Fola Ojo
President Goodluck Jonathan surfed to
power six years ago on the back of widespread national approbation. His
approval rating spiked through the roof in a historically-unprecedented
fashion. He was Goodluck the beloved, Goodluck the saviour, it was all
about Goodluck! Nigerians from all tribes were determined to make his
battle their battle; wherever he led them, they had braced themselves to
follow; and his God they were prepared to make their God. The good and
virtues Nigerians saw in Jonathan were probably much more than the
virtue Jesus saw in Judas Iscariot when he appointed him a disciple
overseeing his treasury.
Today, the President’s political
fireplace has gone frigid, the fire-in-the-belly of his government has
waned as Boko Haram and widespread economic uncertainties have come
hitting Nigerians like an unannounced swirling killer-blizzard. And the
President’s men, like a losing kick-boxer are flailing at anything and
anyone real or imagined with the sharp instruments of presidential
incumbency in an attempt to win the fight.
My President is in the fiercest battle of
his political life against Muhammadu Buhari, an astute, stout and
sharp-witted retired Army General who is backed by an undying,
increasing, and resolute following across Nigeria. Previous fights the
President had won were fought by godfathers and the few powerful who
believed in him. Many of the exalted positions Jonathan has so far
occupied were brought to him by Goodluck. And where are those ardent and
true supporters now? One by one, they have fled and found new friends
in the arch-rivals of Mr. President as his ruling party, the Peoples
Democratic Party, continues to run out of clue. Strip by strip, the
carpet of support is pulled from under his feet, and the haemorrhaging
appears to have just begun.
Nine governors did not show up in his
reelection declaration in Lagos; a buddy-priest of his, Enugu-based
Father Ejike Mbaka, went on an endless tirade that our own Goodluck has
actually brought Nigeria and especially the Igbo bad luck. On Monday,
behind closed-doors in Abeokuta, the President smooched up in a room
with two reputable Nigerian clerics and his estranged benefactor,
Olusegun Obasanjo, begging the latter for support. But “Baba” told his
late-coming penitent son that someone else already sought and received
his support. I learnt that this was the most depressing moment of
Jonathan’s Presidency.
From state to state, Mr. President is
losing steam, ground, and men in thousands to the opposition party APC
on a daily basis. I cannot recall in Nigeria’s history where a ruling
party and an incumbent President have lost so much support in a rumbling
sequence of 30 days before an election. Jonathan’s electoral chances in
this election are getting dimmer by the day.
His story can be likened to that of the
29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, whose
administration was a train-load of unending scandals that ranged from
cover-ups of shady business deals and large scale corrupt activities by
members of his cabinet. Like Harding, no one has accused Jonathan of
corruption; and like Harding, Jonathan’s Achilles heels are those around
him who are believed to be the cruella-de-vil of greed, graft and
gluttony. Money in the hands of Jonathan’s lieutenants at all levels of
government, many believe, is like ice cream in the mouth of a child; it
melts fast and easy through the conduits of corruption and thievery, and
you will not remember it ever was.
Because of the complex and intricate
nature of Nigeria as a country, Nigerians could have probably been more
forgiving if non-performance in government were the only shortcoming of
this administration. But dismal performance conjoined with supersize
corruption is not a transgression that Nigerians easily forgive.
Profligacy has been rumoured to be at a scary scale with Nigerian
politicians; and in the world of the ruling party, the PDP, it appears
as if it is a necessary and desired undergarment.
There is too much conscious or
unconscious coddling of graft by this President. If former Head of
State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, believes that his administration should
be considered an angelic being regarding corruption compared to
Jonathan’s, then this administration must be the unrepentant Lucifer of
larceny and a dashing baron of daylight robbery that ever existed in the
annals of Nigerian history. We all remember Babangida and his men. When
the President said that corrupt government officials will not see the
four walls of a prison under his authority, it was an announcement that
depraved minds will always have a free pass with him. Incarceration of
those adjudged corrupt, Mr. President, is a very powerful deterrent for
those who steal public funds.
A heavy portion of this year’s budget was
set aside for entertainment in the Villa, “estacode” for gazillion of
aides travelling with the President all around the world, and the
acquisition of more airplanes. The government is proposing to spend
N517.9m this year on meals and refreshments for the Presidency, the
Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, ministries
of power and petroleum resources as well as their parastatals. For the
office of the President, N142.47m was earmarked for 2015 for
refreshments and meals, and N25.58m was earmarked for meals and
refreshments for the office of the VP. In a country where over 100
million people are considered poor, this is nothing but a legacy of
waste.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, James
Enwistle, has now told us that his country had intended to train a
battalion of the Nigerian Army up to world standard; and the agreement
was that the US would provide the trainers and the Nigerian government,
the equipment. After a few weeks of training, the US had to back out
because no equipment was provided by Nigeria. What happened to the N1tn
the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, publicly announced was
in the 2014 budget for the military? What happened to the first-class
equipment that should have been procured? The minister had said;
“Defence spending is top in everything, you know that military
establishment needs new things to assist in its work and ours will not
be different…To be specific, the military has about N968.12bn and we
have disbursed N130.7bn between January and April 2014.”
With this huge sum, why is Boko Haram
controlling more than 20,000 square miles of the Nigerian sovereign
territory, an area larger than Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Israel and 144 other countries of the world?
Why must our soldiers be ill-equipped, badly-managed, and morale badly
bruised? About 17,000 innocent people have been killed so far more than
those who died in the first US Gulf War. Presidents of nations make
surprise visits to men and women who are laying down their lives for
their countries in battles, but why is Jonathan not in that league? The
music is fading for Mr. President, the light is dimming for the ruling
PDP, and a shellacking train is about tearing through Abuja into Aso
Rock taking the President and his men on a first-class cabin back to
abodes of their choices. Nigerians can’t wait!
Having expressed this opinion, Dear
Readers, I want you to mark this: It will be at your peril and pitfall
to count out an incumbent African President called Goodluck. The battle
will get dirtier as we draw close to February 14. But what shines in the
horizon is that candidate Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who took the centre
stage of global attention four years ago is not the same candidate
today. No doubt, the light has dimmed drastically upon him, but he
remains the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria throughout the election period. You never know, President
Jonathan may still have some oil of Goodluck left in his presidential
jar.
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