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It is no more news that fuel subsidy rallies by Nigerians all over the world popularly tagged Occupy Nigeria is gradually flattening out. One would have wondered why the steam died down so quickly.
The natural answer will be the betrayal of the labor unions especially the NLC and TUC in calling off the labor strike prematurely without achieving her initial stance of government reverting to N65 pump price.
However, this article decided to bring to the surface insider news why the President Jonathan led government was not moved and hell bent to pursue her anti people policies.
In every country, the executive arm excesses and unpopular policies are always checked by either civil disobedience by the populace or the house of senate invoking her constitutional power to impeach an unpopular government. These and many more might have been the reasoning why Egypt, Greece and Italy prime ministers and presidents were peacefully or forcefully sent packing.
The case of Nigeria however is a different scenario. A senate president nursing a presidential ambition in 2015 and doing everything to please a potential predecessor for presidential anointing. The sitting President Dr Good luck Jonathan and Senator David mark has an unwritten pact .The task on Senator David Mark is to ensure that President has a smooth sailing during his presidential tenure, suppressing any counter motions against the executive arm among senators and killing any impeachment motion of the president even before it is brought to the floor of the house, while the president promises to influence the PDP primaries to ensure senator David Mark flags the presidential candidate of the PDP party in 2015.
Senator David Mark, the senate president has been quietly nursing a presidential ambition. He knew if he opposed the sitting President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan oppressive policies including the Fuel subsidy removal. The president would likely destroy his presidential ambitions in the PDP come 2015.Unlike the speaker of the house Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who spoke out vehemently against the President Goodluck Jonathan suppressive economic policies and a counterproductive fuel subsidy removal programme for the Nigerian populace. The speaker of the house also organized a Sunday emergency meeting and along with the house members took a position for the house that the government should reverse oil price to N65.A move popularly applauded by the Nigerians home and abroad.
But at the upper chamber in the senate. It was a different story with the senate president , Senator David mark choosing to sit down on the fence and play in the gallery. Keeping mute on fuel subsidy issues to avoid any friction with executive arm headed by the President Goodluck Jonathan and yet avoiding the media light of Nigerians be turned on him. He chose to play along and implore the puppet –Master style and dilly dally the mandate of a free democracy mandate Nigerians gave him.
The Good luck Jonathan think tank team was able to indulge in Senate president David Mark`s presidential ambition and advised the president that an impeachment option will never come to surface in the senate ,no matter how much rally and protest by Nigerians ,As long as David Mark is the senate president there is nothing to be feared by the executive. An impeachment of the President Goodluck Jonathan means all the present Ministers and appointees will likely lose their job including the president think tank team.
The presidential think tank team is confident that the Senate president ,senator David mark will not want to jeopardize his future presidential ambition by coming out on a tough stance or allow an impeachment motion on the GEJ fuel subsidy removal policies. Senator David Mark has decided to play a puppet to President Good luck Jonathan to the detriment of real democracy, feelers are of the opinion that this is not healthy for Nigerian nascent democracy. A compromised senate leader will readily suppress any popular motion by senators to checkmate President Goodluck Jonathan excesses.
Other school of thought feels as long as the senate president, Senator David Mark remains at the helms of affairs of the upper chamber. President Good luck Jonathan will wreck more havoc on Nigerians in the future and this has implore some Nigerians to voice out. We are rather not addressing the issue. It is like going for a campaign without a campaign message. Civil protest is not working and will not work for an insensitive, selfish and hardliner government.
What will work is to infiltrate individual senate members from your constituencies to see reasons that our democracy has been compromised and impeach the senate president ,David Mark first to clear way for his deputy who does not have any political ambition in the executive arm. This will reinstate a liberalized full fledge democracy where the senate leadership has not being pocketed for a future executive arm promise.
Whether Nigerians will be able to reason along this line is a question left for the future.
Olalekan Oladepo Smart is a freelance writer from Finland.
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