RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria

Nation building is work-in-progress. It goes on for as long as there is a nation to make better for all citizens. A primary challenge of the Nigerian nation is ignorance. The task of properly and correctly educating citizens must therefore go on. There are negative entrenched interest including some politicians, whose stock-in-trade is the continuous mis-education of their gullible supporters which causes the  supporters to determinedly vote and act against their (supporters) own interest. The above and other negative forces’ stranglehold on some masses’ constituencies requires to be challenged. Proper and correct education of these masses’ constituencies seems to me to be a most  effective tool. Yes, it is a tough challenge. It is a slow process. It will take time. It is nevertheless the right thing to do. I should add that it works too.    

 

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of danoye oguntola
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 12:29 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria

 

Oga Ogugua/ TA I appreciate your thinking but I have reservation for the conclusion that suggest that we need to educate our poeple. For how long would these categories of war and blood thirsty individuals and groups be educated over the sanctity of life and the unity of this nation. I think the Northern leaders are just trying to negotiate for the 2015 elections with thye violence. By this act all other regions will see reasons to allow them to determine who rule from 2015 onward. It ia also a reminder to GEJ not to nurse any second term. I stand to be corrected.  Laguda --- On Tue, 4/19/11, orunmilababa@yahoo.co.uk <orunmilababa@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: From: orunmilababa@yahoo.co.uk <orunmilababa@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 8:12 PM Oga Ogugua, I agree with your position that Jonathan, based on the result of the presidential election, is the truly Nigerian president, and as such owes Nigerians equal attention. To stem the spate of violence across the country and especially in the north, mid-belt and the delta regions, there must be rigorous and mass education of the people to expose the fact that the victims and losers after any politically motivated violence are ordinary men and women and their children. They need to know that hunger and deprivation do not recognise ethnicity, religion or political affinities. President Jonathan must not wait till the next elections to begin the campaign of integrating the disparate ethnic and religious entities that make up Nigeria. In fact, one way to begin this, for me, is for us to create a new national anthem that will recognise our contemporary realities and our aspirations for the Nigeria of our dream. Tunji Azeez, PhD Department of Theatre Arts& Music Lagos State University Ojo, Lagos. Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN From: "Anunoby, Ogugua" <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> Sender: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:50:23 -0500 To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Subject: FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria     “It is now time that the Jonathan administration take the Middle Belt region seriously given the tenor of their constant and unalloyed loyalty, especially to the ruling PDP since 1999.” ta    I am not sure what is implied or intended by the above statement. Jonathan in my opinion should take all parts and regions of Nigeria seriously. He should not play favorites. He must avoid the traditional political practice of doing more for one part of the country than another. Jonathan is the elected president of Nigeria. No one paying attention before the presidential election believed that he was going to  sweep votes from all parts of the country. He had competition that was intense in some parts of the country. His major rival was considered by many Nigerians to be a regional and sectarian candidate. Jonathan is uniquely positioned as a duly elected president of Nigeria to begin to set new, civilized, and proper standards for  presidential politics and governance in Nigeria by serving all Nigerians as their elected president. Unlike his major rival, he was a national candidate. He must not forget that if he is seen at all times, to work hard for all Nigerians and be evidently fair to all parts of Nigeria, he will be favored with the admiration, favor, love, and support of all Nigerians. I am not persuaded that Tinubu delivered the South-Western States of Nigeria to Jonathan. Tinubu’s party was never really in the presidential race. The party’s concern was and still is to take back South-western States’ municipal administrations and national assembly seats from the PDP. The party has done well so far. The party’s supporters that wished to cast their votes in the presidential elections had no real alternative candidate to Jonathan.   Jonathan’s major rival  has been badly damaged goods for many Nigerians, for years now. He carries too much baggage of the unacceptable kind to be a credible candidate in a national election.  He is also not much trusted by middle-belt and southern states’ voters. He has contested so many presidential elections for such different parties that his ambition to be president is nearly an obsession that suggest that he has scores to settle. He came across as an angry, bitter, and broken man with an undeserved and therefore unwarranted sense of entitlement. He did not do enough to assuage fears outside his core constituencies that he is not a strife candidate. He has a chance now to begin to fix his reputation. He should unequivocally condemn the riots and protests by his supporters over the presidential results regardless of any perceived and true grievances of his, and/or justified wrongs and imperfections of the presidential elections. He must make a call for peace without prejudice to his lawful future courses of action as a declared defeated candidate in the elections.   oa   oa From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tony Agbali Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 8:24 AM To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria   This unfolding and unfurling violence is sad. It is unfortunate that violence would emanate from this election, that seemingly was adjudged fair and more transparent than many elections in the past, and which gives resounding victory to President Jonathan.   In my estimation given the almost ten million voters that Jonathan more than that of his closest rival, General Muhammed Buhari (retired), the popular acceptance of President Jonathan is overwhelming, and it doesn't seem to be due to any massive malpractice- except if there are other informations that are still beyond our public knowledge.    It is glaring that President Jonathan won clean and clear (as we say in Naija fashion), even if there if for whatever reasons, there exists certain reservations regarding his ability to provide sound leadership given his performance up until this point.  However, no matter any reservations, he has shown certain acknowledgeable political principles, in the mode of his overt non-interference with the elections this far.    The votes in the South West that went overwhelmingly in the way of Jonathan, after the Action Party of Nigeria (ACN), and partly the Labor Party (LP) won massive in the antecedating National Assembly election, the massive South-South, South-East, and the almost taken for granted Middle Belt recurring support for the ruling party, and even with Jonathan having a good enough showing in some of the northern states where Buhari won, indicates his popular acceptance.    The resort to violence shows naiveity and a mindset of a group that always seem willing to have their way, even when they do not have the will or resources capable of getting there. Now, President Jonathan has a huge problem in his hand. He is the leader of a hugely divided nation.    It can be conclusively stated that the Middle Belt fundamentally ensured the success of the elected ambitions of Jonathan, giving him the presidency. As a result these middle belt states, also northern states by geopolitical definition also provided Jonathan with a leeway, and  a certain modicum of legitimacy, so much that while the core northern states went massively to Buhari, the northern peripheral states of Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Kwara, and the Federal Capital, ensured Jonathan's easy win, alongside the Southwest, an ally of the old Middle Belt regional autonomy agitation. Unlike, the Middle Belt though, Jonathan's victory in the southwest is tinged with the teeming allegation by the CPC that the southwest votes were delivered by Tinubu to Jonathan; an allegation that cannot be simply subsumed as irrelevant.     That leaves the quality of Jonathan's victory outside his south-south, and their traditional south-eastern ally, more resoundingly predicated upon the astute loyalty of the middle belt; which in spite of similar past support for the ruling party hardly translated into viable federal government programs and development efforts in that region.   Yet since from around 1983, this region has continued to vote overwhelmingly for the ruling party at the center.  Except for the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, they have been left virtually undeveloped with limited federal government infrastructural development.   It is now time that the Jonathan administration take the Middle Belt region seriously given the tenor of their constant and unalloyed loyalty, especially to the ruling PDP since 1999.    While Jonathan is considered to be a consensus building personality, some of these have been done through monetary deals with state executives, undermining is ability to appropriately fight corruption. The allegation that he disbursed about N108 billion naira in the prelude to the presidential election also affect his credibility and transparency. Yet, there is no doubt that, regardless of any malpractice, he is the one Nigerians have overwhelmingly entrusted their mandates.   Therefore, he has to stymie the rapidly excerbating corruption that has continued to bedevil Nigerian politics and body polity, in spite of the loopsided and half-hearted rhetoric regarding fighting corruption.  Jonathan has not shown enough dexterity and seriousness in combating corruption.  Now that he has a full mandate, it is expected that he has to be more serious.   That the current violence is emanating from the perception that Jonathan is weak on national security is not in doubt.  Different poking events in the past seems to have opened the vista of violence as rewarding and unpunishable. Jonathan has shown a remarkable weakness in dealing with the spate of violence in the nation since before the October 1st Abuja bombing, with Jos aflame and Boko Haram running amok, not to talk of the "trademark kidnapping" that turned the south-east and south-south into a hellish space on earth.    Jonathan has to tighten his belt in ensuring that national security becomes a topmost priority, and that those caught perpetuating any form of violence and/or terrorist activities, no matter their social ranks, are brought to justice. However, it seems with all the deal cutting that marked his ambition to become an elected president may stand in the way of this.   While the current post-presidential election violence are despicable, one good thing that may evolve is that given that the perpetuators first began to attack northerners associated with the ruling party, burning their property, that this may help in propelling these political actors, to equally begin to renege on violence and their overt or veiled support, including harboring known behind-the-scene violence stimulators.   Finally, the current violence in the northern states, should also be seen with another set of lenses. It is the northern way of galvanizing their relevance and claiming a stake in the Jonathan administration. Violence here is used as a negotiating tool of asserting relevance, so that the fact of their not voting for the ruling party does not boomerang to their face.   Similar reaction happened in 1999/2000, when the north claimed that the Obasanjo administration had sidelined the north in appointing "non-northerners"- though northern military officers from the middle belt were appointed- as head of the military; which the north seemed to have claimed as a right. We saw many things, including the sharia riots unveiled, unsettling the peace and giving the northern oligarchy more inroad into the Obasanjo administration.   Jonathan only has to tighten his belt and deal squarely with these malevolving forces. He is lucky that these are beginning to surface now than later- he is in deed better for it, as he takes the bulllock by the horn from the word go.  But, I do hope that he does possess the potentialities to carry on when tough time needs tough actions- so far to my mind, he has been a weakling when it comes to issues such as these, in trying to curry the favors of all sections and interests, given his interested ambitions. --- On Mon, 4/18/11, Toyin Falola <toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu> wrote: From: Toyin Falola <toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Post election violence in Nigeria To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com Date: Monday, April 18, 2011, 5:57 PM Subject: Post election violence in Nigeria From: Sati Fwatshak <sfwatshak@gmail.com> To: okpeh okpeh <okpehokpeh@yahoo.com>, Toyin Falola <toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu>,     Franz Kogelmann <franz@kogelmann.eu>, j.chesworth@cmcsoxford.org.uk,     Dana Chivvis <danachivvis@gmail.com>, Philip Ostien <ostienp@yahoo.com> Dear sirs, You must have known by now, but for purposes of confirmation, President Jonathan won the presidential election in a contest conducted in the most open and transparent manner ever in Nigeria's recent election history. Unfortunately "illiterate" supporters of one of the losing candidates went beserk, attacked people in their localities even though Buhari won in most of those states: Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Adamawa. Jos and Abuja (FCT) were also affected to lesser degrees. I can not comprehend this. I spent the whole day educating some of them in Jos-- at least those that looked reasonable. The situation was bad in areas like Kano, Kaduna, where innocent people, and churches were destroyed. Curfew was imposed in most of the affected states. The riots in Jos were perpetrated in the Hausa communities, where Hausa CPC supporters attacked those Hausa people in PDP and burnt down their houses. One of the perpetrators spoke to me and others justifying his action, calling the PDP supporters sale outs, as if those people have no political opinion except that of CPC. The situation is calm now. Sati -- Toyin Falola Department of History The University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station Austin, TX 78712-0220 USA 512 475 7224 512 475 7222  (fax) http://www.toyinfalola.com/ www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.   For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   For previous archives, visit  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html   To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-       unsubscribe@googlegroups.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin. 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