*By Femi Ayelabowo*<\/p>\n
Strangely, under the watch of a battle-hardened, retired general of the
\nNigeria Army, now president, insecurity of human life has taken
\ncentre-stage and unreasoned, unchecked bloodletting has turned the country
\ninto a Hobbesian state of nature – nasty, short and brutish. When a miffed
\nformer Chief of Army Staff and ex-Minister of Defence, Lt-Gen. Theophilus
\nDanjuma accused the Nigeria Army of complicity in the continuing bloodshed,
\nit came home to Nigerians that something very fundamental was wrong both
\nwith the footing of the administration and its puzzling denial mode.<\/p>\n
It is at this significant historical juncture, when Nigeria is most
\nuncertain about its values, its leadership and its safety that former
\ntwo-term governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has stepped into the
\nfray and solemnly promised to change the Nigerian story if elected
\npresident. Dr. Mimiko is the presidential flag-bearer of the Zenith Labour
\nParty (ZLP) and has signaled his intention to challenge settled,
\nconventional assumptions.<\/p>\n
In his words during his mid-September presidential declaration in Abuja:
\n\u201cThere comes a moment in the life of a nation when every patriot must stand
\nup to be counted! At such a moment, no persons worthy of a place in history
\ncan afford to remain ensconced in their comfort zone. When the totality of
\nour being and the very essence of our humanity are in violation, patriots
\nmust advance to recapture the present; and commit to re-defining the
\nfuture. For our country, Nigeria, the moment is now!\u201d<\/p>\n
After about 30 years subsequent to swapping his stethoscope for the
\npolitical podium, Dr. Mimiko has certainly and clearly demonstrated that
\nboth medicine and politics fundamentally address human development. Watched
\ncarefully by his political foes and allies, the* \u201cIroko\u201d, *as he is fondly
\ncalled, has proceeded to lay out the intellectual framework for his proposed
\nnationalist intervention.<\/p>\n
According to the sedate scientist, \u201cIf we choose to remain on this same old
\npath, the wanton killings currently enveloping the Middle Belt, and many
\nother parts of the country, can indeed become the lot of the entire
\ncountry. The excruciating economic pains of today can indeed become a mere
\nintroduction to what lies in the bosom of time for us all. The
\nunprecedented level of division and distrust at individual and communal
\nlevels, with which we are faced today, can indeed spin out of control, and
\nconsume this dear country of ours.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a country, we are sitting right now on the edge of a cliff. Below is a
\nmassive inferno. Just a little push in the wrong direction will see us fall
\nover the cliff into utter damnation! Our present circumstances as
\nindividuals, communities and country, have now made one thing clear.
\nAbility to envision great ideas and demonstrable track record, rather than
\nplace and circumstances of birth, must be the most compelling basis for
\ninvesting candidates with power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is, therefore, not the time to cheapen the dialogue by engaging in
\nargument on whose turn it is to run the country. Rather, it is time to
\ninsist that only the best is good for Nigeria. It is time to all march out
\nand recall our past, take charge of the present and launch out into
\ngreatness, as one inclusive, cohesive family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the odds appear insurmountable, history shows no hurdle is
\ninsurmountable to an indomitable human spirit. In looking at the big
\npicture of the nation\u2019s security dilemma, Mimiko is certain there are
\nforces striving to abort the Nigerian dream and should be stopped. His
\nwords: \u201cThere is no denying the fact the centrifugal forces that seek to
\ntear our nation apart have been greatly strengthened in the past few years.
\nOne cannot but mention in this regard, ongoing killings all over the
\ncountry, but especially in the Middle Belt. The attendant devaluation of
\nlife is constantly expressed in unmistakable cheapening of human life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must also fully interrogate the nature of the ongoing massacres in the
\nMiddle Belt and elsewhere across the country. It is particularly worrisome
\nthat a systematic demographical reconfiguration is underway in our country.
\nThe class content of the massacres must also not be lost on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is against this damning backdrop that he envisions a three-pronged
\napproach to transform Nigeria. A powerful pillar of Mimiko\u2019s tripodal
\nvision is restructuring of the Nigerian state. He captures the essence of
\nrestructuring, drawing from direct experience.<\/p>\n
Read him: \u201cAs governor of Ondo State for eight years, I saw first-hand what
\nlimitations the federating units are confronted with, in the unitary system
\nof government that we operate, which we wrongfully refer to as federalism.
\nFrom security administration, through taxation, to investment in
\ninfrastructure, many of the things taken for granted in several federal
\nclimes, the basis of their vitality, are denied under our 1999 Constitution
\n(as amended).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes it practically impossible for state governments to be anything
\nother than pitiable adjuncts of an overbearing central government.\u00a0 It is
\nfrom the anvil of such practical experience that my commitment to
\nRestructuring was further sharpened. It is noteworthy that the redeeming
\ncry now is, restructure and save the nation!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mimiko correctly holds that there is really not much Nigerians can do even
\nin the best of times, to place themselves on the global cutting edge of
\ndevelopment, for as long as they remains shackled and ensnared by a
\ncentralized governance structure that is the 1999 Constitution.<\/p>\n
Elucidating on ant-corruption war, a second pillar of his national vision
\nthat also has critical bearing on national security, the ZLP presidential
\nflag-bearer stated that given the dysfunctionality that corruption has come
\nto represent within the Nigerian state, it needs to be totally and
\nconfronted frontally. His words: \u201cWe are poised to look into the dismal
\nperformance of our economy within the wider context of quality leadership,
\ncorruption, and a skewed world economic order.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is thus, no question about the need to confront corruption in our
\nbody politic, given the dysfunctionality that it has come to represent,
\nespecially in our public space. In doing this, we shall not fall into the
\ntemptation of administering selective justice. Neither are we going to at
\nany time seek the vacation of rule of law. For, as someone aptly noted,
\nselective justice is injustice; and doubtlessly, some form of corruption
\ntoo. Rather, we shall frontally attack corruption in all its ramifications,
\nby strengthening existing institutions, deploying technology tools, and
\ndeepening relevant policies on cashless society, while proactively
\nleveraging global frameworks for anti-corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps not surprisingly, education is a third pillar of the Mimiko vision
\nfor Nigeria which also has implications for impacting the national security
\npositively, drawing from his direct experience from Ondo State. According
\nto him, \u201cWe intervened to reclaim the place of education as a leveler and
\nthe most effective social ladder to the top, for the children of the poor.
\nThat precisely was what it was for my generation, and those before it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the reason that in spite of the limited means of Pa A. B. Mimiko
\nand Iye\u2019uka, our parents, my siblings and I were able to get the right
\neducation to become doctors, pharmacists, nurses, teachers, lawyers,
\nlinguists, managers and professors, for next to nothing. It was because I
\nhad the opportunity of such highly qualitative education that I could
\nbecome governor in the highly enlightened political space of Ondo State.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peering into the immediate political firmament, Mimiko urged the members of
\nhis party and Nigerians not be intimidated by the big parties but rather
\nfocus on the size and weight of ZLP\u2019s ideas.\u00a0 He said: \u201cWe must focus on
\nthe purity of our ideological commitment. We must focus on our passion and
\ncompassion for the weak and the poor in society. We must focus on the
\nclarity of our vision and thought that we bring to the fore for Nigerian as
\nwe go into the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most powerful strategy of the Mimiko offensive is a willingness
\nto disrupt settled assumptions that have hobbled the nation\u2019s progress for
\ndecades. This is because decisions to be made by the electorate in 2019
\ngeneral elections actually verge on the existential and requires
\nunconventional engagement. Probably, few realize this.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
*Mr. Ayelabowo writes via\u00a0Femilabowo@gmail.com<\/a><Femilabowo@gmail.com<\/a>>*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" *By Femi Ayelabowo* Strangely, under the watch of a battle-hardened, retired general of the Nigeria Army, now president, insecurity of human life has taken centre-stage and unreasoned, unchecked bloodletting has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n