2007 is a heart-beat away. I mean, the 2007 General Elections. From all indications, none of our political leaders, especially in the elected Executive Branch, have enough confidence in their deputies to succeed them! And that is from president to governors!! Food for thought, isn't it?
We don't know if this is deliberate or coincidental. But, hey, this is bad bad news. It makes a full mockery of pupillage and mentorship. It means that we have little regard for orderly succession. Is this politics, or politricks? No matter.
In trying to remove the vice president from office for decamping from the ruling party, the PDP and their leaders must follow due process. That is, through and only at the National Assembly. Period. Not otherwise. The president and his political party simply do not have such powers as they now arrogate to themselves: to declare the post vacant or to sack the veepee. No!
If I were Nigerian leaders - political, spiritual, temporal, business, diplomatic, traditional, civil society - I will rise up to the challenge. This is the time to be real and robust. The PDP has itself not always played by the rules; it has benefited from decamping, defections, cross-carpeting, and anti-party activities at all levels since1999. Despite Supreme Court judgments, it has sought political solutions to several constitutional fiascos when it suited its leaders. Hey, they should come to equity with clean hands!
Am I suggesting political immorality, rascality or shenanigans? Hell, no! The many hell-holes and loop-holes and inconsistencies in the grundnorm must be addressed. The majority PDP-led administration had all of EIGHT years to do so, but chose not to. It suited them to exploit the huge weaknesses in the current constitution. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost!!!
Nigerian leaders need to act right away, to stop this brewing and avoidable crisis. We sure do not need it at all. Let everyone be patient and tolerant until April 2007, when we vote in new political leaders, and then we will make amends. If we didn't correct these ills since 1999 and the heavens didn't fall, we can surely wait a few months! Leave Atiku alone, please.
Let's face it: a PDP that could not muster the needed votes for the botched Third Term Agenda will never be able to do so now. It is therefore incumbent on its leaders, especially the president, to stand back from this fancy flight and simply concentrate on a successful free and fair elections in the few months ahead. President Obasanjo should throw his considerable official weight and boundless energy behind the wobbling/faltering voters registration exercise - which is now running Nigerians really mad, and smelling like a huge political catastrophe-in-the-making!
If I were Nigerian leaders, I will work with our president, and help the PDP, make our civilian to civilian political transition a huge success. Let's leave Vice President Atiku Abubakar alone. We have had, and have tolerated, so many constitutional breaches in this dispensation. Let's learn from the Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, whose deputy is also contesting on a rival party's ticket. He says let it be! The same is happening in Jigawa State, where both the ruling PDP and the opposition are mutually benefiting! So, why not at the presidency? Simply ignore it, or use the proverbial political. It's only a few months! Hey, aren't we living with worse things in other spheres right now??? We called them "the learning process"!!! No matter.
Closing advice for the ruling party: Be careful what you wish. It may happen! If the veepee wins in this avoidable battle, many of your hurt and disgruntled aspirants from the recent primaries will jump ship - unless you do have some special (EFCC?) hold on them!! So, folks, be very very careful.
Pray, President Olusegun Obasanjo and PDP Chairman Ahmadu Ali have to save us all any further heating up of our polity.
Let our leaders join the duo, TODAY, to bring us peace.
Yes, PEACE.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
If I Were Niger Delta Leaders (1)
As we move inexorably towards the 2007 Elections, all bets are now off. The politics of issues and ideas must be forced to the fore. The best way to prosecute this is through special interest groups and pragmatic negotiations. It will be rough and tough, because our politicians are quite crafty and shifty. Many are corrupt, many corruptible. But this is the golden opportunity, now that we know them and their antics, their weaknesses.
First, is to ascertain and aggregate the power of your block-votes as well as the field of political parties. Second, is to survey the sea of contestants/aspirants as well as their temperament for social and economic justice - a thorough review of their pedigree/antecedence. Then, you invite them for dialogue....and a deal. Do so openly, transparently...and a touch of ceremony!
Leaders of our region must rise up to the challenge this time. If I were them, I will draw up a "Contract with the Niger Delta People" which will contain the needs and aspirations of the zone, and demand specific acts and actions across the board. This will be multi-tiered and multiplex, disaggregated/delineated according to office sought, and timelined. It will be heavily canvassed to individuals and parties alike. "If you want our vote, no matter your party, sign on"! The people of the region deserve to get fair-minded and empathetic politicians on their side. So, we must help install them in office...and hold them accountable thereafter.
If and when this is done, the scramble will be instant and contagious. It is a strategic medicine for an old and neglected ill.
Embrace.
First, is to ascertain and aggregate the power of your block-votes as well as the field of political parties. Second, is to survey the sea of contestants/aspirants as well as their temperament for social and economic justice - a thorough review of their pedigree/antecedence. Then, you invite them for dialogue....and a deal. Do so openly, transparently...and a touch of ceremony!
Leaders of our region must rise up to the challenge this time. If I were them, I will draw up a "Contract with the Niger Delta People" which will contain the needs and aspirations of the zone, and demand specific acts and actions across the board. This will be multi-tiered and multiplex, disaggregated/delineated according to office sought, and timelined. It will be heavily canvassed to individuals and parties alike. "If you want our vote, no matter your party, sign on"! The people of the region deserve to get fair-minded and empathetic politicians on their side. So, we must help install them in office...and hold them accountable thereafter.
If and when this is done, the scramble will be instant and contagious. It is a strategic medicine for an old and neglected ill.
Embrace.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
If I Were President (The Madiba) Nelson Mandela
Africa is now at a cross-roads! We can make a complete and confounding positive turnaround or head totally in the opposite direction - depending on what the current crop of leaders choose to do and/or not do. It is that simple, and that tricky! If I were Nelson Mandela, retired president of South Africa, elder statesman, crusading icon, moral barometer and African legend, I will now step in because I do KNOW the dangers, and have always embraced the golden duty to do good.
And here is why: The creeping intolerance, sit-tight tendencies, merciless looting, hounding of all and any opponents, the crude use of power and debasement of democracy make the story of our political leadership and national development on this continent a sorry tale indeed. And we must worry. The statistics and indicators are not good at all. We must all worry. If I were President Mandela, I will be "The Chief of all Worriers"!
Not total woes, though. Two recent meetings on the continent's future give us great hope: The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing and the Africa-South America Summit in Abuja are very promising. They can help us achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, faster. They can also move us into solid sustainable development realms within a decade. And that is both the real promise and the lurking problem! Which is why we need Madiba...now. We must use WHO we have to get and gain WHAT we need/want!
Pa Mandela should summon ALL African leaders to Pretoria immediately, and help us BEG them to give our continent and race the right leadership, the undiluted loyal service, the honour of creation by which we be the "Cradle of Humanity/Humankind", the glory of our rich heritage, and the beauty of our deserved destiny...so that the African Renaissance may become the solid reality we have been yearning and striving for. Papa should also BEG/ASK all our long-serving leaders to kindly step down through immediate systematic and credible democratic transition.
They should all be gunning for world acclaim and our gratitudes, including honours like that of the recently-endowed Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Prize plus the verdict of posterity.
Why Mandela? Because he has done exactly what I ask him to extract from our leaders. Hey, why not Mandela? Is it for nothing that Time Magazine honoured him among the 60 Heroes of our time, in its 60th Anniversary Issue (November 13, 2006).......saying, "with Mandela, and because of Mandela, no noble cause is unachievable"! The tribute was penned, for Time, by Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer - the man who helped persuade G8 countries to increase debt relief and aid for Africa, and the Prime Minister-in-waiting!!
Papa, I beg o....ACT fast!
And here is why: The creeping intolerance, sit-tight tendencies, merciless looting, hounding of all and any opponents, the crude use of power and debasement of democracy make the story of our political leadership and national development on this continent a sorry tale indeed. And we must worry. The statistics and indicators are not good at all. We must all worry. If I were President Mandela, I will be "The Chief of all Worriers"!
Not total woes, though. Two recent meetings on the continent's future give us great hope: The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing and the Africa-South America Summit in Abuja are very promising. They can help us achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, faster. They can also move us into solid sustainable development realms within a decade. And that is both the real promise and the lurking problem! Which is why we need Madiba...now. We must use WHO we have to get and gain WHAT we need/want!
Pa Mandela should summon ALL African leaders to Pretoria immediately, and help us BEG them to give our continent and race the right leadership, the undiluted loyal service, the honour of creation by which we be the "Cradle of Humanity/Humankind", the glory of our rich heritage, and the beauty of our deserved destiny...so that the African Renaissance may become the solid reality we have been yearning and striving for. Papa should also BEG/ASK all our long-serving leaders to kindly step down through immediate systematic and credible democratic transition.
They should all be gunning for world acclaim and our gratitudes, including honours like that of the recently-endowed Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Prize plus the verdict of posterity.
Why Mandela? Because he has done exactly what I ask him to extract from our leaders. Hey, why not Mandela? Is it for nothing that Time Magazine honoured him among the 60 Heroes of our time, in its 60th Anniversary Issue (November 13, 2006).......saying, "with Mandela, and because of Mandela, no noble cause is unachievable"! The tribute was penned, for Time, by Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer - the man who helped persuade G8 countries to increase debt relief and aid for Africa, and the Prime Minister-in-waiting!!
Papa, I beg o....ACT fast!
If I Were President (Papa) Jacques Chirac
Papa is our endearing title for ELDERS here in my part of the world. For President Jacques Chirac of France, it is time to serve our recommendations...on his future role(s) as an elder statesman. If I were Papa Chirac, I would ensure that I help France to elect the best leader to succeed me. One who will best heal the nation and lead the country into the 21st century, as a key EU player and a responsible and proud world power. Nothing will better serve the land that gave him ...so much! That done, he can retire in deserved honour.
To achieve this feat calls for a level-playing field for all contestants in the next elections. He must play the role of "Father of the Nation" in this regard. He should not contest as is being speculated. This is the right time to bow out in humility and good grace. 2007 is it.
In retirement, Monsieur Chirac should take up the leadership mantle of "Chief Crusader for Organic Foods & Drinks". He is eminently qualified and suited to succeed.
My recommendations are based on his global stature plus the French legendary taste for good food and excellent wine. He has lived across many decades, has a great spouse and can guide us all on this issue. To do so now will truly help our world. We need to retreat from junk foods and unhealthy drinks. He should teach us some elegance-in-wellness. The world must return to nature, and natural ways. We need to do so TODAY!
Let President Chirac look forward to an exciting future in this area, and join the same global stage where upon President Bill Clinton serves now ...in glory, and to warm acclaim.
If I were Papa Jacques Chirac, I will use the fertile lands of Africa to jump-start the crusade. This will be a well-deserved payback to the ever-loyal and long-suffering FRANCOPHONIE. And it will be so very sweet indeed!
To achieve this feat calls for a level-playing field for all contestants in the next elections. He must play the role of "Father of the Nation" in this regard. He should not contest as is being speculated. This is the right time to bow out in humility and good grace. 2007 is it.
In retirement, Monsieur Chirac should take up the leadership mantle of "Chief Crusader for Organic Foods & Drinks". He is eminently qualified and suited to succeed.
My recommendations are based on his global stature plus the French legendary taste for good food and excellent wine. He has lived across many decades, has a great spouse and can guide us all on this issue. To do so now will truly help our world. We need to retreat from junk foods and unhealthy drinks. He should teach us some elegance-in-wellness. The world must return to nature, and natural ways. We need to do so TODAY!
Let President Chirac look forward to an exciting future in this area, and join the same global stage where upon President Bill Clinton serves now ...in glory, and to warm acclaim.
If I were Papa Jacques Chirac, I will use the fertile lands of Africa to jump-start the crusade. This will be a well-deserved payback to the ever-loyal and long-suffering FRANCOPHONIE. And it will be so very sweet indeed!
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