Nigeria: Things Fall Apart

By Usiere Uko. January 17, 2010

Nigeria sailed into uncharted waters when on November 23, President Umaru Yar'Adua was taken to Saudi Arabia for one in a series of medical treatment that have become a defining feature of his presidency. As usual, he went AWOL, without a proper handing over to Goodluck Jonathan, his vice per constitutional provisions, going by the now famous section 145.

Since Mr. President has been going on French leave without sanctions from the National Assembly, it has become a norm in serial constitutional violations. Both Chambers of the National Assembly is controlled by the ruling PDP, hence the President's back was covered. So come November 23, Mr President went AWOL again, assuming he will be back as usual before Nigerians begin to ask of his whereabouts. It was not to be. Umaru Yar'adua is still in Saudi Arabia 56 days and counting. His medical state has become an official secret. His media team has virtually disbanded, leaving the field open to conflicting information cum lies from the Federal Executive Council, Governors, aides, local and foreign media. The rumor mill has taken over and Nigerians have been left bewildered, confused and not knowing what or who to believe. The ship of the Nigerian state has been left adrift in high waters.

Where is Umaru?

That has been the question on the lips of Nigerians. Nigerians have heard more than a dozen times since last year that he is responding to treatment, and will be back soon. The ghostly voice on BBC seems to prove otherwise. It is obvious that if a video of the president is shown on air, Nigerians will know conclusively that they have been lied to, since December 2009. Mr President seems to be in no state to be videoed, as hell may break loose if Nigerians know the truth. Nobody believes the government anymore.

Nigeria seems to be suffering from a multiple organ failure. All organs that ought to have stemmed this slide to constitutional anarchy seem to have failed, and Nigeria seems to be careening wildly towards an early fulfillment CIA's failed state by 2015 prophecy. Like the sad Farouk AbdulMutallab saga, all organs that are supposed to catch the drift have failed serially.

Mr. President set the ball rolling by refusing again and again, to hand over to his Vice. He has agreed to be held bound by hawks who insist that it is the PDP's Northern caucus turn to loot and wreck the nation. Rather than allow Jonathan to be acting President, instead let the heavens fall. It is their God given turn to loot, based on the fraudulent agreement in PDP to take it turn by turn rather than let the best man serve per the Nigerian constitution. Mr. President seems to have enough energy to supposedly sign the 2009 supplementary appropriation bill, and use his last breath to give the shortest interview in BBC history, but does not find it fit to sign the letter transmitting to the National Assembly for Goodluck Jonathan to be sworn in as Acting President. All vestiges of servant leadership and rule of law has evaporated into the thin air, as the President defends his beloved cabal with all the breath left in him.

Taking a cue from the President, the FEC resolved on December 2, 2009 based on a seemingly nonexistent medical report, that Mr. President is fit to rule from a hospital ward. Our most entertaining Attorney General dropped the clincher, that the hospital ward can be situated anywhere in the world - Tahiti of Tibet who cares? The mandate is global. The Vice President is an optional extra. It is also the prerogative of the President to hand over to the vice, and this President is not handing over anytime soon. He will hold on till death do them part. Nigerians can go to hell.

Over to the National Assembly. The leadership put on their reading glasses to see clearly the small print. Bingo! The national assembly has no constitutional right to compel the FEC to do the right thing. They can only suggest, and since they have heard the whisper of Umaru on BBC, all that was left is to pay him a solidarity visit to assure him that all is well at home. He can carry on clutching onto power, even from the intensive care unit or life support, if need be. He need not worry, the people are sufficiently bamboozled and docile.

The judiciary, the last system standing and famed last hope of the man on the street seems to be taking its time. If the frenzied January 13 judgment by the Abuja High court is an indicator of the stand of the judiciary, the ball may very well be back in the court of the president while the people look on hopelessly. Nigerians have been tossed like tennis ball by institutions that are supposed to defend the constitution of the Federal Republic.

It seems only Mr President can break this logjam, unless the people decide to get back in the game.

"A country of about 150 million people cannot be held down by the infirmities of one man and the selfishness of a clique."
- Punch editorial of Sunday January 17, 2010.

Our national institutions have failed to contain this avoidable disaster that has befallen us. Things fall apart and the center cannot hold, mere anarchy seems poised to be loosed upon the land. Nigerians have been left on their own, and have a choice to make. The only viable option left is for Nigerians to take their destiny into their hands. According to Professor Wole Soyinka, the time for talk has passed. It is time to march.

The first march was a hugely successful outing in Abuja January 12, which forced Mr. President to break a 50-day silence, woke the national assembly from slumber to speak on the issue of our missing President, as usual saying nothing, looking for something to hide under, and reactionary forces to return to the trenches to rent a crowd in support of a president that has gone AWOL.

Nigerians are waking up from slumber. People are beginning to speak out. Churches are beginning to find their voice. The civil society is regrouping. The Unions are awakening. It is beginning to dawn on many that if Nigerians do not rise up to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH, the hand of the clock will be moved back to 1993, or much worse - join Somalia in the list of failed states, not only in the list of 10 countries of interest. The Save Nigeria Group has issued a battle cry. The Abuja rally was not the end, but a beginning. Phase 2 moves to Lagos Thursday January 21.

The time to hide in our sitting rooms and offices to run commentaries and complain has come to an end. It is time to throw our hats into the ring, and put our legs and hands where our mouth is. Talk is cheap. Excuses is buy one, get one free. History does not belong to the talkers, but the doers.

There is no record anywhere of folks that murmured and complained during the racial segregation era in the US and apartheid era in South Africa. History only has record of everyday folks who gathered up their courage, put away their fear and marched. People who stood up for God and country, sometimes putting their very lives on the line. The church had a shining example in Reverend Martin Luther King in the US, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa. Nigeria is in dire need of such.

Nigeria is sadly again at the cross roads. For Nigerians, it is time to put up or shut up for good.

By Usiere Uko writes from Lagos