…But it is hard to see how this nation can progress unless we have an administration with an “interimist” mind-set. As we said in “Why Jonathan Should Not Run” last week, flawed elections have been one of Nigeria’s major problems. This, we situated in the fact that those who have the duty and power to conduct elections invariably become interested parties, and brazenly employ all the leverages they have in favour of themselves or their chosen successors and to the disadvantage of the opponents. It is precisely for this reason that we suggested that Dr Jonathan should free himself from all such temptations and encumbrances by not running in the forthcoming elections. That “interimist” approach will stand him head and shoulder above the general run of self-serving politicians who dominate our national space.
Dr Tunji Braithwaite is a man of great conviction. An activist lawyer of several decades standing, he was a political activist who became a politician and presidential candidate, but retired to political activism about a year ago. You may not always agree with him, but you can never fault the patriotism and consistency. He does not whisper his convictions; nor is he ever afraid to stand alone on such convictions.
I have only just read the full text of a statement made to the press by this great man about two weeks ago. Speaking on the platform of the Nigeria Intervention Group (NIG), He reiterated his earlier call for an Interim Administration to conduct the forthcoming elections.
Rationalising his call, he described the process that brought Dr Goodluck Jonathan to office as Acting President as one of “hook and crook, willy-nilly,” contrived by a “parliament, comprising largely of unelected legislators’” and therefore, “illegal and self-serving” and which “has only exacerbated Nigeria’s National woes.”
He stated that the “administration of Nigeria under Jonathan’s Acting Presidency can never lay the proper foundation for a peaceful, strong and harmonised democratic federation” because, among other reasons, “the PDP government has corruptly appropriated all levers of power in the country to ensure that democracy and due process remain a mirage. Their avowed policy is to run a government of exclusion – a policy that impoverishes the Nigerian people in their homeland and is insensitive to their plight...”
Continuing, “The No. 1 challenge in Nigeria today is not lack of energy or power, it is CORRUPTION… We say without any fear of contradiction, ‘tackle vigorously, if you can, the monster of corruption, and there will be uninterrupted flow of electricity to homes industries and streets throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria’…So much looting by identifiable persons in the country has gone on for too long, the country is almost drained dry. Apart from the general insecurity in the land, there is anarchy and mayhem. The recurrent slaughter of hundreds of Nigerians in some parts of the country – Jos, Bauchi, Borno State – does not seem to impinge on the conscience of the impostors in government…Well, all these trouble us greatly, as it is beyond this corrupt administration to address these national tragedies…There is also the major problem of constitutional review to take care of weighty matters, as the decentralisation of power and its devolution to the ethnic nationalities in a truly Federal Republic for a rapid and blanket development of the entire nation-state.”
He declared: “All these and more are the imperatives of our proposal for an immediate Interim Administration for Nigeria if we are to avoid terrible anguish of an unpredictable calamity for this nation.”
Now, one may argue about the feasibility of an interim administration, given the challenges of constitutionality that it will pose. And you can be sure that were the Acting President to be willing to consider it, there would be no shortage of litigants to urge the courts to declare any such move as ultra vires the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But it is hard to see how this nation can progress unless we have an administration with an “interimist” mind-set. As we said in “Why Jonathan Should Not Run” last week, flawed elections have been one of Nigeria’s major problems. This, we situated in the fact that those who have the duty and power to conduct elections invariably become interested parties, and brazenly employ all the leverages they have in favour of themselves or their chosen successors and to the disadvantage of the opponents. It is precisely for this reason that we suggested that Dr Jonathan should free himself from all such temptations and encumbrances by not running in the forthcoming elections. That “interimist” approach will stand him head and shoulder above the general run of self-serving politicians who dominate our national space.
Another major issue raised by Braithwaite’s group has to do with Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and the widely speculated plan by Jonathan to appoint him as a Special Adviser on Anti-Corruption. Dr Braithwaite said to the press: “…it is reported that Jonathan intends or has nominated Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the former Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission as his Special Advisor on corruption, and that all charges against him are being or have been dropped. Now, if such reports were true, we ask whose interests is Jonathan serving? Besides all else, we know that Nuhu Ribadu during his fugitive sojourn abroad had the ears of some foreign governments. Is Ribadu now being made an advisor to Jonathan to satisfy foreign governments? We sincerely hope not. Such an appointment is condemnable on another ground. Is the current leadership of the EFCC who have been meticulously prosecuting big-time criminals, even in the face of stiff resistance, sometime at the risk of their lives – now to come under Ribadu? Someone, who was a fugitive from the law, who is behind all these?
If you’ve been a reader of KINGDOM Perspective for a while, you are most probably familiar with my stand on Ribadu. In addition to the points made by Braithwaite, I am fully persuaded that Ribadu, no matter his successes, was a willing tool of intimidation in the hands of his vindictive boss. He was a propagandist against corruption rather than a substantial fighter of the cancer. He knew how to play on our emotions (in some cases tending to sadism) as victims of corruption, through Gestapo-style humiliation of accused persons, and tokenist show trials, while protecting his boss and those who, for the time being, are in his boss’ good books.
When Braithwaite asked the question, “who is behind all these”, the answer is obvious. It’s got to be the same man who found Ribadu malleable when he was in charge…who understands the power of a malleable anti-corruption czar in the cowing and elimination of potential opponents and who is probably in the vanguard of prompting Jonathan to run. It is the same man, who considers Nigeria his personal estate to run as he likes… who thought he had a surrogate in Yar’Adua and who now sees the current situation as his chance to take back his estate.
Dear Dr Jonathan, remember the scripture we quoted here last week: all power belong to God; He gives it to whom He wills and when He wills it. Please listen for His voice; His voice only. Then you’ll be remembered, beyond good luck, as Good News.
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