Wisdom is said to be profitable to direct! For quite sometime now, those who were not welcome to hold elected office, and have to watch President Tinubu’s lead in the capacity of President of Nigeria, have been looking for ways and means to hurt his elements, to extract their pound of flesh.
They want his government torpedoed, and supplanted with a military rule, come what may. They tried to promote this vapid position, to provoke negative passions in the hearts of the citizenry, using the challenges in the land as a pretext; but the rhetoric will not gain traction. Nigerians are wiser than the Guadian Newspaper.
Some sore losers would rather have President Tinubu’s tenure truncated cold turkey, by a military take-over to detour our democracy and take Nigeria back to the inglorious days of jackboot leadership- they feel that If they can’t have it, then nobody else will! The Guardian Newspaper’s last week’s repugnant reports, implying the citizen’s desire for military rule was the lowest emblem of disgruntled journalism practice. Indeed, the Guardian Newspaper ought to be poignant about how it was (mis)treated at the hands of military, which almost crumbled its business and sent her publisher into a danger zone of attack in those gory years of dictatorship.
I couldn’t possibly fathom how they can place even a modicum of the junta rule over and above democracy. Democratic leadership, pristine or tainted, cannot be juxtaposed with a military dictatorship. In that scenario, presto, freedom of the people ceases; and retrograde sets in.
Assisted by renowned Journalist, Stanley Macebuh of the Daily Times, Alex Ibru invested in the formation of Guardian Newspaper circa February 1983. Her first weekly publication debuted on 22 February 1983 when a democratic government was in place headed by late President Shehu Shagari. The Guardian newspaper started daily publications on 4 July 1983 and since then, despite her operations’ tribulations, occasioned by military intervention, the newspaper has survived for 41 years, and is still waxing strong.
In December 1983 General Muhammadu Buhari torpedoed the democratic leadership of late President Shehu Shagari and set the country on a tortuous journey of 16 years of military interregnum, before the birth of our present democratic dispensation. The Guardian Newspaper was the first to taste of the bitter pills of General Buhari’s iron fist dictatorship, when he promulgated the notorious Decree 4 of 1984 which immediately arrested two Journalists of the Guardian Newspaper’s stable, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor as casualties.
They were arrested, and kept in General Buhari’s gulag. That singular incident opened up a Pandora’s box, and set the tone for many other challenges that culminated in the reported gun-shot attack of her publisher, Mr. Alex Ibru in 1996; in the days when the dark-goggled General Sani Abacha called the shots.
Given this background and the challenges that the newspaper has had to contend with, it is quite confounding and benumbing that the Guardian Newspapers would be associated with any references to military dictatorship. To whatever aim, that act amounts to a great disservice to the spirit and letters of the Guardian’s historical trajectory. Possibly, it is a failure of their leadership in its editorial vision, and an administrative lapse that has abjectly affected its corporate objectives.
If History is no longer taught in schools, has it also been obliterated in private places? Successive Journalists and administrative staff of the Guardian Newspaper ought to be apprised with the history of the newspaper once they are recruited, to give them the best appreciation of the newspaper and her history. Being a victim of high-handedness during the military era, one would have gone on one limb swearing that the Guardian would be a bastion for democratic rule and freedom, as its own corporate social responsibility and contribution to democracy.
Its latest report alluding to interest in military intervention from the citizens is most reprehensible. It is like forgetting your history and drawing parallels between evil and good. Democracy certainly serves us better than any benevolent military dictatorship. Having bagged twenty five unbroken years in our current democratic governance, the journey to sustainable democracy has since commenced and responsible journalism should naturally support that which is good for us, rather than incite the citizens against the constituted authority.
We must justly interrogate the realities that stare us in the face as a country, and where necessary, apportion blames without bias. The media, military, and the citizens are all contributory to our stunted growth and struggling status. A leadership is as good as the followers. An enlightened, and sensitised citizenry will patriotically engage in their civic responsibility that would invariably check the governance process without inhibitions. To see a media platform like the Guardian Newspaper making inciting statements that call for sedition, summarily shows that it has failed in its corporate social responsibility.
It readily shows a breakdown of morality and professionalism. It is an indication that a huge generational gap exists between those who run the newspaper and the owners. Ibru’s travails should be a lesson to the Guardian to sustain the creed of its troubled history. This is why I am at sea to reconcile the motivation for Guardian’s present drudgery. One would have expected the platform to deprecate any call either overtly or covertly for military intervention.
President Tinubu needs to be supported to continue his interventions, in the nation’s long term interest. By his actions, he is showing uncommon courage, and gusto. He suffered deprivations and privation, went on exile, and sustained a struggle that guidedly returned the military to the barracks. Now that he is in office, he is correcting all the ills of past presidents for our betterment. His changes in policy and correction of errors have to be adjusted for prospectively; this of course would disrupt the status quo but will by all empirical and theoretical analyses put us on the right path for a sustainable economy and nation.
The mention of military rule should not be from the tongue of the Guardian judging from its own experiences. The rot of the past has almost eaten away our future and the crumble need be stemmed now. We were operating on a seemingly amortized futures, eating up everything in the present! Tinubu’s government’s policies may be “unpopular,” but with time, they will prove to be salutary. They will help us form the basis for a better appreciation of our country and preserve a tomorrow for our posterity. Corrective policy changes are usually so; audacious and acrid.
This government deserves a pat on the back. Our president’s poise is what some call, fighting the good fight. This may not be the most savoury times for Nigeria and Nigerians, but as a people, we must sustain good the initiatives to reap their benefits later. A problem will remain a problem if we refuse to address it; problems don’t just go away! Going by our history, any call for military rule at this time will amount to moving us backward to please the egos of some political demagogues who are just desperate to crumble the cookie.
The Guardian newspaper must evince and live up to its responsibility in its journalism practice, even as it draws lessons from its antecedents. It must consciously bring her younger elements up to speed; they may not be familiar with its credible history, to understand its social responsibility. Our democracy has come to stay. The journey to this present point was not an easy one, so we must jealously guard our loins to deepen this democracy and democratic leadership in spite of our challenges.
The media must invest heavily in democratic governance and help propagate the ideals and beauty of democratic rule. It shouldn’t be an individualistic effort but a collective as citizens, to patriotically protect our nation. Nigeria cannot take inspiration from smaller countries around us who are presently under the jackboot of military dictatorships. Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, Mali and a couple of other errant countries cannot be the standard for the giant of the black race.
Nigeria’s democracy is beings it some respect from the international community. Any form of government that denies citizens participation in lawmaking, governance and leadership process cannot assume any alluring posturing. Democracy is not only participatory and inclusive, it offers citizens the freedom to interrogate their leaders and the governance process also. While such freedom cannot be quantified or measured, it helps to deepen our societal growth, and promotes dialogue for a more robust and informed society.
We say NO to military rule, and Yes to democracy.
