Thursday, 12 March 2015

Why David Mark is more dangerous than Abubakar Shekau













Impunity! Grand corruption! Criminal arrogance! These are some of the issues many Nigerians have against the current administration. And yet again, the government insulted Nigerians yesterday with the confirmation of Musiliu Obanikoro as minister. And the main culprit in the latest saga is the president of the Nigerian Senate, David Mark. He has always appeared to be a moderating influence between those who are opposed to the president and the president's camp but he has now been revealed for who he is: a patronising politician who does not care about the interest of the nation as long as his own interests are catered for. And I have come to the conclusion that he is more dangerous than Abubakar Shekau, leader of the evil terrorist group, Boko Haram.



Why will the president of Nigeria's highest lawmaking body be insistent on confirming the appointment of someone who has been alleged to have committed a criminal act? And what was the senate president's excuse? That he had not seen any court papers stating that the nominee had been taken to court. So what will now happen if he gets served with the court papers? Will he ask the senate to rescind its decision? And in the unlikely event that the senate rescinds Obanikoro's confirmation, how will that make our senate look in the eyes of the people when the senate could have waited for the whole thing to be cleared? The truth is that he doesn't care! And what is the rush all about. The tenure of the current administration ends in less than three months. With the forthcoming elections, the new ministers cannot begin serious government work until elections are concluded, leaving them with just two months to be in office if the incumbent president loses in the presidential election. Will the people not be right to think that these new ministers are to be used as hatchet men/women in the coming elections? Watching the news of the confirmation, you come away with the feeling that Obanikoro was arrogant and did not care a hoot that his nomination was controversial. A self-respecting individual would have voluntarily rejected the nomination.

My reason for claiming that Mark is more dangerous than Shekau is simple: Shekau has never hidden the fact that he is an outlaw. So we know how to place him. He is a known criminal, and with a well-equipped and motivated army, he and his cohorts can be defeated by government. But what about about someone who has sworn to uphold the law, and in fact is part of those who make the law, but is now the one not respecting the opinions of others? David Mark's actions have set a bad precedent in the Senate and if he is setting a wrong record, what does the future hold for us? If his claim was that there is the tradition of allowing ex-lawmakers to just take a bow and go, what about the tradition that if the senators representing your state oppose your nomination you can't be confirmed? With David Mark forcing his way through in the senate, I will need a lot of convincing that he did not know about the criminal acts Obanikoro and others have been accused of. I also have to be convinced that he didn't have a prior knowledge that attempts would be made to prevent the Speaker of the House of Representatives from entering the National Assembly premises the other day because he was allowed free entry.

On the outside, the senate president looks like a true democrat but he has shown he is not. And people like that are a threat to democracy. Anyone whose actions can subvert the will of the people is a threat to democracy and is dangerous. Any lawmaker who does not think an unimpeachable character is necessary for a leadership position is dangerous, since everything in any organisation or nation rises and falls on leadership. When you give a nation a leader of questionable character, what do you expect from that leader? And I am persuaded that someone who does not mind giving a nation leaders with unassailable integrity does not mean well for the nation. Most times, it is bad leaders who make people like Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau to wake up and start troubling a nation when they see how their leaders are exhibiting impunity of the highest kind.





The questions many Nigerians are asking are "what have we done to make us deserve the kind of leaders we get?" With the vast potentials this country is blessed with, are our current crop of leaders the best we can get? Or how do you explain how a person with the moral burden of election rigging on his neck get nominated for ministerial position not to talk of having his nomination confirmed? In the United States, former secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is currently taking serious flak for using her private email to conduct official business while in office. While what she did was not against the law as at that time, she is still being criticised for her action. She has been accused of not being transparent enough in her dealings. And some are already suggesting that it might hurt her chances of becoming the next president of the United States. I'm sure many Nigerian politicians cannot relate to a situation like that. They cannot understand why a government official can't drive an official car to the market to buy personal items. Mrs Clinton's sin, to many Americans, is that she appears to have wanted to hide something. She has not been alleged to have run foul of the law but her chances of clinching the exalted seat of the president are believed to have been hurt by the ongoing outcry. But here in Nigeria, people who have been accused of wrongdoing are elevated to high positions. Isn't that one of the reasons why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo left the Peoples Democratic Party? May God deliver us from insensitive leaders in Nigeria.

Below are some of the tweets that trailed the news of the Obanikoro's confirmation:
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