Yesterday, Nigerians were
more in a celebratory mood after the optimistic and brave speech delivered by Mr.
President himself. His singular feat was phenomenal, by declaring state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe
states. Read speech HERE .
Much as there were pats n
the President’s back for such brave move, some people were of the opinion that
the president should have sacked the state governors of the aforementioned
states, for failure to provide enough security in the states hey govern. They
even went ahead to compare his actions to that of the former president’s,
Olusegun Obasanjo. Amongst the people of such opinion is Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.
And yes there have been a few oppositions, one of which I will feature in this
blog. Former Presidential aspirant, business mogul and boss of Africa’s leading
life style magazine, Ovation, known for being very vocal and expressive, Chief Dele
Momodu, has come out to counter Femi Fani-Kayode’s opinion. It states thus, in
his own words:
I wish to disagree with
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode on his position against the decision of President Ebele
Jonathan not to sack the State governments of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa after declaring
a State of Emergency! The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does
not empower The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces
to arbitrarily sack a duly and Constitutionally elected government in the
States. The fact that President Olusegun Obasanjo did it with impunity and got
away with it because we had gutless Governors does not make it right. This
culture of rambunctious rascality and rabid vindinctiveness cannot be allowed
to continue. On this one I support President Goodluck Jonathan and salute him
for not terminating the lives of elected Governments in a Federalism. It is not
the fault of those State Governments that Boko Haram has ravaged their States.
In reality, how many States are truly immune from wanton destruction of lives
and properties? Security agents were killed like rats in Bayelsa the other day.
Many lives have been wasted in Plateau State. The mother of Coordinating
Minister of the Economy was kidnapped and only escaped by the whiskers and
after serious deals. Dead bodies were seen floating in Anambra State. The
general malaise has spread even to Lagos. To sack those Governors is to also
indict the Federal Government for its inability to crush the viral rebellion
with all its Federal might! It is to sack the entire Nigerian State for failing
to secure the lives and properties of citizens. The solution lies not in the
over-militarisation of North-East Nigeria or Nigeria in general. It is for our
leaders to terminate the culture of Poverty they have instituted through their
reckless profligacy. The all-pervading state of insecurity in Nigeria is
symptomatic of a brewing Revolution of cataclysmic proportions. Guns can never
chase away hunger but politicians CAN if they are serious, sincere and
determined!
I insist that the bullying of State Governors
under President Olusegun Obasanjo was unconstitutional, all gas and of no
substance or significant consequence . It was this chicanery that produced the
mess that we've all found ourselves in today. Femi should kindly tell us what
Obasanjo's sledge-hammer had achieved in the long-run. It is that realisation
of monumental failure that has turned President Obasanjo to the most vociferous
critic of Jonathan today. Femi should also educate us if any Governor in
Nigeria has a State Police to contain insecurity. If President Jonathan can't
do it with all the soldiers, Airforce, Navy, SSS, etc, at his beck and call it
would be callous to hold Governors responsible for our collective failure.
Finally, may we find the courage to resist Jonathan whenever he graduates to
the full-blown dictatorship of the Obasanjo era. I stand with President G. E.
Jonathan on this one occasion for not sacking any Governor to serve a bloated
ego.
CHIEF DELE MOMODU
No comments:
Post a Comment