TAMING CORRUPT POLITICIANS

Fighting corruption, which many Nigerians and foreigners agree, is the greatest obstacle to the country’s socio-economic development has never been an easy task for the government. In as much as many people would want the monster to be eradicated completely from their daily existence, forces behind it, who had sustained and continue to sustain it, seem to have vowed never to allow the country freedom from the choking grip of corruption.

During the military administration of General Muhammadu Buhari and late Tunde Idiagbon between 1983 and 1985, there was a vigorous effort to stamp out the problem. Although, the government was highly criticised for what observers described as high-handedness, there is a consensus in the country that that administration remains unbeaten when it comes to the issue of anti-corruption war.

It is on record that the problem of drug-trafficking, which the country is seriously battling to tackle at the moment, was reduced to the barest minimum during the period. Nigeria that used to be a major transit point for international hard drugs trade became unattractive for the peddlers. An average Nigerian then was conscious of the new order of discipline in the land. Many feared the consequence of been caught in corruption related affairs as there measures put in place by the government to check such move both in the public and private sectors. The famous WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE, WAI, did a lot of wonders to put Nigerians, both the high and the low on their toes.

That administration and its noble achievements was cut short by General Ibrahim Babangida, who is seeking to rule the country again 17 years after, in a coup in 1985.Since then, subsequent governments could not re-enact what the Buhari administration in the area of fighting corruption. The Abacha government tried but ended up entrenching further the culture of sleaze believed to have been incorporated by the Babangida administration.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on assuming power in 1999 realised the need to wage an all out war on corruption because of the seeming irreparable havoc it has wreaked on the country. He was widely applauded for the initiative. By the time the anti-graft war thickened; with Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as the arrow-head, many supposed untouchables had become guests at various prison yards across the country. But along the line, the administration lost track and also became enmeshed in the corruption jamboree. The president was accused of using the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to witch-hunt his political enemies, especially those opposed to his alleged ambition to go for third term in office.

Prior to the 2007 election, the agency released a list of politicians it described as corrupt and advised that political parties should not field them for any elective positions. Most of those on the list were perceived political enemies of the then president, one of whom was his Vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. While some commended the move, many criticised and described it as a desperate attempt by Obasanjo to get his pound of flesh from his opponents who destroyed his third term ambition. Although, many agree that some of the people on that list actually had questions to answer before Nigerians as to how they managed the commonwealth of the nation out in their care, the timing of the publication of their names raised a concern.

The same scenario is playing out now with the agency publishing on its website last month names of over 50 top politicians and notable businessmen it considered ineligible to participate in the forthcoming election in the country. The agency’s boss Mrs. Waziri insisted that the anti-graft agency will spare no efforts to ensure that no political party fields any of the affected persons as a candidate.

Some of the affected politicians have lashed out at the agency and the President Jonathan government. They described the action as a mark of return to the ‘witch-hunting’ days of the Obasanjo administration. But, Nigerians are quick to puncture this argument. Reason? Majority of the affected people are currently undergoing trials in the courts for offenses ranging from embezzlement to money laundering. Once they get elected, it becomes difficult to prosecute them because of the immunity clause in the constitution.

The Jonathan government should not lose track just like the Obasanjo regime in its effort to rid the country of corruption. There seem to be a perception in the nation (right or wrong) that his desperation to remain president beyond 2011 despite the zoning agreement in place is driving the EFCC action. He has actually sent out words to the EFCC not to legitimize this perception.

“As we approach the 2010 General Elections, I wish to advise that all agencies of government must moderate their public utterances and refrain from making statements likely to cause apprehension in the minds of the public that this administration is taking measures aimed at excluding some people or its perceived political opponents from the political process.
“While it is important for anti-corruption agencies to continue to pursue their statutory mandate with vigour, care must be taken to ensure that no negative feeling or perception is unwittingly created that government is complicit in any grand design or scheme to ‘witch-hunt’ people,” the country’s Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke wrote in a letter to Mrs Waziri.

By and large, the concern of Nigerians, especially the masses, is that honest, credible and trust-worthy individuals emerge as leaders after the 2011 elections so that the country can move forward and in the long run shed the toga of being one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Yes to Zoning But...!

In Nigeria today, the issue that remains in the front burner of political discourse is zoning. It has remained so controversial to the point that certain elements within the country fear if care is not taking about how the issue is being handled by different stakeholders, the country may end up fragmented. The controversies virtually took the shine off the country’s 50th independence anniversary celebration which was marked on the 1st of this month.

How did Nigeria get to this state of affairs in the first place? The answer could best be appreciated if we put the pre-1999 era before the return of democratic rule to Nigeria in proper perspective. There had been serious power tussle between the North and south, with the north having ruled the country for over three decades since independence. The only brief stint the south had in power was during the short-lived regime of General Aguiyi Ironsi in 1966 before the civil war and general Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over after the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed in an attempted coup.

Ever since, the south had never tasted power until 1993 when Earnest Shonekan was installed as an interim president by general Babangida, who was forced out after eight years in the saddle. General Sani Abacha sacked the interim government of Shonekan in less than four months and ruled till 1998 when he died in power. General Abdus Salami Abubakar eventually handed over to Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.
Prior to this, there had been serious clamour for power shift by the south who felt short-changed in the power game in the country. The result was political instability in the polity, which always made it a good opportunity for the military to strike at will.

Apparently to restore stability and importantly, preserve the unity of the entity called Nigeria, a gentleman agreement was said to have been reached by the stakeholders in the two divides to rotate the presidency among the geopolitical zones of the country. The south was handed the leadership of the country.
As an offshoot of this agreement, though not written, the ruling PDP set out in 1998 to create socio-political conditions conducive to national peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices among the diverse peoples of the country and evolving powers equitably between the Federal, State and Local Governments in the spirit of Federalism.
General Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner, ruled from 1999 to 2007 based on this zoning agreement.

Even the opposition parties adopted this arrangement. The All People’s Party, APP, (now All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP) and the Alliance for Democracy, AD, teamed up to field Chief Olu Falae, a southerner, as its presidential candidate.

When Obasanjo’s tenure ended in 2007, a northerner, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua succeeded him based on the zoning principle in the party. The opposition parties followed suit by fielding northern candidates in the election. Ordinarily, Yar’Adua would have ruled for another eight years, provided he won a second term but his death midway into the first term in June this year created an opportunity for the south to assume the country’s presidency by virtue of the fact that the Vice president came from the region and by constitutional provision he should take over.

It is expected that President Goodluck Jonathan, a beneficiary of the opportunity, would step down after completing the four year tenure of his late boss in 2011 so that another northerner could complete the remaining four years of the north’s slot. Rather, he has decided to re-contest saying that the party never zoned the presidency to the north. To him, the president can come from any part of Nigeria provided he is ready to lead the country to the Promised Land.

Pro-zoning advocates maintain that the president’s action is unacceptable and amounts to “usurping” the right of the north. In the words of the former Vice president Atiku Abubakar, Jonathan’s insistence on contesting in 2011 despite the zoning arrangement will “polarize the country.”

Adamu Ciroma, a PDP, stalwart and another pro-zoning advocate warned that failure of the party to stop Mr. Jonathan might ignite a series of events, the scope and magnitude of which he said the country can neither “proximate or contain”.

But one must at this juncture, ask this question. What have been the contributions of the past leaders to the Nigerian nation in the past 50 years? Both leaders from the north and the south! Under the northern leadership the oil boom turned to doom for the country. Under them, the country became perpetual debtors to the shylock western donor agencies. Between 1979 and 1993 corruption became firmly entrenched in the Nigerian system. Between 1985 and 1993 the country’s economy nose-dived further with the Structural Adjustment Programme of that regime.

Between 1983 and 1998 participatory democracy and human rights became a taboo in the land. Between 2007 and 2010, nothing changed except the khaki. Corruption remained endemic.Infrastructure continued deteriorating. More strikes in the educational system.

The eight years of southern leadership epitomised by General Olusegun Obasanjo fared no better. It was a continuation of the rot left by the northerners. The gulf between the rich and the poor became wider. The pump price of petrol skyrocketed. Even at a point, in what demonstrated how completely detached the leadership is from the people, the then, President Olusegun Obasanjo claimed he did not know that the price of kerosene, a household fuel of the masses, was higher than that of petrol!

The management of the economy was handed to a World Bank technocrat, who turned blind eye to the atrocities being committed by bank CEOs. The result was the near collapse of the banking system.

Under the leadership of the southerner, almost all the country’s national assets were sold out to foreigners and colleagues. Billions of dollars was invested in the power sector with nothing but more darkness as result.

Now, Jonathan, another southerner, has not made any significant changes. Rather, he is continuing in the line of his predecessors. Spending on frivolities, piling more foreign debts for the future generations and making more speeches than actions.

If we claim zoning is what will keep the country together, what kind of leaders are we going to get from the arrangement? Is it the same old hands that had contributed to the current state of affairs in the country? What Nigeria needs at this crucial point is generational shift from the recycled leaders who continue to hang on to power for selfish reasons.

Go to the north, you see poverty, disease and hopelessness roaming the streets, wining and dining with the poor while the elite revel in opulence. In the south, there is high insecurity of lives and property. Political gansterism and social malaise reign supreme.

Nigeria needs a leader that will restore its past glories. A leader that will put the country back to the world stage as the producer of almost half the world's palm oil. A leader that will restore the Northern groundnut pyramids, southern palm oil industry, rubber plantations as well as develop the educational system across board.

If zoning can provide us such a leader, let it stay if not...!

BEFORE THEY MILK NIGERIA DRY!

To say Africa’s most populous country and second largest economy, Nigeria, is heading back to perpetual economic slavery will be an understatement. It stands reason on the head how a country as richly endowed as Nigeria would be romancing foreign loans at this crucial period just few years after it came out of the choking grip of debt burden! The most disgusting aspect of this is the brazen recklessness with which the Goodluck Jonathan-led government is going about getting the loans.

Shortly after he became the acting president following the incapacitation of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Jonathan wrote the National Assembly to approve the borrowing of $915m from the World Bank. He specifically said in the letter that $179 million (N27.02bn) out of the total loan package would be utilized for the funding of the 2010 budget.
“The World Bank Portfolio of facilities totalling $915 million out of which $179 million would be drawn in fiscal 2010, is of particular essence as it would be deployed to Urban Water and Transport, Human Capacity Development and Power infrastructure projects across the country.”
His finance minister Olusegun Aganga, formerly of the Goldman Sachs, claimed otherwise stating that the loan was not meant to finance the budget but to fast-track economic development in the country and to assist some 13 states in the country to meet some developmental challenges! Despite the public criticism of the borrowing, the National Assembly gave approval for the loan, which Aganga described as “a facility obtained under concessionary terms with insignificant interest.”

While the dust is yet to settle and less than five months after the $915m “facility” craze, the president has gone back to the National Assembly requesting the legislature to approve external borrowing of $5.242 billion in addition to the present $4.2 billion foreign debt owed by the country. Nigerians should carefully monitor President Jonathan Goodluck. Few years after repaying huge foreign debts, Nigeria’s external loan is to reach $9.4 billion based on a proposed 2010 borrowing plan of the federal government.

What is worrisome is the fact that the current administration that has less than a year to spend in office is gradually taking the country back to the pre-1999 era where its debt stood at about $36bn.
The question is should the country still tread this pathway again considering its past experience on foreign debt and how it only recently got out of its crushing burden?

Nigeria borrowed less than $10 billion dollars probably with ‘insignificant interest’ then, but later coughed out $35 billion over 20 years due to ‘insignificant interest’ charges and penalty for not paying on schedule and still owed $30 billion as at 2004 and later $36 billion before receiving the debt forgiveness of $18 billion which helped in our exit from the hell of debt in 2006 under the Obasanjo administration.

More heart-breaking in the foreign debt romance of President Goodluck Jonathan is the fear that the loan may not be used for the purpose for which they are being drawn. They may end up the way of the previous ones, which impact cannot be justified in the lives of Nigerians. More so, the fact that billion of naira is currently being spent by the government on frivolities compounds the situation.

While the government claims it needs the foreign loans to finance developmental projects in the power, transport and energy sectors, the same government is spending 17 billion naira on the country’s 50th independence anniversary. The same government just approved the purchase of three new jets for the Presidential Air Fleet. The planes include a Gulfstream G550 and two new Falcon 7X Aircraft and will cost the country $154.3 million or N23.2 billion. A government that could spend millions of naira in far away London on anniversary party will have to borrow money to fund elections in less than six months. 250 million naira is already approved for the production of compendiums on Nigeria at 50. The approved compendiums, according to the government’s mouthpiece Dora Akunyili, will come in form of 20,000 copies of 800page publications and 5,000 CD ROMs. Yet there is no money to ensure power is stable, roads become motorable, security of lives and property, healthcare is accessible by all.

Curiously, in the face of the ongoing squandering of public wealth and march
towards debt slavery, the civil society groups, such as the Save Nigeria Group,
Enough is Enough and the likes who were at the forefront of the call to install
Goodluck Jonathan as acting president while former president Yar’Adua was sick,
are maintaining a deafening silence.
Is this the manifestation of ‘saving
Nigerians from cabals’ that the so called Save Nigeria Group sold to us few
months back? Enough is Enough group is not telling president Jonathan that
‘enough is enough’ of foreign loans, frivolous spending, foreign trips!

Let Nigerians speak out now before they milk the country dry and dump it once again at the abyss of debt burden. No nation prospers on debt. Goodluck to Nigeria!

OF ZONING, HYPOCRISY AND NIGERIA'S FUTURE

The 2011 general election in Africa’s most populous country and second largest economy,

Nigeria, is surely going to be decisive for the continued existence of the country as a united

entity. This is because discordant tunes now rent the air over the criteria to be used in choosing who rules the country come 2011. The zoning arrangement, which has been adopted by the ruling PDP, and indirectly by opposition parties, from all indication, will no longer be considered in the choice of who flags the party’s ticket, courtesy of vehement opposition mounted against it by people of the south-south region where President Goodluck Jonathan came from.

On the surface, the argument put forward that all Nigerians irrespective of the regions they come from should be free to contest the presidential election as stipulated in the country’s constitution seems tenable and in fact incontrovertible. However, the reality on ground is that the relative political stability Nigeria has been enjoying since 1999 when the military handed over power to civilians might not have come without the zoning arrangement, though an internal affair of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It was said to be a gentleman agreement among the powers brokers from both the North and South to have rotational presidency in order to lay to rest the constant power struggle between the two regions. It was allegedly agreed that the south have its turn from 1999 to 2007 for the north to take over till 2015.

To many observers, such an unwritten agreement, which was faithfully adhered to during the eight years of the southern rule, should also be followed even after the death of the northern President Umar Musa Yar’Adua last June. President Jonathan is not expected to run for the presidency based on the existing zoning agreement. But, the President, though yet to declare his intension, is leaving no one in doubt as to where his mind is. His moves recently suggest he is nursing the idea to take a shot at the topmost position in the country. His kinsmen have endorsed him already.

Those who say the zoning agreement had since been dumped long ago are being hypocritical. Even the main opposition parties, the ANPP and the AC embraced it in their selection of presidential candidates in the 2007 elections. They both fielded northern candidates!

The North has insisted on sticking to the zoning mechanism. While PDP governors from the south-south region are urging President Jonathan to declare for the presidency, their northern counterparts only said he had the right to contest as a Nigerian but that the zoning arrangement in the party in still in place.

What does this whole tussle amount to? In all honesty, hypocrisy is the best word to describe the unfolding scenario. The question to be asked is should somebody from the south-west come out today to contest the presidency; will the south-south sing the same song of freedom of every citizen to vie for election in the country? Of course, the answer is obvious.

President Jonathan need not say anything about his ambition to rule beyond 2011 for discerning Nigerians to expect a different pronouncement from him. While many people praised him for appointing the respect professor Attahiru Jega as the Chairman of the Independent National electoral Commission, INEC, the truth of the matter is that the move is a perfect stopper to any northerner’s ambition to contest in 2011. A northerner cannot be the electoral umpire in an election where his fellow northerners are participating!

In addition, the president’s recent tour of the country under the guise of official visits to commission projects may only be described as a popularity-testing exercise.

One is not advocating that the zoning arrangement be retained or done away with. Many democracies across the globe have evolveddifferenways of aligning the tenets and demands of democracy with their peculiar socio-political conditions. If zoning was what gave Nigeria thedemocracy and peace that it is experiencing today, why would the power brokers have to sacrifice it now, on the altar of ethnicity? Thesouth could wait till 2015 to have their turn. That is the ideal and most honourable thing to do.

If the boat is rocked now, one is afraid, once power shifts to the North in future, the south may as well bid farewell to it then. And the consequence may be dangerous for the unity of the entity called Nigeria.

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should not rock the boat even though he is having endorsement here and there. 2015 is near!

KIDNAPPERS ARE NOT GHOSTS, IGP ONOVO WAKE UP!!!

Since the news of the kidnap of four journalists in Abia state broke last Sunday, i have not stopped wondering why this criminal act is yet to be addressed by the authorities. But I am sure that when the son or daughter of Mr. President, Mr. Senate President, the IGP or that of the Abia state governor is kidnapped, the criminals will be fished out with immediate effect! Sad!

It appears kidnapping is gradually becoming one of the 'normal' abnormalities that we have accepted as part of our daily existence in Nigeria

. Soon, 'am afraid, this criminal act will no longer be viewed as criminal just like corruption is not seen as such anymore. Government officials, politicians and corporate organization CEOs dip their hands into the commonwealth of the people with brazen impunity and often times get away with it, kidnapping may also, as it is going now, reach a level where kidnappers will have their companies registered!

What I am still unable to understand is the fact that the Nigeria Police have not deem it fit to collaborate with the telecom companies, especially GSM, to trace the location of the kidnappers of these journalists. I do understand that these companies can track whatever calls made on their networks. For Instance, some Phones display the locations of subscribers as they move around, as long as the phones are on! In fact, somebody made me understand that even if the phone is switched off, they can still track it so long the SIM card is inserted. So, if this is possible, then why wasting time and making fruitless searches. We do watch hollywood films and see how criminals are apprehended through the use of phone calls!

I believe these people are not ghosts. They are humans like us.

If one may ask, how are the negotiations with the kidnappers done? Who drops the ransom money for them to pick? And again, do banks report money transfer in excess of one million naira for individuals or five million for companies, to the Central Bank, as provided by the Money Laundering Act? These guys cannot carry raw cash on the streets, they will deposit it in the banks!

If the banks do this, then suspicious transfers can be traced and those involved questioned.

The government should get serious about fighting this monster of a crime and stop sermonizing on the pages of newspapers and on the airwaves for kidnappers to desist from their criminal activities.

Journalists in Nigeria cannot be classified as belonging to the rich class. They are just doing their jobs in the best way they can despite the harsh condition that prevails everywhere. They are the most poorly paid people in the country. Expecting anything financial from them is like squeezing water from the rock!

Alhaji Wahab, Adolphus Okonkwo, Silva Okereke and Sola Oyeyipo, our hearts are with you!!!

MY TAKE!: IBB'S GAMBLE

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IBB'S GAMBLE

Nigerian former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida’s ambition to return to the Aso Rock Villa 17 years after ‘stepping aside’ generates strong opposition across the country. But, with the alleged backing of the US and other western powers, the gap-toothed general seems confident of achieving his tall ambition. Writes Sulaimon Alamutu

When General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida announced, in 1993 after much pressure from the Nigerian masses that he would be stepping aside from power, many had observed that the general was not done, yet, with the country. He was characteristically mercurial in the choice of words used in the speech he delivered before a special joint session the National Assembly in August 1993.
“Following a lengthy deliberations with my service chiefs, I offered as my own personal sacrifice to voluntarily step aside as the president and commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria.” He said
Truly, Babangida, as many had rightly noted, is proving that his stepping aside almost 17 years ago actually meant he would return one day to rule Nigeria. And that exactly is what preoccupies his mind at the moment. Early last month he declared his intension and resolve to context the 2011 presidential election in the country. Recently on BBC’s Focus on Africa programme, the former military dictator flaunted what he calls his democratic credentials to include conducting the freest and fairest election ever in the history of Nigeria. He also boasted that he could pitch his tent on any of Nigeria’s 51 political parties to realize his ambition if the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, does not give him the presidential ticket.
But Nigerians were quick to rise against what they described as another tragedy. Tragedy in the sense that it was the same IBB that rocked the boat of the country’s match to democratic independence in 1993 when he annulled the June 12 election conducted by his administration and adjudged the most freest and fairest in the history of the country by both local and international observers. This is just one out of many sins of general Babangida, which many Nigerians considered unforgiveable. He is reputed to have institutionalized corruption and the culture of looting in the country’s political system. He participated in no less than three coups before installing himself in 1985 after ousting General Muhammadu Buhari from power (He participated in the coup that brought in Buhari).
While in power, some of the policies implemented by his administration practically left the country belly-flat with the nation’s currency, the Naira, depreciating against major currencies across the world. His Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), believed to have been implemented on the advice of the IMF/World Bank, wreaked monumental havoc on the country’s economy and by extension made living conditions of Nigerians more deplorable. Inflation assumed a doomsday scenario during this period, rising from 5,4% in 1986 to 40,9% in 1989, and practically destroyed the very fabric of Nigerian society. This inflation was the principle price of Babangida's SAP measures, which include external debt management strategies, removal of subsidies on petroleum products and fertilizer, privatization and commercialization, trade liberalization, and interest rate deregulation.
The SAP-induced inflation resulted in adverse income redistribution, leading to increased personal insecurity and lessened personal satisfaction, while heightening interpersonal and institutional tensions and deterring investment and inhibited consumer spending.
Other adverse effects of Babangida’s SAP, according to John C Anyanwu in a paper titled: “President Babangida's Structural Adjustment Programme and Inflation in Nigeria,” include the depletion of external reserves; a worsening balance of payments position; the diversion of managerial talent from managing production, maintaining efficiency and innovating, in favour of manoenvring and speculation for protection against (or benefit from) inflation.
Babangida’s eight years at the helm of affairs in Africa’s most populous nation saw him become richer than many African countries with personal wealth running into billion of US dollars. Quoting from Jeffery Robinson’s book, The Sink, a renowned author and leader of World Pan-African Movement, Naiwu Osahon said, “Of the $120 billion siphoned out of the Nigerian treasury into offshore accounts by dishonest politicians, $20 billion is allegedly traceable to IBB directly as president from 1985 to 1993.” He stated further that “the World Bank and other international sources of information put his total loot from the Nigerian treasury at over $35 billion.”
According to Osahon, who wrote a piece on IBB on Saharareporters, an online investigative news media, the Gulf war oil windfall is Babangida’s often-referenced loot. He gave an insight: “Abacha set up a panel headed by the highly respected economist, Pius Okigbo, in October, 1994, to reorganize the CBN. Okigbo’s panel discovered that $12.2 billion of the $12.4 billion accruable from the Gulf War excess crude oil sales was frittered away or unaccounted for, through nebulous or phantom projects that could not be traced. Only $206 million was left in the account. According to Okigbo, “disbursements were clandestinely undertaken while the country was openly reeling with crushing external debt overhead. These represent, no matter the initial justification for creating the account, a gross abuse of public trust.”
Perhaps, what may stand as a major albatross to the self-styled evil genius’s ambition is the mystery surrounding the death of a foremost Nigerian editor, Dele Giwa, during his regime. There had been speculations that Babangida’s government had a hand in the death of Giwa, who was blasted by a parcel bomb suspected to have been delivered by agents of the administration. Late human rights lawyer and activists, Gani Fawehinmi spent many years trying to get IBB charged for the murder to no avail.
Babangida institutionalized the office of the First Lady, which was hitherto alien to the Nigerian system. Throughout the eight years his wife Maryam Babangida, now late, bestrode the country like a colossus.
With all these ‘heinous crimes’ committed against the Nigerian people by Babangida, will his ambition to rule the country again be welcome? Even with the alleged backing of his candidature by the west, this appears impossible going by the growing opposition both within and outside the country. A group called RALLY AGAINST IBB GROUP, which was formed in Italy and garnering support from Nigerians in Europe, has called for a mass rally against the move by the International Community to impose the candidature of the former military dictator on Nigeria ahead of 2011 presidential election. The group has slated 29th May 2010, as the day to rally against Babangida in Europe. The social network site, Facebook, has been awash with anti-IBB postings and many websites and blogs are springing up to campaign against him.
Professor Akin Oyebode of the University of Lagos law department describes IBB’s attempt to return to power “as a colossal assault on the national psyche.”
Another group, the National Democratic Forum, has already commenced a campaign to stop IBB from running for president in 2011.
The campaign tagged ‘Say No To IBB’, according to the National Coordinator of the forum, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, would use all legitimate means to stop Babangida from becoming the president of Nigeria.
Explaining why Nigerians should frustrate the return of Babangida, Vatsa said the eight years of military rule under the former leader was the most unfortunate moment in the nation’s history.
According to him, “It was eight years of misrule and one wonders what unfinished projects he left behind that he is seeking the means to come back and accomplish. If he was a president, as he claimed and he ruled for eight years, he has served both first and second term and has no business being there again.”
“IBB’s return to Aso Rock will be a disaster for Nigeria.” He said.
The forum held meetings with the families of some departed Nigerians such as the leader of the botched April 22, 1990 coup, Gideon Orka; Mr. Ben Ekele; late legal luminary Gani Fawehinmi; and Dele Giwa, among others, during the campaign. Orka led the coup that tried to sack Babangida’s military government.
The entry of Babangida into the presidential race this time around did not come as a surprise to many as the former military ruler had on two occasions, 2003 and 2007 eyed the topmost position only to step down in the last minutes. But now, opinions across the country suggest that Babangida got the final impetus from the support of the United States government which had allegedly sent a delegation to him on the presidential project.
Local media had reported that the recent visit of a strong US delegation to Nigeria, comprising Jonnie Carson, the country’s assistant secretary of state for African Affairs and Robin Sanders, its ambassador to Nigeria is part of the plan to draft Babangida to the 2011 race.
Quoting an unnamed source, Nigeria’s Daily Sun newspaper reported that the US has followed the political situation in the country and has come to the conclusion that Nigeria needs a president who would restore confidence and leadership. It said that many people have been considered.
According to the Sun report, Babangida eventually got endorsement after people like Mr. George Bush Snr, who was president in US when Babangida was military president in Nigeria put in words. “The Bush Snr. support, it was gathered, informed why immediate past US president, George W. Bush, wanted to meet with Babangida when he visited Nigeria for the ThisDay awards,” the Sun stated.
This surely is a big gamble given the fact that the candidature of Babangida, allegedly being backed by the United States, is not jelling well with the Nigerian populace. Observers have also opined that probably Babandgida is only using a trial balloon to test his acceptability. With an ailing president Yar’Adua that has not been seen for months and the acting president Goodluck Jonathan surreptitiously mulling a shot at the presidency, the ruling PDP foreclosing fielding any candidate from the south, the next few months will determine how realizable IBB’s ambition in the face of growing opposition against him.

CHECKING IBB THROUGH JEGA'S APPOINTMENT

one of the problems Nigeria has been having over the years is its inability to conduct credible elections. The only one acclaimed to have the highest degree of credibilty by all was held on June 12, 1993 which unfortunalety was annulled by the same military regime that conducted it. Ever since, the country has not come near such a feat owing partly to the philosophy of do-or-die politics introduced by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the desperation of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to remain in power for as long as the world exists and the growing aparthy of the Nigeria voters towards anything election.

To many Nigeria Nigerians it is worthless anf time-wasting going out to vote when the vote will not count at the end of the day. This is because in most cases the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, rather than remain independent and unbiase serves as willing tool to desperate politicians hell-bent on winning elections by all means. Little wonder that most electoral victories were upturned by the Judiciary.

Therefore when late President Yar'Adua came to power through what was generally agreed to be flawed election, which he himself admitted, he promised to undertake electoral reforms to right the wrongs of the past and make elections in the country credible and acceptable to all. His successor and former Vice, Goodluck Jonathan has keft no one in doubt as to his commitment to pursing the reforms to a logical conclusion. That is why his nomination and subsequent confirmation by the Senate of Professor attahiru Jega, former Vice Chancellor of Ado Bayero University, Kano and former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU as the new INEC chairman has recieved accolades even from the opposition.

The appointment of Jega is no doubt a morale booster for many who want to contest in the coming election as the man is seen as an upright, fortright and incorruptible individual. But on another front, it may be a smart move by President Jonathan to curtail the raging storm of General Ibrahim Babangida who is daring to return to the ASO Rock in 2011.

Jega was the leader of the leader of the ASUU in the early 90s at the peak of Babangida's dictatorship. That was the period of struggle for the emancipation of the University lecturers across the country. The condition and atmosphere of the university communities in Nigeria were terribly bad and awful. The dictatorial military regime of Babangida failed woefully to do anything about the decay in the University system in the country. Attahiru Jega gave radical leadership that fought Babangida tool and nail for the interest of the University system that was crumbling.

Even though the regime tried through many means such as proscription of ASUU, stoppage of salaries and other forms of harrassment, Attahiru Jega-led ASUU never gave up the struggle.

Going by the professor's radical background and his seeming moral credit worthiness many are of the opinion that his appointment by the president may be the right step in the direction towards ensuring a free and fair election come 2011.

But, being the first northerner to be given such sensitive appointment at this crucial time, some say, may be subtle way to curb the North from winning back power after the South had ruled for eight years. The move may be contrued to be an impetus to the much speculated agenda of President Jonathan to run as well.

Either Jonathan runs or not, the fact remains that the appointment of Attahiru Jega is a smart move to check people like IBB from coming back to power.

"I would like to be remembered as the person who led the INEC that conducted the freest, fairest and most credible election in the history of Nigeria." Attahiru Jega.

CHECKING IBB THROUGH JEGA’S APPOINTMENT