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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008 01:24 am
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| Ali Must Go |
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| Thursday, 13 December 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||
     Among Ali’s responsibilities as education minister was the management of the affairs of Nigerian Universities. He boggled that assignment as he brazen-facedly threw the entire university community into a demonstration that is unprecedented in the annals of students’ unrest in Nigeria. This he accentuated by imposing such unbearable difficulties on the welfare of the students. Without due consultations with the various stakeholders including the students who would be directly affected by his policy, he unilaterally removed the meal subsidy on students meal ticket. This occurred few years after the Nigeria civil war when many Nigerian students were finding it difficult to have three square meals a day. The decision was greeted with public outpouring of outrage. The National Union of Nigerian students, NUNS, then under the leadership of Segun Okeowo of the University of Lagos as its president, staged a nation-wide demonstration, calling on Ali’s resignation as education minister. The students’ protest later made popular the refrain ‘Ali mun Go.’ as every Nigerian composed a song out of the Ali Must Go, call by the students. Rather than heed the call, Ali proscribed the Students’ body and rusticated Okeowo, preventing him in the process from gaining admission into any Nigeria University. It was Ali’s proscription of NUNS that gave rise to the formation of the present National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS. Ali’s resistance to vacating office is once more being played out in his avalanche of reasons to postpone indefinitely the national convention of PDP. Despite denials, it is becoming clearer by the day that Ali’s ulterior reason is to clink to the position of the national chairman of the party till 2009. The suspicion gains more weight against the background of groundswell of rumours of his rejection as ambassador by many countries due to his garrison command posture. Again the unrepentant activities of his hirings continue to expose Ali chameleonic behaviours. Recent text messages being circulated, seeking support for his continuation in office till 2009 is alleged to have been sponsored by Ali and his cabal. The abridged text by one Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere calls on PDP members to “support the patriotic campaign for the present PDP National Working Committee four years tenure completion. The tenure of the present NWC led by Dr. Ahmadu Ali and Bernard Eze is still valid,” the text stated. According to a story posted on Elendureports.com, Ikenga was alleged to have been given N5million to begin this onslaught which many believe may nail the coffin of PDP if prosecuted to a successful anchore. Included in Ikenga brief, the report stated, is a court action to stop the convention. Ali’s feeble defence of this hatchet action by Ikenga in the Punch Newspaper interview of December 4, simply lends credence to his vaulting ambition. Rather that condemning Ikenga’s action, he simply retorted in response to a question about Ikenga’s activities that “such people are only helping us to sit tight.” Elendureports further stated that Ikenga was the same person alleged to have been hired by PDP to mount campaign against Patrician Etteh removal as Speaker of the House of representative. Meanwhile latest bulk passing by Ali and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on whether PDP duly informed INEC about its congresses and convention is rather to me diversionary antics. Both PDP under Ali and INEC under Maurice Iwu are just but two sides of a coin. They will always work together and they have previously connived to bequeath to the nation in 2007 the worst election in this country. If Ali doubts the claim, let him publish with dates, the letter which he claimed to have notified INEC about the party congresses. Just recently at a public lecture I Jos, plateau state, Iwu flew a kite of the next game plan between his commission and PDP. According to him, if PDP fairs to put its house in order INEC will step in to do that for the Party meaning the commission may go ahead to endorse a favored executive and begin to relate with it. The experiences of the All progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, with Iwu INEC is still very fresh. It is my considered opinion that this sentiment, which seems to have become a type of mantra that agents of discord now bandy about at the drop of a hat, does not have any merit and cannot fly as Ali was a usurper of that tenure provided by the party rules. Audu Ogbe was actually the person elected to serve the four years tenure for his zone but he spent only two years. In between the line, Ali with his chief coupist, Obasanjo, truncated Ogbe’s reign and foisted himself on the Party. By September 2007, Ali has completed the four year tenure of his zone as his regime commenced September 2005. His extra stay in office amounts to denial of the right of others as he burrows into the tenure of other zones which suppose to benefit from the party zoning system. Moreover, the argument does not real stand because by the party current zoning arrangement, the office of the national chairman was factored into the zoning formula of the party particularly as the presidential election marked a watershed in the life of the party. The truth is that an in-depth and unbiased analysis of Ali crave for continuous hold to the national chairmanship of the party does not reveal any positive blue- print on how he intends to infuse any glory to the Party other than his excessive love for power, pecuniary benefits and other attendant accouterments. His contributions to the party have remained typical of a leader consumed by power and pride and these have rather undermined the very fabric that held and still holds the party together. Ali’s duplicity will always remain a topic of discussion and he will be remembered as a garrison commander in politics who destroyed an opportunity to advance the course of democracy in Nigeria. Let it be said that PDP may be down on its luck in Nigeria temporarily, yet the party is still cognizant of the kind of leadership it desires to take it to the next level. But certainly not people like Ali whose reign conjures and provokes images of tyrant-master-leadership model as against the servant-leadership disposition of the present administration. It is on record that while his reign lasted, credibility gap, whims of godfathers characterized by imposition of candidates dominated the policy of a political party described by its members as the ‘Peoples Democratic Party.’ The truth is that if PDP still hopes to savage anything out of its bartered image, Ali, the garrison commander must go. Sulaiman Usman, writes from 18, morocco Road, Suleja, Niger State.  Quote this article on your site | Print | E-mail
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