6. THE DOMINATION OF THE PDP BY THE NORTH.
One of obasanjo’s major achievements, apart from dividing the Yorubas into different warring political blocks, was his success in kicking out practically all the founding members and financiers of PDP, who did not see eye with him on different political and economic issues, or that he considered as threat to his authority and political survival. After Obasanjo’s handing over of power and the fast erosion of his political authority and status, a large power vacuum was created, and was quickly filled up mainly by northerners who are loyal to Yaradua. Thus, today, the PDP is firmly in the hands of the north. They have inherited all the resources of the party/ This, undoubtedly, gives them another very important and strategic advantage in future presidential elections.
7. FINANCIAL RESOURCES.
The huge amount of financial resources at the disposal of northern political elites, especially the retired military officers, is equally a big advantage to endure reelection of northerners in future presidential elections. As is well known, election, and politics in general needs a lot of financial resources. Moreover, in Nigeria, unlike in the US, where there is no limit or control on the amount that could be spent on elections, coupled with very high rate of poverty, this has created unlimited opportunities to buy the votes of impoverished Nigerians. After all, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Northern politicians, especially retired military officers, have stolen more than enough money to influence the outcome of presidential elections in their favour, at least for the next 25 years/
8. OBASANJO FACTOR.
After the handing over of power to Yaradua by Obasanjo and the corruption and moral conduct scandals that immediately accompanied him, his authority and political status has diminished completely. Therefore, Obasanjo is neither in the position of install a southerner as the president nor capable of preventing a northerner from emerging the winner in future elections. He can never play the role of a kingmaker.
9. THE CRISES IN THE NIGER DELTA.
With the tension in the Niger delta mounting, the last thing the north will do is to hand over power to a southerner. In fact, there are many secret discussions already going on now in the north on how to prevent Jonathan Goodluck from taking over from Yaradua in case anything happens to Yaradua which makes it impossible for him to continue ruling the country. The north is even considering staging another coup detat if the need calls for it just to prevent power from going back to the south. In addition, the north political elite understand how important the Niger delta oil is to their survival. The descendants of Othman Dan Fodio are very much aware of the fact that without the Niger delta oil, they are living dead. They understand that without the Niger delta oil, there will be billions of dollars for them to steal again. Therefore, they will do everything possible and impossible to keep power in the north.
10. QUOTA SYSTEM AND COMPOSITION OF NORTHERN POLITICAL ELITES.
The northern political elites are made up of two major groups: incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt civilians and retired military officers. The quota system, which has been in operation in Nigeria for decades, has produced a large number of half-baked northern graduates, including northern elite civilian politicians. Most of these people did not go through the rigorous competitions like southerners, in order to gain admission into universities and secure jobs. A large amount of them got admissions into the universities and were employed through quota system. Places were just reserved for them in the universities, ministries, public companies, foreign missions, radio and TV stations, etc. These mediocres have penetrated very deep into all levels of public posts including senators, members of House of representatives, governors, ambassadors, diplomats, ministers, directors of public companies, advisers, NTA news casters, e.t.c. This obviously explains the reason why northerners are not competitive with their southern counterparts in all spheres of professional human endeavour: music, law, academics, medicine, banking, engineering, sports, entertainment, writing, e.t.c.
The second group which the northern political elites is made up is the retired military officers. These are people who have no democratic values, and are only used to giving and receiving orders throughout their adult and service years. These are people who have never run any private company successfully before. These are people who made millions and billions of dollars from embezzlement and inflated contracts. These are people who shot their way into power. These are people who imposed themselves on us for a greater part of 48 years of independence. These are people who have oppressed, suppressed and intimidated millions of Nigerians. These are the people who have sent millions of Nigerians into their early graves.
These are people who believe that it’s their birth right to rule Nigeria forever. These people are the products of the Nigerian army, the most incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt government institution in Nigeria. These are the people who have taken part in different coup detats. These are people who have not gone through the necessary political, academic, civil and psychological transformation in order to operate effectively in a democratic setting. These people are neither intellectuals nor liberals. These are the people who don’t believe in democracy and the rule of law. These are the people who have no regards for human and civil rights. These are the people who believe that they are above the laws of the land. These are the people who believe in using only brutal force to solve all problems. These are the people who ruined our economy. These are the people that turned Nigeria into a country whose citizens live on less than $1 in a day, despite the abundance of human and mineral resources. These are the people who have denied us basic infrastructures like pipe borne water and electricity for almost 50 years. These are the people who spent hundreds of billions of dollars of the Niger delta oil m oney on building a new capital from scratch in the north, while the bonafide owners live in abject poverty and more than 90% of Nigerians do not have regular access to water and electricity, even till the time of writing.
These are the people who refused to hand over power to Moshood Abiola, a Yoruba man, in a free and fair election which was organised by them. These are the people that eventually murdered Abiola but lied to us that he died of heart attack. These are the people that imposed Obasanjo on us despite the fact that the Yorubas preferred Olu Falae, a much better candidate. These are the people, according to Richard Osuolale Akinjide, the former Attorney-General of the federation under Shagari, who purposely overthrew Shagari in 1983 in order to prevent a southerner from taking over from him. These are the people who built a refinery in Kaduna, when the oil wells are in the Niger delta, an extreme end of the country. These are the people who murdered more than 3 million Ndigbos, Ibibios, Ijaws, Efiks and other ethnic groups in the south south because they just wanted to be on their own.
These are the people who blew up Dele Giwa, Nigeria’s foremost journalist, in 1983, in order to prevent him from revealing some classified information that might implicate them for drug trafficking. These are the people who hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa for launching a campaign against the multinational oil companies to put a stop to the pollution of his peoples’ land, and for daring to stop them (the north) from stealing the oil of his people in the name of building a fake and non-existing One Nigeria. With the exception of Sanni Abacha, practically all these people are still very much around, alive and kicking. These are the people that will either be kingmakers or run for all the presidential elections that will be held in the next 25 years and beyond. These people will go to any length to retain power in the north. These people will use any hook or crook method including staging another military coup, if the need calls for it, to ensure that power does not go back to the south. I am afraid to say that when it comes to power games, we are no match for these people because it is the only game that they know very well and are perfect in. They are much better than us in the power game not because they are more intelligent but because the British handed power to them and positioned them militarily above us. They have been able to maintain this status quo for almost 50 years.
CONCLUSION.
The following conclusion can be correctly drawn from the above analysis:
A. A southerner can never be the president of Nigeria, at least in the next 25 years. After the north must have finished ruling for another 25 years, they will give it to the south to ‘smell’ through a puppet southerner, just 4 years.
B. Since only the north is capable of producing the president at least in the next 25 years, then, we have no choice but to elect over and over incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt northern civilians and retired military officers as presidents.
C. Since none of the northern presidents that will be chosen has the brains to lead Nigeria successfully, most especially, out of the serious political and economic crises, it’s always going to be one step forward, 5 steps backward;
D. Since we are going to be represented at all levels by mediocre northerners, who are mainly products of quota system, and not by the best of the best among us, our human resources can never be utilised to the maximum. In addition, Nigeria can never be competitive viz a viz other countries. This, in essence, means that the economy will grow slowly, if at all it grows.
E. With political power tightly in the hands of the north, they will automatically continue to have ‘unlimited and free’ access to to the vast resources in the south.
F. The north will continue to squander hundreds of billions of dollars of the south on white elephant projects like Abuja.
G. The north will continue to steal and embezzle billions of dollars of the south without any repercussion.
H. Multinational oil companies will continue to pay Nigeria peanuts for the previledge to drill oil in the Niger delta.
I. Multinational oil companies will continue to pollute the Niger delta without any repercussion.
J. Mutlinational oil companies will continue employing and paying exorbitant salaries to half-baked British, American, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Malasian, Philliphine, Lebanese and other foreign workers despite the fact that there are better qualified Nigerians, and the rate of unemployment in the country is high.
K. The north will continue awarding contracts to Indian, Lebanese, Israeli, Chinese, Lebanese and other foreign countries.
L. The north will continue paying millions of dollars in consultancy fees to mediocre foreign consultants despite the fact that there are Nigerians who are better qualified and could do a better job for a lesser amount.
M. We will continue to grope in the dark.
The above analysis and conclusion, take it or leave it, is the bitter truth as regards to the true state of things in Nigeria today and in the future. This is the political reality and implication of the ‘One Nigeria’ project that the north is desperate to sell to us. If you are expecting a miracle, then I must tell you that you will have to wait till death comes calling. Nigeria is NEVER going to have a competent leader with vision! Fela, all his life fought these people. What about our Prof. Soyinka? He has been fighting these people for more than 50 years. Has anything changed? It’s a complete waste of time waiting for a leader when it’s obvious that there is not going to be any in the nearest 25 years, at least.
Now, please let me ask you again. Is this the Nigeria of your dream? Is this the Nigeria that you want your ethnic group to be a part of? Don’t you think that it would have been much better if you could have your own country, without the north, where you will be represented by the best of the best at all levels, from the office clerks to the president, Try to imagine a presidential election without Yaradua, Atiku, Babangida, Buhari and other incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt northern civilians and retired military officers who have donated Nigeria’s political scene. Try to imagine a presidential election in which Patrick Utomi, Ahmed Tinubu and Dora Akunyili are the leading presidential candidates. That alone, is worth living and dying for. Don’t you think that it’s worth breaking up Nigeria in order to have Prof. Dora Akunyili the president of a new country, completely free from Babangida, Danjuma, Gowon, Atiku, Buhari and the whole of the north in general?
Personally, in a presidential election where Tinubu, Utomi and Akunyili are the leading candidates, I would have loved to vote for Prof. Dura Akunyili with all my fingers, toes, hands, legs, head, heart and the whole body simply because I strongly believe that she is the most qualified person to be the president of Nigeria today. Unfortunately, if only wishes were horses. The bitter truth is that people like Prof. Akunyili will NEVER be allowed to be president of Nigeria neither by the north nor by the PDP, despite her outstanding and ‘unprecedented’ performance, and the fact that she is a member of the party. Even if she wants to contest on her own, there are just too many insurmountable obstacles before her – from the analysis that has just been made above. Thev 2007 election in which Prof. Patrick Utomi, who, undoubtedly, was the most qualified among all the candidates that took part , is more than enough evidence to support this claim. No Constitution amendment can prevent incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt northerners – both civilians and retired military officers, from contesting elections. Therefore, if you are dreaming of a presidential election in your life time where Utomi, Tinubu and Akunyili will be the only leading candidates, then, you need to wake up from your slumber because it’s a dream that will NEVER come true, neither in the present nor future Nigeria. Real leaders will never emerge in Nigeria. Incompetent, corrupt, visionless and morally bankrupt northern presidents will continue to impose themselves, or be imposed on us!
The ONLY feasible way of having Prof. Dora Akunyili the president in a hot election that will be contested by Tinubu and Prof. Patrick Utomi is by breaking up Nigeria now. There is just no other way out!
TO BE CONTINUED…
