Date Published: 06/29/09
YAR’ADUA’S HYPOCRISY IS INFURIATING THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS
By HAJIYA HAFSAT M. ZANNA
My humble self and many concerned Nigerians have by now come to the hard but real conviction that President Umaru Yar’adua is incompetent, incapable, unhealthy and in sincere in his attempt to once and for all resolve the Niger Delta crisis in the larger interest of the people of the country in general and the people of the region in particular.
Since coming to power through dubious and questionable circumstances under the guise of elections in 2007, Yar’adua has openly and secretly shown his ill feelings to the Niger Deltans and their cause. Even the so called amnesty put at the door steps of the militants is not only questionable but a ploy to deceive all Nigerians into believing that Yar’adua and his PDP government are all out to open a new chapter in the lingering crisis which has greatly affected the fortunes of Nigeria as it looses billions of Naira daily into the federation account arising from a short fall in crude oil lifting.
A number of Nigerian have since said the bitter truth that Yara’dua is not in any way sincere, committed to finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the region. Rather, Yar’adua is busy dragging the matter and therefore deceiving them into beliving that he means well for the region. To show his disdain for the Niger Deltans, Yar’adua according to inside stories snubs his deputy and does not assign major state matters to him in the course of his daily schedules.
One only hopes that the Niger Deltans have read Umaru’s hand writing on the wall. They should not be deceived into believing that his amnesty proclamation is from the heart. It is not enough to say prominent leaders of the region will be pardoned and the government does not find it fit to come up with some agenda of infrastructural development in the area to complement the efforts of the state governments and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
Well Nigerians are not in anyway taken unawares by the deceptive and uncompromising attitude of Umaru, his government and the PDP in resolving critical national issues like the Niger Delta crisis.
Anyway it is not surprising to many Nigerians the in competent manner Umaru is handling the Niger Delta issue. This is simply because he was never prepared to rule the country and therefore he did not have and till today, he does not have any blue print for the short, medium and long term plan to permanently resolve the region’s problem.
The fate of the Niger Deltans and indeed Nigerians would have been different today had former President Obasanjo not messed up the April 2007 general elections. President Candidate of the Action Congress in the elections, Atiku Abubakar would have merged winner had free and fair elections came the way of Nigerians. But alas Obasanjo with the able assistance of Iwu, Ehindero and some other known and unknown Nigerians assisted him in strangulating our democracy. Atiku had an articulated, all comprehensive and an all encompassing programme for the development of the country’s numerous sectors including the development of the Niger Delta as priority areas. Atiku, in his declaration for the Presidency of the country at the Abuja old parade ground on November 25, 2005 titled ‘Campaign for a new Nigeria: A new national partnership between government and people for the transformation of our dear country”, noted that “the crisis in the Niger Delta region has become an open sore in our collective conscience and national embarrassment”.
The contemptuous way the PDP government conducts national affairs gives one the impression that they are doing so like the nation belongs to only PDP and its members.
Even immediate past Vice President Atiku Abubakar had said that ‘PDP does not own Nigeria’. Like Atiku said: “the government must remain accountable to Nigerians as to how and why things are the way they are in the country today”.
There is no doubt in the minds of Nigerr Deltans and indeed all concerned Nigerians that Yar’adua’s inaction and hypocrisy in the region’s issues is further aggravating the crisis and therefore worsening the country’s economic and political fortunes. He needs to act fast and with full commitment to the wishes and aspirations of the country. There is no short cut to achieving lasting peace and economic development of the country.
HAJIYA HAFSAT M. ZANNA
( musahafsat@yahoo.com)
87, GAMBORU NGALA STREET,
MAIDUGURI
