Don’t sectionalise anti-third term struggle, Balarabe Musa

[Richard Akindele]

Second Republic Governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Alhaji Balarabe Musa on Saturday criticised the Arewa Consultative Forum over its letter to National Assembly members from the northern part of the country on the alleged third term plan of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Musa said in an exclusive interview with our correspondent that by leaving out lawmakers representing other parts of the country, the ACF had failed to recognise that the battle against the emerging national problem could not be won by one section of the country alone.

He warned that wrapping the alleged third term plan in a sectional toga would make it impossible for the evil to be dealt the decisive blow it deserved from Nigerians.

The CNPP boss stressed that it was time the various democratic forces opposed to the alleged third term bid set aside their ideological, ethnic and religious differences and come together to nip in the bud the attempt to impose on Nigerians an Obasanjo life presidency.

“This is the problem with these regional organisations. I don’t belong to the ACF. Writing to the northern legislators, this is all right for the ACF. But ACF should have written to all the legislators because this is a national matter.

“If they had written to all the legislators, it would have been better. This battle against third term should not be made sectional. Of course, they should reach out to other groups. In fact, it’s time for all those who oppose third term to unite and take a collective action.

“Even those who do not agree with them on fundamental national issues should be persuaded to join the common cause because this third term is a threat to all of us and it doesn’t just end at Obasanjo becoming president again for the third term, it’s a first step to perpetuating himself in office as a life president and this is a stage to consolidate the neo-colonialist capitalist system in this country.

“You can see the reforms of Obasanjo and the talks of the reforms being one of the reasons for his continuity and his desire for a third term. What it really means is that he is serving imperialism and imperialism is interested in the steps committed to imposing its economic reforms in Nigeria and he has to see it through in the service of foreign imperialism. So, we are not just fighting third term, we are also fighting imperialism,� Musa further stressed.

But in a swift reaction, the ACF said it owed nobody any apology acting as a regional organisation, stating that it expected similar socio-political groups in the other parts of the country to also direct and advise the National Assembly members from their areas of jurisdiction on third term.

The Secretary General of ACF, Col. Hamid Ali (rtd), however, said in a telephone chat with Sunday Punch that the body did not intend to fight the battle against the third term alone without the support of similar bodies in the other parts of the country.

Ali disclosed that the ACF had set up a committee to reach out to the other socio-political groups and National Assembly members from the other parts of Nigeria to enlist their support for a concerted nationwide crusade against the attempt by President Obasanjo and some incumbent political office holders to breach the constitution.

“We expect that the other peoples and regions should speak to their legislators. Are we not a regional body or do you want to have the ACF writing to the legislators in the South West?

“We have set up a committee of some of our members to reach out to other regional bodies as well as members of the National Assembly from other parts of Nigeria because we need to get everybody aware.

“Even our legislators that we wrote to, we are only asking them to stand up and be counted and save this country from arbitrariness and political misadventure. Because they fall under our umbrella, that’s why we addressed our letter to them. But if you read the letter, it more or less covers everybody.

“In addition, we require some of our members to put up a small committee to ensure that they link up with other regions’ socio-cultural organizations as well as their National Assembly members so that we can see how together we can approach this thing (third term).�

-Sunday Punch-