Dariye and the River Between
Either by design of sheer fortuition, the suspended Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau state is increasingly having problems that may affect his return to his seat next month, when his suspension should have been served out. Already, President Obasanjo is proposing a curious commission to reconcile and unite the peoples of Plateau State. What is this commission meant for? Eddy Odivwri, who has been following the developments, reports
In less than five weeks, precisely, November 18, the period of the emergency rule declared last May 18 in Plateau state should be over. But long before Joshua Dariye started counting weeks for his return to office, some persons have gone on a campaign to ensure that Dariye never comes back to his seat.
Dariye, said to be a church cleric (of the ECWA denomination) has repeatedly said his fate is in the hands of God. Either for reasons of his religious teachings that preach forbearance and long suffering or for sheer political subtlety, Dariye has been playing the good boy ever since he was thrown from the plateau to the valley.
Even when people were raw with anger against President Olusegun Obasanjo for what was considered an affront on democracy, Dariye was to declare his "unflinching loyalty" to Obasanjo and urged those kicking against the emergency rule to take it as God approved.
But even as he is down, albeit temporarily, his traducers have not ceased from throwing punches at him. Not even fate has exactly been kind to this man of God turned politician. Since the emergency rule was declared and Dariye sent out of the Government House, almost all the news filtering out from there or about Dariye have been things to dig deeper his political grave.
No doubt, Dariye has plenty of opponents, within and outside Plateau State. Since he stumbled, they all filed out like swarm of bees, ready to sting and disfigure.
And the trend of the assaults on Dariye's political career are worrisome. Last August when President Obasanjo visited the state, the expectation that he would raise some hope concerning the return of Dariye and democracy to the troubled state was dashed woefully. He pointedly said he had not come to vacate the emergency rule. He charged the Plateau indigenes to work out their own return to democracy by behaving.
But if the comments made by Obasanjo were enough indications of his mindset, it was clear that he was yet blue with Dariye.
Indeed, not quite two weeks after the visit, a strong delegation of the PDP aparatchik, led by the PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih paid a visit to Jos, the Plateau State capital. In the team were Prof Jerry Gana, the political adviser to President Obasanjo, Senate President, Adolphus Wabara and Dr Bode Olajumoke, a member of the Board of Trustees. Mission: to woo Jonah Jang and Damishi Sango back to the PDP. The duo had contested the April 19, 2003 polls with Dariye. while Jang contested under the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), Sango did under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). At the meeting, Dariye's hold on the party was heavily vitiated. Jang and Sango returned to the PDP. And that means that Dariye's arch-rivals were now in the same political household with him. Worse still, while he is being shut out, the new entrants (or returnees actually) are now in the home. Dariye's fate can only be hanging in the balance and at the mercy of his enemies.
And as if that is not trouble enough, a lot of the political gladiators in the state, both at the state and federal levels seem opposed to Dariye. from the Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu (who actually has been plotting a deeper ditch for Dariye) to Paulen Tallen and some other political weights in the state, Dariye has been booked in the wrong records. Left with them, Dariye's political Nunc Dimitis would have long been sung.
Except Chief Solomon Lar, the first national chairman of the PDP and the present chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who have spoken in favour of Dariye's return, no notable voice has sided with Dariye. Indeed, Ogbeh hit the mood rightly when he said that" "I know that many people may say it serves him (Dariye) right, some may even say we have been vindicated. That is all very nice. But let me tell you, Plateau state and the entire North central zone has been very embarrassed."
He had declared emphatically that "we are not going to sacrifice Plateau state."
And according to Lar, the return of peace to the state makes the return of democratic governance imperative. As he put it, "Now that everything (the crisis) has died down and peace has returned, the natural thing is for the Federal Government to return the Governor, his Deputy, the House of Assembly members and all suspended democratic structures."
But those determined to see Dariye out permanently are stoking the fire of the allegations against the governor. Beside accusing him of poor leadership qualities, the raison d'etre of the communal clashes itself, they are shining the odd edges of his recent encounters with the British police. By last May when he was sent out of the Government House, the state government was owing civil servants in the state for seven months, running into several millions of Naira.
Dariye was re-arrested by the metropolitan police in London over charges of money laundering last August. He was earlier arrested last May in London for a similar offence. That some three million pounds and some other hard currency in large quantities were found on him. Dariye had attempted denying the story of the arrest, but when superior details were published about the incident, he had zipped his lips, but explained that the ten thousand pounds found on him was for the hospital bill of one of his past commissioners who had an motor accident. He did not however explain why it had to be he who had to go to London to pay the money. He had dismissed the police invitation and arrest as "routine checks".
Even under suspension, Dariye has not tempered his travelling spirit. He has been flying around the world during the suspension. It is recalled that he was in London, when his state was burning last May, one of the reasons cited by Obasanjo for the imposition of emergency rule.
While that fire yet raged, Dariye walked into another furnace. For him, when it rains it also pours. Suddenly, the rather morbid Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) discovered that Dariye falsely declared his assets. The Code of Conduct Tribunal had subsequently gone ahead to declare Dariye wanted. That the living-dead CCB which had been enjoying system inertia, suddenly sprang up and was barking at Dariye bespeaks of a curious motivational force. Where has the CCB been in the face of all the brazen robbery and system manipulation by most of the political leaders of the country? Why pick on Dariye alone? Will it now direct its focus on the other Dariyes in town?
And what has happened to the immunity of Dariye? That he is on suspension does not mean he has ceased to be a Governor, an office that yet entitles him to the benefit of section 308 of the nation's constitution, which provides for his immunity.
But those against Dariye argue that his suspension from office means technically that his immunity is also on suspension. But the intervention of Justice Stephen Adah of the Abuja Federal High court has granted Dariye some relief through the injunction he granted Dariye against the CCB from arresting him.
But that does not end Dariye's troubles. His enemies are exhuming the suspicion that he actually never won the governorship polls last year. That the figures of the polls were juggled and manipulated in his favour. It is not certain how far that accusation can be stretched. But it must have been a relief to Dariye when Ogbeh stressed that "we are not going to sacrifice Plateau state."
But if Dariye gets a breather on the political score, courtesy of Ogbeh, it is not certain how fair he will fare on the moral scale.
Already, the badge of moral deficit is being stamped on the Governor. He is said to be hooked to one Christabel Bentu, a 47 year old media maven, who once assisted Dariye in his campaign jingles in 1999. In fact, Bentu, a grandmother, was said to have been with Dariye in the London hotel when he was arrested. The level of addiction to the lady is said to be very infectious. But Dariye is legally married to Valentina. His case typifies the belief that Love is a disease, a few have a cure for.
And if all else offer some hope that Dariye may return, not the attitude of the appointed Sole Administrator, Maj Gen Chris Ali. He has not carried on like an interim administrator. He had begun, from day one, to behave like one who has come to replace, one who has come to occupy. He began by effecting fundamental changes in the civil service system. In fact, so far-reaching were his administrative re-structuring that Ogbeh had cause once to caution him that he was going beyond his brief. He had sacked some civil servants, redeployed some others etc. He went ahead to purchase 19 vehicles in one fell swoop. His wife (who had a 607 Peugeot car attached to her office) had created a pet project for herself, just like other first ladies. Will this just be for six months?
Ali does not seem to be in a hurry to leave by next month.
Beyond expectation and even his brief, he has begun the award of major contracts. Last month, he awarded a N93 million contract for a road project in Jos.
What's more, the 24 members of the state House of Assembly who had kicked and cursed at the emergency rule at the begining, had suddenly "realised the wisdom" of the action when they visited Alhaji Mantu some time ago.
It is perhaps for such latter day "realisation" that Gen Ali doled out a cash gift of N250,000 for each of the lawmakers. What could Ali be dashing the lawmakers N6 million for? So that they will co-operate in the coming plans? Or so that they will feel warm being locked out of their chambers and their mandate? With the over N2 billion approved for him for six months, and with no other check save the one who appointed him, Ali could afford to throw cash in almost any direction , as long as it serves to massage his interest.
Already, state government officials are drumming up the fact that with peace and Ali's astuteness in administration, the IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) of the state, has been increased markedly from N80 million (between May 1999 and June 2004) to the present figure of N130 million. All these strategic and programmed pronouncements are not likely to be for nothing.
As the days and weeks wear out, the reality of what awaits Dariye will become clearer. But those who believe that Dariye's winter may not be over by November 18 point to the fact that President Obasanjo had in his declaration of the emergency rule said that the suspension will last for "six months in the first instance". That is a loaded statement. It means it may end in six months or it may not end in six months. But with the normalcy that has returned, will it be morally right for the suspension order to be yet extended? More suspicious was raised last Tuesday when President Obasanjo sent a bill seeking the establishment of a Unity and Peace commission in Plateau State. The commission may have sweeping powers that can actually sweep Dariye out of office. Do a people need a commission to live together peacefully?
Yet some people are even saying that the lawmakers are being wooed now by government because there is a plan that if and when Dariye returns, he will be properly impeached and decidedly thrown out of government by the body constitutionally empowered to do so. So is that what the N250,000 gift is meant to be introducing? Are Plateau lawmakers that cheap? With the ever expanding scope of the trouble margin of Dariye, it is not certain how he will be able to cross the shark-infested river separating him from the Plateau Government House
|
