by Eze Eluchie
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria
Aso Rock
Abuja, Nigeria.
Mr. President,
Sir,
The Ship Is Adrift - Need for National
Dialogue
On this epoch occasion of the 53rd
Independence Anniversary of Nigeria, I feel it appropriate to extend
felicitations to your goodself and fellow citizens of the Federal Republic and
also share an ordinary citizen’s reflection on the present realities of our
country and the need for National Dialogue.
Whilst much has been said about the role
providence, as opposed to self-will and determination, played in your
ascendance to the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic, the
immutable reality is that, for now, you are The President. History is replete
with personalities who had power thrust upon them, and such personalities
turned around and made the utmost use of such powers in a manner that made the
populations of such countries grateful to providence.
From its inception, your tenure has been
badgered with extreme hostility and contempt from diverse sources, including
some erstwhile supposedly ‘powerful’ stakeholders in our country, some of who openly boasted
that they will render the country ungovernable for your administration – and
did true to their threats, unleash a most vicious campaign of terror
(particularly in the northern fringes of Nigeria) and calumny against the
State, your office and your person. The ensuing polarization and rancor has
continued to portray the aura of a polity adrift.
In addition to deploying violence as a
means of actualizing the quest of making the polity ungovernable, it appears
that ensuring a continuing state of distraction from the purpose of governance
using all manners of contrived internal political skirmishes is also being
used, with some measure of success, to retard whatsoever efforts that might
have been conceived by your administration towards societal advancement.
May I seize this opportunity to remind
you, Sir, that by virtue of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
under which you assumed and continue in office, the enormity of powers invested
in the President of the Federal Republic is such that will make your
counterparts across constitutional democracies all over the world green with
envy. The Nigerian President is in reality, one of the most powerful elected
political office holders, in relation to its powers within its borders, on
earth. One of the late 'founding fathers' of the Nigerian State, Obafemi
Awolowo, had stoically asked for ‘just one day’ to act as President of the
Federal Republic, and he would have made lasting positive impact. Your goodself
have had years in office, and hopefully a few more ahead, and as such,
posterity will not accept excuses from you in the event that the expected
dividends are not delivered to the State and its populations.
Restructuring and Renegotiation:
From its inception in 1960, the Nigerian
State had structural, demographic and constitutional defects. These defects
have with increased polarization of the polity, become more glaring and now
manifests in routine bloody conflagrations amongst the various components
ethnic nationalities of and religious subsets in the country, in the process
leading to thousands of deaths and threatening the lives and livelihoods of
millions of our fellow citizens in addition to threatening the peace and stability of the entire
West African sub-region.
As rightly identified in your 2013 ‘Independence
Day’ broadcast, the need for National Dialogue to actualize a Nigeria in tune
with the expectations and desire of Nigerians is long overdue. Whilst welcoming
your empanelling of a Committee to formulate the structure and process of
National Dialogue, one is worried that populating such a committee with personalities,
who have contributed to similar processes in decades past and have thus
appeared to become recurring decimals, may not achieve the expectation of our
population for holistic restructuring and renegotiation of the polity.
With the heightened agitation from various
segments of our population for a restructuring and renegotiation of the makeup
of Nigeria, the process you have initiated is a historic opportunity to avert a
looming apocalypse and thus represent an opportunity Nigeria and its
constituent population cannot afford to see fail.
It is sincerely hoped that at the end of
the one month period you have announced for the committee to come up with its
recommendations, the path forward towards genuine national discourse and
restructuring will not suffer the often common fate of most government
initiatives of being rendered comatose and that efforts will be made to broaden
the discourse to include representatives of diversity of our country and its
peoples.
Likely opposition to national dialogue:
As expected, some elements who are perennially
opposed to peaceful resolution of or who directly engineered these crisis
situations, and others who may perchance feel that they are benefiting from the
ensuing mayhem, inclusive of persons who have in the recent past openly
advocated for the convocation of a ‘national conference’, will become vocal in
opposition to the commencement and actualization of the dialogue process you
have initiated. The will of the people, as represented by the clamor for a
‘National Dialogue on the future of Nigeria’ must not be sacrificed for the
convenience of a few who have benefitted from the unfortunate circumstance
foisted on Nigerians.
In response to persons who oppose an
opportunity for Nigerians to dialogue about the country’s future, I do really
hope that your Office recognizes the fact that the generality of Nigerians and
the international community are quite exasperated by the inability of the
Nigerian State to get its act together – the National Dialogue process Mr.
President has now initiated, represents a fresh vista of hope and another
chance for Nigeria.
Those in opposition to dialogue have aired
the view that the existence of the present National assembly makes the
convocation of a National Dialogue unnecessary. This argument, sensible as it
may sound, flies in the face of reason. The existence of the said National
Assembly has, thus far, not prevented the slide to decay and anarchy. The
powers and composition of the National Assembly is a critical item in any
renegotiation that will have to be undertaken of Nigerian – as such, the
present National Assembly cannot be a part of the dialogue process towards
restructuring itself and the entirety of the Nigerian project.
Authority for National Dialogue:
A deft interpretation and application of
the totality of the Second Chapter of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic and the Executive Powers conferred on The President by the said
Constitution, empowers and makes it incumbent upon your Office, not only to
ensure that the forthcoming National Dialogue holds, but that the outcome of
the desires of the peoples of the Federal Republic is effectively implemented.
The growing insecurity in the land,
particularly the war being waged against Nigeria by various terrorist
organizations; the blatant rubbishing of constitutional provisions by all
component States of the Nigerian Federation amongst other things in
disregarding fiscal appropriation mechanisms and not allowing democratically
elected officials to govern at the Local Government Councils; and the
overriding need to preserve the life and property of the citizenry which are
increasingly being placed in dire situations by the actions of some component
States and non-State actors in our country, makes it imperative for your Office
to ensure that the process of National Dialogue moves ahead, swiftly, to a
conducive conclusion.
The outcome of the National Dialogue
should be put to referendum under which various component parts of the polity
will be at liberty to make decisions regarding their respective futures.
Challenges to the process of National
Dialogue will certainly arise from the same characters who had threatened to
make the country ungovernable and their cohorts, using such instrumentalities
as the Judiciary, the National Assembly, terrorism, paid-orchestrated rallies
and some other not so subtle tactics. I believe I need not remind Mr. President
that the Office of the President of the Federal Republic and Commander in Chief
of the Armed Forces is sufficiently imbued with the authority, personnel and
wherewithal to overcome such challenges and ensure that the will of the people
of Nigeria prevails.
Nigerians and the international community
can simply not afford the costs of a catastrophic disintegration of Nigeria.
Mr. President, Sir, the National Dialogue
must not only go ahead but its outcomes should be implemented in the interest
of all.
Remain assured of my high regards.
Yours sincerely,
Eze Eluchie, Esq.
Concerned Citizen of the Federal Republic.Picture: President Goodluck Jonathan
