Today as a reflection of yesterday

Every society is a product of certain historical events and situations. The reason why many at times people find it difficult to understand the state that they find themselves in is buried in their failures to understand and properly come to terms with the historical realities and circumstances of their time.
In Nigeria today, several factors are responsible for the obvious socio-political and economic mess that the nation finds itself in. This endemic sorry state is rooted in both immediate and distant history but the concern this week is on the immediate factors that have precipitated this uncertain time and the role it serves in determining the future unless concerted national efforts are put in place to salvage the nation against this obvious drift to destruction.
Since the return to civil rule in May 1999, one thing that has become the hallmark of governments and leaders at both state national levels is the issue of succession. It is only in Nigeria that candidates nominated to contest either governorship or presidential elections or even local government chairmanship, are warned not to select competent running mates that would be their deputy.
The dominant advice from various quarters to such candidates has always been that people who are not ambitious are selected. The meaning of this is that only those that are possibly not as intelligent as the principals are nominated as running mates. The result is the disaster that we face today in Nigeria.
What do I mean? When General Olusegun Obasanjo was leaving office in 2007 after having tried tenure elongation and its eventual failure, what he did was to introduce a sick presidential candidate and a weak vice on the country. This is the reality because aside the serial health failures of the late president Umaru Musa Yar’adua during the electioneering campaignsand the subsequent charade that brought him and Goodluck Jonathan to power, the running mate at the time lacked any serious political credentials because he became the governor of the state of Bayelsa by share providence; again occasioned by the messianic feelings and dictatorial tendencies of Obasanjo who was bent on dealing with Alams, the governor of Bayelsa, who chose to pitch camp with Obasanjo’s deputy, AtikuAbubakar.
To deal with Atiku boys was a task that had to be done and regardless of what was going to be on the general growth of the Nigerian polity. Alams was removed and Goodluck Jonathan hoisted on the people of Bayelsa State and when it was time for election, the best that president Obasanjo could give Nigeria was a president who had “problems with his kidneys and a vice that didn’t have liver,” according to my elder brother Timaus Mathias.
Yar’adua died long ago but what he left behind is killing Nigeria. I do believe that, but for the ill health of late president Yar’adua, Nigeria would have been better off but the sheer risk, which Obasanjo gambled, is responsible for the problems of leadership that the nation is facing today.
I believe that in spite of the desperate attempt by the lion of Ota to distance himself from the mess of this government, he is historically intricately linked to it by the virtue of his insistence of that ticket just for interests that are clearly selfish otherwise if Obasanjo was interested in Nigeria why did he not anoint a healthy person and a visibly intelligent person from the south-south?
All this is now history and the nation is the worst for it. We see new things every day. I thought that the police were getting better acquainted with democratic tenets as the days go by, but what we see today seems to be worse than the over-zealousness of the police under Mustapha Balogun.
The police in Nigeria today are a law unto themselves. Its IGP defines the law with finality and he is not ashamed of doing any bad job as long as it goes down well with his bosses across the political landscape in the country. This is unfortunate and must be condemned by all and sundry.
Two things are scaring me about the police and it’s IGP. One is that the spokesman of the force came out a day after that illegal invasion of the National Assembly to tell the world that the Speaker of the House went to the assembly with thugs. The thugs here are the elected representatives of the people from across the country.
Secondly, when the IGP was forced to appear before the house committee on police affairs, he blatantly told them that he did not recognise Aminu Tambuwal as the speaker because he haddefected.
In my view, certain factors are responsible for this posturing. One is power of incumbency driven by the opium and positional exuberance. Secondly, is the feeling by the IGP that he studied law. The behavior of the IGP is an indictment to lawyers who are so properly called ‘learned.’ I can see very clearly the disadvantage of adult education. I am sure if the man had read law as a professional student, he would not be standing law on its head and this grand-standing policing wouldn’t have found any place under his command.
I see the activities of the IGP as counter-productive and not in the best interest of even those political godfathers he tries to impress. It is dangerous and could be of serious consequences to the police force and the nation as a whole.
I wish to remind the IGP and those who encourage him into this brutality that he is product of history and he should take a look at the photographs in his office and see how many IGPs’ Nigeria has had from 1999 to date. He should be careful and do his job with maturity, professionalism and integrity. Just as many people do say, they never knew that Obasanjo was a great leader until they came face to face with Goodluck Jonathan.
So also is the current saying across the nation that they never knew that MD Abubakar was a professional police office until they came across this IGPSuleiman Abba who knows so much about policing and law to the extent that he prosecutes and judges at the same time. What a shame! This is a disgrace and my final word is that the IGP should be careful otherwise history will record him among the worst in this country and for nothing; he has a family that would bear his name even after he is no more.
Nigeria is certainly under severe stress from its leaders who are incompetent and incapable and the current leadership of the police force is akin true to the character of the state.
What happens if the PDP loses the 2015 elections? Oh, stop thinking about that Kabiru! It’s impossible; they never out of their wildest imagination believe that Nigerians can indeed change the government of Goodluck Jonathan in February 2015.
It’s unfortunate that the nation is bleeding while they rebel squander-mania and bad governance. God save Nigeria from this wicked leadership and the dimensions it is taking.