RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - AN OPEN ADDRESS TO MEMBERS OF CONCERNED CITIZENS

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>

Date: 31/01/2021 20:47 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - AN OPEN ADDRESS TO MEMBERS OF CONCERNED CITIZENS

Edited copy

OPEN ADDRESS TO MEMBERS OF THE CONCERNED CITIZENS OF NIGERIA.

                    By

       

            Olayinka. Agbetuyi.    

       

Members of Concerned Citizens of Nigeria:

(Hereafter to be called Concerned Citizens)

This piece was originally intended for members of the National Assembly to whom I addressed a similar piece a few months back, on where the nation faltered during the Second Republic, leading to our 40 years in the wilderness of military brutality and back to a penumbra of the excesses of military rule in civilian disguise.  The moral tenor of the National Assembly is in serious doubt as the crucible of progressive change, if they daily invite convicted looters within their ranks as part of the law making process ( pray what laws can looters make but that which pander to and excuse brigandage?)

Your group came into the country's memory a few months ago when you decried the security situation in the country under the watch of the current administration.  Sadly, the situation has hardly improved and it seems Nigerians will have to look forward to the next incoming administration in 2023 to see a marked improvement in their lives.

A cursory look at your membership reveals names of persons of integrity and experience including some of my own intellectual mentors now in retirement.  Then I knew the situation must be dire indeed for some of you who were the icons of democracy to come out again to declare:'this is not what we fought for.'  Indeed the situation has gone beyond issuance press of  releases to a call for re- mobilisation to salvage the country.

The current administration came into being on the promise to rectify three serious anomalies: to stem the tide of monumental corruption and bring the corrupt to justice, to improve the dire security situation in the country and to restructure the country to ensure equity.  Today, six years on, the security situation is seen by the majority as worse than when the administration took office. Cases of obscene corrupt enrichment started before the administration took office are in the main, still unresolved, and the journey toward restructuring of the nation has hardly begun.  No one needs to be a genius to conclude that no appreciable success has been recorded on the score card in these areas and the nation may need to look up to another incoming administration come 2023 to fulfill their dire needs.  President Muhammadu Buhari squandered a golden opportunity on the eve of the 2019 elections by not holding the APC to ransome that he was unprepared to be the flag bearer of the party unless the Nstional Assembly puts in place enabling laws to expedite the anti- corruption crusade.  And this is where the Concerned Citizens come in.

The Concerned Citizens stand at the cusp of history to facilitate a new beginning for the country by mid-wifing a genuine government in waiting as the New Labour Party did in 1997 in the United Kingdom.  The Concerned Citizens can begin to put its house in order to form a party that can truly deliver those goals which the current administration has failed to deliver so far by scrutinising the ruling party's  manifesto and constructing their own on how the lapses can be filled pragmatically for the purposes of  the next election so that the electorate can be given real choice.  The current main opposition party, the PDP has been discredited that it no longer fulfills the role of a serious opposition party and many of its corrupt members sucked into the current ruling party that, unless a credible opposition party is fielded come 2023, Nigeria stands the risk of becoming a one party state of a mediocre APC ruling party.

Issues that the the party floated by the Concerned Citizens need to address urgently include the nature of executive power at the centre, which singularly is the most intractable 'national question' in Nigetia's history, the response to which bred other problems such as corruption ( bribery to influence the choice of national leader, who in turn rewards his clientele with bribery of political patronage and repression of opponents.  I have suggested the problem is best solved by electing a presidential council of six from the geo- political zones of the country, which takes national decisions in concert after deliberation, with one year chairmanship rotation among the council of six, in a six year non renewable fixed term tenure.  Pending the required  constitutional change when in office, the Concerned Citizens can elect an interim president from the South East as the last president under the current dispensation, who will serve as first chairman and anchor of the new system within the first year in office.

This process referred to as necessary  devolution of powers at the centre by HE Olusegun Obasanjo in a zoom interview today is already in practice in the United Kingdom that now practices a  Tetrarchy of its main ethnic nationalities of the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish and the English each with its separate First Ministers who are the counterparts to the England's chief executive the Prime Minister. It now practices a Tetrarchy  after facing the same problems of ethnic exclusions now faced by  Nigeria for centuries of its union.  State  governors can implement similar devolution into gubernatorial councils.  Nigeria will immensely benefit from the geo- political equity facilitated by a Sixtarchy.  As HE Obsasanjo puts it, justice fairness and equity are the foundation of peaceful  co- existence.

The Concerned Citizens must also propose a corruption- free process of electing members of the presidential council on merit other than the current system of the presidential bazaar primaries.

The Concerned Citizens party on assumption of office must change other highlighted areas  in their manifesto including but not limited to the provision of capital punishment for serious fraud (involving sums in excess of US $10,000) and the exclusion of the trial process from the offence from the normal courts, to be tried by special tribunals subject to the ratification of the presidential council.  The tole of traditional rulers as auditors to ensure budgeted funds are spent on the right projects, during project execution and conclusion in a transparent manner should also be inscribed into the constitution to ensure non partisan formal scrutiny and accounting.

Olayinka Agbetuyi

31 January 2021

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DB6PR04MB29821ED710ADC5B41CEC15E3A6B79%40DB6PR04MB2982.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com.