Statesman Anthony Enahoro and other civil groups across Nigeria have stepped up mass mobilisation efforts against the presidential ambition of former military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. It seems a wave of opposition will soon sweep Babangida's ambition to the garbage dump before it matures.
While some northern groups claimed that they were already lobbying the National Assembly to thwart his ambition, other pro-democracy and human rights bodies have intensified consultations towards evolving a common platform to stop Babangida.
Pro-democracy bodies in the North said they have sent a joint letter to the National Assembly asking the members to ignore Babangida‘s call for their support for his political ambition.
The coalition comprises the Northern Coalition for Democracy and the Northern Resistance Alliance among other groups.
The National Conscience Party, led by fiery lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) has also commenced a public sensitisation programme aimed at thwarting Babangida‘s attempt to return to power.
Both the PRONACO and the Joint Action Forum were collaborating on what sources in the groups described as the action plan for the coalition, expected to emerge in a couple of weeks.
Babangida served as military president from 1985 to 1993 when he was forced to quit office by mass protests following his annulment of the 1993 presidential election.
The election, acclaimed as the freest and fairest election was won by late businessman, Chief Moshood Abiola.
Some activists met in Ilupeju, in Lagos on Friday, as part of the ongoing consultations to form a coalition capable of stopping the former Army General, who is among the 16 presidential aspirants of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
A source at the meeting told our correspondents that the coalition would soon unfold programmes to be carried out in all parts of the federation in the next few weeks.
The source at the Lagos JAF meeting said, ”We found it amazing that Babangida can come out with that impunity after he had mismanaged the destiny of the Nigerian nation.
”We are going to set advocacy for credible elections and credible leadership. We have to identify credible leaders that we will recommend to the Nigerian people. We owe it as a duty to try and strive so that history does not repeat itself.
”The entire civil society is trying to serve as a bloc. The constituency comprises PRONACO and other viable platform of the civil society. Our system of approach is to strategically engage the process of misrule by the ruling class. It is going to be done in the next few weeks and we are going to guide Nigerians not to endorse bad leadership.
The Publicity Secretary of PRONACO, Mr. Wale Okunniyi, told our correspondents on Friday that the new coalition will emerge in a matter of weeks as the leaders of the various groups involved in the consultations had resolved that history should not be allowed to repeat itself in 2007.
He said, ” The last meeting was held in Lagos by the Coalition for Democracy and the Rule of Law. The Joint Action Forum is also looking at the possibility of advocating for credible election. All these efforts are going to coalesce into a formidable platform that can checkmate the ongoing mismanagement of the destiny of Nigerians.
The President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor said every Nigerian has a right to contest for the seat of the presidency if that person is qualified. He however noted that Babangida had no moral right to contest for the highest office in the land.
He said, ”Every Nigerian has a right to contest for the presidency of the country so far as that person is qualified. But Babangida should be excluded from the list of those who are qualified. He is one of the people that eroded the destiny of this country and pushed us to where we are today. I think if Babangida thought very well, he would not have even attempted to run for the presidency of this country again. He should stay at home.”
On whether the church would mobilize against him, he said, ”I will not want to say that the church will mobilize against him in the coming elections. But we are watching events. Any party that fields him as candidate is a dead party. That party will not last. We are praying and watching the way things are going.”
He reasoned that any Nigerian who has a sense of history would not dare vote for him. ”I know that some people have a way of throwing money around to secure his candidacy, but I can assure that they will not succeed.”
In another development, the National Coordinator of one of the groups behind the letter to the National Assembly, Mallam Faruk Umar, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday, said the groups urged the lawmakers to ignore the overture from the former military president to them to back his ambition.
Umar, who is the national coordinator of the Northern Coalition for Democracy disclosed that members of the NCDJ and the Northern Resistance Alliance (NRA) among other groups initiated the letter.
”We believe that Babangida is a key figure among anti-democratic elements and so will be a disaster for democracy and the country at large. We have reacted to the letter he wrote soliciting support from the National Assembly by writing our own letter to urge the lawmakers to ignore him and deny him such support.
”We have earlier met the leadership of the PDP where we urged them to reject his candidacy in totality as he is a bad product.”
He disclosed that the group had concluded arrangements to embark on peaceful rallies in all the geo-political zones in the country to protest against the comeback bid of Babangida.
The rally, he added, would soon commence in Minna, the Niger State capital, where the retired army general hails from.
Meanwhile, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido on Thursday, said that none of the current presidential aspirants including Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was qualified to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in office in 2007.
He said, they lacked the capacity and what he perceived as the commanding influence of Obasanjo to manage the affairs of the country
Speaking with Sunday Punch in Abuja, Lamido said that he feared that none of the aspirants could cope with the nations problems because they do not have the qualities of Obasanjo.
He said, ”What were Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who were former Heads of State, doing when he (Obasanjo) was head of state? It is something which is in the system. If you look at the so-called corporate Nigeria, most of them made money under this government. So, Obasanjo is the only person who has this kind of monopoly over all levels, over all institutions and therefore people defer to him as a matter of right.
”Put somebody smaller there, somebody of smaller stature, of smaller exposure, of smaller commitment, of smaller experience, feeble person, he will collapse.”
Source URL: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20061119402543
Pro-democracy bodies in the North said they have sent a joint letter to the National Assembly asking the members to ignore Babangida‘s call for their support for his political ambition.
The coalition comprises the Northern Coalition for Democracy and the Northern Resistance Alliance among other groups.
The National Conscience Party, led by fiery lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) has also commenced a public sensitisation programme aimed at thwarting Babangida‘s attempt to return to power.
Both the PRONACO and the Joint Action Forum were collaborating on what sources in the groups described as the action plan for the coalition, expected to emerge in a couple of weeks.
Babangida served as military president from 1985 to 1993 when he was forced to quit office by mass protests following his annulment of the 1993 presidential election.
The election, acclaimed as the freest and fairest election was won by late businessman, Chief Moshood Abiola.
Some activists met in Ilupeju, in Lagos on Friday, as part of the ongoing consultations to form a coalition capable of stopping the former Army General, who is among the 16 presidential aspirants of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
A source at the meeting told our correspondents that the coalition would soon unfold programmes to be carried out in all parts of the federation in the next few weeks.
The source at the Lagos JAF meeting said, ”We found it amazing that Babangida can come out with that impunity after he had mismanaged the destiny of the Nigerian nation.
”We are going to set advocacy for credible elections and credible leadership. We have to identify credible leaders that we will recommend to the Nigerian people. We owe it as a duty to try and strive so that history does not repeat itself.
”The entire civil society is trying to serve as a bloc. The constituency comprises PRONACO and other viable platform of the civil society. Our system of approach is to strategically engage the process of misrule by the ruling class. It is going to be done in the next few weeks and we are going to guide Nigerians not to endorse bad leadership.
The Publicity Secretary of PRONACO, Mr. Wale Okunniyi, told our correspondents on Friday that the new coalition will emerge in a matter of weeks as the leaders of the various groups involved in the consultations had resolved that history should not be allowed to repeat itself in 2007.
He said, ” The last meeting was held in Lagos by the Coalition for Democracy and the Rule of Law. The Joint Action Forum is also looking at the possibility of advocating for credible election. All these efforts are going to coalesce into a formidable platform that can checkmate the ongoing mismanagement of the destiny of Nigerians.
The President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Orisejafor said every Nigerian has a right to contest for the seat of the presidency if that person is qualified. He however noted that Babangida had no moral right to contest for the highest office in the land.
He said, ”Every Nigerian has a right to contest for the presidency of the country so far as that person is qualified. But Babangida should be excluded from the list of those who are qualified. He is one of the people that eroded the destiny of this country and pushed us to where we are today. I think if Babangida thought very well, he would not have even attempted to run for the presidency of this country again. He should stay at home.”
On whether the church would mobilize against him, he said, ”I will not want to say that the church will mobilize against him in the coming elections. But we are watching events. Any party that fields him as candidate is a dead party. That party will not last. We are praying and watching the way things are going.”
He reasoned that any Nigerian who has a sense of history would not dare vote for him. ”I know that some people have a way of throwing money around to secure his candidacy, but I can assure that they will not succeed.”
In another development, the National Coordinator of one of the groups behind the letter to the National Assembly, Mallam Faruk Umar, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday, said the groups urged the lawmakers to ignore the overture from the former military president to them to back his ambition.
Umar, who is the national coordinator of the Northern Coalition for Democracy disclosed that members of the NCDJ and the Northern Resistance Alliance (NRA) among other groups initiated the letter.
”We believe that Babangida is a key figure among anti-democratic elements and so will be a disaster for democracy and the country at large. We have reacted to the letter he wrote soliciting support from the National Assembly by writing our own letter to urge the lawmakers to ignore him and deny him such support.
”We have earlier met the leadership of the PDP where we urged them to reject his candidacy in totality as he is a bad product.”
He disclosed that the group had concluded arrangements to embark on peaceful rallies in all the geo-political zones in the country to protest against the comeback bid of Babangida.
The rally, he added, would soon commence in Minna, the Niger State capital, where the retired army general hails from.
Meanwhile, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido on Thursday, said that none of the current presidential aspirants including Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was qualified to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in office in 2007.
He said, they lacked the capacity and what he perceived as the commanding influence of Obasanjo to manage the affairs of the country
Speaking with Sunday Punch in Abuja, Lamido said that he feared that none of the aspirants could cope with the nations problems because they do not have the qualities of Obasanjo.
He said, ”What were Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who were former Heads of State, doing when he (Obasanjo) was head of state? It is something which is in the system. If you look at the so-called corporate Nigeria, most of them made money under this government. So, Obasanjo is the only person who has this kind of monopoly over all levels, over all institutions and therefore people defer to him as a matter of right.
”Put somebody smaller there, somebody of smaller stature, of smaller exposure, of smaller commitment, of smaller experience, feeble person, he will collapse.”
Source URL: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20061119402543
