THESE UPHEAVALS

GUTSY GAME

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men… there is no worse heresy than that an office sanctifies the holder of it.
…………. Lord Acton, 1887
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Nearly all men can stand adversary. But if you want to test a man’s true character, give him power.
….Abraham Lincoln

      Usually, it is not in us to delve into politics but with the recent events unfolding on a daily basis, one cannot but be tempted to write a full page commentary, if not a book. Initially, the plan was to analyze the legality or otherwise of the Ivory coast saga but Laurent Gbagbo, the man who has refused to handover power to his suppose successor, Alassane Ouattara even after ECOWAS, AU, UN and other world bodies have asked him to do so, appears to be bigger than the world; well, there is an adage that if a bird is dancing seriously in the middle of the road, then the drummer is close by… we shall keep watching to see the end of the drama.

   The Halliburton case also sounds interesting but we shall keep our fingers crossed and watch to see how far this one goes.

    Is it the Sanusi- National Assembly saga or the PDP Northern consensus candidate or those threatening to leave the party if the court orders are not followed? Still on the court orders, the Dino Melaye issue where it appears the judgment of the court has been ignored. The most interesting, yet funny of them all is the recent disappearance/stealing of the direct data capturing machine DDC,meant for the 2011 elections, are they kidding? What happened to all the security officials at the airport? Immigration? Customs? NDLEA? SSS? Police officers? One might be tempted to ask, did those machines even arrive Nigeria in the first place? Now they are telling us that the stolen Machines were not those of INEC. Are this people telling some tales by moon light? We are looking forward to some law suits…sure, why not!

     Back to Ivory Coast, two presidents at the same time, what is really going on? The power of incumbency seems to be extraordinary, why has he refused to hand over? Little wonder the saying “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’’. What is his fate when he finally steps down? Is it going to be another case of ‘’from president to prison’’ or what? We may not be so bothered about Ivory Coast right now but may we say it is a call to caution, 2011 elections are near. Those stolen machines what is the motive? Surely, someone is planning some kind of election outside INEC. Are we going to have two Presidents also? Hemm!

    We believe in rebranding and we hope for the best but we also propose that a stitch in time saves nine, what modalities are being put in place for a free and fair election, many governors have been sacked by the courts (some allegedly looting the country’s treasury), are they supposed to be free? One will think they should be serving jail terms to serve as a deterrent to intending “usurpers”. Does immunity still cover them? What about those electoral officers who were responsible for the election, what brand of immunity is protecting them from jail? 

    Meanwhile, with the way things are going we hope our courts will have a say in 2011 elections, since court orders are now flouted with wanton disdain. If not, how can a court make an order to reinstate an honourable member of the National Assembly of the Federal republic of Nigeria and it is disobeyed. What legacy are we leaving for the future generation? What hope should we have in our legal system?

Rather than tackle the in house dispute, they are busy attacking the CBN governor over a sentence he made based on facts before him, and accusing the Central Bank of Nigeria, truly, the best form of defence is attack!

May we conclude by saying that 2011 elections must take place, it has to be free and fair, it doesn’t start from the authorities, it starts from you, make sure you register, direct data capturing machine or not, your vote is your right, refuse thuggery and shun corruption, all hands put together, we will elect a credible leader who will take the New Nigeria to greater heights.

But we shall end this piece in line with the words of a renowned poet:

God knows we are not responsible for all these Upheavals around us. God knows!

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Long Live ECOWAS

Long Live The African Continent!

Comments? mersim4luv@yahoo.com