Cause for Hope in Nigeria

The ruling yesterday by Nigeria’s Supreme Court in Abuja in favor of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State in his suit in which he prayed the Court to validate his demand to serve out a full four-year term as governor sequel to the validation of his 2003 election might be cause for hope that the country might be bracing up to correct some of the extensive wrongs that Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo inflicted during the last eight years. The Court’s decision is indeed courageous and significant. Moreso, in that it came so quickly on the heels of Mr. Obasnajo's return to his Ota Farm only a few weeks ago.

On both counts, the decision should provide a cue to particularly the various tribunals that are handling all the petitions that derived from the shameful elections that Mr. Obasanjo rigged in the most blatant manner to extend his rule albeit by proxy. If those tribunals show the necessary courage and deliver justice in each of those petitions brought before them, they would have restored the meaning of transition to all that went awry on Mr. Obasanjo’s deliberate watch. By so-doing, the stage will then be set for Nigeria to proceed on a sound democratic path, so to say. For that to happen, the meritorious petitions brought to challenge the installation of Mr. Obasanjo’s hand-picked successor, Mr. Umar Yar’Adua must produce a verdict that will nullify his claims to the presidency and order a fresh election to be conducted by a credibly electoral body, which will not be the INEC chaired by Mr. Maurice Iwu.

Mr. Peter Obi’s historic feat will be enhanced only by how well he positions himself as governor. He must exhibit unparalleled independence from Abuja in order to assert that the unitary power grab by Mr. Obasanjo is illegitimate and bad for good governance. He doesn’t even need to go cap in hand each month for the so-called allocation from Abuja. He could govern Anambra credibly by raising revenue from alternative sources within the state. His worthy victory in the Supreme Court has placed him on the worthy pedestal to redefine governance in Nigeria. One would hope that he wouldn’t squander the opportunity.