Again this is a puny response to Professor Ochonu sounding off and pontificating about morality here
For me it's still an emergency and a matter of saving life, but I have to be brief so that I return to my love story...
Do Nigerians have or get the government that they deserve?
In the context of the pious moralizing by Professor Ochonu, quoted and supported by his sideman Ikhide, I should like to start here, because my theme is CONTEXTUALISATION – so I start with this:
And I start here, following the advice that was given to Madiba Nelson Mandela when he was on the campaign trail, exactly the same man who defended himself with that famous "I am prepared to die" speech. Characteristically, Madiba enunciated his words rather slowly, so he was advised to start with his conclusions so to speak, and to then argue the matter at hand to its conclusion. (If you have five minutes or less to make your point/s, as in some of the US Presidential debates that we have witnessed, that is sound advice – otherwise, you, a slow speaker may well find your time is up in the middle of your devastating preamble. I sincerely hope that Goodluck Jonathan will rise to the challenge of a presidential debate this time, as this will give him the golden opportunity to defend his record since he's still beating his chest with great satisfaction as he says that he is the best leader that Nigeria has ever produced...
What is most amazing about Ochonu's sophistry about the two particular incidents that he has chosen to dilate on is that it may be myopia and not a wilful and deliberate isolation of these events from the real context in which these events are situated. Even in a dramatic stage theatre / novel version, there's sometimes something called a plot and the context would have to be there for the events and the character/ characterization to have meaning...
The prince of Nigerian historians does not consciously wade into the murky politics of the Niger River with his eyes closed, as if he is blinded to a more total and a more inclusive contextualisation nd the kinds of intrigue that's always a background to even the two events that are under discussion, namely ,
The ruination of the PDP from which in totality so far, has lost a significant number of it's elite members, even if Prof Ochonu says "That event is over". Professor, listen:
"And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin..."So far, 57 members of the National Assembly/ House of Representatives ( fifty seven) and 5 ( five) state governors have defected according to Ogbeni Kadiri - and in reaction to this glaring piece of evidence, Ochonu may be isolated or insulated in some intense cerebral mentation and his particularly specious methodology as he argues and would like us to understand and believe that this is not the kind of division envisaged by the Constitution which is sufficiently specific even for a lay person like me:
(g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected:
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored...
I know for a fact that Berthan Macaulay QC 's fee for helping with the framing of the Constitution of Senegal was £50,000, in those good old days when constitutions were to be as water-tight as possible in entrenching whatever incumbent was in power; but I'm not an expert on or privy to the various interpretations of the Nigerian Constitution or whether or not it was the intention of the framers of Nigeria's Constitution to condone every type of corruption; but I dare ask, what are you talking about?
By which legal instrument or omniscience do you want to plumb the depths of Hon Aminu Tambuwal's heart to ascertain his motives which at least on the outside and measured by its effects, are so plain to see?
The enormity of this dramatic division within the PDP is brought to light more clearly, given better relief, if we were to imagine a similar series of events transpiring in the USA, the world's greatest democracy on which Nigeria's representative system of government is modelled, if we were to see 57 Democrat Senators and five Democrat governors, over a period of say three months (90 days), defecting to the Republicans and still not label it a serious division within the Democrat Party.
Can you imagine Brother Obama calling out the National Guard to prevent John Boehner walking through the portals of the US House of Representatives to do the job that the democracy-minded people of the United States are expecting him to do?
Indeed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
And not just John Boehner but the whole world would know that Brother Obama indeed had more than just a constitutional crisis on his plate...
I say series of events, because that is what happened even though Brother Ochonu is quick to point out that the Hon. Speaker Aminu Tambuwal did not quit the party at the same date as the original 57 defectors - as if that is the centre of gravity of the whole cumulative effect of the defections, which , if they had happened one day at a time and not collectively, nevertheless leave the critically divided and as a result considerable weakened / impoverished PDP, all the more vulnerable as today it is impossible for them (the PDP) to command the number of votes , a two thirds majority of the House, to legally and constitutionally unseat the Speaker - something that cannot be done by what he would like to condone, namely , the primitive strong arm tactics of the Nigerian Police , now culpable of banditry, at the behest of the Hon. or not so honourable Nigerian president - and this is what happens when you have an inexperienced zoologist who does not have an iota of legal studies or military service as a background. That's why - at great cost, as such a toothless president, he can be fooled into announcing some fake ceasefire deal with Boko Haram, to the derision and disappointment of the whole world.
Now I have my date to keep with The Torah Portion.
At some point Malcolm used to talk about " The united snakes of America"! Be assured of my continued highest esteem dear Professor, but as a Pan- Africanist please try to stop approving and understanding the criminal machinations of the vipers that be (of political Nigeria), to the detriment of the victims of a failed and failing democracy. Try to be a little more sympathetic to the cause of the oppressed, even in your own country.
Sincerely,
Cornelius,
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