IS YAR'ADUA'S MANDATE NOT WORSE THAN MUGABE'S?
Kindly give me a space in your widely read medium to say a word or two on
the declaration of war against the elected government of President Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean people by an un elected but imposed
President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar¢adua of Nigeria.
I must confess that I was dumbfounded when I read President Umaru Musa
Yar¢adua¢s proclamation at the Chatham House in London recently during a
visit that he (and indeed his country) does not recognise President Robert
Mugabe¢s election on the re-run election on June 27 this year in Zimbabwe.
Yar¢adua was quoted in a front page news story of Thisday Newspaper of
July 21, 2007 titled ¡Yar¢adua: Nigeria does not recognize Mugabe¢s
election¢, says it all about the hypocrisy, insincerity and deceit of our
leaders.
It is not only surprising but also a sheer case of arrogance and a slap on
the sensibilities and intelligence of the Nigerian people taking into
consideration his so-called election in April 2007. It is no longer news
hearing that President Yar¢adua is presiding over an illegitimate
government because of the glaring circumstances surrounding the
declaration of his victory at the polls by INEC last year. Not only the
public perception of the almost total victory given to Yar¢adua, his PDP
and its other candidates at the state assemblies, national assembly and
the governorship polls but even local and international election observers
and monitors had at the time condemned the elections as one of the worst
elections ever in the history of Africa.
Questions Nigerians always want to ask President Umaru Yar¢adua are among
others ¡does he have the moral standing to question the legitimacy of
Mugabe¢s election? Was his election anyway near a free, fair and credible
one like Mugabe¢s? Isn¢t his election not still in the courts being
challenged by almost all the presidential candidates that contested the
April 2007elections?
If Yar¢adua is sincere about his claim of being a true democrat he should
take the courage and surrender his stolen mandate so that the nation can
go free and fair polls. It must be said again and again that Yar¢adua¢s
claim of being a respecter of rule of law is just an ill wind that blows
nobody any good. Rule of law does not stop at obeying Court decisions. It
is all encompassing.
Like Yar¢adua said himself, Africans must ensure that we anchor democracy
on credible elections. My view is that the Zimbabwean election no matter
how bad was by far better and more credible than Nigeria¢s election that
saw Yar¢adua into office. There is more resemblance of fairness in the
Zimbabwean election than in the Nigerian election. This is the view of
most Nigerians. Nigeria¢s April election was a big sham. It was the final
blow that dealt a big blow to Nigeria¢s democracy.
I am of the firm belief that Yar¢adua should be the last person to condemn
the election of anybody. It will look like the case of a kettle calling
pot black as they say in local Nigerian parlance. Like Lai Mohammed,
national publicity secretary of Action Congress, AC said, ¡by that
statement, Yar¢adua is turning into a laughing stock before the
international community the hypocrisy demonstrated in the condemnation of
Mugabe¢s controversial election¢.
By that statement, Yar¢adua has exposed himself as a shameless and greedy
politician.
HAJIYA HAFSAT M. ZANNA
(musahafsat@yahoo.com)
87, GAMBORU NGALA STREET
MAIDUGURI