LETTER TO DR. SA’IDU AHMAD DUKAWA, CHAIRMAN, POLITICAL ETHIC S COMMITTEE, ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS, (APC).

LETTER TO DR. SA’IDU AHMAD DUKAWA,

CHAIRMAN, POLITICAL ETHIC S COMMITTEE,

ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS, (APC).

19^TH March, 2015

BREAKDOWN OF VALUES AND MORALITY AMONG NIGERIANS

There is widespread of breakdown of values and morality among Nigerians to the extent that it touches on our adherence to national interest, love and sentiment of our country as our nation.

This problem could be seen in all our daily lives and is reflected in our cultural, social, economic and political programmes and activities.

The political in particular, in this era of so-called democracy becomes a nasty game projecting absence of value, lack of ethics and no-love of the nation by all the participants.

Triggered by stealing of Government resources by the elites, and so multiple conflicts between the elites, the people too have no option but to pursue their politics which sometimes look like anti-politics of the elites while sometime they too have to do it devoid of value and morality because is politics of survival.

The essence of search for correct political ethics of national politics in Nigeria is to find alternative to the rascality of the elites and immoral political behaviour of the people.  What is wrong if youths go into violence?  They have no access to Government resources to steal. 

There ought to be an alternative structure to pave way for alternative system.  The present structure of Nigeria is of elites who rose to power through corruption, fraud, prebendalism, etc.  These become the modern ruling-class of Nigeria.  And to say it loudly, this is what constitute and inform the present political crises of Nigeria.

This is essentially due to the fact that the structure of elites and of political parties produced by neo-liberalism is against democracy and must pursue some of these factors in your report to undermine the substance of democracy.

I have no reservation to all the factors leading to breakdown of political ethics in Nigeria but your recommendations against them could hardly become a reality.

The immediate task of APC now is not the right political ethics to win the elections, but to mobilise the various segments of Nigerians, especially the middle classes, the traditional petty Bourgeois, the urban poor and rural masses to continue with the slogan “canji” and insist election must hold accordingly.

This is the only guarantee for emergence of New National Value System and the accompanying right political ethics for building a New Nigeria.

Why is it the APC has never thought deeply why Nigerian people did not react collectively against the first suspension of the elections.  Or is it imagining it is because of lack of right political ethics and would soon create new ones?

The fact of the matter is because the crisis up to the time f writing this note remains conflict between the Nigerian elites with various arms of the middle classes expressing support for this position or that.  The masses never come in yet as an independent force.  Why not the APC spearhead a movement of Nigerian masses.  Or it has already claimed itself of the masses, so there is no need for the masses to become independent?.

M. M. YUSIF

Department of Political Science,

Bayero University, Kano.