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Posterity will not
forgive ACN , CPC if PDP wins 2011 elections
Mon 14/3/11
Related
Shehu Sani lists 31 traps
against the 2011 General Elections: See the full
list
Shehu Sani
is a pro democracy activist.During the General Sani Abacha junta
he was arrested and jailed over a trumped up card of coup
plotting alongside serving and retired officers like
Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu YarAdua and journalists
like Chris Anyanwu,George Mba,Kunle Ajibade and Ben Charles
Obi.Today Sani is the President of the Civil Rights Congress.In
this interview,he provides an insight into the unfolding
political events in Nigeria.Excerpts:
There is currently a wave of protest
spreading across North Africa leading to the stepping down of
both the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents. Now, it is Libya.
What do you think this holds for democracy in Africa?
The protest in Egypt
was inspired by the one in Tunisia and the protest in Tunisia
was inspired by the desire of the people to free themselves from
decades of socio-economic slavery and political repression.
Democracy in Africa is a ruse. The democratic experiment in
Africa in the last 20 years is not in conformity with the
principles and tenets of democracy itself. Yes, we have civilian
government, but the question is, have they been able to live up
to the expectations of their people? Have they been able to
respect the fundamental rights of their citizens; have they been
able to respect the democratic rights of their people; have they
been able to meet the expectations and yearning of their people?
The answer to these questions is no. In Africa today, democracy
has become a mockery and a violation of fundamental rights,
abuse of power, rigging of elections and muzzling of the
opposition and the free press which has become the order of the
day. The whole system is suffocated by the ambition and madness
of people in the position of power. The people of Tunisia stood
up and free themselves from the shackles of tyranny and
repression and that inspired the people of Egypt. Those people
on the street were young people who have spent most of their
lives under tyranny and have always yearned for freedom. The
lesson to be learnt from the Tunisian experience is that fake
democrat days are numbered and dictatorship in the name of
democracy will soon be wiped out of Africa and that the people
are determined to free themselves from the yoke of tyranny. The
way the Egyptians stood still for over two weeks show that it is
only indolence and docility that can sustain injustice. No
matter how powerful and strong leaders are, as long as they do
not confirm with the ideal and tenets of democracy and as long
as they do not respect the wishes of their people, they are
bound to crash. Before Tunisia, we have seen it in Ukraine,
Georgia and other countries how the people stood up for freedom.
When we look at it very well, you will see that this revolution
was a product of so many things. First, it was the outcome of
decades of repression. Second, you have a people that are
determined to free themselves and third, you have the use of
modern technology such as the face book and twitters and other
means of communication to rally people into realizing this. So,
we can say it that what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt is
infectious and it is a question of time before other tyrants and
election riggers in sub Saharan Africa also crash. What is most
needed to bring down these fake democracies if for people to be
determined and to resolve that they want to free themselves.
Do you see similar thing happening in
Nigeria?
Every revolution has a trigger. In Tunisia, it
was the molestation of an unemployed graduate by a security man
that triggered the protest which led to the fall of the
government. In Egypt, it was the effect of the Tunisian
revolution and in Nigeria, the trigger will be the rigging of
the 2011 election. An Egypt like protest will happen here if the
ruling political establishment decide to rig election in their
favour. There is no doubt that people are disenchanted and
disappointed by 12 years of so called democracy which has not
been able to address the basic tenets of development and
democracy itself. It is most likely that it will happen. You
have seen it in Egypt, how despite all of them being Arabs who
are Muslims and Christians who have their differences, they were
able to keep the differences aside and face a common enemy. The
outcome of the 2011 election will determine whether we will have
a choice which will be to either have a credible election in
Nigeria or have a revolution.
How feasible is this much talked about
credible election considering the complaints coming from all the
political parties of imposition of candidates?
You are talking of internal democracy before
talking of a credible election. Internal democracy is a very
difficult process to observe in such a mischievous atmosphere
like we have today. Parties sometime have to trample upon their
principles in other to secure their base. Where you have
infiltration by the ruling party, the PDP into other political
parties by sending agents and stooges, some parties are bound to
be very weary of that. If our constitutional amendment had made
it impossible for people to win election and shift to other
parties, it would have seriously allayed the fears of party
executives and members who felt that they have to be very much
vigilant in screening, accepting and embracing individuals into
their parties. But it is also a process of the development of
our democratic system. There will come a time that we will be so
advanced and sophisticated that it is going to be difficult to
see manipulations at party levels. In the general sense of the
word, we will have problem if we refuse to observe the
principles of internal democracy. The 2011 elections could only
make a difference if it is credible and if it is not, Nigerians
should make the difference by being on the street to emulate the
Tunisians and Egyptian example and overturn the whole system.
Credible election can only work towards a reformist model of
seeing a change while preserving the system, while revolution
ensure a total over throw of an exploitative and repressive
system that has proven a menace to the whole socio-economic
development of our country.
In view of the docile nature of Nigerians,
do you forsee Nigerians coming out to protest the alleged
rigging of the 2011 elections?
There are lots of factors that lead to
revolutionary uprising. One is the decay in the system. A
decadent political and economic system is a breeding ground for
an uprising. The second one is a conscious and mobilized citizen
and where you have the leadership of a progressive class that is
ready to bring about a revolutionary change, they get themselves
organized, mobilize the people and then, all you will see is a
practicalisation of that desire. The third aspect has to do with
the character and behavior of the people and this has to do with
the fact the people can only be free if they decide to keep
aside their social, ethnic, religious and cultural difference
and resolve that they have a common enemy which they are going
to fight. What do the ruling political establishment do to pin
down people and to deter any revolt is using an exploitative and
repressive political system which ensures the preponderance of
poverty in the society. When you have poverty in the
society, then personal survival becomes the focus of an
individual. You will see that a socio-economic system that is
exploitative and repressive deny people the indication and the
knowledge to know that they are oppressed and how to free
themselves. The third aspect is division. The political class
always emphasis and exploit our religious, ethnic and cultural
differences and also promote such division and that has always
neutralize any attempt by people to form a common front to
fight. With all these things, it is a question of time. When we
have found out that the only way out of our poverty is to come
out on the street and fight; when we have found out that the
only way out of our illiteracy and decadence in the society is
to stand up and fight; when we have found out that our
differences should be the basis of our strength, then we will
all come together. The very day all Nigerians, irrespective of
our religious affiliation and cultural identity come to the
realization of the fact that we all have a common enemy who are
the ruling class and the only way we can free this country and
entrench a genuine democratic culture that will unit us together
is to stand up and fight, that will be the beginning of genuine
freedom and democracy in Nigeria. Nigerians will fight as a
united people at the very point at which we have seen the
futility that our differences has not been able to solve most of
our problems.
There is the believe that to get the PDP
out of power, there has to be a coalition of political parties
and this apparently gave rise to the alliance talk between the
CPC and the ACN which has broken down. With the current
situation, do you see the possibility of getting the PDP out of
power?
We need to ask ourselves why the people have a
common desire to weed out the PDP out of our political
atmosphere. It has been 12 years since democracy was restored in
Nigeria and in this 12 years, you should remember that in 1999
when Gen. Abdulsalami was in power, the price of crude oil was 8
to 11 dollars per barrel. Under Obasanjo, it went up to about
150 dollars per barrel. Under Yar’adua, it was about 70 dollars
and under Jonathan now, it is up to 100 dollars and the living
standard of Nigerians. We have never had it so bad in terms of
security with several cases of kidnapping and assassination
which has been the order of the day. Nigerians are not only left
to die with their poverty, but they have been assisted by bombs
under the kind of government we have and ran by the PDP. We also
have a problem of massive unemployment, infrastructural decay,
with all the billions pumped into agriculture and all the reform
in that sector has not translated into a modern agricultural
system. With all the billions pumped into transport, we are yet
to see our railway working or our roads in order. The billions
pumped into the health sector has not translated into a modern
health care system for our people in the villages and towns. All
the billions pumped into education has not translated into the
basic opportunity for Nigerians to acquire education. If you go
to other OPEC member countries, you can see how the enormous
wealth of their oil resources is used for the socio-economic
development of their country. You can see how the living
standard of their people has tremendously improved; how the
quality of lives of their people of their people have improved.
You can see how security and the social will of their people
have greatly improved. In Nigeria now, every year preparing,
defending and implementing budgets. But it has not impacted on
the lives of the people. This disappointment leads to
disenchantment and to translate this into a curse that will
eject them out of power. Those saddled with this responsibility
are the opposition parties and the problem the opposition
parties are facing today is not that of a common desire to
remove the PDP, but that of ego. The leadership of most of these
parties have seen themselves as lords of a certain enclave and
they believe that their personal interest comes first before
that of the entire country. You can see that if the PDP wins the
2011 elections, nobody should be held responsible other than the
CPC and the ACN because today, they are the most acceptable
political parties in Nigeria and history beacon at them, and
they will be committing a serious crime to posterity if they
refuse to keep aside their personal differences and save this
country from the rule of PDP.
The PDP has promised to win the entire
north in the 2011 election and this look feasible judging from
the breakdown of the talks between the CPC and ACN, what do you
think the opposition should do to get it right?
When I read it in the paper that the PDP are
saying they want to capture the entire north, I laughed because
I was born in Kaduna and I live in Kaduna. I want you to tell
me, apart from the Government House Kaduna and the campaign
secretariat of Goodluck Jonathan, who in the entire Kaduna city
have you ever seen placing a poster of Jonathan in his house?
Zaria is where the Director General of Jonathan, Ambassador
Dalhat Tafida hails from and Zaria is just 30 minutes away from
Kaduna. Go there and find out which house in the entire Zaria
has the posters of Jonathan pasted on it and there is no place I
spend most of my time apart from these two places. So, when
people make statements, they simply do that to deceive
themselves. You also look at it from the view point that
Jonathan went to Nasarawa and said that if elected, he will
bring an end to the cases of assassinations in the country. The
question is that since he is the President now, why can’t he
achieve that? Murtala Mohammed was just in power for six months
and you can see the impact he made and that can be felt till
today. Buhari was 20 months in power and he is still credible.
Can you tell me tangibly what Jonathan has done since he assumed
power after the death of Umaru Musa Yar’adua? The only thing
that he has done is to show appreciation to those who worked for
him there by either calling them rascals or by insulting them.
This is a man who cannot articulately access the problems of
Nigeria and make a point of how to handle them. This is someone
who cannot by his speech inspire anybody and convince you that
this is how he intend to solve them. We cannot continue to run
this country on the premise that the name of our president is
Goodluck. The name of Goodluck has nothing to do with the
quality of leadership you can offer. What are you going to do
about electricity, what are you going to do about our roads,
what are you going to do about our security, what are you going
to do about our transport sector, what are you going to do about
the health sector? What are your programmes and how can you
implement them? You can’t keep moving and telling everyone that
your name is Goodluck and that you have a history of assuming
the presidency or being a leader because of the appellation
attached to your name. We have made it very clear that if you
want to convince us that zoning or rotational presidency is not
the best, you should be able to prove that merit will also work.
But in Goodluck Jonathan, there is neither zoning nor merit. The
man is virtually bankrupt of ideas of how to solve the problems
of this country. We should ask ourselves here, what do we do
next? The next thing we should do is to call the opposition
political parties to, in the name of the people, democracy,
justice and posterity keep aside their personal differences and
put the interest of the country in front, work towards a united
front and see to it that we disestablish the PDP as the central
government that will address our basic challenges. It is not as
if everybody in the PDP is bad. There are still men of
credibility there and they will naturally fall in line when they
see the actual people on the other side. But the opposition has
not proven to be a better option than the people by the way they
are carrying on their activities because they don’t want to come
and work together and keep aside their personal differences and
put the interest of the country ahead. In that case, the country
will make do with the devil they know than the one they don’t
know.
You ran for the CPC senatorial primaries.
What happened?
As the primary was going on and some local
government results were out, the party simply announced that the
primary has been cancelled and that the secretariat in Abuja
will pick one of the candidates that will represent them. Till
today, no one has reached out to me or anyone that I have either
been nominated or not nominated. We learnt that names have been
submitted to INEC and that they will come and display the list.
But till now, there is nothing as far as Kaduna CPC is
concerned. What that means is that CPC may not contest the
senatorial election in Kaduna because you must have a candidate.
What do you think are the chances of the
CPC in the governorship election in Kaduna state?
Like I have said, the people of Kaduna, just
like the people of Nigeria will choose to go along with a PDP
that is united than to go with an opposition that is not focused
and united. What matters at the end of the day is that we must
have a government even if it is a bad one instead of having no
government at all. What must happen is that we must have a
united state or a united country under a government. If the
opposition political party wants to replace Peoples Democratic
Party, they must convince the people that they can offer the
alternative leadership. The PDP have not lay claim to being
saints or angel. So, the anus of proving to be saints and angels
lie with the opposition parties. You have to prove that you can
protect the interest of the people and that you can offer
governance that is different in terms of quality, perception and
result.
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