When the Chinese want to curse you they say “May you live in interesting times,” or some words to that effect. It is hard, if not impossible, to dispute the fact that these are indeed interesting times in Nigeria, as in much of the world, where impunity seems to have become the bye-word for politics.
Politicians everywhere lie a lot and all too often try to cut corners. But in few countries, if any, do they do so with so much impunity as in Nigeria. Worse still, ours seems to be a country where not only does impunity, by definition, attract no punishment but, on the contrary, is even rewarded.
Which explains why a top police officer would abuse his uniform, as Joseph Mbu did during his long tour as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State – there he once, for example, stopped the governor from driving into his residence through a particular route at the behest of the First Lady – and a short spell at the Federal Capital Territory where he once illegally tried to stop a demonstration for which he was rightly denounced by the Inspector General at the time, Mohammed Abubakar, and yet get promoted instead of getting sacked.
This also explains why, now as Assistant Inspector General of Police based in Lagos, Mbu had the nerve to instruct his men to kill 20 civilians for every policeman killed in the event of a breakdown of law and order in the March and April general elections. Happily he has since been quickly denounced once again by his boss, this time Suleiman Abba. Sadly, however, he still remains in his post, and for all you know, may be the next Inspector General, given his purported intimacy with the powers that be in Abuja.
This level of impunity in the country also explains how a governor-elect would invade the sacred chambers of a court room in his state with a mob, tear court papers and even rough up of a judge, all in a bid to stop the hearing of a petition against his election, and all you get from all three arms of government, the desecrated Judiciary in particular, is pin-drop silence.
It is the same high level of impunity which explains why the authorities in Abuja would give conflicting and hardly tenable excuses for shifting of the dates of this year’s general elections. First they said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not ready because it had not distributed enough permanent voters’ cards (PVCs). But when it transpired that INEC had distributed more cards than the average turn-out at Nigeria’s elections since the very first one, they resorted to the bogey of insecurity even though the role of the armed forces has always been the secondary one of last resort in case of serious breakdown of law and order during elections.
And now that all but few Nigerians have their PVCs, INEC is being told to allow the use of temporary voters’ cards in a situation where card readers, as a great check against impersonation and rigging, can only read PVCs. Clearly, someone, somewhere, is frightened that for once he would not be able to write results of elections as he has been used to.
One can go on and on with even more telling examples about why these are indeed interesting times in Nigeria, but AIG Mbu, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and the conflicting explanations by the authorities in Abuja for postponing our elections are sufficient evidence that the country has indeed been labouring under a curse.
And what is true of the country seems to be perhaps even more so of one of its 36 constituent units – Niger State, my home state.
Nearly one a half year ago, on October 9, 2013 to be precise, I speculated on the outcome of this year’s governorship election in the state on these pages. My reference point was a full page advert in Daily Trust which tried to promote the prospects of the deputy governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto. I said then that Ibeto’s chances of even winning his ruling party’s governorship ticket were slim and his chances of winning the election itself even slimmer, in case he proved me wrong about his chances of clinching the PDP governorship ticket.
“Chances are,” I concluded in the piece, “the next governor of Niger State may be Abubakar Sani Bello.”
Since that piece, for which I was widely denounced by friends and foes alike, Bello, the son of Colonel Sani Bello, a former military governor of Kano State and a business mogul from Kontagora, has clinched the governorship ticket of All Progressive Congress and, from all indications, the governorship of the state is his to lose.
However, even in my wildest imagination I never thought Ibeto would lose his party’s ticket to someone who, until he was foisted on the party by Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, was virtually an unknown quantity in the politics of my state, except, of course, for the fact that he is the son of a prominent member of the so-called “Bida Mafia” namely, the Class of ’62 of Government College, Bida, which has produced possibly the single largest number of army generals in Nigeria, including former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and former head of state, General Abubakar Abdulsalami – incidentally, the father in law of Bello. Col Bello, the father, was also a member of the class.
When I wrote my piece in question, I never, again in my wildest imagination, thought that the relationship between Aliyu and Ibeto would deteriorate to the extent that it has, with Ibeto decamping to APC in frustration and his boss ejecting him from executive council meeting last month and going over his head this month to appoint the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly as acting governor for a period of 10 days while he was away on Umra, the lesser Hajj.
Governor Aliyu has laboured hard to defend his moves against his deputy but, as is usual when people attempt to defend the indefensible, he and his men have been giving conflicting reasons. In any case, before he moved against his deputy, the governor had given his word that he would never allow his deputy’s defection affect their official relationship. This probably explains why his spirited denial of media reports that he recently said there is no morality in politics has met with widespread skepticism, even cynicism, from the public.
When the governor announced Umaru Nasko, the son of Major-General Muhammadu Gado Nasko, a former military governor and minister of FCT, as his preferred successor, there was widespread consternation in the state, not least even among its elite. This was first, on account of Nasko Jr’s short-lived and mixed record of public service as a commissioner in the state, and second, on account of unflattering gossips about his rather exuberant lifestyle. Such was the depth of consternation in the state that even his father initially objected to the governor’s intentions of anointing his son as governor.
However, in the end blood proved thicker than principle – the principle that merit rather than mere pedigree should be the overriding factor in determining who leads society. Here, it must be said that General Babangida deserves fulsome praise for firmly keeping his son, Mohammed, out of the race, essentially on account of the son’s perceived lack of experience in public service.
What now remains to be seen is whether Governor Aliyu will realize his wish to be succeeded by someone whose main qualification is that he will ask few questions, if any, about the last eight years of virtual stagnation, if not decay, in the state, to put it nicely.
Given the justly angry mood in the state against the incumbent, as in the entire country against the president – coupled with the fact that the courts on January 30 nullified the election of Dr Nuhu Zagbayi, the PDP candidate widely regarded as the governor’s proxy in the bye-election which followed the death of Dahiru Awaisu as senator of the governor’s senatorial district, and awarded same to David Umaru, the governor’s APC rival in the March 28 election – it is highly unlikely that the governor will realize his wish.
As I said nearly 18 months ago, chances are that Niger State’s governor on May 29 will be Abubakar Sani Bello – for better or for worse.
Re: Unlearn lesson of “June 12”
Sir,
With due respect to an eminent columnist, the title of your column (of February 18) should have been “The unlearned lesson of “June 12” not “unlearn.”
+2348053215757.
Sir,
You had nothing to say today (February18) and even simple caption was “unlearnt” (not unlearn).
+2348038720742.
Both readers are right on account of the title. It was an inexcusable slip.
MH.
Sir,
In your column of today (February 18) you inadvertently referred to NRC as the National Republican Party instead of National Republican Convention.
Sa’idu Liman,
+2348036220413.
Sir,
Have you ever tasted alcohol or perhaps got drunk on it? Please go ahead and indulge yourself on a bottle of wine – you will discover why it is difficult for our leaders to learn from “June 12”.
- Banjo,
+2348033192254.
Sir,
It is now evidently clear that Jonathan plans to use the army to rig the polls as in Ekitigate and damn the consequences. The recent attack on OBJ by DHQ points to that and Jonathan’s kinsman is COAS. The polls postponement is to perfect this strategy.
+2348075476140.
