Few days ago Professor Pat Utomi lamented that interlopers and agents of
darkness have hijacked our CHANGE PROJECT again. In that piece, Utomi
reflected on the June 12 1993 Saga and the sordid event of June 23 1993
and the formation of the Concerned Professionals. Prof Utomi lamented that
we lost the June 12 1993 as a result of the kind of complacency and
political idiocy that is playing itself out today in Abuja. In our very
own eyes we saw how SDP Chieftains started romancing with IBB and Abacha
junta until Chief Abiola’s Vice President, Baba Gana Kingibe, SDP Chairman
Tony Anenih, Ojo Maduekwe and others joined Abacha to destroy and bury
Chief MKO Abiola’s mandate. Human rights activists, pro-democracy
activists, concerned professionals, Trans Africa, Lawyers, etc spoke out
against the annulment but their voices were swallowed by the vicious and
dangerous voices of Abacha’s men. The rest is now history but we lost
hundreds of Nigerians including the winner of that election, Chief Moshood
Abiola, his wife Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, Bagauda Kaltho, Suliat
Adedeji, Dr Omatshola, Admiral Elegbe, Admiral Olu Omotehinwa, etc. Had
Nigerians stood up in great numbers to defend Chief Abiola and June 12
1993 mandate, Nigeria would have been a better place today.
In 1999 when the June 12 war ended, the same group of never do wells
seized the centre stage again to continue to decimate Nigeria and for 16
years, they tormented us, humiliated us, maimed us, killed us, pillaged
our common patrimony and destroyed all things we hold dear. Everything
they touched turned to ashes. Every sector just refused to work. They
came, they saw and the plundered. Time and space will not permit me to
recall what we went through in the last sixteen years in the hands of PDP.
They abused and told us they will rule Nigeria for 60 years. They beat us,
divided us with guns and money, they killed Chief Bola Ige, Harry Marshal
Funsho Williams, General Azazi, Aminosari Dikibo, Ogbonnaya Uche, Ayo
Daramola, Bayo Ohu, Godwin Agbroko, Dipo Dina, Chief Layi Balogun, Odunayo
Olagbaju etc.
Now, from just one state (Lagos) in 2003, the progressives led by Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President Buhari and others began to work, from AD to
AC to ACN. ACN then teamed up with other legacy parties like CPC, ANPP and
part of APGA and the new PDP led by Amaechi and others to form APC. APC
hit ground running and in March 28 2015, the change came and General
Buhari emerged as the President on the platform of APC. APC won majority
votes in the senate, House of Reps and even among the Governors. Now after
elections APC leaders met severally and agreed on candidates for the
Senate leadership and that of House of Reps. But something unthinkable and
bizarre took place in the Senate and House of Reps on june 9, 2015. As 51
APC Senators were having a meeting at the International Conference Centre
Abuja, 57 Senators met to elect Senator Saraki as Senate President against
the wishes of the party which agreed to settle for Senator Ahmed Lawan. In
the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara emerged against the wishes of the party
which initially settled for Hon Femi Gbajabiamila. Since then there has
been trouble in the big house of APC as leaders questioned the process
that led to the emergence of not only Saraki and Dogara but Senator
Ekweremmadu of PDP as the Deputy Senate President.
Party leaders see this as an act of colossal betrayal and sabotage, and
vowed to reverse the anomalies. There has been series of arguments and
counter arguments going on among those who want the sleeping dog to lie
and those who want the situation to be reversed. Some felt that it may
cause implosions in APC and consequently limit the capacity of the party
to deliver what it promised Nigerians. Some argued that a crack in APC may
lead to the re-emergence of PDP in 2019. They may be good arguments but I
believe in the supremacy of the party. I believe that APC is bigger than
anybody. I know what APC leaders went through to get to where they are
today and I believe that APC should stamp its feet down to defend the
integrity of the party no matter whose ox is gored. If anything, the
celebration and exchange of banters on the floor of the senate by PDP
leaders after the so-called elections suggest that they are up to
something sinister in years to come. I am also aware that the rules of the
house allows one third members to form a quorum but I frown at using one
third quorum to elect the principals officers of the senate at a time like
this. Matters were not helped when Senator Ekweremmadu went to Enugu to
beat his chest that PDP will bounce back in 2019 after stealing the deputy
senate president seat. This is why APC must seize the moment now, put its
feet down, play the real politics and give whatever is left of PDP a run
for its money in Nigeria. We must reverse the dangerous development we saw
in the Senate in order to send the signal out there that we mean business.
Attempts have been made by the invaders and interlopers to suggest that
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the one being whittled down by the emergence
of Senator Saraki as Senate President. The miserable Bode George believes
so and so are others who are worried about BAT’s rising and intimidating
profile. But today Asiwaju BAT remains the most sophisticated and most
celebrated politician in Nigeria. He has almost single-handedly retired
Bode George, Ebenezer Babatope, Tony Anenih, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Alex
Ekwueme, Ahmadu Ali, Tanko Yakassai, Edwin Clark, Bamanga Tukur, Richard
Akinjide, etc from active politics. Today if the 16 years struggle for
Change in Nigeria and the emergence of President Buhari is a book, Asiwaju
BAT wrote 65% of it. In spite of hate campaigns, intimidation, use of
brute force, dollars and pounds truck-loaded to Lagos, Asiwaju BAT
defeated PDP and their agents. If this is not a monumental feat tell me
what it is. In Kwara state, supporters of Saraki think that Alhaji Lai
Mohammed must sacrifice APC’s unique position in Nigeria and support
Senator Saraki because both of them are from Kwara state. No! Lai Mohammed
cannot settle for primordial sentiments to the detriment of the National
APC position. He has to defend the party, Saraki or no Saraki: This is the
hallmark of leadership. This is the way to go.
I want to appeal to APC leaders not to join the foolish constituencies to
think that Asiwaju BAT is the problem. No! He is not. What is at stake is
the integrity and position of our great party. We have made promises to
Nigerians and we need a good team made up of decent men and women to do
the real job. We must have the courage to stop the ruthless and inordinate
ambition of Senator Saraki and others in order to show the world that we
know where we are going. APC must carry the big stick.
President Buhari should play the real politics by standing firm with his
party’s guidelines and established rules. President Buhari has the full
weight of the federal government behind him to get things done the way he
wants it so long as it will benefit Nigerians .The world’s richest man, Mr
Warren Buffet says “In a chronically leaking vessel, it is more productive
to change the vessels than to continue patching the leaks from time to
time. Let APC send the signals out there that it is not afraid to take
hard decisions so long as it is in the national interest. After history
will forgive us taking decisions and many little mistakes than not taking
decisions at all.
NB: please take notice that this is a personal opinion.
Joe Igbokwe
Lagos