"...Saturday’s election was "a charade" said EU observers Nigerians must resist the "wholescale fraud" of Saturday's presidential elections, an opposition alliance says..."
This kind of unconstitutional call by the opposition should not be heeded, it is not needed. There exist channels to address the grievance of the opposition. Those channels are yet, but need, to be exhausted by the opposition. The citizens, on their part, should wait and see the outcome of that (constitutionally - pursuing the complaint of the opposition via the election tribunals). The opposition are no match for the brute strength of the Nigerian state, one of the worlds leading oil producers. Should such unconstitutional call be heeded the impact on the economy will be far from trifling, I can assure you of that. Equally, the government, instead of changing course, will be spurred into taking ever more repressive counter-measures, obliterating fundamental civil rights on the ground that it will be dealing with an unconstitutionally inspired conspiracy to overthrow the state.
The citizens, government and opposition should be united and working for the unity of the greatest continent on the planet. The potential is clear for all to see. South Africa is the worlds leading supplier of GOLD, coupled with Nigeria being a leading oil producer etc...Africa, undoubtedly, is the fortress of black power.
The most important message is that we should not forget that there are a lot of states and international institutions out there, whose future/continued-existence and immense success would depend on the continued failure of Africa and its greatest states.
Hence, the aggrieved should resort to the tribunals in accordance with the constitution. Whatever may be the pronouncement by the final arbiter in the matter, it had better be accepted.
However, there remains a caveat which I consider quite ambivalent: recalling the judgment handed down yesterday in favour of Atiku, by the Supreme Court. What will happen were Yaradua to die, a day after Jonathan Goodluck defects to the AC or ANPP? Now, the most crucial inference that I can draw from that judgment, and others, secured hitherto by Atiku, is I think that the opposition may have the last laugh recalling the case of the republican George W. Bush and democrat Al Gore?
Could this be the much talked about impending implosion? What have we learnt from years of military rule? Look at the state of the African continent?
LOL! Yeah green revolution does sound like something to do with global warming. Anyway moving on and not to sound like the odd one out, but we could all just watch and see what Yar'adua would do in the first 4 yrs - we never know, he might just surprise us all. All the talking and EU/US involvement is just for show, they do not care who is in there as long as they are getting some of that black gold, its just to show the rest of the world that " at least we said something" we all know nothing would happen and he is just as sure the next president. I would rather he is than Buhari or Atiku to be honest. Siddon look is my stance, he may just surprise us all, matter of fact I can see him doing the direct opposite of wat OBJ wants him in there for...he has a mystery to him that I can sense. But there has been talk about him not living past his 6th month, am I the only one that has read about that? Shoot! Everyone is weighing in, pastors, evangelist, babalawo, etc. Siddon Look...
Thanks for this post. The issue of a ‘green revolution’ and whether Nigerians should take to the streets in protest has been on my mind.
On the one hand, I am all for ‘revolution’ in principle. The elections were farcical. Not only is Yaradua’s legitimacy weak, but so is the legitimacy of so many other ‘leaders’ that were ‘elected’ over the consecutive Saturdays.
Yet, I don’t want violence which it seems any type of ‘revolution’ would descend to in Nigeria.
Yesterday I spoke to a wonderful Nigerian grandmother (i.e. my mum) who said (and I paraphrase)– ‘Why should we accept this? Last election, there was massive rigging and we said we’d accept the results for the sake of peace and here we are again, except this time it’s much worse. We shouldn’t accept this mass rigging’. (And I thought I was the pro-revolutionary one in the family!)
Said Nigerian grandmother has a point. She’s seen it all before, not just in 2003, but in 1966, our previous attempt at civilian to civilian handover which ended in a coup and then civil war. When will it end? And is it about time that Nigerians said ‘Enough is enough’?
I wonder what we need to do to ensure that the freedom we have to vote in Nigeria allows us to actually vote and see the results of our vote reflected in our political representatives. In 1966, this was not the case - rigging. In 2003, this was not the case - rigging. In 2007 this is still not the case-rigging. How long do we continue to accept this trend before we say ‘Enough is enough’?
may I add that the current political system is a recent transplant and we have had little experience of representative democracy. Representative institutions were introduced by the British and French very late and this has never operated without interference by the military. The regimes we have been used to date back to independence - they too were authoritarian in which governors and their officials wielded immense personal power. Traditions of autocratic governance are embedded in the institutions inherited from the military and it will take some time and patience to dismantle these.
Imagine a variety of different people, with different languages and at different stages of political and social development, sorted into tribes (states) and each tribe under a different governor (master).
Notwithstanding the existence of certain schools of thought that believe we require revolutionary violence to throw off the shackles of yesterday - a violent overthrow of the current system, I am sure the notion of violence is nothing but a potpourri of vague romantic ideas lacking all coherence.
I think Nigeria needs to define its ideaological stance.
10 comments:
Green Revolution? That sounds like a programme Obasanjo spearheaded when he was Head of State in the 70s.
I think that says enough about if it would work or not.
Nigerians ain't bovvered.
"...Saturday’s election was "a charade" said EU observers
Nigerians must resist the "wholescale fraud" of Saturday's presidential elections, an opposition alliance says..."
This kind of unconstitutional call by the opposition should not be heeded, it is not needed. There exist channels to address the grievance of the opposition. Those channels are yet, but need, to be exhausted by the opposition. The citizens, on their part, should wait and see the outcome of that (constitutionally - pursuing the complaint of the opposition via the election tribunals). The opposition are no match for the brute strength of the Nigerian state, one of the worlds leading oil producers. Should such unconstitutional call be heeded the impact on the economy will be far from trifling, I can assure you of that. Equally, the government, instead of changing course, will be spurred into taking ever more repressive counter-measures, obliterating fundamental civil rights on the ground that it will be dealing with an unconstitutionally inspired conspiracy to overthrow the state.
The citizens, government and opposition should be united and working for the unity of the greatest continent on the planet. The potential is clear for all to see. South Africa is the worlds leading supplier of GOLD, coupled with Nigeria being a leading oil producer etc...Africa, undoubtedly, is the fortress of black power.
The most important message is that we should not forget that there are a lot of states and international institutions out there, whose future/continued-existence and immense success would depend on the continued failure of Africa and its greatest states.
Hence, the aggrieved should resort to the tribunals in accordance with the constitution. Whatever may be the pronouncement by the final arbiter in the matter, it had better be accepted.
However, there remains a caveat which I consider quite ambivalent: recalling the judgment handed down yesterday in favour of Atiku, by the Supreme Court. What will happen were Yaradua to die, a day after Jonathan Goodluck defects to the AC or ANPP? Now, the most crucial inference that I can draw from that judgment, and others, secured hitherto by Atiku, is I think that the opposition may have the last laugh recalling the case of the republican George W. Bush and democrat Al Gore?
Could this be the much talked about impending implosion? What have we learnt from years of military rule? Look at the state of the African continent?
I think we will all be bothered!
LOL! Yeah green revolution does sound like something to do with global warming.
Anyway moving on and not to sound like the odd one out, but we could all just watch and see what Yar'adua would do in the first 4 yrs - we never know, he might just surprise us all. All the talking and EU/US involvement is just for show, they do not care who is in there as long as they are getting some of that black gold, its just to show the rest of the world that " at least we said something" we all know nothing would happen and he is just as sure the next president. I would rather he is than Buhari or Atiku to be honest. Siddon look is my stance, he may just surprise us all, matter of fact I can see him doing the direct opposite of wat OBJ wants him in there for...he has a mystery to him that I can sense.
But there has been talk about him not living past his 6th month, am I the only one that has read about that? Shoot! Everyone is weighing in, pastors, evangelist, babalawo, etc.
Siddon Look...
Amazing how many coloured "revolutions" seem a lot more like popular discontent/protest. They've kind of demeaned the concept with this overuse.
Thanks for this post. The issue of a ‘green revolution’ and whether Nigerians should take to the streets in protest has been on my mind.
On the one hand, I am all for ‘revolution’ in principle. The elections were farcical. Not only is Yaradua’s legitimacy weak, but so is the legitimacy of so many other ‘leaders’ that were ‘elected’ over the consecutive Saturdays.
Yet, I don’t want violence which it seems any type of ‘revolution’ would descend to in Nigeria.
Yesterday I spoke to a wonderful Nigerian grandmother (i.e. my mum) who said (and I paraphrase)– ‘Why should we accept this? Last election, there was massive rigging and we said we’d accept the results for the sake of peace and here we are again, except this time it’s much worse. We shouldn’t accept this mass rigging’. (And I thought I was the pro-revolutionary one in the family!)
Said Nigerian grandmother has a point. She’s seen it all before, not just in 2003, but in 1966, our previous attempt at civilian to civilian handover which ended in a coup and then civil war. When will it end? And is it about time that Nigerians said ‘Enough is enough’?
I wonder what we need to do to ensure that the freedom we have to vote in Nigeria allows us to actually vote and see the results of our vote reflected in our political representatives. In 1966, this was not the case - rigging. In 2003, this was not the case - rigging. In 2007 this is still not the case-rigging. How long do we continue to accept this trend before we say ‘Enough is enough’?
may I add that the current political system is a recent transplant and we have had little experience of representative democracy. Representative institutions were introduced by the British and French very late and this has never operated without interference by the military. The regimes we have been used to date back to independence - they too were authoritarian in which governors and their officials wielded immense personal power. Traditions of autocratic governance are embedded in the institutions inherited from the military and it will take some time and patience to dismantle these.
Imagine a variety of different people, with different languages and at different stages of political and social development, sorted into tribes (states) and each tribe under a different governor (master).
Notwithstanding the existence of certain schools of thought that believe we require revolutionary violence to throw off the shackles of yesterday - a violent overthrow of the current system, I am sure the notion of violence is nothing but a potpourri of vague romantic ideas lacking all coherence.
I think Nigeria needs to define its ideaological stance.
Nkem
Totally off point, in relation to this point, but can't help thinking, reading your most recent posts that you've become rather pessimistic!!
What excuse do you have now?
The chip revolution has killed your laptop?
That legal threat is still there - Publish or be sued.
- On a lighter note, hope you are fine and well.
Regards,
Akin
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