Who Will Gag Asari Dokubo?

It is utterly discomforting to witness a sharp decline in public morality in the way and manner we conduct the business of politics and power in Nigeria. Public discourse, which should ordinarily sharpen our knowledge and intellectuality, is often grossly abused to fan the embers of disunity and instability.

Except for individuals whose psychological content is defective, I cannot imagine any sane human being beating the drums of war so loud as if, if war does not come, heaven will fall.

|| Those who speak the language of war do not live to enjoy the spoils of war. In fact, they get consumed in the inferno of war, and often times ended up on the wrong side of history.

Otherwise, how do we reconcile Asari Dokubo’s latest outburst of drumming for war particularly each time the capacity of the President is put to public scrutiny? Why does he think that nations cannot live without oil as a resource? Why does he also feel that President Jonathan must be supported from his ethnic binoculars or fond of smoking hot against anyone who feels a strong point against presidential faux pas?

Those who speak the language of war do not live to enjoy the spoils of war. In fact, they get consumed in the inferno of war, and often times ended up on the wrong side of history. In contemporary society like ours, particularly with the global attractions of intellectual discourse to proffering solutions to developmental challenges no matter the shape or form they take, speaking the language of gunboat diplomacy or war is as uncivilized and brutish as waving AK-47 to show might.

Experiences in recent times especially from the Arab Spring have shown that those who live by the gun easily die by it. And with the humiliation that ended the reign of Libya’s Ghaddafi, Hosni Mubarak and their torch bearer Sadam Hussein, those who are conversant with history will certainly not concede to the argument that war is a better option to settle inequalities, inequities and irregularities in a formless system like we have in Nigeria. When the Libya conflagration assumed the ethnic dimension, nationalistic patriotism overtook sectional interest, and the rest, as is often said, is now history. Where is Charles Taylor today?

So, if the larger voting population of Nigeria did elect him at the elections of 2011, it goes to suggest that at the time of the election, he was their preferred choice.

And to that extent also, the people deserve and reserve the right to question the performance of a President they so gladly elected. To question the right of the people to raise queries about the conduct of the President they elected is to abuse their privileges which democracy advocates treasure.

Democratic powers derive from the people. Needless to state here that at all times, the people who are the repository of power, deserve explanation on every action, step and inaction of government. Since public office is held in trust for the people, they are at liberty to demand insight into the thinking of government at all times on any decision of government.

This is because there is always a day of reckoning. Such explanation would also avail the people the opportunity to have deeper knowledge about the workings of government and its actions. It is against this backdrop that I find the position of Asari Dokubo very much at variance with the demands of participatory and inclusive democracy.

I do not know where President Jonathan would derive the morality to take campaigns for re-election to a people that have been so despised and insulted by his kinsman. With the simple majority mantra, your guess is as good as mine.

By Olusegun Dada

Twitter: @Dolusegun