SENEGAL: THE DEFEAT OF SIT-TIGHTISM By Emmanuel Onwubiko

In far distant times, during the days of Colonial expeditions of parts of Africa, the agents of imperialism from Europe were stunned by the array of innovative things, animals and vegetation that they saw in Africa and one of them exclaimed that; “In Africa, wonders shall never end.”

In the realm of politics, that saying that ‘wonders shall never end in Africa’ is as fresh and relevant as ever if one analyses the current events in parts of West African Sub-regional nations of Mali and Senegal.

In Mali, a gang made up of some very junior military officers forcefully overthrew the democratically elected civilian administration of President Amadou Toumani Toure even as the whereabouts of the deposed leader is unknown.

Buffeted by a groundswell of attacks from across the World and very recently by the expulsion of Mali under the military Junta from the African Union commission, the leader of the military coup Captain Amadou Sanogo told the international media that his gang overthrew the civilian administration last Wednesday to restore what he described as “Security and order”.

The head of Mali’s military Junta further dismissed all the verbal attacks from political leaders like President Goodluck Jonathan and other West African Sub-regional leaders and vowed to hold on to power for now pending restoration of security because of the threats of imminent invasion of Bamako by the well armed returnee Tuarag rebels who were displaced from the just ended Libyan civil war. The Tuarag rebels were hired by the then Libyan strongman Colonel Muarmur Ghadafi (now late) to help him fight the rebellion which eventually swept him out of power.

The Malian military leader told the international media thus; “I want all of them to come to the same table right after this interview. My door is open,” he said. “We can talk about and work out through the peace process” he added. He denounced the widespread looting in the capital, Bamako, which followed the coup.

“I deplore the acts of vandalism and pillaging which have occurred”, Capt Sanogo said. He added: “Yesterday 9Sunday March 25^th 2012], I obtained concrete proof that ill-intentioned individuals were wearing uniforms of the police, the army, in order to break this coup, just to turn the population, to turn opinion against us”.

He asked the public to excuse those behind the coup for “all the aggravation caused” and said justice would be done. “I urge all Malians, at whatever level, to stop without delay these acts of vandalism and pillaging…This is not our mission, nor our cause, nor our objective” he stated.

Those who took part in the military coup in Mali may have been motivated partly to subvert democracy by the then unfolding political development in the neighboring Senegal where the then sitting President Abdoulaye Wade manipulated the parliament to re-write the electoral laws to enable him run for a third term of another seven years tenure as against the Constitutionally recognized two terms limits of seven years each.

But these gangsters in military uniform in Mali misfired because in their neighboring country of Senegal with a good reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democracy, the citizens rejected the manipulative tendencies of the Octogenarian sitting President Mr. Abdoulaye Wade and opted for free, fair and transparent contest which eventually resulted in the defeat of the old big man of Senegal.

Ironically, Senegal and Mali have some fundamental historical affiliation because Senegal became fully Independent from the French Colonial masters in June 1960 as part of the Mali Federation.

Political historians recorded that on August 20th, 1960; Senegal withdrew from the Federation and became a separate Republic. The internationally renowned scholar and Poet Mr. Leopold Sedar Senghor was elected its first President.

He was re-elected in 1963, 1968, 1973 and 1978.

This post- independence President of Senegal was credited with the introduction of some far- reaching and comprehensive constitutional amendments which gave birth to the advent of multi-party democracy in that country. Senegal has since remained a respectable signpost of a stable and democratic nation in Africa ever since.

As a democrat with international clouts, President Leopold Sedar Senghor in 1981 stepped down for Abdou Diouf who had been his prime minister since 1970.

Following very impressive record of modest achievements in the area of radical transformation of some basic social infrastructure in Senegal Mr. Diouf went on to win the 1983 presidential election, a feat he repeated in 1988 using the platform of his socialist party. This victory was hotly contested by leading opposition politicians who affirmed that the process that ensured his victory was anything but free and fair.                   

The opposition politicians also organized sporadic street protest and these widespread consternation of the civil populace compelled the then President Diouf to introduce series of electoral reforms. Members of the political opposition faulted the electoral reforms of President Abdou Diouf because they accused him of manipulating the process to retain the control of the electoral commission by his political party.

Political historians also wrote that under President Diouf, the constitutional term limit was extended from five to seven years and a two-term limit imposed with the underlying objective of setting the stage for him to benefit from the tenure elongation scheme and thus perpetuate himself in power.

Abdou Diouf ruled Senegal till the year 2000 when his Socialist Party lost to Abdoulaye Wade, the candidate of the PSD.

Interestingly, Mr. Shehu Sani, a Kaduna-based Nigerian civil rights Activist wrote in his book titled “Civilian Dictators of Africa” that former Senegalese president Abdou Diouf was  adept at manipulating the political process to sit tight in power but little did he [Shehu Sani, the Nigerian author] know at the time of writing his scholarly book that Mr. Abdoulaye Wade who came to power in the year 2000 will turn out as one of the greatest manipulators of the political system of his country with the ambition of spending his entire life in political office. This is because as an 85 year old man, if President Wade had succeeded in foisting himself on his people/country for another seven years, he would have surely passed on to the great world beyond as a sitting/life president. The now defeated president also planned to manipulate the political process for his son, Mr. Karim Wade, to succeed whenever he quits the stage if he had won the March 25th 2012 re-run presidential poll. The son of the defeated president of Senegal has held four ministerial positions including the powerful works ministry.

It is heartwarming that all the opposition political camps rallied round the 50-year old Mr. Macky Sall, who was a prime minister under the defeated president but fell apart from his political god-father Mr. Wade because of allegation that the son of the defeated president was mismanaging the resources of Senegal.

Mr. Macky Sall won the re-run presidential election of 25th March 2012 against the back drop of his avowed pledge to change all the draconian constitutional and electoral amendments made by the now defeated President and return the two term of five year each tenure limitation for the office of president of Senegal.

The newly elected president has also promised to tackle the rising threats of food insecurity and poverty in his country and to encourage local farmers to expand and modernize their farming activities.       

The defeat of the Senegalese Octogenarian politician Mr. Abdoulaye Wade is a defeat for sit -tightism and is a strong warning to other African would- be civilian dictators that any attempt by them to subvert the democratic process for their selfish political gain would be successfully resisted by the people especially if the members of the civil society is awake to its duty as responsible and democracy loving citizens. 

*          Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS Writers’ Association of Nigeria and               writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

26/3/2012

ARE NIGERIANS BAD IMITATORS OF DEMOCRACY? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Saturday March 24th 2012 started on a very sublime note with fresh breeze all around Abuja the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory in the wee hours of the morning and the usual blazing hot sun in mid-noon. This hot sun has unfortunately turned Abuja into the notorious hot zone of central Nigeria next in line to places such as Maiduguri and Damaturu in Borno and Yobe states that are traditionally known as the hottest parts of modern day Nigeria as a result of the fast growing trends of desertification.

What however made this particular Saturday remarkable in the lives of those residing in this extremely expensive city of Abuja, is the fact that the entire roads leading to the central business district inhabiting the prestigious Eagle square were cordoned off and occupied by fierce looking armed soldiers and mobile police operatives who mounted their armored vehicles in strategic locations to prevent and deny 'bloody civilians' [as most members of the civil society were known in the days of military dictatorship] access to the vicinity of the Eagle square where some few hundreds of hand picked members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] were meeting for their special convention to elect the officials that will administer their political platform for the next four years. The intense security and surveillance activities of these armed soldiers and mobile police operatives was said to be necessitated by the ongoing regime of targeted bomb attacks by the armed Islamic extremists who are waging war of attrition against government facilities and some civilians of different belief system.

For novices in the political game in Nigeria who thought that the conveners of this national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party truly meant to organize a transparent, free and fair competitive national convention which is the irreducible minimum required in a democracy, were mistaken. Those who summoned these few hundreds of hurriedly assembled motley of crowd in the name of a political party national convention knew exactly that what they want to achieve is mere political subterfuge carefully crafted to have a physical and evidential semblance of a democratic process which may attempt to satisfy the constitutional requirement that political parties must periodically meet to elect from among their ranks, those officials who would pilot the affairs of the political party.

While the political shenanigan called national convention lasted, the few Nigerians who endured the intellectual insults of watching this show of shame on the different television stations were comprehensively treated to one of the worst episodes of bad imitation of democracy especially if an observer compares and contrasts what played itself out at Eagle square in the name of national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party with the ongoing party primaries of the United States Republican Party whereby Mitt Romney, Senator Santorum and Newt Gingrich are slugging it out among themselves for the sole party ticket to compete with the sitting American President Mr. Barrack Obama [ a Democrat], one would be left to conclude that Nigerian politicians of all strata and classification are mere fake imitators of democracy and must not be taken serious for as long as they continue in the ongoing game of political deceits and self glorification.

From last year when most of the ramshackle political parties staged their so-called party primaries during which time candidates were selected to vie for elective positions in the last April general elections up till now, what we saw as party primaries were just mere coronation of certain favored candidates of the various political god -fathers and even Wives, children of these party owners/benefactors who installed their surrogates so as to protect their selfish interest.

Little wonder then that soon after the April 2011 general elections, so many of these so-called political parties that are domiciled in the different brief -cases of their owners simply disappeared into oblivion even as their owners who work in cohort with some dubious electoral officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] simply continued with their other businesses as contractors and participants at the different meetings of the severely weak Independent National Electoral Commission which are sparsely held.

The only difference between what the other smaller political contraptions called parties are doing with the perfidy that played itself out on Saturday 24th March 2012 at the Eagle square by the Peoples Democratic party is that the participants and conveners including President Good Luck Ebele Jonathan, a University Doctorate Degree holder, elevated political subterfuge to a new all time height and far exceeded the limits of absurdities with the so-called consensus arrangement which ensured that only the hand picked candidates of the Presidency and the powerful Nigerian Governors Forum emerged as the newly coronated/inaugurated national leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party. What a way to show bad example to upcoming youth?

The recently ended national coronation event in Abuja of the self acclaimed largest political party in Africa [PDP] has indeed set a new World record as the single most notorious evidence of the claim that Nigerian politicians are masters of double speak who would say one thing in the morning and do the exact opposite in the night. Take for instance the speech that was made by President Jonathan in his capacity as a respected leader of the Economic Community of West African States[ECOWAS] which thoroughly condemned the recent military coup which swept away the democratically elected regime in Mali and also the speech by the Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States and the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria Mr. Ikechukwu Ekweremadu which outrightly condemned the coup 'd tat in Mali by the renegade soldiers of Mali but these two persons masquerading as democrats also took part in the rape of democracy that was the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party.

What happened was a rape of democratic tenets of free choice because a national convention of a political party devoid of the simple elements and ingredients of democracy, free choice and competitive election is nothing but a bad imitation of democracy. Democracy abhors forceful imposition of selected candidates of the powers-that-be to the consternation of a lot of the voiceless majority members of the political party. All those who bought nomination forms to stand for the different national offices but who never enjoyed the support of either the Presidency or Nigerian Governors Forum were cajoled, blackmailed, intimidated and harassed into stepping down for the already ordained and anointed candidates of these two notorious power blocs in Nigeria.

Any doubting Thomas of what I have affirmed above that what took place at the Eagle Square which was called national convention of the ruling political party in Nigeria was nothing but a criminal bad imitation of democracy should have watched the way one of the candidates for the position of National Secretary Mr. Ebenezar Babatope forced to withdraw for a selected candidate of the Governors forum former soldier and military administrator Olagunsoye Oyinlola would be convinced beyond all shadow of doubt that what took place is a bad caricature of democratic national convention the type that usually take place in developed climes like the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Germany. Reading the body language of Ebenezar Babatope who told a bewildered nation that he was not stepping down for anybody but that the party hierarchy compelled him to so do one would be left with no option but to conclude that a fatal wound has been inflicted in the hearts and minds of true lovers of democracy who are pained at the infinite capacity of the majority of politicians in Peoples Democratic Party to carry out mischief and perfidy.

A respected Ancient Philosopher by name Plato wrote in his answer to the interrogation of what are the forms stated rightly that; "a beautiful person is a copy of Beauty. We can say of a person that she is beautiful because we know the idea of beauty and recognize that a person shares more or less in this idea...."

In the same vein we can look at the ways and manners that other civilized democracies are practicing their forms of democracy whereby the free choices of their people are held sacrosanct and draw a conclusion that in Nigeria the type of Democracy we practice is simply the bad imitation of democracy and unfortunately the legal institutions that are set up to monitor the political parties and ensure compliance such as the Independent National Electoral Commission and other anti-graft bodies that ought to check the financial excesses of candidates for elective positions have comfortably gone to sleep and have allowed ill- intentioned political merchants to hijack the process and are thereby running it in their own ways which are basically meant to service their pecuniary interest and advance their selfish economic dominance in the polity thereby marginalizing and pushing the greatest majority of Nigerians to the precipice of economic doom.

This bad imitation of democracy is the reason why a majority of Nigerians are so poor that they can not afford the basic requirements of a decent life such that many die from avoidable sicknesses like malaria, diarrhea and other water borne diseases. The compromised political process of selecting and/or imposing certain preferred individuals to preside over the affairs of the majority of Nigerians is the reason for the complete collapse of the social economic infrastructure like electricity, and roads and even the very serious and important educational and health sectors have been systematically left to die slow but painful death such that every year hundreds of thousands of half baked university graduates are churned out without adequate entrepreneurial trainings thereby making them to roam the streets in search of the elusive white collar jobs that have unfortunately dried up.

The bad imitation of democracy will invariably result in the subversion of the electoral process because those handpicked party officials are already primed and positioned to do only the bidding of those who installed them into offices and this malpractice already institutionalized in the Peoples Democratic party as well as other smaller political parties will suffocate the democratic space and make it impossible for good, quality and skilled professionals with absolutely no link to any political god father to win nomination to stand for elective positions in all elections.

The end result is that the hand picked contestants would automatically be rigged into offices by the extremely weak electoral body and these persons who already have preconceived idea of politics as money making machine will milk Nigeria dry in their bid to satisfy their political god- fathers and retain some levels of political power and privileges.

After suffering the indignity of watching the political comedy that took place in the name of the national convention of the ruling party in Nigeria I wept for Nigeria because if Nigeria will continue to be ruled by mere imitators of democracy when in actual fact they can collectively rise up and reclaim Nigeria and popularly put the right kinds of persons into political offices to do only those things and carry out only those government and economic policies that can advance the happiness of the greatest number of the citizenry, move people to their better selves and institutionalize real democracy composed of respect for the fundamental freedoms which are inherent rights of every human persons, then sooner or later Nigeria will implode for the worst.

Those who subvert the political process to supplant their surrogates should bear in mind that you can deceive some of the people some of the time but you can not deceive all of the people all of the time. The time for Nigeria to practice real democracy is now so as to avoid a return to anomie and/or anarchy.

*     Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, and wrote in  from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

25/3/ 2012

NIGERIA: RUTHLESS LEADERS, TOOTHLESS FOLLOWERS By Emmanuel Onwubiko

For two weeks now, Nigerians have been fed with a cocktail of stories from the National Assembly concerning instances of official corruption, financial scandals of monumental proportion involving even some of those finely educated Nigerians that are holding high profile political appointments in the three arms of government namely the Executive, legislative and judiciary which goes to show that Nigeria's disturbing cases of entrenched official corruption are perpetrated and perpetuated by core members of the political elite in Nigeria.   

What makes the Nigerian situation very shocking and peculiar is that a greater majority of these corrupt and thieving members of the core political elite were schooled in some of the best schools in the developed western World and are persons that have spent considerable amount of time in the developed and disciplined civilized parts of the World who ordinarily are expected to become role models and change agents in the collective drive to reposition Nigeria to take her rightful place in the comity of developed Nations.

To be very specific, Nigerians in mid March 2012 were treated to a huge dose of stories of scandals allegedly involving financial indiscretion in the running of  the Security and Exchange Commission headed by Miss. Arummah Otteh who only recently was seconded to the Nigeria's Security Exchange Commission from a reputable international financial institution. Appearing before an equally grossly corrupt and compromised Committee of the Federal House of Representatives on Capital Market, Miss. Otteh was accused of sundry allegations of financial malfeasance including but not limited to the allegation that she spent a princely sum of N85,000 on a particular day at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja and that so far she has burnt several millions of tax payers money on bills accumulated in the same hotel since assumption of office. On her own part, Miss. Otteh accused the House Committee and its Chairman Mr. Herman Hembe of the Peoples Democratic Party of demanding for bribe of over N40 million from the Security and Exchange Commission shortly before the commencement of the so-called public hearing on the capital market. Miss Otteh looked Mr. Hembe to his face and rebuked him for allegedly claiming a First Class Ticket to travel for a foreign seminar but failed to honour it or return the first class ticket and allowances he was advanced purportedly for that trip.

While rational human beings in Nigeria are battling to come to terms with the absurdity playing itself out in the Federal House of Representatives then comes another damaging report that the hierarchy of the Federal House of Representatives led by Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal allegedly increased the wage bills of each member of the lower Chamber from N15 million to nearly N30 million per quarter allegedly on the weight of monumental pressure mounted on the House hierarchy by the members angered by the fact that each Senator earns nearly fifty million quarterly whereas the House of Representative members are paid N15 million each up until the recent astronomic increment.

In the Senate of the Federal Republic about the same mid-March, huge discovery were made during the public hearing on the administration of Police Pension scheme relating to the disappearance of several billions of tax payers' money.

On March 19th 2012, the local media were awash with a story that a certain serving Permanent Secretary in the Federal civil service was found with N2 billion cash in his bedroom which he stole from the coffers of the Nigeria Police Force's pension office. The said Permanent Secretary was reportedly arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission headed by serving Deputy Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Lamorde but later left to enjoy his freedom on what is nebulously called 'administrative bail' of the anti-graft commission. The question is why will a man said to have stolen so much from the public treasury and a princely sum of N2 billion found on him be allowed to go Scot- free on bail even when the same anti-graft body allegedly detained a well known lawyer Mr. Amobi Nzelu over alleged N6 million fraud which the Courts quashed for lack of evidence? Several petty criminals like the 'yahoo boys' have been detained for so long in excruciating jail conditions in the different notorious EFCC detention facilities without trial but here is a Permanent Secretary who we were told by the anti-graft commission was found with over N2 billion cash of stolen fund yet he has been released on bail. This same EFCC is known to have detained several petty criminals and the small 'yahoo boys' for several months without fair trial and yet it is now granting arbitrary administrative bails to big suspects on the so called self cognizance. Some of us are not shocked after all the new Chairman of EFCC went through grueling confirmation procedure in which we read some reports that prominent religious and traditional leaders lobbied President Jonathan for his [Lamorde's] confirmation as substantive chairman. Could it be that the same powerful traditional and religious leaders have intervened on behalf of the indicted serving Permanent Secretary and since the Chairman of the anti-graft commission owe them some level of pay back, he may have listened? I am just thinking aloud. No indictment intended please.

Nigerian leaders are indeed ruthless and unfortunately the so-called followers are toothless because in other climes the discovery of N2 billion cash from one man's bedroom is enough motivation for widespread social discontent and civil unrest by the members of the public but in Nigeria no one pays attention talk less of demonstrating and venting their righteous indignation at this show of shame in the highest places.

Nigeria indeed need good leaders and active followers if we must transit from our current bad situation to a respectable position and if we must stop being laughing stocks in the comity of nations, the institutions of government set up to fight corruption must not politicize the fight against corruption as is the case whereby the members of the ruling party make up the greater percentage of the governing councils of these two anti-graft commissions.

If we may postulate on the big question confronting Nigeria today I will say like most intellectuals that what makes a good leader depends on the degree to which the individual’s qualities match the demands of the contexts. Whether a person is born a leader or develops skills and abilities to become a leader, there are some clear qualities that are found in good leaders, and they are as follows by Barbara White:

Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level. Leaders can be found and nurtured if you look for the following character traits.

A leader with vision has a clear, vivid picture of where to go, as well as a firm grasp on what success looks like and how to achieve it. But it’s not enough to have a vision; leaders must also share it and act upon it. Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co., said, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion."

Experts say that a good leader has an exemplary character. It is of utmost importance that a leader is trustworthy to lead others. A leader needs to be trusted and be known to live their life with honesty and integrity. A good leader “walks the talk” and in doing so earns the right to have responsibility for others. True authority is born from respect for the good character and trustworthiness of the person who leads.
 Scholars with considerable quality materials on leadership say rightly that a good leader is enthusiastic about their work or cause and also about their role as leader.

Miss. Nwamaka Asuzu, a political science graduate of Imo State University citing other works of established scholars wrote that people will respond more openly to a person of passion and dedication.

Miss. Asuzu said that from her findings, leaders need to be able to be  sources of inspiration, and become motivators towards the required action or cause.

For her just like most other younger observers, Nigeria is gravely bereft of these kind of political leadership since the nation gained political independence which accounts for the parlous economic situation and the ongoing anarchy and impunity in most parts of  Nigeria.

 Experts say that although the responsibilities and roles of a leader may be different, the leader needs to be seen to be part of the team working towards the goal. This kind of leaders will not be afraid to roll up their sleeves and get dirty. The opposite is the case in Nigeria whereby the so-called leaders corner the greater percentage of the annual budget to service their salaries and obscene allowances at the detriment of good capital projects that would change the life of Nigerians who are increasingly becoming impoverished and unsecured. Unfortunately, Nigerians or those we may identify as the ordinary people are so toothless and clueless that they are not ready to reclaim Nigeria from the bad guys who have cornered all the resources to service themselves and their families including hundreds of local and international mistresses.
 

A good leader is  said by experts to be confident. In order to lead and set direction a leader needs to appear confident as a person and in the leadership role. Such a person, according to scholars inspires confidence in others and draws out the trust and best efforts of the team to complete the task well. A leader who conveys confidence towards the proposed objective inspires the best effort from team members. But in Nigeria we have political leaders who can not provide the commonest essential of good governance like security of lives and property of Nigerians and foreigners living in Nigeria and yet they still cling to leadership position using the force of arm even when they have lost legitimacy from the people who are daily bombarded by armed splinter groups fighting in the name of religious ideology in the North.
 

A leader also needs to function in an orderly and purposeful manner in situations of uncertainty. This attribute is grossly lacking in Nigeria under President Jonathan and shockingly the civil populace are so weak and toothless that they keep quiet even when poverty has ravaged about eighty percent of the populace while a tiny fraction of the political elite have cornered all the resources to their foreign bank accounts and are traveling all around the World to hide these looted public funds.

Ordinarily, it is generally believed in learned circle and by several writers that ordinary people ought to look at the leader during times of uncertainty and unfamiliarity and find reassurance and security when the leader portrays confidence and a positive demeanor. In Nigeria, from the President to the Governors, they have all become chief mourners of the hundreds of innocent persons murdered by armed Islamic fundamentalist group even while they are incapable of bringing these mass murderers to justice. 
 

A good leader as well as keeping the main goal in focus is able to think analytically, so says leading authorities in leadership. Not only does a good leader view a situation as a whole, but is able to break it down into sub parts for closer inspection. Not only is the goal in view but a good leader can break it down into manageable steps and make progress towards it.
 

A good leader is committed to excellence. Second best does not lead to success. The good leader not only maintains high standards, but also is proactive in raising the bar in order to achieve excellence in all areas. We in Nigeria can not say that what these scholars postulated is true of Nigeria because the kind of ministers and federal cabinet members we have are political sycophants like the minister of the Federal Capital Territory who is so bereft of innovative ideas on how to run Abuja so much so that the only thing he remembers is to name a District after the serving President who in any case is the head of the executive segment of the Federal Capital Territory. How can any analytic politician name a district after a serving President as is contemplated by the Abuja minister. It is only in Nigeria that Politicians have canonized sycophancy and mediocrity.

+ Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria and     wrote from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

20/3/2012

IS DAVID MARK GENDER SENSITIVE? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

David Alachenu Bonaventure Mark is a retired military General and an accomplished political statesman. He is the first Nigerian Politician to hold the prestigious office of Senate President of the Federal Republic, twice (for two four-year tenure each making eight years) since 2007.

David Mark belongs to the self -acclaimed biggest political party in Africa- the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].

From the above, my readers can see that the subject matter of my piece is not a small man but a respectable Nigerian citizen who has played pivotal role in both the military and civilian-led politics in the last four decades.  Another question which would be answered at another forum is how well has Nigeria fared in the said four decades that David Mark and his contemporaries have been in politics.

March 8^th 2012 was used to mark the International Women’s Day and in Nigeria as usual the event was characterized by speeches and colorful celebrations all across the nation.

At the National Assembly, both chambers remembered and honored the contributions of the Nigerian Women in the evolution of Nigeria’s democracy.      

Report has it that the Senate President David Mark was at the National hospital because of a reported minor health challenge about the same time that the World was marking the International Women’s day. But proceedings at the Senate became more exciting when one of the Senators made a very brilliant remark that the senate is not gender sensitive because no single female senator seats on the top hierarchy of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This is sad considering the fact that in real life, more Nigerian women actually take part in voting during elections and if proper scientific data/evidence is to be collected from the fields, the National office of Statistics will find out invariably that there are up to five female voters to one male voter in all polling units all across Nigeria.

I monitored the April 2011 elections in Enugu at the head of a delegation from the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria which was accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission to monitor the exercise which produced the current political office holders.

Since there are more women that actively take part in elections as voters, how come that gender equity or parity is still a mere slogan and not respected by critical stakeholders such as the Senate president of Nigeria who is obviously one of the most experienced politicians in Nigeria?

Our Senate President should go back to the drawing board with his “bosses” (other Senators, as he calls them) to ensure that a powerful slot in the top three leadership position is allotted to the women senators before the first year anniversary of their election on May 29th 2012.

Like the Federal House of Representatives that initially resisted external pressure to make a woman the House leader, but later caved in, the senate must embrace gender parity as a critical factor to nation building. 

Gender equity is not synonymous to singing “sweet mother” in the Senate chamber as was clownishly done by one of the senators last week, but ensuring that the rightful leadership role is accorded to our women Senators who are indeed achievers in their own right.

 Senators Olusemi Tinubu from Lagos state or Aisha Alhassan from Taraba state are vastly qualified to be appointed as one of the top three leaders of the Senate.

From Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, we learn that gender quality is also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality. It is the goal of the equality of the genders. Stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality, the push for affirmative action has taken center stage in public discourse in the last two decades since after the Beijing-China United Nations Women conference in 1995 or thereabout.

The movement towards gender equality, especially in western countries, began with the suffrage movement of late-19th century. International scholars recorded that closely following the clamor for gender equity was a general campaign for a transformational change in relation to a woman’s property rights in marriage as could be read for example from ‘ married women’s property Act 1882’ of the United States.

In the 1960s a more general movement for gender developed based on women’s liberation and feminism. However, actual changes in attitudes continued to focus on specific issues.

The movement resulted in changes to laws, either relating to particular issues or general anti-sex discrimination laws. Changes to attitudes to equality in Education opportunities for boys and girls have also undergone a cultural shift.

Development historians say that some changes came about by adopting affirmative action policies. The change has also involved changes to social views.  These include “equal pay for equal work” as well as most occupation being equally available to men and women in many nations.  For example, many countries now permit women to serve in the armed forces, the police force and to be fire fighters. Also, an increasing number of women are active in politics and occupy high positions in business. In Nigeria for instance, President Jonathan promoted the first woman military General -Naval Rear Admiral Itonu Hotonou of Lagos State and Nigeria got her first female combat pilot in 2012 in the person of Miss. Blessing Liman of Kaduna State.

In summary, Scholars believe that the movement for gender equality is therefore an intellectual, political, social and economic history of the changing relationship between men and women, rather than how it is often distorted and represented as a pro-woman movement. Women have historically been associated with inferiority in philosophical, medical and religious traditions. Gone are those days generally.

The Senate President should achieve much more profound political fame by respecting the tenets of gender equity by actualizing the appointment by consensus of one of the female senators to step into the leadership hierarchy of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria so that the voice of our mothers, sisters and good female friends may be heard loudly.

+ Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS' ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA AND WRITES FROM www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

12/3/2012

CAN DIKKO POLICE NIGERIA? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The biggest fallout from the persistent state of anarchy, insecurity and total loss of faith by Nigerians on operatives of the security community in the country was the last weekend’s sacking of the immediate past Inspector General of Police Mr. Hafix Ringim and the appointment of the erstwhile Assistant Inspector General of police Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar as acting Inspector General of police.

The unceremonious exit of the nation’s former police Chief was long in coming because of the overwhelming public opinion that the nation is in urgent need of comprehensive and surgical over-haul of the nation’s security Institutions following the abysmal failure of the armed security operatives to contain the unprecedented rise in violent terrorism, armed brigandage, religious insurgency and near-total breakdown of law and order in the last twelve months.

Most Nigerians are sad that President Jonathan waited this long before shoving aside the erstwhile Inspector General of police even as Nigerians are still bewildered that most other failed security Chiefs are still enjoying the privileges of their exalted and juicy offices even when tens-of-thousands of innocent Nigerians are killed violently by different armed splinter groups including but not limited to the much feared Islamic fundamentalist armed group known globally as Boko Haram.

The appointment of Mr. M.D. Abubakar has thrown up a number of posers that bordered on his patriotism, competency and professional efficiency or otherwise even as the acting Inspector General of police may have activated his support base to throw their weight behind him to ensure that in no-distant time that the nation’s commander-In-chief of the Armed forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan sends his name to the Senate for confirmation as substantive Inspector General of police.        

I am neither a supporter nor adversary of Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar but as a Nigerian I think the appointment of an Inspector General of police should not be subjected to political gymnastics since the constitutional duty of the holder of that strategic office is the chief law enforcement officer of the federation and in fact the field commander of the nation’s largest security outfit whose operatives are found all across the country.

The office of the Inspector General of police should not be limited to serving police officers but open to all Nigerian citizens with at least a university academic doctorate degree with cognate experiences of not less than ten years in the security field.   

The National Assembly should therefore embark on holistic Constitutional amendment to make it possible for an Independent appointing authority to be created headed by the President and Commander-in-chief of Nigeria and made up of tested and trusted statesmen and patriotic Nigerian women who should organize transparent recruitment process to select a substantive Inspector General of police for Nigeria if truly we want to get it right except if we are satisfied with the dysfunctional and moribund nature of our current Nigeria police force. God forbid!

Pragmatic police reforms are urgent because the security nightmare that Nigeria has found itself was created by the police because of the practice of extra-legal execution of suspects by police operatives; corruption; incompetency and improper training and equipment of the current crop of the Nigeria police Force.   

Members of the dreaded boko haram sect that have claimed responsibility for the dastardly acts of mass killings in streets of major towns and cities in the North, said the extra-judicial killing by the police of their founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 was responsible for their campaign of organized vicious terrorism in Nigeria.

While waiting for the expected political Messiah who would exercise the political will to effectively reform the Nigeria police Force for greater efficiency, it may be noteworthy to analyze whether Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar has the capacity to lead the “largest” police Force in the black world.

Put simply, can Mr. Dikko effectively police Nigeria?

Acting Inspector General Abubakar’s appointment has thrown up many posers instead of dousing fears over the nation’s security as he had been in Plateau State crisis a year ago. The Justice Niki Tobi panel constituted in September 2001 by former Governor Joshua Dariye on the Jos crisis had recommended the retirement of Abubakar from the police force. Dariye, the erstwhile governor of Plateau state is facing sundry charges that bordered on corruption at the federal High Court even though he is a serving senator at the moment.

Specifically, in a White Paper released in Jos, the panel suggested that Abubakar should be dismissed if he refused to retire.

The panel said: “Religious fanatics should not be posted to head state police commands. The commission recommends that for his ignoble role during the September 2001 crisis which resulted in the loss of lives, the former Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, Alhaji M.D. Abubakar, be advised to retire from the Nigeria Police Force and in the event of his refusal to do so, he should be dismissed from the service”.

The Niki Tobi panel had reportedly indicted Abubakar, who is from Zamfara State, for alleged sponsorship of Islamist militant group when he was Commissioner of Police in Plateau State.   

President Jonathan claimed that Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar was appointed the acting Inspector General of police based on recommendation from some serving and retired police Chiefs including the serving chairman of the police service commission who retired as a Deputy Inspector General of police –Mr. Parry Osayande.

National president of the highly respected Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritshejafor raised the genuine fear of most people that so long as Mr. Dikko Abubakar had been indicted by a judicial probe panel headed then by no other person but an erudite legal scholar and then Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he should not be confirmed as substantive Inspector General of police.

On his own part, the acting Inspector General of police has pledged to battle the rising violent Islamic fundamentalism and the vicious regime of violence in all parts of Nigeria.

When he took over from the disgraced erstwhile Inspector General of police, the new acting Inspector General of police Mr. Abubakar said: “I am indeed delighted today that the Almighty God, in His wisdom, has shown us this day. I will not want to tell you that I have a speech for now because I am taking over. I want to be fully briefed about the challenges and the difficulties and the facts facing the Nigeria Police today. I am not a newcomer to it. I cannot run away from the fact that there are a lot of challenges but I do know that we have challenges that are of high impact. I want to assure all Nigerians that this administration will be different from any other administration because every officer and men of the Nigeria Police will belong to the same family”.

Stating his priorities, the new IG said: “We shall focus on areas of interest, which we know the Police are lacking-training and retraining programme, welfare scheme and the challenges of fighting crime in this country. We shall go to every nooks and crannies of this country and do what is expected of us in respect of fighting crime and criminality….”

As clearly stated, talk is cheap and the new acting Inspector General should stop disturbing Nigerians with much noise but must walk his talk by leading the expected internal reforms of the decadent police Force in Nigeria.

Mr. Dikko must fight bribery, corruption and favoritism that have combined to cripple the Institution of the Nigeria police because this is how best he can write his name in gold and avoid a disgraceful exit like his immediate predecessor.

President Jonathan must however probe the past of whomsoever he intends to appoint as substantive Inspector General of police because foisting a religious fundamentalist of which ever faith group in Nigeria is tantamount to singing ‘nunct dimities’ (the end) of Nigeria as a corporate political entity in no distant time.

*   Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.

30/1/2012