NIGERIAN POLITICS AND THE NEW APC – OPEN LETTER TO MAJOR GENERAL MOHAMMADU BUHARI The nature of my occupation grants me the privilege of seeing things from a different perspective especially as concerns Nigeria and indeed partisan politics. Many in my position find it hard to align publicly with any political program or position. But following the advice and example of some of my predecessors like the renowned Evangelist Paul Gindiri, Rev. Dr. Pandang Yamsat, Rev. Chriss Okotie and not to mention Pastor Tunde Bakare who ran with the Retired Major General Mohammadu Buhari as running mate in the 2011 elections; I prefer to openly voice occasionally my criticisms and opinions on public issues. While appreciating the contribution of our former head of state Muhammadu Buhari, to nation building and his determination, focus and resilience in pursuing his desire to lead this country. I would like to draw his attention to a few issues which I believe stand as paramount to the success of Nigeria – the progress of this country is very much linked to the progress of individual ambitions – why else would General Buhari want to lead it? This is not a slight at Rtd. Major General Buhari as I am sure he did say “by this act alone, the leaderships of merging parties have shown that, Nigeria its future, progress and prosperity of its citizens are greater than individual ambitions” (posted by Nasir El Rufai) while referring to the latest developments, in bad faith but indeed to reiterate and encourage what many of us have been calling for all this time. That while railing out criticisms and accusations against the rulling PDP, other parties have failed to realize this very fact that; the strength of any government is based on the strength of its constituent political party structure and no divided party can govern a country like Nigeria. That is why the current APC must not take for granted the fact that its test is not in the present merger which coincidentally has taken place again barely 2 years before a major election but that its test is in whether it will still stand after it looses an election? A major theme that moved the success of the US presidents campaign during his first outing was the statement “we are greater than the sum of our collective individual ambitions”. While having a positive connotation and optimistic outlook, and even tending to I dare say expand the peoples horizons even sometimes unto much more profound and eternal concepts this rhetoric may only stop at giving the people a sense of something to follow and inclusion and a sense of greatness. And worse still on the negative; this rhetoric can infact mean many things : 1. In a country or nation there can be expendables weather they are good law abiding citizens or they are criminals 2. When do we know when the sum of our individual ambitions become less that the sum of one mans vision or ambition. And thus I would like to say that though I am no one to tell any of our leaders this, I would like to encourage less and less emphasis on this rhetoric as becoming a norm within our politics, and encourage more of grass root dialogue which will bring more individuals and smaller groups into the picture of what leadership intends for them thus creating a unism and cohesion in our democracy’s worldwide and in Nigeria. Also it would not only assure the people that they are indeed greater than the sum of their individual ambitions or indeed any individual ambitions but they would be shown this by how important their individual wellbeing is to those they depend on for leadership. And thus I would totally agree with Rtd. Major General M. Buhari that “democracy is not just about free and fair elections, the consequence of which parties alternate to form governments, but also provides opportunities for fresh policies to move the country forward”. In fact it cannot be more succinctly put. Therefore I would humbly draw General Buhari’s attention to his awesome responsibility to achieve this through his most amiable constituency. When I saw the mammoth of people who followed him everywhere he went during his last campaign, I was moved to begin to believe in the developing Nigerian democracy again. That one man and I repeat one man could shake the political atmosphere to its core and produce such results was astounding. And even though I, like many Nigerians entertained fears due to the hijacking of such crowds by miscreants to unleash mayhem, my admiration could not be hidden for the natural evolutionary nature of such a move. This too I believe may have led to the support shown to him by the much respected Pastor Tunde Bakare. And thus I would want to remind Major General Buhari that while compromising with community urgings and any true leader would do, to give way to the greater good, he must not forget those people who followed him in droves to show their support. Weather misguided or with good intent – some indeed only moved by religious sentiments which of course negates the nature of Nigeria and its secularity. But indeed the need for these people who form a very important aspect of the Nigerian polity to be emancipated educationally, morally and politically cannot be overemphasized. That if these people who constitute the real talakawa – the meat sellers , yan pawa, mai laimu, the taxi motorcycle and lorry drivers, and market men and women – that if they are not emancipated and educated, Nigeria may not achieve its collective interest. That together with your party men and women you all must chart a new course and fresh policies on how to emancipate the less privileged devoid of diversionary tactics that only rebuild walls of hatred and discord within the community. Specifically that many among our present leadership have chosen a policy that encourages people of your background – less privileged – to believe that they are indeed immune from God’s searching eye if they themselves do not lead a different/unbiased course from their predecessors. I should know this because I work in an environment which allows me to come in close contact with divers categories of people. Experience has shown that giving people of less privileged background opportunities weather merited or unmerited does not necessarily translate to humility nor progress. But the content of character and the ability of that person to see beyond his/her immediate biases and vendetta’s mean much to achieving national progress and unity. That is why I see the importance in my present engagement; Christian Missions. Thus I do encourage your party to look beyond the usual Nigerian politics and progress into a more innovative policy formulation structure that looks at the problem in the eye and forges a new direction which will indeed provide we Nigerians with a true alternative based on ideology not sentiments, on progress not vendetta or point making. THIS IS THE CHALLENGE FOR A TRULY NIGERIAN, NATIONAL AND FUTURISTIC PARTY. GOD BLESS. DAVID DUNGJI CHINKE
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 10:44:01 +0000
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