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Apr. 2, 2007 My daily routine starts everyday by 4.30/5am. As soon as I rise from bed I give God the glory for the dawn of a new day upon us praying and asking for His favour as one goes about seeing off the day for yet another. After prayers I will retire to my library for some communication with the outside world through the internet which has become a source of both good and evil. Evil in the sense that a lot of mischievous elements masquerading behind false identity go about doing all sorts of mischief in the internet. With the world grappling with ID theft and huge scam industry the internet has become a veritable tool for dispossession of the unwary users of their hard-earned properties. Even Bill Gates has confessed that the internet is beyond his or other agencies' control. I have been receiving myself all sorts of phoney proposals, nasty mails (with varied names and claims) soliciting my "assistance or help" to move certain amounts of usually huge funds from Africa to elsewhere especialy Europe or America or Asia. But my usual response to these unsolicited emails is silent deleting from my email accounts. One wonders where on earth these scammers obtain one's email addresses. Daily in my library I read some four or five Nigerian dailies whose editorial line of judgment enjoys my patronage. And read of course some articles written by brave radical minds in Nigeria including those found in NVS by fellow villagers in the Diaspora and then consult my private email account to respond to messages. As this's being done my beautiful wife would fix a cup of hot coffee for me and hand it over which I consume with some sticks of marlboro lights cigarrettes. As I was going through some breaking news from Nigeria yesterday morning (Palm Sunday) fully concentrated my phone rang and I picked it up and on the other end was my Ivorian friend, Kouame, who teaches at the University of Cocody here. He announced to me that he had bought another car. Wary of April fool's day I cautiously congratulated him all the same telling him that I would be in his house (in Marcory area of the city) in evening hours for us to wine and dine as regards his latest auto acquisition. Before long another call came this time from my good student friend in Germany, Chidi, who asked me rather brusquely: "Sunny, have you heard the current news?!" Retorting I had asked him: "What news are you talking about?" And Chidi continued betraying no emotions: "So you have not heard that Obasanjo is dead few minutes ago and that INEC has consequently 'annuled' the April polls with Gen. Babangida as the new head of state?" Aware of April fool's day I simply replied:" Brother, but that's both good and bad news embedded in one, you know! Good news because our Medieval 'monarch' has gone the way of Abacha but bad news because IBB has come back to 'bury' us all in a corruption cesspit and the presidential election therefore may no longer hold because the evil genuis is now on the driver's seat bearing June 12 in mind". When few hours later I called back my lecturer friend he told me amidst laughter: "Donc mon ami vous savez pas qu'aujoud'hui c'est le premiere Avril? C'est poisson d'Avril monsieur Okenwa!" (So my friend you do not know that today is April 1st? It is April fool's day mister Okenwa.") I replied the gentleman who read French language at the Surbone University in Paris France that I knew but was just playing along in the spirit of the mood. And he hung up asking me to still come around in the evening for an outing. The general elections in Nigeria slated for this month is still giving some cause for concern if not apprehension in many quarters. With OBJ's third term agenda still very much fresh in our memories (though killed in the Senate) coupled with INEC's disappointing state of unpreparedness for the challenges ahead one is at a loss as to the successful organization of the polls and their outcome. 'Prof' Maurice Iwu looks to many Nigerians as a man whose independent-mindedness is roundly questionable. His Commission's attempts to play the roles both the Nigerian constitution and the electoral rules do not assign to it is frightening. His alarming empty rhetorics, media melo-drama and double-speak go a long way to paint the picture of a compromised man who is ever ready to sell his conscience at the slightest threat or blackmail. Those already 'cleared' by the Commission to contest elections are busy campagning across the board giving faint hope of the organized opposition mounting serious challenge to PDP's dominance in our politics. Yet it goes without saying that the campaigns have so far not addressed the general concerns of Nigerians over how best to fix the many afflictions of the giant of Africa and who best means well for the genuine interest of the people. In the campaigns one observes politicians of different hues and parties promising paradise without ideological salient points to back up their promises and claims of a better tomorrow for our abused people. Many a skeptic still hold at the back of their minds that another hidden agenda from occupants of Aso Rock akin to April fool may still unfold to scuttle the polls or create confusion that may lead to their postponement. Just few weeks back the Lagos-based pastor Tunde Bakari of Latter Rain fame shocked Nigerians when he declared that the April polls would not hold simply because Obasanjo would want to go in October and not now. It is only left to time to either vindicate Bakare or Obasanjo. The only charitable thing one can say about Obasanjo and his army of liars and hypocrites is found in their unhappiness of their imminent term expiration according to our constitution. Steeped in an orgy of self-abasement the OBJ clowning club of old-breed militricians and ruthless political wheeler dealers are toying with the destiny of over 200 million Nigerians. Having so much enjoyed power and it's guarantees and stepped on powerful toes in their 8-year hold on power the TTA proponents may not have given up on their plans. That's why all hands must be on deck to gently or violently escort Obasanjo out of Aso Rock come May 29 depending on the option he chose for himself. And with the death of the AD presidential candidate Chief Adebayo Adefarati last week one just hopes the FG and 'Prof' Iwu meant their words when they declared that the presidential election would hold on appointed time. Surprisingly the Federal Government has gone to court praying that the court restrains 'Prof' Iwu or INEC from postponing the polls. That is why I consider it a silly logic AD's view that the polls be postponed in deference to Section 37 (1) of the Electoral Act 2006. My question to the AD chieftains is: what impact would Adefarati or the AD have made in the event of their participation in the general elections? For goodness sake much as one condoles with the family of the deceased the AD and Adefarati are inconsequential in the Nigerian political equation. The Consul-General of the United States Embassy, Mr Brain Browne, who represented his country at an event recently asserted that: “America’s abiding interest is that Nigeria continues to improve its ability to look after the well-being of those of its citizens, who do not have the capacity to fully look after themselves. Political system is supposed to be a venue where problems get solved equitably so that society and all of its component parts can progress in some degree of harmony and reason.” There in Nigeria he says: "it seems that politics have been mutated into its opposite. Instead of a way of solving problems, politics has often become a problem itself. Instead of improving people’s lives, it is claiming lives.” While advising Nigeria to get the forthcoming elections right, the US representative warned that: “to be found wanting at this moment would akin to allowing your destiny to pass through your fingers as if it were the wind you are attempting to hold, but it is not the wind.” According to him, should Nigeria fail in this democratic enterprise, succeeding generations would look back and be perplexed, saying: “they will be baffled at how, given the corps of talented people and the store of resources providence has bestowed this nation, we let this country run aground; now that the election season is upon us, we all have a choice to make; will our politics be small and selfish or will it be visionary and will it be beneficial to those whom we purport to serve?” I hold that the American who was brought up in a clime where political power is tailored towards achievements that not only give God the glory for the opportunity to serve but leave marks to remember with pride had spoken the truth of the matter. April, described by poet T.S. Elliot as "the cruelest month", may well be cruel in jugding our march towards sustainable democracy depending, of course, on how we overcome or bungle the general elections. May God save Nigeria! ------------ About the author: Sunny Chris Okenwa is a U-K contributor based in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. Email: soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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