Things fall apart in NGF
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer
things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”
Chinua Achebe
This lines culled from the master piece ‘Things Fall Apart,’ written by the fallen literature legend, Chinua Achebe, aptly describes the miasma that has beleaguered the Nigerians Governors’ Forum (NGF) in recent times.
With the current divide and rule strategy where the governors are polarised along competing interests, there is a disquieting fear that, the once cherished group of cat whiskers, may have entered a comatose. This fear is exacerbated by the fact that the dramatis personae involved in this melodrama are people who were elected by the electorate to champion the cause of democracy and steer the ships of state affairs. It is therefore an irony that governors that are the torchbearers of democratic ideals, norms and principles cannot agree or reach a consensus on a simple election of 36 members. This is abysmal!
The import of this is that states and local government elections that they supervise could be in serious strait jacket, more so as 2015 is just around the corner. Event emanating from this impasse is already showing putrid signs that could jeopardise our democratic agenda and short change our collective efforts towards nation building. One of the high points and beauty of democracy is supremacy of the voice of the majority. This is the plank on which democracy is built and thrives in every land and clime. It creates the best avenues where men who can deliver are chosen based on integrity, probity and accountability. It creates fairness and fair play and gives equal opportunities to all who aspires to any office or position.
However, Nigerian’s have penchant for the bizarre and oddities as is manifested in the current imbroglio going on in the NGF. Seriously, I wondered why the governors should expose themselves to such humiliating mockery. Why must they dance to the whims and caprices of insidious forces who are bent on achieving personal gains. I quite understand Amechi’s jeremiad. He apparently may have become unrestrainedly ambitious. But alas, every one has a right to aspire to become anything in this country. This explains the reason why Nigerians took up the gauntlet for the restoration of the peoples mandate when the election of June 12, 1993, supposedly won by Abiola was annulled by the military junta at that time. Or what else could have informed the hue and cry for Jonathan to take over the number one position during the troubled days of the President Yar’Adua’s ill health, when the hawks stood on his way that he would not be president.
But how come then as been speculated that Mr. President is fanning the embers of dichotomy in NGF by rejecting Amechi’s election but rather giving a endorsement to a disgruntled faction which rather should be treated as a quisling. Great leaders are people who are eclectic and broadminded and who see divergent and dissenting opinions as building blocks of a healthy democratic experiment.
Beside this, it behoves on leaders to rise above parochial and personal aggrandisement, acrimony and sectional interest, but yield to collective struggle that promote national peace, identity, camaraderie and rapprochement. If Mr. President is keen on leaving a good imprints on the sand of time, he should seek to mend every cracks in the governors’ forum and not seek to undermine it by robbing Peter to pay Paul.
It doesn’t matter whether he is at loggerheads with Ameachi, the fact is that the mandate given to him must be respected. The president is there because of the mandate Nigerians gave to him in 2011, and that is why in the face of recent threatening security challenges orchestrated by some evil forces, Nigerians had been unrelenting in their support for him.
The crux of the matter is that there was an election and a leader emerged. When there is a contest somebody must win and somebody must loose. It is not a do or die affair that all must win in a contest. If Governor Ameachi of River State won the election of the governors by a vote of 19 to 16, it means his colleagues have confidence in him to continue to pull the strings of the group.
Accepting defeat gallantly is no doubt an acid test of a seasoned democrat. It would have been better for Jang and his faction who suspected a foul play to have raised objection there and have every problem sorted out there before engaging in this theatre of the absurd. Nigerians longed to see those that they have elected into office conduct their affairs with decorum and respect for the rule of law.
Ukwuye Celestine, a social commentator, wrote in from Lagos
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