Malam Yusuf Mamman, ace broadcaster, former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, one time chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Review of the 1999 Constitution, who also served as the chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) at the beginning of the democratic transition in 1999. Position on current political developments in the country I AM a very strong supporter of a two-party system, and it’s very good for our democracy and development; it minimises centrifugal tendencies. In a multi-cultural and multi-religious society like ours, there is need for equilibrium, for the system to continue as a going concern. When IBB (Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida) started it, many people did not understand the wisdom behind it. The two-party system in Nigeria was central to IBB’s political doctrine. Fundamentally, there are no differences between the PDP and APC. This is because of cross- party incursion, fluidity and mobility of members. In fact, APC is not a political party; it is not a political party or movement but an aggregate of individuals bound by resentment, hate and anger. It will consume itself by its own internal contradictions. Eighty per cent of APC is PDP. It’s the dissident arm of the PDP. The APC is unwholesome with false façade of unity. If you break down its membership in political arithmetic, you will see that it’s zero. The biggest bloc in APC is the defunct New-PDP or PDP. There are no opposition politicians on APC; they cannot offer Nigeria anything other than their usual menu and recipe: violence, threat, and intimidation. True democrats and true men cannot be speaking of fire and brimstone. Obvious fear of post-election violence in 2015 On March 13, on the eve of Ekiti gubernatorial election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at an APC campaign rally, called on APC cadre to adhere to their oath of rig and roast. He wanted to Agbekoyanize them. You remember in the 60s, during ‘operation wetie’, when there was complete mayhem in the Southwest, there were some hunters called Agbekoya, who made the old Western Region ungovernable. A leader must at all times moderate his utterances, be more circumspect, responsible and accountable. The United States and European Union berated him (Tinubu) for reckless and inciting comments. The language of violence is more with the opposition. Finally, there was the governorship election in Ekiti and PDP won clean and square. APC was defeated and humiliated at the poll. The result shut them up, but instead of licking their wounds, they came up with cock and bull stories called stomach infrastructure. If the people of Ekiti say no to violence, the rest of Nigeria will say the same. Ekiti is the intellectual bastion of the Yoruba nation; it’s insulting to call and castigate Ekitis because they rejected APC at the poll. So, tell me who are the apostles of threat and violence? It’s in APC you have professional serial riggers, in fact, seeded riggers from 1999 to 2015. It’s either their way or the highway. The true position that the PDP is dead and buried in the North and people are afraid to campaign for President Jonathan The North is a big entity in the Nigerian federation. We were never politically monolithic; we have deep and profound political history, relationship and alliances with the people of South-South and Southeast. It has been so since pre-Independence, the First Republic, Second Republic till date. It is a time-tested marriage that has been the bedrock of Nigeria’s democracy and stability. The far North and the Middle Belt have the same sense of purpose. President Shagari cemented it when he visited the tomb of Sen. J.S Tarka 1982, where he released hundreds of pigeons, symbolizing the political unity of the North. That is the holy political matrimony that makes us to support President Goodluck Jonathan. Four years in the life of a nation is nothing. We must learn to respect each other and be states manly at all times. Our democracy has come of age. When you have APC rally at the Port Harcourt Stadium, Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Buhari, Tinubu, and Atiku were there, waving brooms and sloganeering in a peaceful atmosphere without threat or rancour. The same will happen in the North where you will find Mukhtar Shagari, Yusuf Mamman and others supporting President Jonathan. I can assure you it will be done without violence because the North has always been pluralistic in its political expressions. Only anarchists and apostles of violence will say that, but I can assure you any day, any time Jonathan goes campaigning in the North, he will receive the biggest tumultuous rally of his campaign. Victory for President in 2015 elections ABSOLUTELY, he will win with a wide margin across the country. You will be surprised with the way people will throng his rallies in the North and how their support will also translate into massive votes and endorsement. Across the country, he will comfortably win. Rating the president over what happened in the National Assembly recently vis-a-vis his competence to salvage Nigeria’s democracy You see, democracy is not a substitute for law and order. Rt. Hon. Tambuwal is a fine gentleman, with excellent pedigree that has made many of us proud. However, he got it wrong right from the word go by aligning with the opposition, in particular, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu without condition. So, Bola (Tinubu) became the new choirmaster of the National Assembly. What he territorially lost to the PDP in the Southwest, he wants to redeem in the National Assembly. Speaker Tambuwal, prior to his defection, was a PDP dissident, the 10 per cent of total aggregate of APC. Now, he stepped up his game to join the defectors’ rank of 65 per cent. He knows what he is bargaining for. There is so much measure of dishonesty, and fraudulent attempt to dress up pseudo-ideological legitimacy as progressives. There is nothing progressive about APC but hate and confusion. With or without Jonathan in the 2015 general elections, it (APC) will disintegrate. It has no clear ideological or concrete agenda for change, transformation or alleviating our contemporary challenges. The worst form of corruption is personalisation and abuse of power. Many of them are delusional with false messianic traits. The schools we attend, we did not know who built them, but we attend these schools. Now, I ask why Kwankwaso should write Kwankwasiyya on public school buildings. Kano has a long history of political radicalism in the Nigeria from poetry to partisan politics. Aminu Kano, Tanko Yakasai, Mudi Sipikin, Muazu Hadejia, Dahiru Yahaya, Naibi Wali, Dandatti Abdulkadir, etc.; the struggle was best exemplified by the tradition of liberation and resistance against imperialism, colonialism, feudalism and the Native Administration. That is from the vantage point of history. All the people mentioned combined scholarship with political activism. NEPU (Northern Elements Progressive Union) was a mass movement anchored on enlightenment and intellectualism. So, in this regard, and from this tradition and trajectory, where do you situate Kwankwasiyya? There are differences between radicalism and rascality. It is also important to note that this issue of impunity and disrespect to the doctrine of Party Supremacy started around 2001. When we had three political parties at the time — AD, APP and PDP, I was the National Chairman of AD; we had six governors, including Lagos. There was problem between Tinubu and his deputy, Kofo (Bucknor-Akerele); he locked her out of the Council Chambers and also her official residence. She is an elegant and graceful lady. So, she sat on a chair in front of the Council Chambers. Photojournalists were made to take her picture, with a sponsored advertorial few days later, screaming, ‘The Crying Grand old Ma.’ Consequently, we had an emergency meeting of the party, including the late Sen. Abraham Adesanya, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the late Chief Bola Ige, Chief Ezeife, Udenta Udenta, the late Sen. Bassey Ekpo, and Chief Olu Falae to prevail on Tinubu, all to no avail. Her (Bucknor-Akerele’s) official residence at Bourdillon is what he (Tinubu) has converted into his private residence presently. Tell me where is integrity, accountability or rule of law?
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 14:53:26 +0000
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