A Review Of The Revolutionary Book – Where We Are: A Call To Reclaim Nigerian State, By Erasmus Ikhide
COMBUSTIBLE, infectious and alluring, this work reminds me of the legendary book:”Common Sense”, written by Tom Paine in January 1776, shortly before the full blown American war for Independence erupted.
It is a very raw, direct, confrontational and brutal message calling on the youths and the masses of Nigeria, to use the ballot box to take back their country from political rascals and money bags.
Written in honour of Peter Obi, presidential candidate, Labour Party ( LP)
As a result of his missionary and visionary disposition to lead Nigeria from socio, political and economic cul de sac, occasioned by decades of insane misgovernance. Peter Obi represents a paradigmatic shift from the cruel, vile and dogmatic conservatives in Nigeria. He is undoubtedly the poster fellow for the coming electoral revolution in Nigeria.
Foreword by : Chief (Dr) Patrick Osagie Eholor (Global President, One Love Foundation)
About the author: Igbotako Nowinta
Nowinta Igbotako, is a Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution scholar (Professional Mediator and Conciliator). A Nigerian frontline award-winning, pro-democracy and human rights activist.
He is a serial author @ Amazon, prolific writer, erudite Television/Radio analyst; publisher, speech/script specialist; international weekly columnist and member Board of Trustees, of the globally acclaimed-Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ).
He is the Nigeria Bureau Chief, Alltimepost.com newspaper, based in Boston Massachusetts, USA. Publicity Secretary, Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP), Edo State, Nigeria. He was Chairman, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Edo State, during the darkest period of military dictatorship in Nigeria (1995-1999); Secretary, Strategy & Tactics Committee, Campaign for Democracy (CD, Edo State, 1993-1994); Chairman, National Conscience Party (NCP, Edo State, 2004 – 2011); General- Secretary, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP, Edo State, Nigeria, 2007-2011), etc.
This undeniable revolutionary for democracy, whose relevance is unquestionable in the struggle for a better Nigeria today, is a media and research consultant @ Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NIGOREC).
About The Book:
In a country bombarded and dumped in the latrine of global shame and ridicule, as a result of decades of mad political leadership, where the rights of the electorates to vote their conscience have been systemically and brutally usurped by cash and carry electoral process,”Where We Are – A Call To Reclaim Nigerian State”, is a passionate advocacy for the youths cum the masses of Nigeria to furiously effect a drastic leadership change at the centre.
Coming from a serial author of repute, this work, which is like a gasoline added to the burning flames roaring to tear down the rots in Nigeria, contains an encyclopedia of Peter Obi’s agenda; it is a rare and raw revolutionary material that every Nigerian voter must have as a constant companion.
Published: Amazon Kindle Store; USA; UK; Canada; Germany;Japan; Brazil etc.
Hard copies: Currently being published in Nigeria; by Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NIGOREC)
Pages: 305 pages
Cover Description: Beautiful, attractive cover hot print out gold coloured design; with the picture of Peter Obi in the background
Printed in Nigeria: By Lucky Diamond
VIKO Plaza, 2, Oghogho Street, Off Dawson Road, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
This first page after the cover, of this unusual, timely and utterly revolutionary material opened with the following admonition from the legendary fiery Afro-American abolitionist: Frederick Douglass, as follows;
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon man, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress”.
_Fredrick Douglass (Renowned American abolitionist)
Privileged Comments About the book:
“Selfless, applaudably, patriotic efforts. Applause! Congrats Class of 2022”.
_Ifemesia Iferenta ( renowned writer, musician and journalist)
“A masterpiece; great job”
_ Eubaldus Enahoro ( Editor, Nigerian Observer Newspaper)
Dedication
This work is dedicated to the Nigerian youths, who having suffered unprecedented heinous neglect and scorn from the ruling political masters in Nigeria, particularly since May 1999, have woken up to the consciousness of the ability in their powers to reclaim the Nigerian State.
Because the Nigerian youths now see the coming elections in Nigeria, not about Peter Obi alone, but as a perfect avenue to reclaim the country for the good and benefits of fellow Nigerians, this work is hereby dedicated to them.
Where We Are: A Call To Reclaim Nigerian State is divided into two parts. Part one is titled: Where We Are, while part two is named: Reclaiming the Nigerian State: the Obidient Movement.
Here is the table of content:
TABLE OF CONTENT
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Foreword
Words On Marble
Part One: Where We Are…
Chapter One: The Insincerity of the British Colonial Masters
Chapter Two: The Rigging of the First Parliamentary Election In Nigeria
Chapter Three: Where We Are…
Chapter Four: The Elitist Bondage
Chapter Five: The Crippling of Nigeria By General Muhammadu Buhari
Chapter Six: A State In Coma
Part Two: Reclaiming The Nigerian State
Chapter One: The Coming Revolution In 2023
Chapter: Two: Wanted: A Law Against Vote Buying And Selling ln Nigeria
Chapter Three: The EndSars Protests…
Chapter Four: Where Is The Electoral Offences Commission Law?
Chapter Five:Waiting For People’s Power In Nigeria
Chapter Six: Reclaiming The Nigerian State: The Obedient Movement
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIXES:
1.IT’S NOBODY’S TURN BUT THE TURN TO FIX OUR PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA, BY PETER OBI
2.PETER OBI’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AS LABOUR PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
3.DATTI BABA AHMED: HIS THOUGHTS ON THE ECONOMY, INVESTMENT, INSECURITY, EDUCATION etal.
This book was painstakingly crafted by the serial author, who went extra mile to flower it adequately with insightful : Words on Marble.
Excerpts from the Words on Marble:
“We want to recover your future, they have no job, no food, your children are not in school, their children are schooling overseas, this is the time for you to recover Nigeria; this is the time for you to take back Nigeria. They owe salaries and pensions, those people working hard have not been paid. Somebody said they will labour till death, when they talk like that, when they show you hatred, LP will show them love, there is dignity in labour. LP said we want to move Nigeria from consumption to production, you cannot do production without labour, so there is dignity in labour and those who have laboured will get their reward, that is what we want to do in Nigeria.We don’t want monkey to work again, bamboo go chop. Vote for LP so that your children can have a job, vote for people that will work for you. We want to change Nigeria, and the only way we can change Nigeria is to remove all these people who have put Nigeria to where it is in the last 23 years. This is time for them to go, 23 years no road, no school, no water , no food, no light, they must go.”
_ Peter Gregory Obi (See ‘Obi campaigns for Lasun’, The Nation, July 14th, 2022)
“Nigerians have consistently hired vehicle drivers instead of hiring qualified pilots to pilot Nigeria affairs. My commitment is to let our campaign dwell on challenges in the country. There are a lot of problems besieging this country. This country will soon default on its debt servicing. This is what should be preoccupying us now. Universities have shut down and we are talking about who we’ll vote for. Let’s deal with the issues. This election will not be based on ‘my turn’, ethnicity, and religion. It will be based on a Nigerian agenda to save this Nigeria. Nigeria is in a coma, and it needs a specialist, and that is why I’m offering to save its life or it will die. I’m appealing to people to vote to save Nigeria and to save Nigeria is to hire the best. Nigeria is in a coma and needs an expert to save it. I am appealing to Nigerians to vote for me as the best man for the job and not because of primitive consideration.I doesn’t want Nigerians to vote for me because I am from the South or on a regional basis. I want Nigerians to vote for me based on competence and what I can offer.”
_Peter Obi (Arise TV Morning Show, 6th July, 2022)
“Voting for Peter Obi is not voting for Igbo people. It is voting for competence. Saying you will show Igbo people is laughable. If there is one tribe that has prepared itself for the worst Nigeria can be, it is the Igbos.” – Aisha Yesufu.Aisha Yesufu @aishayesufu (Instagram)
“For one to steal oil ship has to come into your territorial water and load the oil. No ship can come in or leave after loading without the approval of the navy. This is where the government protocols come in. They want to find a way to put me in detention because l said it is government stealing oil. They always say Obi is causing trouble because they know those who are actually stealing the oil”
_Peter Obi ( Naijablog, October 9, 2022)
“I will never forget your kindness to my beloved parents. Thank you for the respect you showed them…I remember how you regaled Daddy and Mummy with your stories until we started joking about your obsession with the “GDP of Malaysia.” But your obsession spoke of hope: your hope for Nigeria, your belief in what Nigeria could be. A belief that has always been practical grounded in numbers and in reality. I remember when you came to support me as I was being honored by the United Nations Foundation in New York, and I teased you about the inexpensive hotel you were staying in, and you shrugged and said, “It’s just a place to sleep, why I need to be in an expensive place?”And then only days later, you once again exhibited your incredible generosity to the causes you believe in, and it reminded me of all the hospitals and schools and churches you have supported over the years, and often without fanfare. You have always been clear about what your priorities are, what matters to you, what you believe should matter, and that is deeply admirable. I have always admired your humane pragmatism, how you are willing to talk to almost anyone if it will bring about a good outcome. And how you believe in certain ideals without being an ideologue. And how you see people as people, knowing that human value is not measured in material terms. And how you are able to laugh at yourself, and laugh when I tease you about your ‘one shoe and one shirt’.And how you have always been consistent in the core of who you are. Thank you for your compassion and your circumspection. For your honesty and your humour. For your willingness to acknowledge flaws, yours and others’, knowing that nobody is perfect. For your fuss-free kindness and your humility that is never performative.I am inspired by your intellectual curiosity, your eagerness to learn, your genuine love of education (which is why you sought out, and honored, Daddy all those years ago when you learned that he was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics.)Sometimes it is the simplest of language that captures the most complex of things, and so I will end with simplicity: You are a good man. You are loved. You are appreciated. May your eyes continue to light up when you talk about the lovely confident Margaret (Thank God she agreed for you!) and your lovely children, A and E. May joy follow you and yours always. Mummy called you her ‘first son,’ my siblings and I call you our ‘big bro and I cannot wait to call you ‘My President.’ I cannot wait for February 25, 2023, when I, with personal pride in you and with hope for what Nigeria can become, will cast my vote for you and your running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed”.
_Chimamanda Adichie(Renowned novelist)
“Let me volunteer and answer on the Obidient Movement “No shishi”Ideology. The”No-shishi ideology” is actually a coinage to support fiscal responsibility and it is not targeted at impoverishing the good people of Nigeria who have suffered Leadership Deficit for years now and are being threatened by insecurity right in their homes, farms, anywhere they managed to hide to eke out a living for themselves and their families. The “no-shishi” slogan is not for those ones; it is actually targeted at the system implanted by the people, and their co-travelers, who overtime have regarded Nigeria as their personal estate, to administer as they deemed fit with sticky fingers set on sleece and deepening poverty, those who regard corruption as a way of life and accept gratifications as a norm. If Peter Obi does not give shishi, it means several things, but it doesn’t mean he is selfish. The great philanthropist does not yield to wasteful spending, he does not baulk to the pressure to bloat up contracts, and he does not gloat in the pleasures of extravagant living and for accumulation of filthy lucre; no shishi has become wildly accepted as a means of salvaging what is left of Nigeria, a big country in Africa that is almost being subsumed by corruption, the giant of Africa that is wobbling under spaghetti legs; no shishi means Mr Peter Obi won’t give you money to vote for him, he won’t pander to your whims and caprices in awarding you contracts nor allow you bleed the nation in issues of fiscal policy and responsibility. No shishi means he would not use people’s collective patrimony in buying delegates votes or securing positions; it also means when he is on board as our President in 2023, Nigerians would not look back and wish to go back to Egypt because of frightening debt profile and burden, and sizzling economic downturn. There won’t be shishi, there won’t be high spending, no boisterous living for those who throttle the corridors of power like personal ATMs; it also implies saving for the rainy day, it means Judicious Spending and Budget Aggregation to meet the Dynamics of daily needs, it means working out an economic system and policy that favours the majority rather than only the few; it means ending the cabal system where everything falls on the table of the select bourgeoisie and slave masters. The “No-Shishi” Ideology will save Nigeria from the economic quagmire that those who ruined her had sunk her deep into and make poverty history. The no-shishi ideology will remove excess money from the irrelevant places and put more money where they ought to be. It will bring service delivery to every household and put out light where the canker worm festers with glee. It will aid production rather than ceaseless and needless consumption. Nigeria will rise again. Vote Peter Obi for Positive Leadership”.
_Mrs Grace Umeh (Journalist, Nigerian Observer Newspapers, September 1st, 2022)
“After a careful study of the country, I noticed that we’re too divided and I promise to lead a united and secure Nigeria to be able to attract foreign investments. I have come to inform you of my intention to contest the 2023 presidential election. I need your support. The Nigeria I will lead will create jobs, boost our economy, improve education. If I have the opportunity, I will turn around the country for the better. I will move Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing nation. As a Nigerian, I want all parts of the country to be secured. I’m not aspiring for a political position, but to serve the country. Let me assure you that I will seriously contest for the president of Nigeria on the platform of the PDP.”
_ Peter Obi (March 24, 2022)
“The nature of PDP and the APC is about sharing and that guarantees that Nigeria will fail as a country.Labour Party has a super structure, much better than the structures APC and the PDP have. The Labour Party is built around the labour movement and a college of civil society organizations…with the structure that we have, I am guaranteeing that on the election day, in every polling station in this country, there are at least 15 people who are standing up for the Third Force (Movement) to support the Labour Party candidate. It became clear to me that the nature of the structures of the APC and the PDP is such that it was about transaction. It was all really about self. No ability to throw up leadership that sees Nigeria where it is going and works to deliver Nigeria in that direction. It was about who gets what and who shares what. No country has grown rich from sharing. But the nature of PDP and the APC is about sharing and that guarantees that Nigeria will fail as a country” .
Prof. Pat Utomi (Channels TV, July 15, 2022 Labour Party, National Leader)
One of the most critically valuable segments of this highly informative and penetrating documentation is titled : Peter Obi: The Making Of A Political Phenomenon.
The author used almost 30 pages in this special section, to comprehensively elucidate the character, value, prospects and universal acceptance of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party ( L P), Mr. Peter Obi.
According to the author:
“The undeniable leader of the Obidient Movement conducts himself in the language of simplicity, altruism and pragmatic leadership style spiced with all the lucid ingredients of mutual understanding of a political movement. This man is a fine example of the reconstruction of daring progressive politicking in Nigeria. He is a specimen of a thorough bred progressive politician; really distinguished among his peers; a symbol of Nigerian brand in terms of total bravery and maturity in political leadership.
Peter Obi’s phenomenal rise in political statue from the ashes of obstacles, such that confronted him during the party primary within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in April 2022, is a testimony to the fact that he is a bonafide quintessence of democratic leadership.
Without any iota of argument, Peter Obi is leading sensible, sensitive and responsible campaigns towards the 2023 presidential election. If we must avoid self inflicted political headaches, we must isolate other southern presidential candidates in our journey towards 2023 presidential election. Just as the umbilical connection between Peter Obi and his aspirations to lead Nigeria, to greater political glory is unquestionable. Unlike other conservative politicians, Obi does not enjoy any gratuity, pensions, houses, cars, allowances or maintenance of any kind; no personal assistant paid by the state nor domestic staff.
Those who have turned our country into anything goes must be avoided. We must continue to convince the rest of the country to support a nationalistic symbol like Peter Obi. We must not confuse the unfolding situation; we must identify solely with Peter Obi; anything outside this calculation will simply be counterproductive, like sailing against the wind or current forge ahead, and never allow ourselves to be pushed backwards.
In building a broad based multi- state strategy to take back our country, we must show complete, profound and comprehensive undertaking. This treasured candidate, is the direct answer to resentment by Nigerians, which was fuelled by widespread poverty, stunningly swirling scandals being committed by government officials.Peter Obi, who has ignited fresh passion and credible hope in younger Nigerians, represents a radiant spendour and flame, that will consume a ruined nation called Nigeria, and help rebuild her on a paradigmatic shifting socio, political and economic scale.
Nigerians must continue to demonstrate robust sense of responsibility and maturity towards the acceptability of the Obidient Movement, to effectively counter the lackeys of the present oppressors, who have offered different interpretations of the reasons for the socio, economic degradation of the populace. We must carry Nigeria on our shoulders, ethnicity or religion must not count in this struggle; our determination must ensure victory for us, even as we must continuously be a beacon of hope for a country battered by insecurity, economic and social adversities
Pragmatic, rationale and assertive. Coached in truthful political operation and scientific research; a most serious long term challenge to the conservative order in Nigeria; a propelling force; Peter Obi is saying that good governance and another Nigeria is possible, from this present stark tale of tragedy, wanton neglect and incredible injustice permeating the country. That Nigeria people who have become conquered species in the hands of violent state actors; who have inflicted the society with injustices of extreme capitalism and income inequality, points to the fact that he is poised to take Nigeria back from the stew of pressing issues.”
Tenaciously researched and magnificently presented, the above segment generated words like Obilokan and Obicracy. Perhaps, the author’s genius manifested more in his churning out the chapters, which began with the: Insincerity of the British Colonial Masters, in Chapter One.
The opening stanza in this chapter says it all:
“The deitification of systemic treachery by the cruel rulers against the Nigerian masses has turned full circle.There is no other time than now for the masses to reclaim the Nigerian state for themselves. Where we are in Nigeria today is a pathetic situation, where evil capitalistic tendencies have eaten very deep into the national fabric.
Nigeria is not the only capitalistic gripped nation on earth, but here the specie of political capitalists have gone insane. Every sector of the economy is capitalized; politics is capitalized; the electoral process is heavily capitalized; the fundamental power sector is capitalized, the petroleum sector is incredibly capitalized; almost everything is capitalized and pocketed by a very tiny group of individuals, hence millions of citizens are in constant quagmire, all to the utter detriment of the generalty of the Nigerian people.”
Page 1
This chapter exposed the genesis of the current political trauma thus:
“The British colonial masters, indeed succeeded beyond their imaginations in initiating and unleashing unprecedented acts of insincerity against the then emerging new nation, because of mindless and greedy lust for precious raw materials cum economic benefits.
This tragedy that was cleverly manipulated was the grandiose concoction of electoral fraud, that elaborately led to the rigging of the first ever parliamentary election in Nigeria in 1959. A wicked official conspiracy which dramatically made the indegenous political rulers, to ruthlessly deal with the ordinary helpless and hapless people in the name of pseudo democracy.
In chapter two, the author discussed:The Rigging of the First Parliamentary Election in Nigeria. Here is an excerpts:
“The rigging of the first parliamentary election in Nigeria during the First Republic was nauseating given the large-scale retardation it brought to bear on the social, political and economic situation of the country, as it eventually exploded into the bloody business known as the Nigerian civil war.
Ironically, the unitary system which was one of the reasons, the enemies of Nigeria gave for the liquidation of General Aguiyi Ironsi on July 29, 1966, via a military putsch, was gradually transformed into the over centralization of power at the federal level in Nigeria, by military bandits, in elaborate sinful connivance with the useless political rogues.
Therefore, the civil war brought nothing tangible to the Nigerian people; it only led millions of Nigerians down the famished road, while the generals who conducted the useless war became giant looters and usurpers of political power.
This is where we are as a nation, a federal system that exists only in the imagination of the political bandits; a more unitary system instead of a federal system; a system presently being confronted by a new lexicom: banditry/fulanism/insecurity.”
In Chapter Three: Where We Are… the author succeeded to lay bare the tragic reality in the polity. According to him:
“It is insulting that Mamman Daura, who is at the head of a chain of desperate Fulani hegemony, that has forced buffoons, morons, idiots and mediocres on us as managers of our affairs in every strata of governance, since 2015, is now telling us about looking for ‘competent personality’ come 2023 presidential election.This insult coming from Mamman Daura has thrown a challenge to our generation, to rededicate our will, resources and our sacred honor, to a drastic process of restructuring the political landscape of Nigeria; to disconnect ourselves from the perpetual political strangulation orchestrated by the determined enemies of our patrimony; of putting our foot on the ground that political zoning and other parochial convenient tools being used to enslave us politically must be dismantled and thrown overboard.
It is vexatious to know that the hopeless political system here has sucked the people of Nigeria into the orbit of unprecedented disaster and frustration, given the extreme powerlessness of the voter in changing the course and content of Nigeria’s democratic process.
We still have a genuine opportunity before 2023, to struggle fiercely; to uncompromisingly occupy a space in the political windows available; to vigorously push the best amongst us, who would pull our country, like what Abraham Lincoln did to United States of America in 1863 from the gutter of global ridicule, insults and shame.”
The author used chapter four to analyze:The Elitist Bondage in Nigeria, where he brutally posited as follows:
“Really, Nigeria and Nigerians need a political character like Peter Obi, young, modern and freshly visionary, who has inspired sudden hope in patriotic Nigerians that our country can be taken back. It is because the well organized few political elites, succeeded beyond their calculations in using the above discussed points to bambooze the youths, nay the gullible masses of Nigeria, that a character like General Muhammadu Buhari was craftily foisted on Nigeria during the 2015 general elections.
Quite unfortunately for Nigerian people, General Muhammadu Buhari pretended to be a nationalistic tool, to liberate Nigeria and Nigerians from the clutches of insecurity, corruption and social malaise. Now, close to eight years of his reign as the democratic maximum ruler of Africa’s largest black nation on Earth, the General has simply crippled the country.”
Talking about crippling the country, here in chapter five, the serial author hammered the fact ruthlessly: The Crippling Of Nigeria By General Muhammadu Buhari. According to him:
“The political disaster gets bigger and bigger every day. Never in the modern history of Nigeria has a ruler made himself a visible emblem of the worst presidency ever, like General Muhammadu Buhari.It is annoying that the corruption fight of more than seven years now is dead, and Mr. President has simply put the nail on the coffin of anti-corruption mantra; and betrayed his electrified commitment to the Nigerian people.
Whether we like it or not, we certainly cannot continue like this. We must choose to swim or sink out of the nonsensical lake of political corruption which the presidency of General Muhammadu Buhari has imposed on us.We must carve out a successful lane; a more constructive political avenue to break free from the present horrors of a vicious political system, which transformative dream has hit the rocks.
It is now clear that the much talk about anti-corruption since 2015, has been a clandestine swoop on the rest of us. Where do we go from here? It is a tragedy when politics continue to dominate and diverges from the ultimate interest of the mass of our people.It is pathetic that corruption is being sold in Nigeria today by Muhammadu Buhari and his clones!”
Chapter six, the last chapter, in part one of this very important informative work, the gifted author hit the nail of the disastrous situation in Nigeria by calling it: A State In Coma; even as he furiously remarked thus:
“A situation where genuine electorates and more qualified aspirants are being treated as zombies in the democratic process and space, is an unacceptable affront, capable of spelling doom for our most cherished nation.It is like poking bloody hands into our eyes at day light. It is nothing but classical zombiesm in our country when people cannot not have their ways within the political parties, and during primaries and general elections; it is zombifying the electors in a crude scenario where they have become like walking corpses (severely hunger-stricken), whose votes cannot determine the outcome of an election, like what shamelessly came to play during the recent governorship election in Ekiti State due to vote-buying.
The savaging, ravaging and appalling systematic zombification of the Nigerian people by the elitist politicians, rendering them unable to operate fully, freely and conscientiously in determining the direction, position and destiny of the democratic reality in Nigeria, has finally led to the emergence of Peter Obi who is fast becoming the poster guy for the political revolution coming in February 2023.
The fabric of electoral manipulations in Nigeria must be changed this time around. We must reanimate ourselves as bonafide stakeholders in our democratic business and prove to the legendary wreckers and destroyers of Nigeria’s greatness and our collective patrimony, that we can no longer allow religion, ethnicity or tribalism to divide and retard us.We must stand and move in one accord; we must not allow the elitist politicians to intimidate or cow our preferred Presidential Candidate into submission, with the instrumentality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCB) or any other repressive agency for that matter.
We must be prepared to storm, strike or pull down whatever barriers or road blocks that might be placed on our route to our electoral Eldorado in 2023.Yes, we have been zombified because we allowed it; our voting pattern must be altered this time around; we must be prepared to erupt into uncontrollable rage and anger, if any foul play is reenacted or activated on the forth-coming electoral turf.Never must we allow our oppressors to open another river to feed the sea of their known electoral malpractices or manipulations.
The insanity of vote-buying in our system is mind boggling, and the fact that it contradicts common sense and the established Electoral Act in our clime, we must do everything within and beyond our powers, to use our voters cards to reclaim the state for the benefit of all, come February 2023 Presidential Elections.There are ways for the political bandits to remain perpetually in power, without spitting on the faces of democratic and constitutional conscious electorates! We must rise, defeat and conquer this tiny set of individuals who have been using our commonwealth to hold us down.
We must continue to make ourselves the fundamental principle for real change.”
Coming to the second part of this highly valuable work, which the author has fittingly titled: Reclaiming The Nigerian State: The Obidient Movement, we are being privileged to see unprecedented intellectual cum revolutionary themes, segmented into insightful penetrating chapters.
In chapter one: The Coming Revolution in Nigeria, the author posits thus:”
” I see a revolution coming closer to what we have seen in Edo State, only if the people of Nigeria, the brutalized, who have been made the dregs of the society, can team up with an ideologically clear headed political leader with paradigmatic shifting intensions. The next revolution in 2023 in Nigeria is abundantly possible. In doing this we must begin to stridently clamor for genuine electoral voting system in Nigeria, we must profusely and energetically prevail on the National Assembly to do the needful. They should alter the present artificial clauses about our present stagnated electoral rules, to embrace candid electronic voting, such as is available in the United States, Europe and other civilized climes in the world. The Nigerian people should be able to make a statement in 2023, because this country has been led astray by some political criminals pretending to be jolly good fellows. We must do something quite unusual. There was a semblance of ideological inclination during the First Republic in Nigeria. What do we have now? Ideological leaning has collapsed. What is ideological about the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (AP) for instance? If the two dominant political parties are conscientious or guided by any ideology to deliver quality democratic dividends to the Nigerian people, the likes of Adams Oshiomhole could not have succeeded to the extent he got before he was crushed out of the chairmanship of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC)”.
In chapter two: Wanted A Law Against Vote Buying And Selling, the author manifested his extraordinary power of advocacy thus:
“The Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of this world are old political cargoes, who have demonstrated the intent to continue to do business as usual with the way Nigerians are being ruled today. There is nothing dynamic or superb about their intentions to govern the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2023, except that they are billionaires, who are ready to indulge in the vexatious game of vote buying and selling to get at the highest political trophy in the land. In a country where crucial campaign issues are being relegated to the back ground, political parties are not functional in the real sense of the word, as we see practicable in advanced democracies. Where Ideological leanings have been consciously thrown into the garbage bin and the electorates are not helping matters, probably out of ignorance, dire hunger, extreme poverty and illiteracy, something unusual or paradigmatic must be made to happen. The role of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) officials, in curbing vote buying and selling is loaded with suspicions, partiality and inconsistency. How many offenders have they apprehended or prosecuted, since vote buying and selling have become institutionalized in Nigeria? Nobody has been punished for vote buying and selling, period! We see organized treachery from the top, to continuously deceive Nigerians, even with the EFCC as an appendage of the rulers of political madness and darkness in Africa’s most populous nation. If EFCC is actually doing its job in this important regard, the fragrant issue of vote buying and selling would have been drastically reduced or eliminated by now. Are we saying that the Chairman of EFCC, and the rank and file of the Agency do not know the wheelers and diggers of vote buying and selling in Nigeria? If the EFCC is succeeding in tracking down and punishing the bloody internet fraudsters in our midst, why not the buyers and sellers of votes, right from party primaries, to actual election process in our country?
It is pathetic that the specter of heavy monetization of our electoral process, continues to ravage, scatter and incapacitate the chances of the electorates to choose competent, visionary and missionary representatives within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It also denies very competent and more qualified Nigerians, but who cannot buy vote, the chances of aspiring to political offices of their choice”.
In this Chapter three: The #ENDSARS Protests… Igbotako Nowinta dramatically brought to the fore, the #ENDSARS issue and was in his best when he averred as follows:
“It is only the enemies of the people that will stand against the whirlwind of protests and counter protests sweeping across the country today.This #ENDSARS protest is a clear signal that all patriotic youths, nay Nigerians must use as a weapon for total revolution; a revolution that must compel the National Assembly to take a quick look at our Electoral Law, to enable full electronic voting system to be included in our books; to guarantee equitable distribution of employment opportunities for the children of the lowliest, the poor man in our midst, and so on and so forth.
This #ENDSARS struggle is a perfect time to demand comprehensively for our rights; a time to tell the likes of Yusuf Bichi, the Director of the Department of the State Security Services, to reverse all the lopsided appointments he had made, still making to satisfy his brothers and sisters from Katsina, within the nation’s highest security outfit.
It is a time to demand for the release of billions of naira that were donated by some corporate and individual entities towards the Covid 19 pandemic in Nigeria; a time to call for the suspension of the heartless electricity tarrifs forced down our throats; demand that the pump prize of petroleum products must be drastically reduced.
And it is a time to unmask those public officials looting our treasury, by using sophisticated array of fronts and devices to cover their tracks; a time for the implementation of federal character principles in employment opportunities within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria, etc.
This is a time to call for a stakeholders forum to compel the Revenue Management and Fiscal Mobilization Commission, to review the jumbo salaries and enumeration being cornered by the political class, especially members of the National Assembly in Nigeria; a perfect time to expose those engaged in massive spending binge that has seen diverted revenues into corruption funded patronages, such as we have seen in the National School Food Feeding Funding Programmes etc.
Those who are enjoying a windfall of personal bonuses and their cronies in this fraudulent regime, pretending to be fighting corruption, arising from the Covid 19 largess must be fished out.What of the oil blocks that were awarded to politicians and business men close to the corridors and windows of supreme power in the land?”
The author demonstrated again his super experience and antecedent in advocacy work, in this chapter titled: Nigeria: Where Is The Electoral Offences Commission Law? According to him:
“I boldly demand the passage of the National Electoral Offences Commission Bill, firstly to be passed without delay in the House of Representatives, just like what the Senate did more than a year ago. And we all (civil society activists, professional associations etc.) must then prepare to in massive unison, and utter uncompromising tone, call on General Muhammadu Buhari never to delay in signing the much expected Bill into law. This we must be prepared to do so that the National Electoral Offences Commission Law will be handy to prosecute the very crucial 2023 general elections in Nigeria. We must fervently ensure that our essential voices are not silenced in this current battle; we must not allow ourselves to flinch or falter. While we must continuously believe, tirelessly we must devote our energy in the direction of this anticipated victory, knowing that this nationalistic cause unsettles the elitist political moral codes and disrespects the sacred cows in our country. In going nationalistic in this cause, those that have thrown so much chaos into the public sphere in the name of election rigging, must not be allowed to slow down our momentum. Our nationalistic sentiments must perpetually be stirred to our purpose, to advance this sacred agenda. We must not only defend but be prepared to celebrate. We must stand powerfully for the civilized values of sanitized electoral system in Nigeria. After we would have added the National Electoral Offences Commission Law to our democratic trophies, the next push for us vigorously is the struggle to have ‘Direct Primary’ as a clear clause in the Electoral Act in Nigeria. As we all know, the principle of direct primary is an issue that will always guarantee the emergence of the most popular, qualified and acceptable candidates from the indigenous political parties in our clime.
Fundamentally, l want to ask this question: “where is the National Electoral Offences Commission Bill” that was passed by the Nigerian Senate on July 13, 2021?The ferocious electoral rigging tsunami which the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), introduced into the Nigerian political firmament, during the 1998 general elections, produced the government of General Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999.
Conscious of and using the incredible rigging machine of the PDP to the tilt, General Olusegun Obasanjo, bulldozed his way for eight solid years, until he maneuvered Umaru Musa Yar-Adua as his successor on May 29, 2007.The conscientious Ex-President (Late) Umaru Musa Yar-Ardua, acknowledged the fact that the presidential election that threw him into office was heavily rigged”.
The ever militant Igbotako Nowinta, used Chapter five: Waiting For ‘People Power’ In Nigeria, to furiously clamour for the urgent need for the people of Nigeria, to rise up uncompromisingly against the oppressors. In his words:
“President Buhari’s household over-pampered ‘first class bandits and mean scoundrels’, who flew into Kano, in private jets, and succeeded in turning Yusuf Buhari’s knot-tying ceremony into bazar for ‘known celebrated outlaws’, while millions of Nigerians, along with their helpless school children, were paying (still paying) ransom to cartel of kidnappers. It was a wicked insensitive development that even attracted condemnation from a known patron of kidnappers in Nigeria, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi. According to Gumi: “You are spending money to hire jets to go to weddings, while criminals are holding people to ransom in the bush. The criminals (bandits) are holding the people. Even, our leaders milk us dry. Where did they get the money to hire all these jets?” Now, if a character like Gumi was shocked to his marrows, at the incredible show of shame and ridicule, that General Muhammadu Buhari, and his family recklessly showcased in Kano, how and what could the rest of us feel? Nigeria at 61, and the highest level of Nigerian Parliament, the Senate and the House of Representatives, have woken up from the kingdom of professional rubber stampers cum sleepers, to find out that this Commander-in-Chief has bitten the bullets of compromise, what could the rest of us do? I am waiting for a show of ‘people power’ in Nigeria! Nigeria at 61, and when, a sitting President is assiduously and energetically, using a compass to locate grazing routes around the country, for multitudes of Fulani kidnappers, masquerading as herdsmen, even when his brother from the same state like him, Aminu Masari, has poured out his heart, that the enemies within are nothing, but Fulanis, what are we expected to do as responsible citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
Shamelessly, the Nigerian Government chose the premises of the United Nations Organization (UNO) Headquarters, in New York, United States, recently, to export an extract of its blanket barbaric domestic manipulative game, to the whole world.By allegedly offering raw dollars to some gang of homeless American citizens, to carry placards telling the world, absolute lies and falsehood, about the real situation obtainable in Nigeria, the present rulers have consciously revealed the real stuff they are made of – enemies of Nigerian people.
Sixty one years after the Union Jack was lowered by the British colonial masters, on October 1st, 1960, it is unpardonable that the present masters have dropped Nigeria and Nigerians, into a pot of soup.Suddenly, Nigeria has become a nation being harassed and humiliated by: ‘bandits and banditry’, even at 61 years of age.”
In this chapter six: Reclaiming The Nigerian State: The Obidient Movement, Nowinta Igbotako, threw caution to the winds here, by exploding his raw revolutionary fervour and ardour, as he urged the multitudes of Obidients across Nigeria and in diaspora to just do the needful. According to him:
“The damage done to Nigerians is beyond pardon. Nigerians are wasting and perishing in their wilderness, even as the wicked strategy of the APC and PDP has fallen apart.Today, we have fallen off the debt cliff.
This is where we are: a civilian government quenching key strategic components of democratic governance with deliberate administrative poison.How have we allowed ourselves to be reduced to where we are? We must challenge this nauseating rot in our country. Those profiting from the underdevelopment of Nigeria are not super humans; they can be dealt with.The problem of Nigeria appears enormous, but it requires simple solution. The solution we can see now is Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed Labour Party ticket.
With Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) new statistics that about 71% out of the 12.2 million new registered voters are youths, the choice for Nigeria in 2023 is between embezzlement and production, genuine success and cankerworms.
We must establish ourselves as clearly as the most serious long time challenge to the wicked conservative politicians in Nigeria.
History will prove what we do in the coming elections; we must create a very impressive and important political legacy; politics must take a back seat to nationalism. This election is about us; about you. We all must get up and ferociously support this huge push for decades of injustice.
Imagine this: General Muhammadu Buhari and his entourage went to the United Nations Organization (UNO) 77th General Assembly, recently, to ask for debt relief amongst other senseless demands, when he is sitting on a bottomless pit of oil reserves; where gigantic oil theft is the order of the day, being organized at the highest levels by political cartel; where oil producing countries are profiting hugely from the energy crisis occasioned by the regrettable Russia/Ukraine war.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) has been collecting recovered loot since 2015. Where are the recovered loots?
This coming presidential election must surely be the beginning of our perpetual and determined resolve, to vote out this most inept, insincere and clueless cabal. This is the time to reclaim our country from this extremely mad rential system; from the hands of those who have deliberately infested Nigeria with horrific impunity. Who says Nigeria must not diversify its economic mainstay from crude oil? It is now ripe for Nigeria and Nigerians to move away from over dependence on oil?The authors and perpetrators of socio, economic and political genocide in Nigeria must be decapitated.
It obvious that Nigerians are anxiously desirous of leadership that will recreate possibilities, with positive conflict management compliant, consumate vision, values, excellent managerial complexities, character, integrity, couple with leap frogging technologies. It is absolutely becoming impossible to deny that an electoral revolution is unfolding before our very eyes, come 2023. There has probably never been a time, when Nigerians must be united to use the electoral process to chase out our political oppressors than now.What do we want? Wanted: a fresh political face in Nigeria!
The youths in Lesotho have just used the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) platform to throw Sam Matekane into the cockpit of supreme political power after decades of excruciating irresponsible leadership; the youths in Kenya have dramatically used the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) to push William Ruto over and above the old guards in that country”.
Conclusion
When Ifemesia Iferenta gave his verdict about the author and the book that :”Selfless, applaudably patriotic, Applause’, and went on to put it as “Class of 2022″, he was absolutely correct, because Igbotako Nowinta has proved adequately with this work that he is not only a true, selfless and patriotic nationalist cum revolutionary, but a man deserving to be encouraged, applauded and celebrated with an award of excellence by relevant bodies in Nigeria, and in diaspora.
I am therefore recommending this timely ”masterpiece; this great job”, for all Nigerian students,masses, voters and lovers of democracy; libraries in every ivory tower in the world.
Erasmus Ikhide can be reached at ikhideerasmus@gmail.com.
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