2001 Presidential election: What to expect
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- Category: Comments
- Written by Ndiameeh Babrick
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If winning election in Nigeria is about performance I am still wondering what magic wand the PDP will use in 2011 to win the presidential election. It is almost two and a half years into the four-year tenure of Umaru Yar’adua still Yar’adua and his foot soldiers are talking of seven-point agenda barely 18 months to the next election. By now one would have thought the seven-point agenda would have been implemented half way or almost completed but unfortunately, the first point on the agenda has not been touched yet. If the PDP is going to field Yar’adua as their presidential flag bearer in the 2011 election, what then will PDP and their Yar’adua tell the electorate especially now that even Yar’adua himself has vowed to follow the rule of law to conduct a free and fair election in 2011.
From every indication the 2011 election is going to be full of surprises. Even the Nigeria police it seems have equally vowed on their honour never to be partners in crime in assisting politicians to rig elections. The Obama speech in Ghana should help open our eyes to reality. The agitation in the land is for a free and fair election. No more election as a do-or-die election as per the Aremu Obasanjo era. All these two-for-one-Kobo politicians with no principles who are cross carpeting to PDP should better think twice. They have simply squandered their good will with the electorate. People like Yuguda and Dakingari have their days numbered in their various government houses.
Every day we hear of seven-point agenda, but not one implemented in two and half years! Barrack Obama is barely seven months in office in America but the Americans are feeling the impact of the dividends of his administration already simply because he was prepared for that job and had a well laid out blue print of what to do right from 2004. He was not brought overnight from nowhere and imposed on the party and people like Yar’adua.
It is like PDP is a calamity in Nigeria but imposition of Yar’adua is more calamitous. Even Obasanjo, his estranged godfather who was crude and barbaric, handled the Niger Delta issue with more success but as at the last count the Nigerian Armed Forces have lost over 30 soldiers with three senior officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or equivalent and this is even the official figure as we do not know what the unofficial figure is since everything in Nigerian government circle is always classified and secret, even the health of public officers which is managed at tax payers’ expense. This is preventable and unnecessary death if you ask me.
Talking of the Armed Forces and the Police, they have every reason to be on the side of the ordinary citizens when it comes to election matters instead of siding with those who cheat them and pauperise them like every other ordinary Nigerian. Investigation in Abuja and other Nigerian cities have shown that even senior officers of the Armed Forces now live in rented houses in the suburb of Abuja and likewise other towns and cities. I am not even talking of the police and other paramilitary officers yet. That cannot be good for the morale and welfare of the members of the security services. That surely will tell on their performance and the security of the nation as has been seen in the protracted crisis of the Niger Delta.
This is a wakeup call to all members of the security services since I believe that supporting a transparent election will tell on their welfare and the welfare of their families. This is for the simple reason that if they assist a politician to be rigged into office as was the case in the 2007 election, he will be held hostage by his sponsors as is the case now in Nigeria.
This is a plea to members of the security services in Nigeria that they should not allow themselves to be used in the 2011 election to rig PDP or any other party for that matter into power. They should heed the call of Obama and let us for once have a leader popularly elected by the electorate. Nigeria and all of us will be better for it. Let PDP and their Yar’adua tell us what they have done since 2007 to warrant another four years in Aso Rock Villa. Let all of us as Nigerians tell Chief Ogbulafor and his PDP that the issue of PDP ruling for 60 years is a fallacy. Their corrupt PDP grip and reign in Nigeria will come to an abrupt end on Sunday May 29, 2011 by the special grace of determined Nigerian people who have vowed to protect the sanctity of their votes henceforth.
Ndiameeh Babrik. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Articles
2001 Presidential election: What to expect
Category: Comments Written by Ndiameeh Babrick Hits: 3167
If winning election in Nigeria is about performance I am still wondering what magic wand the PDP will use in 2011 to win the presidential election. It is almost two and a half years into the four-year tenure of Umaru Yar’adua still Yar’adua and his foot soldiers are talking of seven-point agenda barely 18 months to the next election. By now one would have thought the seven-point agenda would have been implemented half way or almost completed but unfortunately, the first point on the agenda has not been touched yet. If the PDP is going to field Yar’adua as their presidential flag bearer in the 2011 election, what then will PDP and their Yar’adua tell the electorate especially now that even Yar’adua himself has vowed to follow the rule of law to conduct a free and fair election in 2011.
From every indication the 2011 election is going to be full of surprises. Even the Nigeria police it seems have equally vowed on their honour never to be partners in crime in assisting politicians to rig elections. The Obama speech in Ghana should help open our eyes to reality. The agitation in the land is for a free and fair election. No more election as a do-or-die election as per the Aremu Obasanjo era. All these two-for-one-Kobo politicians with no principles who are cross carpeting to PDP should better think twice. They have simply squandered their good will with the electorate. People like Yuguda and Dakingari have their days numbered in their various government houses.
Every day we hear of seven-point agenda, but not one implemented in two and half years! Barrack Obama is barely seven months in office in America but the Americans are feeling the impact of the dividends of his administration already simply because he was prepared for that job and had a well laid out blue print of what to do right from 2004. He was not brought overnight from nowhere and imposed on the party and people like Yar’adua.
It is like PDP is a calamity in Nigeria but imposition of Yar’adua is more calamitous. Even Obasanjo, his estranged godfather who was crude and barbaric, handled the Niger Delta issue with more success but as at the last count the Nigerian Armed Forces have lost over 30 soldiers with three senior officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or equivalent and this is even the official figure as we do not know what the unofficial figure is since everything in Nigerian government circle is always classified and secret, even the health of public officers which is managed at tax payers’ expense. This is preventable and unnecessary death if you ask me.
Talking of the Armed Forces and the Police, they have every reason to be on the side of the ordinary citizens when it comes to election matters instead of siding with those who cheat them and pauperise them like every other ordinary Nigerian. Investigation in Abuja and other Nigerian cities have shown that even senior officers of the Armed Forces now live in rented houses in the suburb of Abuja and likewise other towns and cities. I am not even talking of the police and other paramilitary officers yet. That cannot be good for the morale and welfare of the members of the security services. That surely will tell on their performance and the security of the nation as has been seen in the protracted crisis of the Niger Delta.
This is a wakeup call to all members of the security services since I believe that supporting a transparent election will tell on their welfare and the welfare of their families. This is for the simple reason that if they assist a politician to be rigged into office as was the case in the 2007 election, he will be held hostage by his sponsors as is the case now in Nigeria.
This is a plea to members of the security services in Nigeria that they should not allow themselves to be used in the 2011 election to rig PDP or any other party for that matter into power. They should heed the call of Obama and let us for once have a leader popularly elected by the electorate. Nigeria and all of us will be better for it. Let PDP and their Yar’adua tell us what they have done since 2007 to warrant another four years in Aso Rock Villa. Let all of us as Nigerians tell Chief Ogbulafor and his PDP that the issue of PDP ruling for 60 years is a fallacy. Their corrupt PDP grip and reign in Nigeria will come to an abrupt end on Sunday May 29, 2011 by the special grace of determined Nigerian people who have vowed to protect the sanctity of their votes henceforth.
Ndiameeh Babrik. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.