May We Never Regret Our Shameful Support For Lawlessness- By Dr. Emmanuel Ekanem

I never comment on local politics in Akwa Ibom state as a policy for reasons which are best known to me and which I owe no one an obligation to divulge at this time. However, now that happenings going down have transcended all that and have become matters of national interest and even threaten national security, they now cross the line of issues I would rather not comment.

I have watched with rapt attention over the last few months how the new government at the centre as constituted, is metamorphosing into a junta with the palpable motive to institute a totalitarian regime to subdue and in extension extinguish every form of opposition no matter how infinitesimal. Every discerning mind in this country can attest to the use of state security apparatus to intimidate a selected few especially those alleged to have offered only 5% votes from their region.


The divide and rule tactics where the country has been divided into two parts, us and them by a president's body language, utterances and actions is the early stage of more acts of oppression just before all hell will break lose. My worry is the cold and strange acceptance of this oppressive tendencies and brazen abuse of our hard fought freedom by the Nigerian populace who now make it a duty to eulogize the president per act of constitutional breach and abuse of process.


There is an understandably bitter crowd urging on the president on his roller coaster of impunity and divisiveness. The constitution has now been set aside and the country ruled by a strange and unwritten constitution by a man with a rich history of lawlessness.

This administration has concentrated so far in the annihilation of the opposition rather than governance and we all remember in our history how Nigerians have celebrated lawlessness in the name of change forgetting that what goes around sure does come around.
My belief in the lessons we can learn if we take history more seriously is absolute as nothing is new under the sun. Whatever you go through today, history is always littered with similar events to learn from.

How many of us remember this speech? I have taken excerpts from a popular speech to make my point.
“I, Brigadier Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro, of the Nigerian Army, hereby make the following declaration on behalf of my colleagues and members of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Fellow countrymen, the intervention of the military at the end of 1983 was welcomed by the nation with unprecedented enthusiasm. Nigerians were unified in accepting the intervention and looked forward hopefully to progressive changes for the better. Almost two years later, it has become clear that the fulfilment of expectations is not forthcoming.
Because this generation of Nigerians and indeed future generations have no other country but Nigeria, we could not stay passive and watch a small group of individuals misuse power to the detriment of our national aspirations and interest. No nation can ever achieve meaningful strides in its development where there is an absence of cohesion in the hierarchy of government; where it has become clear that positive action by the policy makers is hindered because as a body it lacks a unity of purpose. It is evident that the nation would be endangered with the risk of continuous misdirection.
We are presently confronted with that danger. In such a situation, if action can be taken to arrest further damage, it should and must be taken. This is precisely what we have done”.

Please take note of the next paragraph because for me it sounds like 2015 where the president’s men have been blaming the past government for its slowness and inability to appoint ministers or even fulfil electoral promises.

“The Nigerian public has been made to believe that the slow pace of action of the Federal Government headed by Major-General Muhamadu Buhari was due to the enormity of the problems left by the last civilian administration. Although it is true that a lot of problems were left behind by the last civilian government, the real reason, however, for the very slow pace of action is due to lack of unanimity of purpose among the ruling body; subsequently, the business of governance, has gradually been subjected to ill-motivated power play considerations”.

‘Nigeria’s democracy can’t thrive without vibrant opposition’- Lai Mohammed, November 27, 2012.

The reason for this piece-The same political party that told Nigerians to support them to build a vibrant opposition for the sake of our democracy is now in the forefront of destroying same just three months after taking power. The question I have for Nigerians is, do we really look forward to the demise of the PDP no matter how much injustice we think they may have done to all of us? Are we sure we want to encourage the totalitarianism being served us at the moment just because we hate the former administration so much? I believe that the fight against corruption is appropriate and must be pursued. However, must not be done using laws which are non-existent or alien to our constitution.

“The concept of collective leadership has been substituted by stubborn and ill-advised unilateral actions, thereby destroying the principles upon which the government came to power. Any effort made to advise the leadership, met with stubborn resistance and was viewed as a challenge to authority or disloyalty. Thus the scene was being set for systematic elimination of what, was termed oppositions.
All the energies of the rulership were directed at his imaginary opposition rather than to effective leadership”.

As in the quote above, another paragraph from that popular speech, there shall come a time when we all shall wish we did not support the elimination of the opposition in our polity just because we hate them. If the entire country stood by the APC to put the PDP under check, I believe the PDP must be supported to check the excesses of the ruling party.

English man, Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet from 1837 to 1869 writes that, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men”. His key idea has been tested in laboratory settings under strongly incentivized conditions and with real manipulations of power and confirms what he has suggested: that power corrupts. No matter how sincere and harmless a man is, power surely corrupts. Hence, the need to encourage the opposition to thrive, in order to fulfil their duty of not allowing the ruler to enjoy absolute power. Setting the constitution aside and doing things as if we run an anarchical system will only wreck the ship. If Nigerians understand this, there will be no need for me to write this article.

As much as we all will love federal-charactocracy to give way for meritocracy, and cut down government spending by reducing the number of aides and ministers from minimum of 36 as stipulated by law to as low as 10, probe sitting governors, or presidents and appoint men of integrity into sensitive positions, nothing stops the president from approaching the National Assembly to effect amendments in the relevant sections of the constitution that can allow him to appoint all his ministers from Katsina State if it happens that all the credible men who are capable of working with him for greater good can only be found there. I object to a system where a government makes unilateral laws and rule us by it. If this government continue in this way, you need no prophet to tell that it will run out of legitimacy soon.

The government is determined to have its way and all recent actions point to the fact it is preoccupied with muscling all forms of opposition to submission. For now, it is join us or get probed and so we have experienced a rush in the number of politicians in the opposition decamping to the APC to avoid Buhari’s ‘war against corruption’ especially since it is obvious they are safer on that side of the divide.

The recent obsession of the Federal Government and its security apparatuses especially the DSS and the police in Akwa Ibom state and River States must be put under a political microscope and viewed under high magnification by human rights organizations, pro-democracy groups and the media. The two states above remains the strongest and best chance for a vibrant opposition political party in this country and the persistent intimidation coming from Abuja for the governors to decamp to the ruling party or the states will be taken through brute force is a development that must be condemned by all. The constitution clearly forbids investigating a sitting governor by way of the immunity clause and so the recent invasion of the Akwa Ibom state government house by men of the DSS is power drunkenness taken too far and we cannot be quiet while our freedom continues to be degraded. It is therefore unconstitutional and a shame that the National Assembly has failed to provide its oversight functions by not calling the presidency to order.

We cannot all quiver at the mention of the name Muhammadu Buhari. We are making an emperor out of a man who is supposed to be a ‘repentant democrat’. The president must do what is right-if he really needs to probe the governor of Akwa Ibom state, he must get the NASS to remove the immunity clause. Making caricature of the constitution and getting praised as a ‘no nonsense man’ is how praises from the gallery can make a sheep jump into the well.

Source: http://uyocalyaxis.com/may-we-never-regret-our-shameful-support-for-lawlessness-by-dr-emmanuel-ekanem/

“The Nigerian public has been made to believe that the slow pace of action of the Federal Government headed by Major-General Muhamadu Buhari was due to the enormity of the problems left by the last civilian administration. Although it is true that a lot of problems were left behind by the last civilian government, the real reason, however, for the very slow pace of action is due to lack of unanimity of purpose among the ruling body; subsequently, the business of governance, has gradually been subjected to ill-motivated power play considerations”.

‘

“The concept of collective leadership has been substituted by stubborn and ill-advised unilateral actions, thereby destroying the principles upon which the government came to power. Any effort made to advise the leadership, met with stubborn resistance and was viewed as a challenge to authority or disloyalty. Thus the scene was being set for systematic elimination of what, was termed oppositions.
All the energies of the rulership were directed at his imaginary opposition rather than to effective leadership”.

Though not surprised but am sure it's saddening to buharists that the goodwill APC/Buhari enjoyed before elections could be fizzling out so soon.

But we told them the story of the loepard, they refused to listen but preferred propaganda to reality.

However let us hope/work for a better Nigeria.

I hope this won't be a Democratic Junta?!?!!

TheFreeOne:




Though not surprised but am sure it's saddening to buharists that the goodwill APC/Buhari enjoyed before elections could be fizzling out so soon.

But we told them the story of the loepard, they refused to listen but preferred propaganda to reality.

However let us hope/work for a better Nigeria.

Ma broda when they tell the housefly to exercise caution when perching on corpses and it refuses. When they bury a corpse the housefly is buried with it. We told them that this administration will come and bite them on the buttocks. Anyway, we are here watching

I would have wished Jonathan won so you idiots Will suffer for another 4 years. but thank goodness we worked hard and chased you Baggars back to the holes from whence you came.
when you were voting without thinking you did not know
now you're all learning that there are consequences for Fooolish behaviour
next time you vote with sense
sai buhari till 2019
and hopefully his protege till 2027

What a discerning mind. Thank God, good to know there are people still with their right senses. Good one OP

we didn't hear anything from this nonentity when Jonathan and his associates were milking Nigeria dry. things are finally being done in the right way and this attention seeker finds his voice. not surprised. they are born to wail

TheFreeOne:

Though not surprised but am sure it's saddening to buharists that the goodwill APC/Buhari enjoyed before elections could be fizzling out so soon.
.

Hahahahahaa..

The point made in the 2015 election was that GMB has been vindicated. How? Things fell apart and Beautiful Ones were not born - after his ouster in 1985. In fact "there was a country" someone who could no longer hide his disgust had to lament.

are people too intellectually bankrupt and morally befuddled to see that The beginning and the end of the famous Achebe career were marked by sad potrayals of our national life and that the leaders we support are complicit in varying degrees. Time and space of 50years!

Now a man who suffers-no-fool-gladly is leading us. Alas, the same reactionary voices are back - periodic saints who saw no evil or iniquity in corruption but now recognize the equity of federal character.

For your information, it is better for PMB to save our Commonwealth by lack of "spending action" than for your favourites to deplete it through "squandering action"

UNITY of PURPOSE? like 12million naira per delegate in the name of confab - whilst some police men die on duty for lack common bullet proof.