Now That Mubarak is Gone What Happens to Egypt?

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Hosni Mubarak had told the world that one of the reasons he didn’t want to vacate office was because Egypt would be in chaos; he had said that the country would be in confusion without him. Now he is gone; what happens to the country without him?

I think Hosni Mubarak had suffered the same delusion that several African leaders have suffered from and still keep suffering from. He believed so much in himself and his family than he believed in over 60 million Egyptians.

What informed his feeling that the country would grind to a halt without him? If he died would the country cease to exist or would the country also die with him? There are several other people in Egypt that would pilot the affairs of the country successfully – the people only need to put the right persons there and the nation would move ahead without the tyrant.

He ruled his country for 30 years; made himself, his wife and children billionaires while the average Egyptians were impoverished. He had assets and money stashed away in several foreign nations. Is that the hallmark of a man who loved his country so much?

He succeeded in deceiving the people for as long as they allowed him to: the moment the people got tired of his deceits they asked for his resignation. He should have hearkened to them in the first few days instead of resorting to the use of force and rolling out armoured tanks against the same people he claimed to love so much.

If he had hearkened to the yearnings of the masses and honourably stepped down within the first few days of their protests he would have gone with his integrity intact. However, he tried to cajole them to give up their agitation by sending over 300 of them to their early graves.

The people made up their minds and as such would not be deterred by the military presence; they were no longer afraid to die because they had lived in fears for 30 years. It was time to break free from fears and timidity. It was time to hold their destiny in their hands. They all came out to demand their rights to freedom: they got what they wanted after 18 days of perseverance.

Now that Mubarak has vacated office, the military should hasten up the process to giving the people democracy that they are clamouring for. They must not think of perpetuating themselves in office: military administration is no longer in vogue. Africans don’t need military anymore, and other parts of the world do not also need them.

Countries whose leaders have been in power for ages should take a cue from Tunisia and Egypt and know that the days of those leaders are numbered. Some African countries like Libya, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Algeria, etc. should realize that the citizenry are beginning to know their rights and are ready to demand for it at any time.

People should be allowed to decide who governs them; and when they are tired with their leaders, such leaders must be ready to take a bow out of office in the interest of peace and as way of showing the world that they are men of probity.

What do you really think? Is Egypt going to break up or be in chaos without Hosni Mubarak? Or would the country be better without him?

The Tunisian Revolution - What Lessons For African Leaders?

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The Tunisian problem started as mere protest and then graduated to an uprising and eventually to a revolution which led to the eventual step down of the former Head of state Ben Ali. Now that Ben Ali has finally vacated power and gone into self-imposed exile, what lessons are other African leaders learning from the North African state?

It is now clear that tyranny cannot stand for ever; and that a time would come when the ruled would not fear death anymore. The people may live in fear for several years and be intimidated by state powers and machine guns or artillery fires. But one day everyone would cast off the fear of death and confront the power of oligarchy and totalitarianism for personal freedom.

Freedom has never come too cheaply for any people. Those who are hungry for liberty and self determination would rise up to challenge the power of oppression and take what rightfully belongs to them – power.

The Tunisian revolution has once again proved the fact that power belongs to the people. Despotism would only reign as long as the people remain silent. No man can ever be greater than his country: it is the masses that make a leader what he is.

A lot of African countries have lived under absolute, tyrannical, despotic and repressive leadership. The leaders who believe that power is permanent refuse to recognize the fact that power is actually transient and that one day it would change hands.

Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with iron fists for 23 years, without being accountable to anyone. Corruption thrived under his regime; oppositions were emasculated and victimized. The people groaned under the yoke of his intimidating powers. But all that is now history because the same man who believed he could rule forever is now in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Egyptians are now taking to the streets demanding for the resignation of their president who has been in power for decades. Their eyes have been opened by the fearlessness of the Tunisian people who had lived under the same kind of leadership until few days back.

The reason there has been civil wars, guerilla wars, militancy and pockets of internal insurrection in several African countries has been largely due to the kind of oppressive leadership the people had had in centuries. However, things seem to be taking a dramatic change for the better. True democracy, freedom of speech, accountability and credible elections seem to be visible in the horizon.

Hosni Mubarak should as a matter of urgency quit his post as the Head of state and allow the people determine who should govern them. He should not impose his cronies on the people. He should know that no amount of intimidation, killing and victimization would stop the people from getting what they want.

Other Heads of state like Muammar Gaddafi, Robert Mugabe, Omar Al-Bashir, etc should also take note of the new awakening in Africa. They should understand the yearnings of the people and quietly vacate office before they’re humiliated out. Africa needs leaders who can help manage her resources and develop the continent so they could try and catch up with other continents that have gone ahead of them in terms of infrastructural and human resources development.

Dr. GoodLuck Jonathan Picks PDP Presidential Ticket

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President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan Friday morning emerged the flag bearer for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 presidential election in a landslide victory over former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Sarah Jubril at the party’s primaries conducted at the Eagle’s Square Abuja.

He polled 2,736 out of the 3,507 votes (with 61 voided), while Atiku Abubakar came a distant second with 805 votes. The third candidate and the only female contestant Sarah Jubril had only a vote.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s landslide victory has finally proved that the issue of zoning that has threatened to tear Africa’s largest political party apart is after all not fully supported by the people. Atiku was only able to get an overwhelming victory in 5 out of 36 states. All the people/states that openly supported the zoning arrangement may have after all decided to practice true democracy which is a reflection of the voice of the people.

Unfortunately, the former VP lost to Jonathan in his own state – Adamawa state. Nigerians have once again shunned the politics of ethnic divide, tribal bigotry, geopolitical differences and religious sentiments to pick the candidate they felt is best suited to be president come May 29, 2011.

Only during the June 12, 1993 election that saw the emergence of late Chief M.K.O. Abiola as the acclaimed winner of the election under the umbrella of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) did Nigerians overwhelmingly vote for a candidate irrespective of his geopolitical zone, religion or ethnic background.

Come to think of it, if the issue of zoning had taken its course then the best candidate for the party would not have had the chance of emerging as the flag bearer. What this means therefore, is that zoning was never the mind of the majority of the people: it was smuggled into the party’s constitution by a selected few who did so for selfish reasons.

The people have spoken their minds by the way they defiled the zoning arrangement to vote massively for the best candidate who clearly was not supposed to be qualified if that kangaroo arrangement had been respected. The policies and constitutions of political parties and every organization should be formulated to reflect the true yearnings of the people and not that of a few privileged.

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has presented Namadi Sambo as his running mate for the April 2011 elections; and if what we saw during the PDP convention is anything to go by, then the pair is sure of massive votes from Nigerians irrespective of their political parties, ethnic groups, cultural backgrounds or religion. A lot of people believe in the Goodluck-Sambo pair to deliver the dividends of democracy to them. They have already started to carry out major reforms in the economy, power sector, education, transportation, etc to the delight of the citizenry.

We hope that come May 29, 2011, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan would be sworn in as the duly elected president of Nigeria, so he could complete the nice works he has started. We say congratulations Goodluck, for emerging as the presidential flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party.

James Ibori As A case Study

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The British police have finally secured a victory in their quest to extradite the former governor of Delta state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori to Britain to answer to charges bordering on corruption. The police were given the nod by the Dubai appeal court which ruled in their favour that the former governor has a case to answer in Britain and could be extradited.

This development has brought an end to the drama that has been unfolding since the former Delta state number one citizen was first charged to court in Nigeria on grounds of corruption. The case was manipulated to the consternation of the average Nigerian citizen who watched as the case was politically influenced and eventually the governor was let off the hook since there were no conclusive evidences to nail him.

The new case of corruption against him came up after he finished his tenure as the governor of the state. He was declared wanted by the EFCC and the police to come and answer to charges of corruption levelled against him. He escaped through the back door as he was said to have used to services of some militants to prevent the EFCC from arresting him. He eventually escaped to Dubai where he has been taking solace.

He was said to have stolen several Billions of naira as the first citizen of Delta state; he was also alleged to have converted several millions of shares the state owned in Oceanic bank to his personal use. His wife Nkoyo Ibori was also alleged to have acted as a medium for him to use the stolen money to buy houses outside the shores of Nigeria. She has already been sentenced to a 5-year jail term by the British court.

When Ibori’s case first came up in Nigeria, Nigerians expected him to be easily nailed by the anti-graft agency; but as the days went by it became clear that he had used his political influence to his advantage. First a man surfaced from nowhere to declare that he was James Onanefe Ibori and that he was the person who committed the crime for which Ibori was being tried. The coincidence of names was too much for any right thinking person to accept – same first, middle and last name.

Secondly, his files could not be properly traced; his name was either entered into the log book of the court but missing from the judgment book or present in the log book but missing from the judgment book in the various courts he was formerly tried.

Besides, all the people who handled his case were said to have died and so there was no way to put the records straight. He thought he had played a smart one Nigerian who believed that one day justice would come from God.

The world is watching again to see if his files would be mysteriously missing this time around or if the principal witnesses would be all dead by the time his trial in the British court comes up after he might have been extradited. Bob Marley once said that “You can fool some people some of the times, but you can’t fool all the people all the time”.

Ibori’s case should serve as a warning to those in power who are feeding fat on public funds that they will give an account to the people one day. This should also make politicians realize that they can’t enjoy parliamentary immunity for ever.

Kudos to the British government for taking the bulls by the horns to help curb the excesses of Nigerian politicians who feel they could loot public treasuries without being questioned. Since the Nigerian government has refused to make elected leaders answerable to the electorates, the foreign countries are beginning to teach them how to do so.

Nigeria is blessed with crude oil and several solid mineral resources; but after over 50 years of oil exploration the country still ranks among the poorest in the world in terms of infrastructural development. The leaders have plundered the wealth of the country, leaving the majority of the people struggling to take care of their three square meals daily.