Internationally
renowned lawyer and Human Right Activist, Professor Ben Nwabueze has
recommended Government of National Unity as panacea to save Nigerian Democracy.
Nwabueze made the
recommendation at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA)
Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday during the launch of two books which he authored.
While
decrying insecurity ravaging the country and the refusal of the President to
change the service chiefs Nwabueze said “President Buhari’s blunt refusal to
resign, which is accompanied by the equally blunt refusal to change the service
chiefs, raised the issue as to what alternatives are left for the Nigerian
people in order to save themselves from the scourge of insecurity that
threatens them with ruination.
“I venture to suggest that a government of
National Unity composed of the candidates of the political parties, and headed
by a person chosen by them, may be the alternative for us. The details of such
arrangement will need to be worked out and will require compromises on all
sides,” Nwabueze said.
In a
paper titled “In a Situation of Worsening Insecurity Threatening the Lives and
Property of All of Us and Where President Buhari has Bluntly Refused to Resign
for Reasons Quite Untenable, What Alternative is Left for the Country to Save Itself?”,
the erudite scholar decried a position where a call for the president’s
resignation is treated with utter disdain and is scoffed as “foolish”.
He
however sounded optimistic that the call for resignation received attention “The
new position where the call is recognized as worthy of presidential response
represents a certain progress.
“The
response has come in the form of a categorical statement by the Honourable
Minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to the effect that
“Mr president will not resign”, because “he has the overwhelming mandate of
Nigerians to preside over the affairs of the country till the expiration of his
tenure in May 2023”
He stated
that the reason given by the minister is untenable on two main grounds. “First
the so-called overwhelming mandate derived from the February 2019 Presidential
Election is disputed by European Union Election Observation Mission Report;
International Republic Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI)
in their final report; It is also disputed by the Coalition of NGOs Report; and
by the Centre for Democracy and Development post-mortem Report.”
Professor
Nwabueze maintained that the Nigeria people themselves are not deceived by the
rhetoric of overwhelming mandate.
“The
reason given by Hon. Minister is untenable more because it ignores the obvious
fact that the worsening incidents of insecurity as aggravated by the everyday
and continuing holocaust of killings by Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, bandits,
armed robbers, and cultists not to mention the slaughter of thousands by Boko
Haram terrorists is a post February 2019 presidential Election phenomenon,” he
said.
Nwabueze
said the aggravated insecurity occurring after the election could not have been
mandated by the votes of the people cast at the said elections. “If anything,
the votes cast at the election are a clear repudiation of the claim of mandate
based on them,” he said.
He
spoke further “What is happening in Nigeria is heart rendering, The Nigeria we
all fought for, none of us had thought that what we are seeing today would ever
happen. It is a great lamentation for me; I was almost moved to tears.”
On
question of how to save the country from bad governance, he said, “How do we
get out of this? We must tell ourselves that this country must be saved; we
must do everything within our power to save the country,” he said.
Dignitaries
at the occasion include former Secretary-General of the Common wealth, Dr.
Emeka Anyaoku; Chief Segun Osoba, former Governor of Ogun State, Alhaji Buba
Galadima and a host of crème de la crème in Nigerian legal and political
firmaments.
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