By Odoh Michael
Chido Onumah in his usual way of writing as can be seen from his previous books, “Time to Reclaim Nigeria and Nigeria is Negotiable” in his latest book, “We are all Biafrans” has warned Nigeria’s ruling elite on the need to learn from history and save Nigeria from a situation of near collapse. This raises the question I asked in one of my previous articles, “can a nation tackle its present problems when its troubled past is never acknowledged?
In his book, “We are all Biafrans” Chido Onumah presents the Biafra agitation not from an ethnic view point but from a national perspective. For Chido, the Biafra agitation is an agitation for all Nigerians, an agitation for the Nigerian masses from various parts of the country who have continued to suffer under bad and clueless leadership in Nigeria today.
Chido asserts that, “Nobody can fix Nigeria, the way it is presently structured” and therefore a constitutional change is needed for Nigeria to get working again. The recent constitutional amendment by the National Assembly is just a mockery of the system, an amendment that rejected the devolution of power to states. this brings me to the above topic that was asked by an older friend during a discussion we had a few weeks ago, “Nigeria or PDP: Who needs Atiku more?”.
It has been noted in numerous quarters that restructuring is the solution to Nigeria’s problem. There must be devolution of power to states if we are to get things working. The biggest advocate of this view point is former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who has continually pushed for the restructuring of Nigeria where states will have more power to control their own resources since 1993 when he (Atiku) first became a household name in the Nigerian polity. Supporters of restructuring like myself have continued to state that Nigeria must be restructured now if we want to get things right. We must diversify our economy as the world is shifting away from oil and moving to other things.
As the youngest member of the Ohanaeze South east summit on restructuring planning committee earlier in 2018, I have stated that only a candidate who has genuinely supported the restructuring agenda will get my vote. Even as a vice president in 2005, Atiku made it clear that if we do not restructure Nigeria, the success recorded by the economic team which he led will only be temporary and today, the above statement has come to pass.
Nigeria needs Atiku more than ever due to our present situation. It is either we listen to Atiku and restructure Nigeria so that our states will start to work again like in the 1960s or we will continue to face more economic crisis. Nigeria needs a leader who has been consistent with an idea like Atiku and not like those who only adopt an idea when election is around the corner.
During a recent visit to the PDP headquarters on a fact-finding mission, a chieftain of the party told me that the party is cash-strapped and might not even be able to finance the 2019 general elections hence the need to support a candidate who has an unhindered cashflow. Following recent elections where vote buying has become the order of the day by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP must be ready to play smart and adopt a candidate who can match the financial war-chest of the APC led government.
It is only a fool that will think money will not play a crucial part in the 2019 elections. All other aspirants of the PDP apart from Atiku either has a corruption case with the EFCC or is currently been investigated. Imagine a scenario when the PDP is supposed to have a presidential rally and its candidate will be invited for questioning by EFCC on the morning of that rally. Nothing is beyond this APC led government.
The PDP must adopt a candidate who has challenged over 180 million Nigerians that anyone with a corruption evidence against him should speak up for over a year now and no one has been able to come out. The PDP must adopt a candidate who has the financial capacity like Atiku to sponsor the presidential elections all on his own. The PDP must not take chances. I make bold to say that anything short of an Atiku candidacy will spell doom for the PDP and increase the hardship in Nigeria.
Both Nigeria and PDP need Atiku now more than ever and we must work collectively to achieve this. The PDP delegates must vote right on the 5th and 6th of October as the future of Nigeria lies with them at this moment.
Odoh Michael, a social commentator, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
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