Yar'adua Illiness And The Cracks On The Nigerian State Wall

21 April 2010

By Ibrahim Ayagi

When sometime in 2006 the US issued a statement on the fragility of the Nigerian state, with a prediction of possible collapse in ten (10) to come. Many Nigerians questioned both the rationality and the veracity of their prediction. Notably among whom was the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who received the warning by the Americans with pinch of salt and dismissed it with a wave of hand in his usual saint/savior like manner. Today the former president overtly and covertly is fanning a political fire whose raging may consequently confirm the US prediction on the collapse of Nigerian state as Nation.

The recent comment credited to the former president on the health of president Yar’adua during the Trust dialogue and the eventual unguarded utterances of his stooge, Dora Akunyili, buttressed my point. the absence of the president for three month without notice, should,in every democracy ordinarily, in respect of the circumstances, attracted comments and opposition ,but the way and manner the whole quandary was managed by the politicians, print media, the Obasanjo clique, the pro yar’adua cabal, the civil society groups, the religious bodies, the judiciary, the National Assembly, and the federal executive council, had exposed the fragility, weaknesses, and palpable division along ethnic ,religious and regional line of our country. This is indeed a very dangerous Omen for the most populous black man Nation on earth. My heart bleeds when I wake up every day and read any piece written on the state of our Nation.

Nigerians loathe the way the presidency managed the secrecy of Mr. President’s health issue, with its avoidable logjams if all publicly consumable information on the state of his health is made available. Now the polity is unnecessarily overheated, the selfish ones in the corridor of power and the so called king makers engage in the battle of supremacy, all at the detriments of pauperizing populace who can not even enjoy the meager 6000 MW of electricity promised to them by this administration, or the three square meals that become a mirage, with incessant ethnic and religious cleansing that is repeatedly sweep under the carpet of history and the perpetrators going Scot free without comeuppance, as if human lives mean nothing to our leaders.

No thanks to the imprudent, unpopular and undemocratic decision of rotational presidency by the people Democratic Party (PDP). Leadership position in a civilized democracy is open to every body at all times base on one’s competence, ability, honesty, intelligence and charisma etc. But since the return to civil rule in 1999, after the protracted military rule, appointments having been made base on regional, religious or ethnic considerations, which grossly negate the basic tenets of democracy and smudges its beauty. The appointments under both Obasanjo and Yar`adua administration, reflects who is in charge and which region or religion is in control of the presidency. This is dangerous and in no distance future will spell doom for generation to come.

If at all we choose to continue as Nation, then we have to be meticulous and exercise restrains in the way we approach, manage and react to National issues. For how long shall we continue to be a lame duck and a toothless bull dog in the comity of Nations, in spite of our God given favorable condition with no history of natural calamity like the ones that engulfed Haiti and Chile, couple with our human and natural resource, enough to take us to the promising Land. The crisis of leadership bedeviling our society made some disgruntled elements baying for blood all in their quest to dislodge the weak and non performing PDP controlled administration. Those visible cracks, on the wall of Nigerian state, threatening our corporate coexistence, due to poor political arrangement by some handful selfish elites in PDP, must be sealed by enthroning a true democracy devoid of ethnic or religious divide and agenda. It is only when this is done the eventual disintegration of this country can only be avoided. May Almighty God save us.

Ibrahim Ayagi can be reached at ayagiibrahim@yahoo.com

 

 

 

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