Kingsley DikePat Utomi is celebral and one Nigerian and fellow Deltan that I respect. His career and style of always being part National discourse and debate have always inspired me as a young person. However, on this, his call for a Unity Government where the Afenifere, Ohaneze, Middle Belt Forum, Niger-Delta Forum and Arewa forum I disagree.
According to him: “Surely, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum and Ohaneze Ndigbo, Niger Delta People Congress and the Middle Belt forum can be consulted to nominate people into this (proposed) Unity Government Forum that can walk up through the evil forest of now.”
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First, it is unconstitutional and demonstrate our Nigerian penchant to always seek a short but unproductive outcome in our politics. We are currently practising a multi-party Democracy that is enshrined in our Constitution. There is an elected government that is running the affairs of the country.
Though we agree the government has failed with the multitude of problems facing the country that they have not addressed or that they have exercebated with their mediocre and incompetent policies. Even then, they are still the duly elected government of Federal Republic of Nigeria that we as citizens hold allegiance to.
We must be patient to allow democracy run its course and refuse the temptation to start calling for all ridiculous ideas and constructs.
We have seen this movie before in Nigeria’s national life during military regimes. People and the military governments trying all pseudo concept in the name political engineering.
Such concepts brought about such interesting characters like Chief Francis Nzeribe Association of Better Nigeria (ABN) and Chief Ernest Shonekan Interim government.
Let us be patient, follow the democratic process of electioneering campaigns and peaceful change of government and be building on our progress piece by piece, step by step until it becomes our our national culture.
Kingsley Dike, a former Foreign Affairs Reporter with The Guardian and retired United States Army Intelligence Analyst, wrote from Atlanta, Georgia USA
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