gross misconduct. The Constitution stipulates that a governor can be removed on the grounds of gross misconduct and it  defines  what amounts to gross misconduct under Section 188 (11) thus : ”Gross misconduct means a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution or a misconduct of such nature as amounts in the opinion of the House of Assembly to gross misconduct”.  To suit their  case, many of the Houses of Assembly prefer to use their own opinion of what amounts to gross misconduct and drop the constitutional definition of it which is ”a grave violation or breach of the provisions of this Constitution”.

It is easier for the lawmakers to get a governor using their own definition of  gross misconduct because they and only they know what they are looking for. A governor can only escape their wrath if he is lucky to be cleared by the panel that investigates him. In many cases, the panel, which is expected to be non-partisan and independent, dances to the lawmakers’  tune. I do not know the hold they have over these panels, which according to the Constitution, are set up by Chief Judges at the instance of the Speaker.

To me, the panel is the linchpin in the process. Despite the much touted power of the Assembly to remove a governor, it cannot exercise that power if the panel does not give it the go ahead. The Assembly’s impeachment  power may have been deliberately  curtailed by framers of the Constitution, who in their wisdom brought in the investigative panel to check the lawmakers’ excesses. The panel may have been introduced to stop the lawmakers from being the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge in their own case.

Let us look at the Nasarawa scenario again. If the lawmakers, who were the accusers  had also  been the investigators, Al-Makura would have been removed by now. Unfortunately, some panels do not know the power they wield in this impeachment business. Many of them prefer to go with the lawmakers without looking carefully into the allegations levelled against the governor. They seem to have made up their minds from the outset that the governor is guilty and so rule without considering the merit or otherwise of the case against him.

The Constitution allows the panel three months to do its job and this provision may have been adopted to ensure thoroughness in the process. Many of the panels are nothing but thorough. They do a shoddy job without being mindful of their place in history. Many governors have been sacrificed on the altar of our lawmakers’ greed.  It is refreshing that Al-Makura’s case did not go the way the lawmakers expected. They were determined to remove the governor for no just cause,  but failed in their mission because of the investigative panel’s  vigilance.

The lawmakers saw the handwriting on the wall after the Chief Judge, Justice Suleiman Dikko, constituted the seven-man panel headed by Yusuf Shehu Usman. They claimed that the panel members were members of political parties and asked Justice Dikko to disband it. Of course,  the judge ignored them because having set up the panel he had become functus officio (i.e performed his official duty) and could no longer interfere  with the panel. On Tuesday, the panel cleared Al-Makura, who appeared before it on Monday to defend himself.

His accusers, the lawmakers,  stayed away that day, only to put up a ”protest  appearance”  through their counsel, Ocha Ulegede, on Tuesday. The lawyer  said his clients had no confidence in the panel, claiming that two of the panellist  were Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members,  four, All Progressives Congress (APC) members and the last, a worker of the State Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board. The lawmakers’ allegations cannot be taken at their face value. They must substantiate their claim  because in law ”he who alleges must prove”. Without such proof, their allegations would remain what they are, mere  allegations.

For once, let these lawmakers stew in their own juice. ”He who digs a pit”, the scripture says, ”will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back to him”. Let them stop whining and face the job of lawmaking because the panel  has spoken and, according to the Constitution vide Section 188 (8),  ”where the panel reports to the House of Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter”.

But, will they let go? Your guess is as good as mine.

AT times like these we need to sit back and take another look at ourselves and our country. What is really happening with things going topsy-turvy? Is it a sign of the coming to pass of  the doomsday prediction that Nigeria will break up in 2015? I fear for our country. The way things are going leave room for  nothing to cheer about.

Nigeria is in crisis, deep crisis; and the earlier our leaders realise this fact the better for us all. There is no need to paper over the cracks as if all is well. Eventhough I hate to say this, the truth is that all is not well with our dear country. How I wished things were not like this. Instead of looking for solution to the problem, things are being compounded by those at the helm.

To President Goodluck Jonathan and his loyalists, everything  are fine.  But they know that they are living a lie and they want to hoodwink the citizenry  to join their club. That certainly, is not possible.  To a large  extent, the Presidency is part of the problem; so,  it cannot be trusted to find the solution.  Why are things the way they are? Is it because of the impending elections in which the President is much  interested but has yet to declare his intention?

I fear for our country because the polity is being needlessly overheated. If they are not taking on the media; they are descending on the opposition or critics.  The government will not admit it, but there is no way it can exonerate itself from the prevailing crisis. In a democracy, there is bound to be this kind of problem, with people agreeing to disagree.

This is the beauty of democracy, but when things start to get out of hand well-meaning people are expected to intervene before the country descends into anarchy. We have seen the way the Presidency has been using  the federal might to suppress individuals and institutions –  for no just cause. Is it wrong to disagree with,  or criticise,  the President?

From the look of things, it seems it has become a sin to be critical of Jonathan or not to belong to the same party with him. Look at the way he has been treating Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).   Former Adamawa State Governor Muritala Nyako, who defected along with them got the ultimate treatment last week–he was impeached-, with soldiers standing nearby while the panel, which probed him, and the House of Assembly, which carried out the dirty job, sat. The House has the right to impeach him, no doubt, but what is wrong is for the lawmakers to be teleguided in carrying out their constitutional duty.

Like governors, the President too is not immune to impeachment. His own fate lies with the National Assembly. So, impeachment is not a tool open to only Houses of Assembly. Those who are gloating over Nyako’s fall need to be reminded of the noise they made when some members of the National Assembly threatened to take similar step against Jonathan some months ago. Or, have they forgotten so soon?  Let them rejoice less over Nyako’s downfall, which will certainly not be the end of his political career.

As for Amaechi, there is nothing the Presidency has not done to get him out.   Notwithstanding the failure of the plots so far,  eternal vigilance remains the price Amaechi has to pay to keep his job until the expiration of his tenure in May, next year. Kwankwaso,  especially,  has been the butt of vitriolic attacks by the Presidency and he has often paid back in kind to show that he is not afraid of any federal might. Even House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal is not spared. He is viewed with suspicion in the Presidency and as such, he is kept at arm’s length.

They have also tried all tricks in the book to get him removed as Speaker, but failed. A few weeks ago, they tried to embarrass him by stopping his vehicle for a search in Kaduna. Yet, our President portrays himself as meek; someone who cannot hurt a fly. If things are like this under a so-called meek  President, what will they be like under a brutal leader?  Even in the Second Republic things were not as bad as these before the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo raised the alarm in a letter to former President Shehu Shagari.

”There”, he wrote,  ”is a frightful danger ahead visible for those who care and are patriotic enough to look beyond their narrow self interest. Our ship of state is fast approaching a huge rock, and unless you, as chief helmsman, quickly rise to the occasion and courageously steer the ship away from its present course, it shall hit the rock. And the inescapable  consequence will be an inescapable disaster such as is  rare in the annals of man”. The Shagari administration ignored the warning to the nation’s  peril.

The Jonathan presidency appears to be treading the same path. The president has received similar letters from two elderstatesmen, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Maitama Sule. In his letter, which content he divulged to reporters on Monday, Sule said : ”I wrote to the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and the President, telling them about the prevailing situation. I also pointed out that if President Goodluck Jonathan doesn’t stop it, we would have disastrous consequences. The situation in the country is so bad, but I believe what we should do is to get together and tell one another the truth – let us agree to accommodate our differences and put Nigeria above personal interest”.

Gen Buhari’s letter  drew the President’s ire  as Awo’s  did to Shagari in 1981 because it contained some bitter truths. Just as Awo did 33 years ago, Buhari warned : ”The dangerous clouds are beginning to gather and the vultures are circling. Let no one, whether the leader or the led, the high or the low, a member of the ruling or the opposition, do anything to torpedo the system. Let no one, whether on the altar of personal ambition or pretension to higher patriotic tendencies, do anything that can detonate the keg of gunpowder on which the nation is sitting. Our nation has suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes”.

The Presidency did not find Buhari’s intervention funny and as usual it resorted to name calling and abuses instead of replying him, as lawyers would say,  on points of fact and rest its case. The truth is that if the Buhari/Idiagbon regime  had succeeded in bringing back the late Umaru Dikko in a crate in 1984, politicians of his hue would have learnt a big lesson, and who knows we may not find ourselves in the mess the Jonathan administration  has plunged us into today.

May I commend the immortal words of the late American clergyman, James Freeman Clarke, to President Jonathan : ”A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman , of the next generation”. It is left to the President to make his choice – will he be a politician or a statesman?