THE GHOST OF OBJ

There is an unusual calm in the countenance of the new president that gives one the impression that he is a man on a mission who is taking time to put the bits to good shape. Could it be that he is taking his time to win the battle of legitimacy that is tilted against his regime? Is he waiting for the whistle blower (OBJ) to say, you can go Shehu? Well, I consider it wise to give this man the benefit of doubt. He might just be his own man trying to understand the 'impossibility' called Nigeria. His list of ministers to the national assembly does not give credence to my hopes. However, when the chips are down I am confident that democracy will continue to refine itself. What do we say about, Mr. Egbaman (OBJ)The supreme commander of PDP Board of Trustee and the omega point of one queer PDP creation 'whatever on legislative agenda'. OBJ is everywhere in this government and it will take Yar'Adua some years to be his own man. Nigerians should be alert to call this man back if OBJ decides to draw him all to himself.

GEAR TWO: LOOKING INTO YOUR EYES

My compatriot, looking into your eyes after the reign of terror that followed the general elections, I can see once again frustration trickling down your eyes. I could almost feel the anguish of your heart. If not for being a communicator, I assure you that I would have given up reading Nigerian news because it is a recycled scenario that holds no novelty. Yes, you must admit that the elections of this year was one more time worse than the previous one. One of my friends and a great proponent of evolutionary politics might be leaning on the law of diminishing returns to catch up with this massive perpetration of injustice. But what I see is that if the trend is an exponential sophistication of fraud and thuggery, the blatant co-option of 'independent' institutions like Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Security operatives, then we are not in a learning process because in learning each stage improves on the former.

Tears, only but tears trickled down my eyes. It was in CNN, BBC; Aljazeera among others, that this country is a pariah state. Weep not my child, weep not my darling for those who made spirited effort to keep our heads high are not giving up the struggle. We are not giving up the struggle because democracy is not about elections only but the consolidation of democratic values. While others may have chosen to wait again for four years to come out and tell us that God has sent them to take over the affairs of our country, look out for those who after elections are ready to keep galvanizing our voices and to put smile in the face of many downtrodden Nigerians.

We are getting it right, we are resorting to gear two. The first gear was a hard start but the second puts us on a smooter ride. Don't forget that the higher we go, the better it shall be. Tighten your belt and let us ride on.

14th APRIL: SENSA PAROLE!!!! WITHOUT WORDS

After the 'free' and 'fair' elections conducted on the 14th; die hard optimists like us will still insist that the nation is not going to remain the same and that together we can change the situation. Was there elections by the way? My best imagination is that there was only a semblance of election because there was an electoral body, a day for election and political parties. However, beyond these, my mouth is shot. After all, I was not in Nigeria.

If I cannot trust the media reports from both the international and local media perhaps, I could trust my Mum whom I called on the night of the 14th. 'Ikem, I did not vote' she responded. Why didn't you vote? 'My son, we got there(pooling boot) but there was no sign of voting going on, no officials, no voting materials, nothing'. What did you do then? 'Around 2:30 in the after noon some heavily armed uniformed men took over the place and there was a rather sham pretence of voting for 30 minutes and that was it'. 'My son forget this place, we don't really belong'

My poor mother left in desperation, once again disenfranchised and hopeless. Mum, don't worry, I am caught without words just like many Nigerians but the end is very close, I can smell it and as long as we keep the hope, we shall not remain speechless for long.

ARARUME: LEARNING THE HARD WAY

Only God knows what is going on in the mind of Ifeanyi Ararume, the disgraced, disqualified and disdained erstwhile governorship candidate of PDP in Imo state. The poor masses are laughing last obviously. Ararume is not a victim of political grand posturing of the Aso Rock gods, he is a victim of a fallout of a gang to which he belongs. May be governorship candidate was the promise that held him as one of the most vocal supporters of the failed third term for Mr:President. Charles Ugwu the Abuja anointed candidate was also an apostle of third term, if not the first person to mention it during his valedictory speech as the out-going Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). Now that God has said no to both men, I call it nemesis for Ararume, a failure for PDP and a deterrent to other self-seeking Nigerian politicians. The trade off for Ararume is too costly. We are having the last laugh.

ONE YEAR INTO YAR'ADUA'S ADMINISTRATION

It sounds obviously like a detour, from campaigning for a change to prediting victory for the hawks. Yes, I have to admit to myself that it is a kind of a defeatist approach. Let us look at it this way, a desperate president has seen something about the future of Nigeria that the rest of us have not seen. He is committed to realizing what his best approach to it is and has deployed all the arms in his arsenal to fight the way. One thing that he knows is that he has lost the battle at the court of public opinion and by extension public vote. He arbitrarily declares public holidays to scuttle court processes and constantly positions himself as the Lord of the Mano. The day comes as Mr. President expects and Yar'Adua wins. My People it is not a free and fair election, once again it is going to be a selection, one tainted by hawkish interests.

No, it is too early to succumb. What happened in Imo state is an eye opener, Baba is not having it his way all the way. yet again, before this time, Adebayo Adefarati the deceased AD presidential candidate lost out to a battle between life and death. Our presidential hopeful is to say the least more fragile than the late Adefarati, that is not to predict his death anyway. Democracy has a way of refining itself. While men will keep playing gods in African situation, the dice might swing in a minute.

Ikennamindset is not sold to pessimism and refused to buy into the arguments of several of my friends who are theorists of a social evolution that cannot escape the mistakes of others in the light of new knowledge and advancement in science and technology.

Mark this, one year into Yar'Adua's administration, OBJ will have the course to say, why did I make this type of monumental mistake. His pet dogs will be his ferocious enemies and bite him they must do.

AND IWU DIED IN HISTORY!!!

Maurice Iwu or whatever he is called, is not to be considered an honest man by my own modest standard. Exibiting that usual I-have-soiled-my-hand attitude, the umpire has decided a game that is yet to begin. But does Mr. Iwu know that history is beckoning on him to win a credibility war in 2007 elections or forever be cast in the black book of history? I am hardly a sympathiser of AC (Action Congress) but I have the course to isolate the party as one of those who have consistently told us what Mr. President has not told us about himself. Their courage to wage a war against the War Lords of Aso Rock gives us little hope. Wait a moment, similar reason has made many of my friends to see Atiku as a hero. Much of his heroism are products of Baba's own lack of understanding of the affairs of men and his penchant for the Dudan-Barrack-type of show in Aso Rock. Before AC starts singing, let them be reminded that Nigerians are aware that they belong to the same garbage in which Nigerians want to throw the Umbrella men.

If you are with me, you will almost be asking the same question. Why does obeying court order constitute a problem for Mr. Iwu? May be the alleged Mass he was said to have booked for Andy Uba is getting him so drunk that he wants to help God to see that the victory of Ubah is a prayer answered as prayed. Chris Ngige and other candidates legally reinstated by the court of law should be allowed in the spirit of justice to contest elections.

As doubts hang on the air as to the future of this election, the death of Adebayo Adefarati, the AD presidential candidate has not helped issue. It might be the all-time-needed window for Mr. President to sit-put. While FG is pretending to be against this, we know OBJ too well to dispel these possibilities. Somebody should help me tell Iwu that Nigerian youths are not sleeping and hiding in the US after the election will not save him from the chaos to which he wants to throw this country.

AT ALL TIME, REMEMBER THAT THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF OUR NATION STARTS FROM THE MIND. PROF. PAT UTOMI REPRESENTS THE FACE OF A NEW SOCIO-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS. VOTE FOR NIGERIA, VOTE FOR PAT UTOMI AND GHANA-MUST GO QUITS THE DICTIONARY OF OUR BODY POLITY

PAT UTOMI: NIGERIA 2007 AND THE EMPOWERED CASUALTIES

Nigeria is obviously at cross road, marred by a reckless political class, bundled by a garrison commander in the name of a President, and constantly conned by politicians who have no idea that power is exercised with responsibility. In Nigeria it is a season of victories and disputes in the political circle, a season of apologies, a season of declarations, a season of ‘look my way, I am a saint. I am not like them’ and ‘look at them they are the thieves’. A season for those holding the umbrella (PDP) and those wilding the broom (AC) to sweep away the umbrella men. It is really a season of accusations-the election fever that follow politicians’ endless and egoistic battle for the soul of our nation. The President fired a shot against the major opposition AC (Action Congress) led by the Vice President with the acronym ‘Alliance for Corruption’. The vice president fired back; the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a Poverty Development Party. It is a season when court rulings are celebrated and the same breached without consequences. While both present the thesis and the anti-thesis, obviously, the synthesis is that of the masses and our judgment is that it is a season for the casualties. It is a country, my dear country, where George Orwell will definitely finish the unfinished work in ‘ANIMAL FARM’.

The victims, the casualties are the poor masses, me and you who have been driven far across the borders to suffer indignation in the hands of immigration officers and some chronic racists. The casualties are the traders whose little money has lost purchasing power due to inflation and harsh business environment. The casualties, the lonely casualties -those voices we may never hear again, are those who died in motor accidents because of bad roads, those who got killed by armed robbers who lost out in the unemployment battle with hunger. Those pensioners, who gave their all to this nation, yet stand endlessly in queues begging for their hard earned money. The casualties are the teaming Nigerian youths who stay under rain and sun at Walter Carrington Avenue begging visitors (Foreign missions) in their own country to allow them to leave this fire called Nigeria. Among these promising breed of young men and women are found, graduates who by virtue of lack of engagement in their fields of study; are loosing the finer parts of their academic training. Those beautiful young ladies whom hardship has driven into prostitution are also there. Nigerian youths keep transversing seas and oceans, dangerous forests and deserts to escape from this grave of a home in search of a greener pasture. Many get to their destinations; others perish in the deserts and get drowned at the sea. Petroleum supply has remained top in our importation list and electricity supply the most epileptic in the continent, making many families unhappy possessors of generating sets that best pollute the already polluted environment. Nigeria is once again under a siege.

Forgive my style but the only business that thrives in Nigeria is the business of politics, where men who never knew what it means to do business are the controllers of the economy. Looters of treasury are celebrated and the vicious circle is entrenched in the mentality of an average citizen. Corruption has become the rule of the game rather than the exception. In spite of the roaring and posturing of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), those who control its operations are the architects of corruption. The campaign office of the Vice President recently questioned the multi-billion naira business of the seating President; who as at 1998 when he came out from prison had only 20,000 naira in his account. Mr. President responded that he borrowed 2Billion naira from a bank. In eight straight years, this borrowed money exponentially increased to a thousand fold. What a business environment, where only the President’s business witnesses a boom? Nothing could be farther from the truth or did Mr. President use Nigeria as collateral? (Probably the Petroleum ministry under him).

Is it not absurd that within the last eight years this country that generated its highest revenue ever and still lavish in poverty with untold hardship among the citizenry? Is it not even more dumbfounding, that Mr. President woke up one morning in a desperate bid to deal with his Vice and declared the former’s seat vacant? It took some wise counsels for the government to understand that the military man in President Obasanjo is not used to reading constitutions. Again, this action was at the prompting of a lame party structure whose officers are concerned more about getting settled by the President than looking into his eyes. Is it not absurd? Is it not absurd that a seating governor is kidnapped and those who perpetrated the evil were rewarded with heavy police security around them when many Nigerians perish for lack of security?

To borrow the words of Sen. Femi Okuruonmo, AC (Action Congress) like PDP represents the same structure, the same culture of corruption and subjugation of the citizens’ needs and rights. The two parties are ideological twins separated only by personal political differences and more strongly bonded by the creed of relative individual aggrandizement.

But the casualties are not only those who died in the war, they include also the emissaries of war. Yes, the ultimate casualty of this mess will definitely be these hawks in the corridor of power. This is the birth of a new season, when the present casualties must rise in unison and change the hands of time. This season is a season for ordinary Nigerians, the casualties, to reclaim their lost ground through their treasured vote. If our generation must see the light at the end of the tunnel, then we must turn to embrace new faces that hold those precious values of leadership as stewardship precious. Prof. Pat Utomi represents that hope, that aspiration, that yearning for a country whose leadership is driven by commitment, competence, accountability, transparency, humility and service.

2007 general election is decisive for the future of our country and those who care about its outcome would need to make informed choices. Many Nigerians have given up on the country and have taken to political disengagement. Prof. Pat Utomi calls it ‘Hope in Recession’. In a well articulated article in one of the Nigerian dailies, Sen. Udo Udoma emphasized that the power of one vote in a democracy is so fundamental that only that one can make the whole difference. If we are to re-live 1999 and 2003, will you vote (General) Obasanjo? If we are to re-live 1983-1985, will you vote for (General) Buhari? Can we trust Alhaji Abubakar Atiku with his rhetoric? Let us embrace the future with hope, action and not just resignation. Those who keep criticizing the system without making any attempt to change it would take responsibility for the evil that await us. A vote for Pat Utomi is a guarantee for the future, for progressive politics and for a government to which that home call to its numerous citizens abroad will be an irrevocable vocation and whose bonding with the poor masses will be a covenant of liberation and empowerment. If we cannot vote abroad, we can influence those at home to vote wisely.