At the end of the 8th Interim National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting
of the All Progressives Congress held on Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 in
Abuja, and was well attended by prominent leaders of the party, a
communiqué was issued by the party, directing its members in the National
Assembly to block all legislative proposals including the 2014 budget and
confirmation of all nominees to the military and civilian positions to
public office until the rule of law is restored in Rivers State. Also,
sensing that, the call by the APC amounts to shutting down of the
government which is against the interest and the wellbeing of the 170
million fathers, mothers, children, poor, rich, young and old Nigerians
whose means of livelihood and survival depended solely on the government
operation, Honorable Femi Gbajabiamila, an APC member in the House of
Representatives asked rhetorically “When Government isn’t shutdown and
successive budgets have been passed, of
what benefit has it been to the common man?â€
Ordinarily, I would have maintained my reticence and confront myself with
other pressing national issues, but, because, the call by the APC, a major
opposition party in the country waiting to field candidates in the coming
February 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, is a disproportionate response
to the political topsy-turvy in Rivers State, I wish to use this medium
and add my voice to the parochial directive by the party!
First, it should be well understood that shutting the government down is
an open invitation to anarchy, and anarchy has to do with a societal state
in which there is no structured government or law or in which there is
resistance to all current forms of government.
Secondly, as a political organization that is struggling to lead Nigeria;
if the government is shutdown and anarchy prevails in the country, which
nation would they be scheming to govern after the conduct of the February
2015 General Elections? Or put the other way, if the millions of
pensioners, civil servants and all classes of Nigerians whose means of
staying alive is directly tied to the government of Nigeria dies, because
there would be no payment of workers salary, pension and money to meet and
solve their immediate problems and needs, who then will they be scheming
to govern in 2015?
It will be recalled that, when the Republican controlled House of
Representatives in the United States Congress decided to use their
numerical strength in the House to hold President Barrack Obama Hostage by
shutting the US Government down from October 1st to October 16th 2013,
after the Congress refused to pass a legislation appropriating funds for
the 2014 fiscal year, because of the inclusion of “Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act†otherwise known as “Obama Care†in the
budget, about 1 million American Federal Employees were furloughed and
over 1.3 million Americans were asked to report to work without pay. The
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine
Largarde warned of the possible consequence of the shutdown on the entire
world economy, saying it could led to another global economic meltdown,
but, here in Nigeria, a political organization that wants to present its
self to the Nigerian electorates is
calling for a government shutdown without minding its effects on the
people. Is this another case of “I’m Ok, you (Nigerians) are not Ok?
However, while condemning the call by the APC, the Yoruba Apex
Socio-Cultural Organization through its spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin
said: “The most dangerous of the APC’s recommendation is encouraging
its members to engage in things that may lead to instability … The APC
fails to think of the implications of not passing the budget and its
effects on the Nigerian Massesâ€. In the same vein, Senator Kabir Marafa,
an APC Senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District in the
Senate, while expressing shock over his party’s directive to its members
in the National Assembly to shutdown Nigeria said: “I don’t think the
party gave that instruction because, APC comprises highly intelligent
people of immense experience. So, I don’t think people of such
experience could give that type of instructionâ€.
Furthermore, Nigerians should ask APC leaders what they had in mind when
they asked their members in the National Assembly to block the
confirmation of service chiefs; when in 2012, one of them threatened of
both the dog and the baboon been soaked in blood?
Until convincing reasons are offered, the party should note that, gone
were the days when Nigerian Youths stands idly-by and watch the enemies of
our democracy truncate our democratic aspirations. Hence, having seen how
President Good Luck Jonathan is transforming and adding meaning to
governance through the various policies and programmes he has introduced
in the country; and as a way of saying “Thank You†Mr. President,
ride-on in 2015, the youths of the country will no longer condone any
threat that could cause confusion in Nigeria, as the youths are now ready
to defend our democracy and its institutions which President Good Luck
Ebele Jonathan is representing! May I also use this medium to warn those
who are still planning to threaten the peace, cohesion, stability and
above all, the Democratically Elected President of Nigeria to desist from
taking further action in that regards; because in the banter of democracy,
what is needed is superior
arguments and debates and not threats of any kind!
Comrade Edwin Ekene Uhara, a Democracy Activist and Commentator is the
National President of Young Nigerians for Change.
Text him on 07065862479, 08076134054
edwinuhara@rocketmail.com
No. 9, Imgbi Road, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.