Metuh Calls On Nigerians To Revolt Against Buhari’s Alleged Disdain For Judiciary
National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh has asked Nigerians to rise up and resist the alleged total disdain with which President Muhammadu Buhari has been treating the nation’s laws and judicial institutions before it festers.
“This extremely shocking dictatorial tendency being brazenly exhibited by the President in total disdain for our laws and judicial institutions portends great danger for our democracy and constitutionally-guaranteed rights of the people, and should be resisted by the citizens before it festers.”
Metuh reacted, through a statement he issued today, to the Presidential media chat by President Buhari, on Television and Radio stations yesterday.
Metuh said that President Buhari’s responses at the Presidential Media Chat were not only embarrassing but also further exposed his undemocratic character as an unrepentant tyrant who has no regard for the rule of law and the self-worth of Nigerian citizens.
The PDP spokesman said that the President confirmed his partisanship in the much-vaunted war against corruption by openly absolving his ministers and party members of corrupt practices.
“Whilst we restate our respect for the person and office of the President, we note that President Buhari bared his true colours to the world as an unrepentant tyrant. Today, the world is no longer in doubt as to who is behind the prevailing recklessness, abuse of rights of citizens and outright flouting of judicial pronouncements by security agencies.
“A situation where the President openly pronounced persons facing trial guilty and sanctioned their continued incarceration despite being granted bail by the courts, presents a dangerous fascist practice obtainable only in totalitarian societies like Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Idi Amin’s Uganda and General Than Shwe’s Burma.
“The scorn for the principle of separation of powers, especially the independence of the legislature, is further manifested in the declared craving to regulate the funding and running of the National Assembly, a matter constitutionally vested outside the jurisdiction of the executive. We are most uncomfortable about his attempt at trying to whip up public sentiments against an independent arm of government, especially the one vested with the constitutional power of appropriation.
“Following from the foregoing, therefore, it may be necessary to suspend the application of our Constitution and allow the President to operate as maximum ruler for four years after which the nation can return to a democracy.
“On the issue of the Chibok girls, President Buhari’s embarrassing declaration of seeking information on the whereabouts and state of the girls betrays an obvious insincerity which is in total conflict with his campaign promises in that regard. Thus by this declaration, our dear President has accepted failure on this issue and should therefore apologise to Nigerians for all the insults, abuse and aspersions cast on the past administration by himself and the leadership of his political party.
“On the issue of devaluation of the naira, there is an obvious conflict between the budget speech wherein the president stated that the government is assessing the foreign exchange rate with a view to attracting foreign investments and his categorical pronouncement during the media chat that the naira would not be devalued. “We invite Nigerians to note that the president obviously does not understand the currency that applies in the devaluation of the naira (laugh out loud).
“Furthermore, Nigerians were shocked by the President’s labeling Nigerians as ‘very difficult lot’ while responding to questions on the strategy to be adopted in implementing his promised N5,000 social welfare package.
“This unhealthy portrayal of the citizens by the very father of the nation, who has remained unrelenting in de-marketing his country through unguarded statements, is indeed a great disservice to Nigeria and its international image. Consequently, we reject this negative labeling of our citizens and reiterate our confidence in them, especially the millions who remain honest, hardworking and credible.
“Finally, Nigerians must take copious note of the fact that the President gave no inspiring answers to questions pertaining to his campaign promises, the fight against insurgency and rescue of the Chibok girls, the poor state of the naira, sudden plunging of the economy under his watch, and the gradual loss of democratic rights and freedom.”
This was even as the PDP acting national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus said that President Buhari is on vengeance mission by using the anti-corruption war as a vendetta against members of PDP and associates.
He said in a statement that the President’s target is to harass and intimidate members of the opposition with his anti-corruption war.
The acting national chairman asked Nigerians in this new year to remain focused and not be despaired even as he accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of feeding Nigerians with false propaganda and that it is not prepared for governance.
“Nigerians have watched in bewilderment as the so called change agenda of the APC has deepened the socio-economic problems in the country instead of building on the successes bequeathed to them by the PDP.”
Secondus reminded Nigerians about APC,s electioneering propaganda, which demonized the PDP and its achievements in government and even went ahead to make gargantuan promises to the Nigerian people.
“Today the APC has governed for seven months and PDP can confidently say without any fear of contradiction that the APC was not prepared for governance. The APC is just a gang-up of aggrieved people to take over the relms of power.
“To date, APC does not have a CLEAR AGENDA as to how to bring about the change they promised. As a result, Nigerians have seen the APC for all it is worth, ‘an ill prepared party with an ill prepared agenda for governance.’
“Nigerians have seen the chaotic situation at hand orchestrated by the incoherent policy initiatives of APC led government. Yes, this is the reality we face.
“From the confusion in the subsidy question to the insurgency conundrum. From the discredited anti-corruption fight to the confusion in the government’s economic policy!
“Yet the government has by its own acts of omission and commission presented itself as non-inclusive and sectional.
“Consequently, we are now faced with worsening fuel crisis; free fall of the naira; job losses; worsening insurgency; the Shiite/military clash; renewed Biafran agitation and general insecurity.
“In the middle of all this, it is clear that the APC government is pursuing a one -party state agenda considering its inordinate schemes to ‘take over’ PDP controlled states.
“To worsen this state of misgovernance, the only active policy of this government, the anti-corruption fight, is being mismanaged. The PDP supports this policy wholeheartedly because it is fundamental to our drive towards national development as a country. But it becomes counter productive if it is pursued without following the rule of law and at the same time selectively targeting members of the opposition party.
“For instance, some former PDP members who defected to the APC few months ago, some of them, former governors, who were indicted in their states, are not being investigated. Rather, they are appointed into cabinet positions.”
The PDP chairman said that Nigerians have become despondent as they asked in dismay, “IS THE APC ON A VENGEANCE MISSION?”
He however advised that Nigerians must not lose hope “as we boldly march into 2016,” saying: “we must repose our faith in God, the only one that can guide the leadership of this country to take actions that would genuinely correct past mistakes, rebuild our economy, give all Nigerians a sense of belonging and secure our country.
“Our prayer is that in 2016 Nigerians will live in peace, love and brotherhood and would be alive to their citizenship responsibility of engaging the government so that it can work for national reconciliation, reconstruction and development.
“The PDP will be at the vanguard of this movement. We are already reforming our Party in order to put us in good stead to play this role effectively.” [myad]
The Military, ‘Zaria Massacre’ And Defective Federation, By Chido Onumah
In a country where truth is a scarce commodity and where impunity (whether by state or non-state actors) is the norm, it will be difficult to know exactly what happened in Zaria on December 12, 2015. Since nobody takes responsibility for anything in Nigeria, that egregious crime – committed by both parties – will go unpunished.
Of course, there will be an enquiry, perhaps a white paper, and that will be the end of the story; well, until the next crisis.
It is not for nothing that events like the “Zaria Massacre” have become a dominant feature of our socio-political life. To understand that event, we must understand the psychology of the Nigerian military which explains its actions since 1999 – whether in Odi, Zaki Biam, Gbaramatu or other internal theatres of war it has been pre-occupied with in the last 16 years.
So, how did we get here? The Nigerian state has been essentially a military state since 1966. Nothing has changed; never mind the fact that the country returned to civilian rule in 1999. The 1999 constitution that passes for the supreme law of the federal republic – just like that of 1989 and 1979 before it – is a military decree writ large! The inheritors of the military-induced transition of 1999 didn’t see – neither were they interested in seeing – the constitution they were inheriting. They were too eager to move the country forward, to borrow their clichéd expression, to see that the road to their inheritance was laden with booby-traps. Even when it was clear, the desire not to be left out of the gravy train of national despoliation was too much of a temptation to resist.
Even though the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal republic, there is no effective civilian control over the military enshrined in the constitution or any other law of the country. For almost five decades since it first emerged on the national scene, the military with the support of its civilian collaborators has managed to contrive a nation in its own image and it doesn’t want to let go. One glaring example of this is the continuous ugly spectacle of military officers still featuring as ADCs, standing like zombies behind our elected presidents at every public function. This can only happen in the kind sham democracy that Nigeria and some other African countries practice.
Unfortunately, ours is not a political but a deeply politicized military, often reserving loyalty not to the Nigerian state but to the ruling party. It was the late military leader of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, who once remarked that, “A soldier without any political or ideological training is a potential criminal.” If Nigeria had a political or ideological military, the country would not be in the sorry state it is today. With all due respect to our gallant men and women of the armed forces, the Nigerian military, as an institution, has done more than any other group to destroy the social fabric of this country. Whether we are talking about the desecration of our democracy, undermining the rule of law, making corruption the national ethos or creating structures that weaken the principle of federalism on which this country was founded, our military is complicit in what Nigeria, a country full of potential, has become.
Yet, it is ironic that the military has put itself in a position that it has become the bastion of our unity, the perfector of our national dreams and aspirations. We may not like it, but that is the reality. Clearly, that is why the military gets away with murder every time it assaults our national psyche by its overbearing presence. Evidently, the only way the military can sustain the defective structural template it has created which is set to consume all of us is through force.
The action of the IMN and the attendant “massacre” is, therefore, understandable if not excusable. The IMN has been described as an “armed” group that sees itself as being above the laws of the land; the military says the attack on the group was carried out according to “rules of engagement” (rules of engagement in a war or civil disturbance?) and the president described the tragedy as a “military affair”. He is right. It is in the character of the Nigerian state, a state that has lost the capacity to self-correct.
But it didn’t start today. This phenomenon is rooted in corruption which has weakened the social fabric of the country; but more important, it is the fallout of the structural dysfunction engineered and sustained by the military. For Nigeria, the chickens have come home to roost. After five decades of military-inspired malfeasance, including the orchestrated destruction of the principles of federalism, it is clear that we need to go back to the drawing board.
The impunity that is on display in Nigeria today, whether by the IMN and similar organisations or the military, can’t simply be wished away. The Nigerian state has long abdicated its responsibilities to citizens. Of course, with that abdication comes utter contempt for everything the state stands for. Quality public education, health, basic infrastructure and security of life have all disappeared. It is only natural, therefore, that Nigerians have shifted their allegiance from the state to religious groups and all manner of contrivances that have provided them succor.
The Nigerian state has all but collapsed, often inducing violent self-help and pockets of states within the state. Much of this is attributable to corruption, the erosion of the productive relationship between the central government and the federating units in a federation and of course the unholy alliance between the state and religion manifested, for example, in the state’s support for pilgrims, building of religious institutions, patronizing so-called imams and pastors for special prayers and affiliation to religious groupings, undermining the secularity of the Nigerian state.
Expectedly, this alliance finds expression in politics since whoever controls power, particularly at the centre, also controls how the asymmetric relationship between various religious groups in the country is defined. Prayers have become central to state functions in Nigeria. Public offices have become extensions of worship centres. If the president/governor is a Muslim, the vice president/deputy governor necessarily has to be a Christian and vice versa.
In May 2013, Premium Times reported that Niger State “subsidized” pilgrims to Mecca and Jerusalem in six years to the tune of N5.1 billion. Add another billion to cover the fraud that will trail the process, that would amount to an average of N1 billion a year. In defence of that mindless waste of public fund, the then governor, the chief servant, Babangida Aliyu, noted that, “it was the only benefit residents were getting from government.” According to figures by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the internally generated revenue (IGR) for Niger State in 2014 was N5.7 billion. Imagine that Niger State has to depend on its IGR to sustain the state, chances are that it wouldn’t spend N1 billion a year to “subsidize” pilgrims. It would be interesting to know how much the state spends a year on primary education and primary healthcare.
Today, religious institutions and groups of every hue hold us hostage and there is no recourse. I agree with the notion that violent religious extremism of any kind is the greatest existential threat not just to Nigeria but to the rest of the world. While it is true, in some cases, that the internal schism within religious groups can lead to violence that threatens us all, the lethal cocktail of state and religion in Nigeria has ensured that this schism plays out in the political arena.
For me, the carnage notwithstanding, the most troubling aspect of the “Zaria Massacre” was listening to our military high command pontificate about its commitment to keep Nigeria united; “one Nigeria; one destiny,” as they described it. By its admission, the military is saying Nigeria is a country at war with itself if every civil disturbance must warrant military intervention. But let us not forget for once that the military brought us to this sad end.
So, how do we build a nation not held together by military force? Nigeria is sleepwalking to disaster. Now is the time to reclaim the country and the starting point would be to put in place a people’s constitution that not only serves the interest of the mass of our people but advances the principles of federalism.
That is the only way to save Nigeria and put an end to the messiah complex of the Nigerian military.
conumah@hotmail.com; Follow me on Twitter @conumah
This piece is excerpted from a forthcoming book: We are all Biafrans: A participant-observers interventions in a country sleep-walking to disaster. [myad]