President Yar'Adua
Just as we deal with racism and class issues here, Nigeria, like some other African nations, is entangled in deadly tribalism that has often left some parts of the continent ungovernable.
The vice president is from the eastern region of Nigeria. It is believed that this gives Mr. Jonathan less clout to become president in a government that has always been dominated by top military men and ministers from the north, a Muslim region.
In Nigeria, the northerners have always favored a Muslim president, which is why military coups in the past were led by officers from the north. In fact, the top brass of the Nigerian military is dominated by the Hausa tribe from the north.
The conspicuous silence over the president’s absence and the leadership vacuum is fueling all sorts of speculations in the Nigerian media, online blogs and in the rumor mill. Some are even suggesting that the president’s signature on the supplementary budget that was passed weeks ago was forged because he could not be brain drain yet sign a budget.
Despite this confusion, the Nigerian government has not cleared the air except to say the president is responding to treatment and will be back. No talk of the constitutional requirement that would enable the vice president to take charge. The Senate is threatening to take action.
The government of Saudi Arabia has not issued a statement either on this crisis that has huge international implications.
Meanwhile, Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian-born Nobel Laureate whose work has dominated the global literary scene for a long time with acclaim as Africa’s William Shakespeare, and other eminent Nigerians, have formed an organization called Save Nigeria Group (SNG) to respond to what it calls “a nation without government, a nation where things don’t work, a failed state.”
Soyinka, who has taught in universities across the U.S. including Stanford and Harvard, is disturbed by the leadership crisis in Nigeria, which has always formed themes in his literary work. His group, SNG, is leading a nationwide protest this week calling on the masses of its people to send a message to Abuja, the capital that there is a mass discontent on the present state of governance there.
“This is not about the north, south or east, neither is it about Islam nor Christianity, but about Nigeria as a nation that has a group of concerned Nigerians that have come together to salvage this country from the shackles of bad government,” SNG said in a statement.
What is happening in Nigeria has global security implications not only across the continent of Africa but the world.
Given Nigeria’s geographic location as the largest country in Africa with 150 million people, any conflict in that nation could spill over to its neighbors, just as how the Sudan crisis has affected neighboring countries like Chad.
If you think Nigeria needs to do more to secure its airports, then it perhaps must begin to do so by addressing the presidential vacancy.
Maybe by the time the father of terror suspect Mutallab appears before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has invited him to testify, the Nigerian government would have gotten its act together and stopped deceiving the masses of its people.
Maybe.
Editor Bankole Thompson’s weekly show, “Center Stage,” on WADL TV 38, this Saturday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. will feature an exclusive interview with two Detroit lawmakers, State Reps. Shanelle Jackson and Bert Johnson about the Democratic Party’s 2010 gubernatorial troubles. E-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.
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