There are ominous signs hovering in the Nigerian firmament like the sword of Damocles. The horizon is cloudy. What lies behind is incom­prehensible. Yes, beyond human compre­hension. The mist which has been gather­ing progressively over months has become so thick and perceivably, un-impregnable and frightening. Frightening, because, the political gladiators at the helms, and in the centre of it all, have no sense of history. Bad enough, History has been knocked off the nation’s education curriculum.
The situation is saddening as well be­cause the proverbial elders in the market place, who should straighten the tilting head of the baby strapped at the mother’s back, are in a state of paranoid. So also are the proverbial elders who are expected to know or decipher where the tree being axed by the exuberant youths would fall, already nursing jaundiced eye. So, where do we go from here?
In the mid of the gathering storm, stones are being thrown into the market place from several directions. It is hard to tell whose head would be smashed, whose nose would be broken, whose eyes would be plucked, whose ears would be blocked. At the mo­ment, the ship of state is on turbulent waters with seemingly deaf captains at the rudder also battling with impaired sight. So, we are at a loss, where the wind would cause the ship to berth. A nation of prayer- warriors, that we are, we are praying fervently, that the ship, no matter what, would anchor in one piece, at the Port of Good Hope. Why the fear? Why the apprehension? One is afraid because our lead­ers seem to be treading that same path of old, riding on the same road, rowing the boat on the same water-ways that got the First Repub­lic into cataract and falls before the eventual monstrous bang at the rocks which scattered it all.
Let us roll back the tape to the develop­ments in the nation’s political sphere between 1962 and 1966. As it was, round-about 50 years ago, rearing its head again today, there is unbridled intolerance of the opposition; bastardization of democratic norms and ethos; exploitation and employment of state appara­tus, military, police and the security agencies, by the government, at the centre to intimidate political opponents; manipulation of electoral processes; desecration of the Judiciary and the rule of law, twisting of constitutional pro­visions and the Legislature to settle political scores. It appears as if those who wrote the scripts 50years+ ago have resurrected or the re-incarnates are at the drawing board again, repeating the grooves of old that channeled the First Republic into the dungeon of history
As I was knocking this piece into shape, came a tap on the door, and in came the vendor with my dailies for the day – Monday, July 21. And behold the banner headlines on the front page of two of the newspapers: ADAMAWA BRIBERY ALLEGATION: PRESIDENCY THREATENS APC LEADERS WITH AR­REST (Nigerian Tribune) NYAKO: APC CHIEFS ON FG’S SECURITY WATCH LIST – OPPOSITION POLITICIANS MAY BE ARRESTED FOR ISSUING THREATS (The Punch). My heart jerked and my mind flashed back to the Treasonable Felony trial of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the early 60s – part of the build-up to the collapse of the First Republic. One thinks, 50years+ on, our dem­ocratic culture ought to have grown or mature enough to absorb, accommodate and tolerate the nuances and intricacies of the opposition. Is freedom of association, speech and expres­sion no longer a major plank of the hallmark of democracy? The present ravaging gale of impeachment is a monstrous undisguised height of political intolerance, which is anti­thetical to the growth and sustenance of the fledgling democracy we have been caressing for 15years, now. The development has also brought back the memory of the celebrated impeachment of Alhaji Balarabe Musa as Governor of old Kaduna State, in 1981- a sad reminder of the beginning of the erosion of the foundation of the Second Republic.
The Balarabe/ Kaduna State setting was a unique political configuration of the time. The State House of Assembly was controlled by the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) the ruling-party at the centre, while Governor Balarabe Musa was of the Mallam Aminu Kano-led Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) For the almost 20months he was in the sad­dle as governor, thrice, the House refused to approve his commissioner nominees. The power of the majority in the State Assembly was eventually employed by the NPN to im­peach the governor, as recently experienced in the case of Governor Murtala Nyako of Ad­amawa State, and now brewing in Nasarawa State.
In comparing the Balarabe and Nyako matters, one cannot brush aside a very signifi­cant difference in the two scenarios. While Balarabe Musa, from outset had a hostile legislature to contend with by virtue of the composition, arising from the outcome of an election, Nyako’s was as a result of his de­fection to APC from PDP, the party on which platform he was voted into office, with a con­trolling majority in the Assembly.
In addition, one cannot also lose sight of the fact that the Assembly’s hostility against Balarabe was heightened by the winner-takes-all syndrome in the composition of his intended Cabinet. The NPN wanted a number of Commissioners slot conceded to the party. It is clear that the Constitution did not envis­age a situation whereby the Executive would be controlled by a political party other than the one with a controlling majority in the Leg­islature. It is instructive to note that two years after the historic impeachment of gov­ernor Balarabe Musa, following a cumulative several unwholesome undemocratic develop­ments, the military struck again (as they did to the First Republic, 15 January 1966) to terminate the Second Republic on 31 Decem­ber 1983 – Three months after a believably flawed general election in which the ruling party won with a landslide. We are praying fervently that the present progression in the political arena would not gravitate to another ignoble repeat of history.
In the real sense, are we exercising enough caution and restraint to prevent the re-activation and mobilization of the vicious cycle? I was old enough in the early/mid-60s to recall vividly, some happenings of the time. I witnessed how viciously the Mobile Policemen, under the guise of deployment to maintain peace and order, before and during election, descended on opposition party and politicians. As a result of their mode of opera­tion, the Mobile Policemen were nick-named, “Kill-and Go”. Many, who also witnessed the events of those years, can still recall the use the police were put to, those election years, 1962-1966, in the Western Region and also in states in the same geographical zone, in 1983. We are reminded of the Operation Wet-E, the Wild-Wild-West conundrum and the mayhem – killing, arson and maiming in the old Oyo and Ondo States following the 1983 Elections. The re-captured, 1962-66, 1983 developments were isolated in a region but the effects became a whirlwind that swept through the entire country, with attendant tales of woe. Happily, today, in spite of the wobbles and fumbles, we have the grace of an unbroken 15years of democratic experiment, albeit, laced with WIDESPREAD frightening un-democratic human machinations and ten­dencies. Sadly, deliberately or inadvertently, we seem to be carrying our luck too far and the elastic is being over- stretched to a near breaking point. We need to apply the break.
The events of recent years and months are too fresh, that highlighting them would amount to an over-kill: From the then Gov­ernor Chris Ngige experience with the then Anambra State Police Commissioner Ige, of blessed memory, to the similar scenario be­tween Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Police Commissioner Mbu. The fractured and factionalised Nigeria Gover­nors’ Forum following an election in which Abuja, for reasons, recognised a leadership with 16votes over one with 19votes.

Nigeria and ominous signs