Mallam Adamu Ciroma: A Voice In Defence of Democracy
When Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Veteran Journalist, banker and politician left the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 after serving as the minister of Finance, he went into quiet private life.
However, despite staying away from the limelight, he was among those who played key role in ensuring that the plan of Obasanjo to elongate his tenure beyond the constitutionally allowed two terms suffered grief.
With the defeat of the third term project, the veteran journalist and politician reclined to his private enterprises, accepting as it were the emergence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua through the machination of Obasanjo, as long as the Ota farmer did not stay in office beyond 2007. He was also satisfied with the fact that Obasanjo well known for not keeping to agreement stick with the zoning agreement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had reserved the position of president for the North from 2007 to2015 after the south had enjoyed eight years uninterrupted tenure between 1999 and 2007.
When the zoning arrangement which has served the PDP and the country well, at least in allocation of positions without rancor came under threat following the death of President Yar’Adua in May, this year and the new president Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Edwin Clark among others began to work against this power sharing formula, Ciroma was among the first elder statesmen that rose in defence of zoning.
He was very emphatic that the zoning agreement of the PDP must be adhered to in the interest of Justice and fairness. At every opportunity that he interacts with the media, he let it be known that he is a stickler to agreements. His mantra became what is described in Latin phrase as pacta sunt servanda meaning “agreements are to be kept” or more literally “pacts must be kept.”
It was based on this principle that he became the arrow head of the Northern Leaders that began to mobilize the region’s leaders in government, private sector and the masses to insist on the sanctity of the zoning arrangement.
Using the Northern Political Leaders Forum(NPLF) as the fulcrum of his campaign for the North to retain the presidency in 2011, he mobilized public opinion against northern governors who were ready to sale out to Jonathan because of their selfish interests. In fact, before the Northern Governor’s Forum meeting where the Northern governors decided to stand by Zoning, there were open and subtle attempts by opponents of zoning to divide the north in furtherance of Jonathan’s interest.
While many northerners regretted the action of the governors from the zone that voted against zoning at the Kaduna meeting, the situation would had been worse but the effort of elder statesmen like Ciroma. At the end of the exercise, majority of the governors voted for zoning in line with the yearnings and aspiration of their people.
Ciroma and other leaders were also well aware that the battle has not yet been won with the Kaduna victory as the forces at the PDP national secretariat in collaboration with the presidency were unrelenting in their quest to force Jonathan on the party. This became more evident from the ambiguous stand of the party, when it stated that it still stands by zoning but that other Nigerians are free to contest for the party’s presidential ticket.
Seeing that the PDP has failed to take a firm and unambiguous stand on zoning, the elder statesman has been unrelenting on putting the issue on the front burner of public discourse. The idea was to let Nigerians be the judge and see the pitfall in allowing Jonathan to contest on the platform of the PDP. While admitting that Jonathan has the right to contest the presidential election like every other eligible Nigerians, he was of the view that it is morally wrong for the president to seek the mandate of Nigerians on the platform of the PDP since he was not from the region that the position has been ceded to.
In the course of doing this, the Yobe State born politician has also been very vocal in drawing attention to the short comings of the Jonathan administration as a reminder to Nigerians that this man is incompetent to be saddled with the affairs of the country.
When recently, the movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) planted and detonated two bomb blasts in Abuja, on the occasion of the Nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary, Ciroma was among the first voices that rose in condemnation of the president for saying that the terrorist action was not done by the Niger Delta based militant group.
The leader of MEND, Mr. Henry Okoh in far away South Africa revealed in an interview with Al Jazeera that he was told by a top aide of Jonathan to rescind the MEND’s claim of responsibility for the bombing and instead hung it on unnamed northern politicians. The militant leader further revealed that it was because he refused to do the bidding of the presidency, that was why the Nigerian government handed him over to the South African government to be prosecuted over the Abuja bombing.
Following the damning disclosure by Okah, Ciroma and the Northern Political Leaders Forum issued a statement calling for the impeachment of the president as he has shown to be incapable of protecting all Nigerians as he swore to do when he became president.
This and other outspoken positions of Ciroma has earned him accolades from supporters of zoning and sustenance of our fledgling democracy on one hand, while on the other hand it has earned him vitriolic attacks from the camp of president Jonathan. The elder statesman and Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has taken paid advertisements in newspapers to attack the former Finance minister over his principled stand on zoning and for opposing Jonathan’s presidential ambition on the platform of the PDP.
These days when Ciroma is not drawing attention to the poor governance of the country by Jonathan, he is on the road traversing the nooks and crannies of the North and other parts of the country gauging public opinion over the most suitable aspirants to be selected as the consensus presidential candidate to represent the North at the PDP presidential primaries.
The Veteran journalist is the chairman of the committee of Northern Leaders saddled with the responsibility of selecting a consensus candidate from the North. They are to find the most suitable candidate from among the following presidential aspirants: former military president General Ibrahim Babangida, former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Aliyu Gusau, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
Speaking to reporters on his committee’s assignment, the Northern Politicial Leader Forum, Chieftain said his Committee on Consensus Presidential Candidate for the North had gone round the states, save two and would meet this week to decide who the cap fits. In the same breath, he has warned that PDP members would leave the party in droves if the party dumps zoning which cedes the presidency to the north for eight years.
For his principled stand on zoning and campaign for Justice, equity and fair play in the politics of PDP and the nation, the Madaki of Fika, the former Editor-In-Chief, New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) Ltd, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, former Minister of Finance and veteran politician who is seen as an epitome of politics of integrity is without debate a hero of democracy.
However, despite staying away from the limelight, he was among those who played key role in ensuring that the plan of Obasanjo to elongate his tenure beyond the constitutionally allowed two terms suffered grief.
With the defeat of the third term project, the veteran journalist and politician reclined to his private enterprises, accepting as it were the emergence of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua through the machination of Obasanjo, as long as the Ota farmer did not stay in office beyond 2007. He was also satisfied with the fact that Obasanjo well known for not keeping to agreement stick with the zoning agreement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had reserved the position of president for the North from 2007 to2015 after the south had enjoyed eight years uninterrupted tenure between 1999 and 2007.
When the zoning arrangement which has served the PDP and the country well, at least in allocation of positions without rancor came under threat following the death of President Yar’Adua in May, this year and the new president Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Edwin Clark among others began to work against this power sharing formula, Ciroma was among the first elder statesmen that rose in defence of zoning.
He was very emphatic that the zoning agreement of the PDP must be adhered to in the interest of Justice and fairness. At every opportunity that he interacts with the media, he let it be known that he is a stickler to agreements. His mantra became what is described in Latin phrase as pacta sunt servanda meaning “agreements are to be kept” or more literally “pacts must be kept.”
It was based on this principle that he became the arrow head of the Northern Leaders that began to mobilize the region’s leaders in government, private sector and the masses to insist on the sanctity of the zoning arrangement.
Using the Northern Political Leaders Forum(NPLF) as the fulcrum of his campaign for the North to retain the presidency in 2011, he mobilized public opinion against northern governors who were ready to sale out to Jonathan because of their selfish interests. In fact, before the Northern Governor’s Forum meeting where the Northern governors decided to stand by Zoning, there were open and subtle attempts by opponents of zoning to divide the north in furtherance of Jonathan’s interest.
While many northerners regretted the action of the governors from the zone that voted against zoning at the Kaduna meeting, the situation would had been worse but the effort of elder statesmen like Ciroma. At the end of the exercise, majority of the governors voted for zoning in line with the yearnings and aspiration of their people.
Ciroma and other leaders were also well aware that the battle has not yet been won with the Kaduna victory as the forces at the PDP national secretariat in collaboration with the presidency were unrelenting in their quest to force Jonathan on the party. This became more evident from the ambiguous stand of the party, when it stated that it still stands by zoning but that other Nigerians are free to contest for the party’s presidential ticket.
Seeing that the PDP has failed to take a firm and unambiguous stand on zoning, the elder statesman has been unrelenting on putting the issue on the front burner of public discourse. The idea was to let Nigerians be the judge and see the pitfall in allowing Jonathan to contest on the platform of the PDP. While admitting that Jonathan has the right to contest the presidential election like every other eligible Nigerians, he was of the view that it is morally wrong for the president to seek the mandate of Nigerians on the platform of the PDP since he was not from the region that the position has been ceded to.
In the course of doing this, the Yobe State born politician has also been very vocal in drawing attention to the short comings of the Jonathan administration as a reminder to Nigerians that this man is incompetent to be saddled with the affairs of the country.
When recently, the movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) planted and detonated two bomb blasts in Abuja, on the occasion of the Nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary, Ciroma was among the first voices that rose in condemnation of the president for saying that the terrorist action was not done by the Niger Delta based militant group.
The leader of MEND, Mr. Henry Okoh in far away South Africa revealed in an interview with Al Jazeera that he was told by a top aide of Jonathan to rescind the MEND’s claim of responsibility for the bombing and instead hung it on unnamed northern politicians. The militant leader further revealed that it was because he refused to do the bidding of the presidency, that was why the Nigerian government handed him over to the South African government to be prosecuted over the Abuja bombing.
Following the damning disclosure by Okah, Ciroma and the Northern Political Leaders Forum issued a statement calling for the impeachment of the president as he has shown to be incapable of protecting all Nigerians as he swore to do when he became president.
This and other outspoken positions of Ciroma has earned him accolades from supporters of zoning and sustenance of our fledgling democracy on one hand, while on the other hand it has earned him vitriolic attacks from the camp of president Jonathan. The elder statesman and Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has taken paid advertisements in newspapers to attack the former Finance minister over his principled stand on zoning and for opposing Jonathan’s presidential ambition on the platform of the PDP.
These days when Ciroma is not drawing attention to the poor governance of the country by Jonathan, he is on the road traversing the nooks and crannies of the North and other parts of the country gauging public opinion over the most suitable aspirants to be selected as the consensus presidential candidate to represent the North at the PDP presidential primaries.
The Veteran journalist is the chairman of the committee of Northern Leaders saddled with the responsibility of selecting a consensus candidate from the North. They are to find the most suitable candidate from among the following presidential aspirants: former military president General Ibrahim Babangida, former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Aliyu Gusau, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
Speaking to reporters on his committee’s assignment, the Northern Politicial Leader Forum, Chieftain said his Committee on Consensus Presidential Candidate for the North had gone round the states, save two and would meet this week to decide who the cap fits. In the same breath, he has warned that PDP members would leave the party in droves if the party dumps zoning which cedes the presidency to the north for eight years.
For his principled stand on zoning and campaign for Justice, equity and fair play in the politics of PDP and the nation, the Madaki of Fika, the former Editor-In-Chief, New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) Ltd, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, former Minister of Finance and veteran politician who is seen as an epitome of politics of integrity is without debate a hero of democracy.
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