₦airaland Forum

Danmasani You are welcome. Read my reply to dude and lets take it from there

Aren't you typical dude. In your arguments you have not laid down any sound reason why the people should reject a good government. We all know the media is biased. They themselves make it clear they are biased. I wonder what you mean when you said "Can you tell me how taking a position Translate’s into being biased?". I would have swore that was automatic. So what if you take pro-third term adverts sometimes when 90%-100% of the paper is anti-third term anyway. I just simply can't understand your import.  You take a position and you say you remain unbiased. I think you should go look for a kindergaten to preach that to. Did you see how Thisday was trying to vigourously defend that advert they put out. How many anti-third term advert have they defended like that. You might want to try and find out how much they got for that advert. I understand it is in the region of 20 million Naira. Grow up my brother. I interact with them and i know what is going on. Being biased and taken a position does not mean they are not credible, they are simply being mischievous. They report stories as it is only that they report one more than the other because they have already taken sides. They know the power they weld and they have refused to use the power judiciously.

What you have failed to understand is that the names you have mentioned are not 0.0001% of Nigerians. Unless you prove to me that each name you mentioned is a 100,000 times superior to the common man on the street, then i will start to listen to both you and them. You are not even ashamed to mention those same "Elder Statemen" who have continue to impoverish us in our 46 years in existence.  

You see dude, i am a scientist. I don't get carried away by big talks without logics. I try to follow the part of logic as far as it can take me. Take the issue of "120 Million Nigerians don't really give a damn who governs them. All they need is a good life". I can easily prove that to you. Not even going too far :If you look at most elections in the world, low voter turnout is acceptable and most times voter turnouts are low. If you get 50% turnout in an election, the election is considered very successful. Doesn't that tell you something. Is there anywhere in the world where they have an election quorum. It simply wouldn't work because of voter apathy. So can you sincerely tell me then that most individuals care about who rules them. All they care about is their daily butter and bread. They are happy when the ruler is good and wouldn't care if the ruler is OBJ or you or me. They wouldn't give a damn if the ruler is there for 200 years or 2 years. Weren't we living under Kings recently. So how can you be authoritatively saying that they don't want third term. Don't arrogate your thoughts to 120 million Nigerians. That is simply arrogant and mischievious.


You see, people like me see clearly where the protagonists are going. Whether OBJ turns to a life President or not is an issue to be tested. What is right under our nose now is the issue of continuity and the risks of gambling away our little achievement to your "Elder Statemen".

Let me now tell you how the Nigerian People will probably think contrary to your submission.

There are necessary basics and desirables which human beings, including Nigerians, yearn for:

First of all we all yearn for a normal or good life. The type that will allow one pay his bills (School fees, Mortgage etc) and own basic things of modern life (Car, House etc) , have a job that will allow you attain your goal in life, get services that will make life easy (Uninterrupted Power Supply, Good Communication, Good Road, Excellent Transportation etc), adequate Security etc. Constitutions are meant to help people achieve these goals. That is why the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of  happiness is the hallmark of the American Constitution,

Secondly, most people, including Nigerians, care less on who rules them. OBJ, IBB, You , Me. What they care about is how to attain their good life. Our recent past shows this. During the days of military coups we jubilate because we believe that the previous administration has let us down and we exercise hope in the new one. We don’t condemn the new one, rather we pray and we continue to hope that they will take us to the promised land until they fail. Then the next group takes over and we jubilate again only to later regret when we find out that the last administration was better. Equally during democratic elections in most cases, people don’t bother going to vote. This is not only in Nigeria but in most places and that is why low voter turnouts are excusable. And there is no quorum for elections. So we are not really particular about who rules. All we need is for him/her to give us the normal life and happiness we yearn for.

These two points are good enough to deduce the wishes of the people of Nigeria.

It is obvious from the first point that those who are for the third term are not doing anything extra-ordinary. They are simply exercising their fundamental right. They believe that amending the constitution to accommodate a third term will achieve the very essence of the constitution- To give us a better life. The antagonist simply are fighting a constitution review making excuses like “Don’t change goal post in the middle of the game”. Who says a goal post cannot be changed if it brings the good life everybody wants. It simply shows that we have turned the whole thing to a game.

If one takes a deep look at the protagonists’ arguments you will not fail to understand that given our state of affairs the essence of a two terms Presidency in our own situation is to automatically stop a bad government, not a good and purposeful one. Indeed in a democracy where we don’t have strong institutions to checkmate a rampaging Chief Executive it is definitely not a good idea to keep changing them especially if we are lucky to find a purposeful one after several attempts. The United States during the depression years gave F.D. Roosevelt  four consecutive terms in office until they got out of depression. Were we not in a worse situation before 1999?

It is obvious from the second point that Nigerians don’t care and would not care about a one term Presidency or a third term Presidency or any other arrangement for that matter. As far as they are concerned what matters is the provision of the good things of life. Anybody who gives them that is their leader.

It is the elite that care about a third term or a life presidency because it robs them off the opportunity to partake in the priviledges of power and the money and the fame it brings, So this third term war is the war of the elites. It has little or nothing to do with the people. They have to fight the amendment to a stand still. They must not let it get to the election stage because they do not trust the people to deliver the verdict. They have to do it somehow else before it gets to the people. They don’t really care about the people. They only use them to achieve their ends. Our buoyant foreign reserve, BB- rating,  does not help matters too. Who will not want to preside over such a fat account. Who will not want to preside over an establishment with a goodwill that can be translated into Naira and kobo in the Financial Markets of the world. It is a very good reason to fight “for the people”.  Don’t be fooled that this same people will orchestrate tenure enlogation when their time comes.

We all agree that in order for the constitution to continue to guarantee good life it is necessary to keep amending it. Afterall  the great democracies have amended their constitutions several times. However the good life will definitely come only when we have a good and purposeful leader.

So it is the man in the saddle that is important to the people. The constitution sets the rule and the man in the saddle works within it to give us the good life. If the people feel he is doing good and still need his service then the constitution must be amended to give him the opportunity to give us as much better life as we deserve. After all some stable democracies do not put limits to their Presidency. All they demand is that the incumbent and aspiring candidates should periodically subject themselves to the vote of the people. A single term of the French Presidency is almost our two terms. Yet the President can go more than once. Francois Mitterand was on the saddle for fourteen years (1981-1995). Jacques Chirac renewed his mandate for another seven years in 2002.

For us to stick to a two term of four years provision like the US we need to have strong institutions like they have. So what we should probably be demanding is for the President to build strong institutions that will stand the test of time. Institutions that will outlive Presidents.  Institutions that will effectively checkmate a rampaging President.When such institutions are in place then we can rest, assured that even if we mistakenly vote a mad man into office the institutions will limit the damage he can do to us. Right now the country does not have such strong institutions.  It is only when such institutions are in place that we should change good Presidents at random because we are somewhat insured.

The protagonists of third term tell us that these institutions are already being built and strengthened by President Obasanjo. They rightly argue that President Obasanjo has been doing the necessary things to enhance already established institutions and create more. Institutions such as NAFDAC, NCC, CBN, Ministry of Finance, FIRS, FCT, Budget Office, Customs, Space Agency etc are some of the institutions being strengthened. Other necessary institutions created include an ICPC, EFCC, NERC (Electricity Regulatory Commission) etc. They argue that his style of doing it is that, First, he appoints honest, professional and very knowledgeable individual to head the place. The individual, after a thorough analysis of the institution, makes recommendations on ways to strengthen the institutions. The recommendations are used by the President to produce a bill. The bill is forwarded to the National Assembly to be made into an act of Parliament. They conclude that, we should allow the man to complete the strengthening and creation of all these necessary institutions.

The question then is “Do we want to gamble away this opportunity when strong democracy like the US understood it in the thirties and effectively deployed it to get themselves out of depression?”.

The arguments of the pro-third term people are compelling. Only a cynic will dismiss it as nonsense.

dude:
and if he's a democrat as he will want all nigerians to believe, then why go against the wishes of the majority of nigerians by inflicting himself (obj) on them when it's so apparent they don't want him? lastly, has it occured to anyone that this 3rd term if it float's might park off ethnic\religious violence?

You sound so authoritative dude. Speaking for over 120 million Nigerians. Who told you the majority don't want him. Who told you the majority even cares who rules them. Are you the majority. Just because our media houses have taken sides doesn't mean they are the majority. Let me tell you authoritatively that most Nigerians don't give a damn who rules them. They care more about being able to live a normal life. So if its an OBJ there or You they really don't care. It is only the elite like you or the Termites like many others who care. How many of you are elite make the 120 million. I bet you can't even make one percent. I plead that you think through instead of reading a thoroughly biased media. Don't you know that is how they sell their papers. If they align with Government as NTA does nobody will buy them like the way everyone regards NTA nowadays. How many people use to by Daily Times in those days when it was still Govt owned and there were private competition like Guardian. Yes, most people bought it before private competition because there was no alternative. Yes everyone watched NTA then because there was no alternative. The situation is different now. The trick is that when you start talking Anti-Establishment then you start getting noticed both by the establishment and the opposition. So you get full coverage. If you talk Government everybody knows you talk Government so you have nothing interesting. Maybe except when government does great things like send a teacher to space.

I can tell you that the papers should not have taken sides. They will cause this ethnic violence if there will be any.

dude:
if he truly loves nigeria, he should just quit and not heat up the polity. and the arguement that we will gambling if he should go doesnt hold water. all delevoped countries gambled and won. goverment is about continuity, and no one person can ever possibly reform a country. so anyone telling us the constitution should be amended to suit just one person out of 120 million should start thinking again.

Obviously Dude you have not been reading thru the forum. I am saying loud and clear that we do not want to Gamble!. If you want to gamble go to a casino nearby and stake all your earnings or maybe your life on a horse race or Lotto. I bet you wouldn't do that. However you are telling us to gamble because it really does not directly affect you. And what is the reason why we should gamble?. According to you
simply because they should not amend the constitution for one man. Just listen to you!.

Answer this question Dude!

If in a horse race you know the odds are against your favourite horses because:

1. Over 50% of your favourite horses are too old. (Over 50% of Possible Candidates to the Presidency are established Termites)
2. The time the horse owners have to prepare the horses for the race is damn too short. (The probability of getting an experienced, tested and fine man to be a successor is too short)

Will you stake out <b>all <b>your earnings and life for any of your favourite horses?

Maybe you will stake out some of your earnings. But all!, I doubt.

So why are you telling us to do that?

We will only gamble if there is an insurance that when we loose all our money we will still somehow get half of it back through some insurance scheme. Right now we don't have that scheme. As Jibitoye rightly said the institutions are not yet in place. This institutions would have insured us from a mad Termite.

I don't know where you get your "facts" from Jibitoye. First of all our woes started seriously during the second republic. That is precisely after OBJ. In any case you can only say OBJ was a part of the mess we found ourselves in in the 70's by the mere fact that he was a soldier and because soldiers were in power. I don't think anyone doubted his exceptional leadership in 1976-1979. In case you don't know he was the Federal Commissioner for works in Gowon's cabinet. Ministers were then known as Federal Commissioners.That was when all those lagos flyovers were built, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was built. This were all under his portfolio. I repeat, I am not saying he is a saint but let's not call him the devil either.

For your information we are very lucky because it is the same man that left power to the civillians in 1979 that took it back as a civillian in 1999. I say we are lucky because this guy was able to tell us what he left behind in 1979 and what he met in 1999. It is best  not to imagine the type of tale. Nigeria Airways from 30 planes to 1. Only one power station built in 20 years when we should be building every year, etc etc.

I don't think anyone should doubt that OBJ is giving us purposeful leadership. If we should compare what we had to what we have now we should give thanks to GOD. That is not to say we are getting the absolute best. Far from it. However what we are getting can be classified as the best amongst all we have had in the past. This i think should be acknowledged. There are so many pointers to that.

I might sound immature here but we should really let our political culture evolve. We need to get out of poverty and get our economy running normally as priority. I sincerely don't see how our political culture can have evolved under 7 years. Remember that when the soldiers are around you dear not go politicking. I don't see how that can be fast tracked. It is like fast tracking the democratic culture.

My dear I don't think you should have any beef with anybody. If you have any beef at all it should be with those politicians of yester-years who mortgaged our future and who are spoiling to come back to re-mortgage it.

I was fortunate, or is it unfortunate, to be with one the other day. He described graphically how they will jail everybody and eat up, like termites, the 36 billion Dollars the "foolish" man is saving. I hear that by the end of the year the 36 billion would have become 50 billion Dollars reserve.

My people we should beware. We are dancing to our doom. If we decide to get OBJ out we should not get in the Termites. All the talks about institutionalising things is seriously going on. Parastatals with Chief Executives who are performers are doing the job the way they should and sending bills to the national assdembly to strenghten their institutions. I mean really strenghten and not bills that will allow them siphon money. In any case bills to siphon money will not pass thru a parliament.  

I was totally indifferent to the third term like most other Nigerians until I heard one of the Termites speak.

You might all want to read this article to be better informed: http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/peterside/042406.html

This is a must read article. Please read http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/peterside/042406.html and then think twice.

Thank you Mariory! I think we can see how biased our newspapers can be.

Igwe, you should still respect them. They shouldn't listen and portray only one opinion. As they say they should listen to both sides of the story. Be tolerant

I think everyone is living true to the topic no matter how illogical the whole thing is. First of all Jibitoye I didn't say everyone was a mediocre neither did i say everyone is smart. Definitely some of the things said hear simply shows lack of depth in the knowledge of things as they are.  What has amazed you in what i wrote?. Let me lay it down in a simple equation and maybe it will be easier for you to understand.

1. The constitution's primary function is to give us a better life. As they say it should guarantee life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
2. As long as it is determined that some or all of it does not guarantee that then it should be quickly modified for it to continue to guarantee that.
3. Some people feel that by leaving the govt of OBJ for another four years we will continue to inch towards a structure that will guarantee a progressive move towards prosperity.
4. Shouldn't they try to amend the constitution to have the good life?. Don't forget that the sole purpose of any constitution is to guarantee a good life. The amendment clause in the constitution guarantees that we should continue to amend it until it gives us that good life. If they just want us to follow it like a zombie without questioning it now and then if it is leading us to the part of a good life then the amendment clause wouldn't be there in the first place.

Given 1-4 I think it is clear that the people should exercise their rights. They are in search of a good life. This shouldn't amaze you. Abi you no be democrat.

Now lets talk about the man OBJ himself.


1. The man (OBJ), despite all his short comings has shown that he can really be different from all our past leaders in terms of giving purposeful leadership. You yourself and many others acknowledge some of his feats.
2. We all know that you can never please everybody no matter how hard you try.
3. He might be guilty of not quickly identifying that his natural successor, whom he handpicked by himself against all odds was going to end up being whom he his. Nobody, neither you or me or him is a suitsayer. We cannot know these things.

Lets talk about Nigeria

1. Yes we need strong institutions in Nigeria. That is the only way we can guarantee sustainable and progressive development. The only way i believe this can be done is to put the right laws in place to streghnten this institutions. We have started to do that. First you put the right Chief Executive in place who thouroughly scrutinises the institution and then prescribe a bill to the parliament proposing measures to truly strenghten that institution. Institutions such as:NCC,NAFDAC, FIRS, Central Bank, Finance Ministry, FCT etc. We have not gotten there but we are moving.
2. What should bother us most is checking the power of a President. The constitution gives a President so much power that he is practically unchecked. We do not have institutions that will effectively check the President. Forget about the National Assembly. As one American said: Our constitution gives the President enormous power on the treasury. We all know that once you have money you will do and undo in Nigeria.
3. Yes there are so many Nigerians we believe can excel if giving the opportunity to govern but i dear say we also have an equal (if not more )number that will fail woefully if giving the opportunity.
4. The question is: What are the chances, given that there are no serious institutions to check the powers of a president,  that we will not put it on the lap of the wrong guy. The chances is definitely greater than  50%.
5. Should Nigeria take that gamble?.


Let me now re-explain my own conclusion:

Yes, OBJ is not a saint, he is not the only one that can govern us.  He is foolish not to have seen that Atiku is the successor he should have never picked. But as for gambling I will say it loud and clear. Its a capital NO. 1979-1983 is enough lesson to teach one.  Maybe you guys in the comfortable land there might want to gamble. Afterall it does not directly affect you. OBJ is doing much more than all our past leaders. He might have faulted in one or two things, even in several things. But remember he can never please everybody and he is only human.

The constitution says two terms. But we are not zombies. The constitution itself says "amend me if you think i need to be modify to give you or take you on the part of the good life".

Should OBJ become a life President: I say NO. It has been shown times without number that after sometime the performance of any chief executive starts declining. It peaks at a point.

So if we want to stick to term limit like zombies then we should be vigorously searching for a very good successor with a probability of 90% success. I don't think we have that time now and don't ask me how to do that. I am just expantiating on your suggestion. Maybe you will give us an insight into how it is achievable instead of just bashing someone who is as human as yourself.

I think i have made myself clear enough.

This is a good topic especially when you want to see mediocacy at its best. I am yet to find anyone who can constructively defend the reason they are against 3rd term. All they stick to is that the constitution should not be amended because of one man. Or don't change the goal post in the middle of the game or they directly attack the person of the President. This are also so mediocre in their delivery that it sometimes makes one feel ashame.

The truth is that our constitution or any constitution for that matter is meant to achieve one aim. To bring good life to its subject. That is why the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is an hallmark of the American constitution. Secondly there is an amendment clause in every constitution that allows us to keep amending it until we achieve that goal.

Majority of the people in Nations where underdevelopment is prevalent do not care about who rules them. If its an Obasanjo or me or you for that matter. All they care about is who will pull them out of their poverty. Maybe we will start to care when we have attained a level where poverty is extinct. So it is only when you can attack Obasanjo on grounds of achievement that is when you will be speaking for the people.

All of you that are sitting in well developed economies and enjoying all the good things that have already been laid down, don't you want us to enjoy same in our fatherland. You want us to live in perpetual poverty so you can come home and behave like kings. Our elites too who are spoiling to be in charge and loot  36 billion Dollars foreign reserve they were never able to save during their time,  stop claiming you speak for the people. We, the people, only care here about who makes life better for us and there should be no reason to change unless the person stops making life better for us. If the constitution that is meant to prescribe a good life for us is an impediment then we will change and redirect it to bring the good life. That is its purpose and that is why the ammendment clause is there in the first place.

Now you will say "There must be a Nigerian that is also good to replace OBJ". We should stop gambling. We did it in 1979. A bird in hand is more than two million in the bush. Since OBJ has given us a taste of good governance, notwithstanding his shortcomings and the complexity of governance, we should change the constitution to continue to enjoy that good governance that will lead us to the promised land until he also starts under-performing. We will then start to listen to those of you who want him out.

Yes, we will change the goal post in the middle of the game to achieve prosperity. This is not a game, it is the life of 120 million Nigerians. In fact we will remove that goal post completely if need be.