International implications of a Yar’Adua Presidency

It was an election that had the soul of the nation and with good reason. Obasanjo was due for an electoral replacement. Nigerians by and large looked upon the elections enthusiastically with the belief that a culture of democratic – though imperfect -continuity would blossom and the much needed constitutional amendment towards achieving an inclusive society would emerge – even those ruthlessly pessimist, those neck-in separatists or secessionists mustered a flurry of hope . The elections inspired a sense of commaradie among a vast swathe of Nigerians. Nigerians at home and abroad, took the electoral preparation at heart and suggested faults or potential hazards to INEC, but it was deliberately thrown away. Unbeknown to them, the saliva of Maurice Iwu, Obasanjo’s organ grinder’s monkey, had them in, like an unfortunate insect battling to stay alive in liquid.

Obasanjo found in Iwu, a man who combined the mental craftiness of an advanced fee fraudster and the pugilism of a motor park tout, who could institute his shenanigans to the full tilt. He saw a man who possessed a rich well of lying water and the slickly turn of lime. Voices rose up and demanded Iwu’s sack but they deliberately and strategically fell on deaf ears.

By consenting to a Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua presidency, Nigerians accept the inevitability of a pariah status - in a country already reeling from widespread electoral notoriety . Yar’ Adua was the first governor to introduce Sharia in his home state - Katsina – in a multi-religious society. How could a man of his pedigree preside over Nigeria? How would a Sharia Yar’Adua presidency seat with a relationship with Israel and America? I urge the American government and every other government to hold off any oil dealings with Nigeria. Nigeria is America’s fifth largest oil supplier and it is achieved in conditions perhaps on par or less than what obtains in Sudan where a greedy government deprives its southern tribes of their natural resources constitutionally. Perhaps the only difference between the Jangaweed and the Nigerian state is that they are forthright in their determination to extirpate the southern tribes of Sudan while the Nigerian government sponsors a quite policy of opposition elimination and apartheid. It only makes sense to me that the source of revenue is cut off.

Recently - in the Nigerian media - Yar’Adua while receiving members of the Northern Union implored that a power rotation culture between the North and South be entrenched and urged members of the NU to employ the same gusto they did in campaigning for a northern presidency towards a south presidency ‘when the time comes’. Every time he speaks, he confirms his dissonance with sanity. I watched him speak shortly after he was declared president-elect and I bled within me and this is the man many urge our acceptance? His recent statements are no surprise to me - very few things surprise about the Nigerian society; I have always seen Nigeria as a mystical nation, where unusual things happen.

Those who beg our forbearance in the face of monumental evisceration need to provide an answer to this question: when is the right time to act? In 1999 we were told the same thing, in 2003 we were told the same thing and now we are being told the same thing!

I do not blame our leaders because I believe they capture the collective schizophrenia that is Nigeria, I blame Nigerians. Our deep-seated divisions handicap us at this crucial juncture in our history to any concerted front. The rivers of tribalism flow from the kinky hair of Nigeria and empties at its foot .I cannot give an assessment of the 1966 January coup because I lack any subjective understanding of the flag they wove as they spilled blood ruthlessly but sometimes I wonder if any type of leader should be accepted. A wicked leadership can permit the deaths of people. Through the wicked policies of a leadership the majority can be held in prison.

Around the country, it is tales of woe, anger and frustration around .The gored child weeps inconsolably in his mother’s arms. Nigeria is crying.


Obasanjo’s decision to rig was a defeatist confirmation of his unpopularity among the Nigerian public - a realization of the utopian atmosphere he constructed around him .
True, the Nigerian polity is largely unfavorable to any kind of peaceful election considering the ruling and opposition party thugs at their beck and call, armed to the teeth; but all these were made known or known to him before the elections.

What happened on the 14 and 20 of April was an open rape of decency and common sense. Nigeria witnessed the worst rigging in its history. This year’s elections mark the climax of election rigging in Nigeria's voting history – no time in our history has there been so much death, so much violence in a rascal bid to loot and plunder.