BY BALA MUHAMMAD
COLUMN
It's the season of funerals. This Column, though no Undertaker, has for the past few weeks been singing the dirges of Democracy in Egypt and Peace in the Middle East (in the event of a Western military attack on Syria).
Finally, back home, it appears that the People's Democratic Party (PDP), that House the G38 built, is fast crumbling. The House was cobbled together by a motley group of 38 elderly and not so elderly men a decade and a half ago. Many members of this G38 group have since translated to the great beyond and, of the others who remain, few (perhaps none) are among the top peckers in today's ruling clique. The departed may just be turning in their graves.
Though many commentator-colleagues are saying it isn't high noon yet for a dirge to be sung for our ruining party, many others would be eager to perform the funeral rites of this elephant, whose meat all await with alacrity. For this appears to be a party in passing. And there will be a great party should its passing come to pass. To leave this dirge for another time, one may miss a funeral the import of which is gargantuan, if not 'mammothian'.
In the fourteen years that this party has been at the helm of affairs of this nation, hundreds (if not thousands) of events have occurred as to earn us the epithet 'Forward Never, Backward Ever' by African and non-African onlookers alike.
This Column will now sing this dirge in stanzas:
This is the party that has made it possible for a certain former militant to acquire a private jet. And when commentators asked how come, his people accused everyone of 'bad-belle', sour-grapes and PHD (pull-him-down) syndrome. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that twice, not once, foisted a seriously ailing person as leader of able-bodied citizens. The drama of 2010 starring late President Umaru Musa Yar'adua and co-starring his wife Turai is being repeated in this very 2003 in poor Taraba State where the stars and co-stars are again the First Man and the First Lady. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that, in the first two terms of its governance, many of the nation's outstanding citizens were butchered, sacrificed to the idols of do-or-die: Bola Ige, Aminasoari Dikibo, Marshall Harry, Isyaku Mohammed, Funso Williams, Ayo Daramola. No decisive punishment has ever been meted to the murderers. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party whose top functionaries were embroiled in a massive bribery scandal involving the giant German telecommunications company Siemens. Whereas many of the German bribers were arrested, tried, convicted and jailed, most of the Nigerian 'bribees' were either never arrested or, for those who were, never persecuted. For the unlucky few who got a mention, they were given a pat on the wrist and told 'Go and sin all the more'. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that facilitated its top national policeman to steal the nation blind, short-change the law enforcement agency and fuel armed-robbery, kidnapping, oil stealing and other brigandage as the money for the uniforms and the vehicles and the equipment and the allowances were stolen by just one individual. Not to talk of the subsequent 'Police Equipment Fund' scandal. The top policeman was treated like the Siemens guys - pat on the wrist. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that facilitated massive corruption on the nation's banking system. The scandal, of Oceanic and Intercontinental proportions, nearly brought down the financial sector. A certain lady banker was convicted of having stolen the equivalent on many states' annual budgets, and Dubai and London were the better for it. And the punishment? Not the Chinese solution. Not even the Islamic solution. No, a soft pat on the wrist, again. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party whose top functionaries were embroiled in a massive corruption scandal involving the $16 power fund. Much talk and lame prosecution later, a compliant judiciary was all too happy to let go most of the top accused. The small fry were allowed to, well, fry. And as if the $16b was not enough, they also dipped their hands in poor village electricity, the Rural Electrification Agency. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party whose 'greatest leader' lamented spending the kingly sum of Three Hundred and Sixty Billion Naira (or about Three Billion US Dollars) to fix Nigerian roads. And fix was the word. A certain Mr-Fix-It fixed it - no, not the road, but the sum. A few years later, the same man was re-fixed on the most honourable position, of leading trustworthy elders. And we are still being fixed. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party under whose watchful (actually watch-less) eyes the fuel subsidy scandal unfolded, ultimately leading to a certain 3am rendezvous when hundreds of thousands of dollars were exchanged, pocketed and capped. The talk of the subsidy scandal has since subsided, and the late night giver and late night receiver continue to wine and dine with the powers that be. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party whose top functionaries were embroiled in another massive bribery scandal involving the giant American oil company Halliburton. Like Siemens like Halliburton. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party whose eternal leader struggled for a Third Term, yet came back to blame God that had he asked God for it he would have gotten it. (Well, Nigerians had asked the same God not to grant it. And God sided with the majority.) For our brazenness to ask God to limit him to two terms, we ended up with and invalid, followed by an invalidated. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that caused the scandal of a certain OPL something. A billion dollars later, the matter is about to suffer an unnatural death...This is the party which facilitated the scandal of the Senate Committee on Health... This is the party under whose un-watchful eyes the SAGEM national ID card corruption scandal broke... This is the party that presented a boy to lead men, in one of the most Torontonian of scandals... This is the party under whose rule poor-man's-portion (pension) was completely looted. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
This is the party that built a National Stadium for us with sums which, when truly cost by experts, would build three of the same kind of stadia. (The adjoining velodrome was blown away just around the time of the African Games; God, it was said, was not happy with the corruption)... This is the party which finally saw the demise of NITEL and Nigeria Airways... This is the party whose leading light in one of the geopolitical zones was enmeshed in bribery and corruption at the ports, and this Leading Light was darkened in prison, yet came out to be received in celebration. Only in Nigeria. Only by the PDP.
Finally, back to Taraba. Do we remember the story of that little boy who was holding aloft the PDP Umbrella (umblera, really) during the 2007 Presidential Campaign in Jalingo? They shouted 'Taraba!' and the answer was 'Sai Danbaba!'. And they shouted 'Nigeria!' (and the expected answer was 'Sai Yar'adua!). Unfortunately for umblera-holding boy, his heart spoke earlier than his mouth. At the mention of 'Nigeria!', the boy had screamed 'Sai Buhari' at the top his boyish voice. The podium was stunned into silence.
Sensing the consequences of his innocent faux pas, the boy threw away the umbrella and took to his heels. He had never been seen since. 'Taraba!'
No comments:
Post a Comment