Fellow
Nigerians, the story you're about to read is a true account of the
reasons I criticise President Goodluck Jonathan these days. I don't want
you to believe all the cheap blackmail that it is because we lost an
election or wanted favours and attention. While I may not know why other
columnists criticise him, mine is very simple and straight-forward.
The sad thing about men of power and their supporters is no one ever
remembers when you praise a leader. You will never receive a simple
thank you message. What is worse is that some of your readers would
conclude that you've been settled like others with some stupendous
gratification.
On the other hand, when you criticise the leader,
you instantly become an enemy and persona-non-grata. You must have been
sponsored by some mischievous members of opposition. These days the
agents of government swarm all over the place. The best way government
knows how to create employment in our clime is to engage the services of
those who are incapable of persuading anyone with superior logic. The
only qualification needed is the ability to spit bile and hurl insults
at enemies of government. But a columnist who's not venomously attacked
is not worth his salt and the ink of his pen.
Now, this is how
the story started. Sometime around November 2009, President Umaru Musa
Yar'Adua completely disappeared from radar. And no one could tell what
had happened to the perfect gentleman who despite his grave ill-health
was making every strenuous effort to put Nigeria on sound footing. What
made matters worse was the fact that his Vice President, Dr Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan appeared lost in the Aso Rock wilderness. We were daily
regaled with salacious tales of how he was being dribbled by some
powerful cabal who had cleverly hijacked power in the absence of the
President. The only story that was factual was the fact that the
President was detained inside the intensive care unit of the King Fahd
Hospital in Saudi Arabia.
Dr Jonathan's situation and ignoble
treatment had attracted attention and serious opprobrium from far and
near. This was why the social activists decided to rescue him from the
hands of his tormentors. The first group to rally support for him was
the Save Nigeria Group which had as Arrowheads Pastor Tunde Bakare,
Professor Wole Soyinka, Lt. General Alani Ipoola Akinrinade, Mr Solomon
Asemota (SAN), Mr Femi Falana (SAN), Pastor Sarah Umaku, Dr Yunusa
Tanko, Malam Uba Sani, Hon. Wale Osun, Mrs Ayo Obe, Mr Yinka Odumakin,
Dr Mrs Joe Okei-Odumakin and Mr Charles Oputa. Their agitation for
disclosure on President Yar'Adua's condition had reached a frenetic
level that they decided to hold a mass rally on the streets of Abuja.
This they achieved on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. But it yielded no
response from the almighty cabal, as they were called then.
There
was a repeat rally by the same group on Thursday, March 11, 2010 to
further put pressure on those holding the President hostage to speak to
Nigerians as well as make it possible for the Vice President to take
charge of governance in Nigeria. A few days later, on Sunday March 14,
2010, to be precise, Mr Ohimai Godwin-Amaize was at my house in Abuja to
solicit my support for a planned Enough-is-Enough Rally by some youths
and celebrities come Tuesday, March 16, 2010. He didn't have to preach
to a convert, as I was tired of the chicanery that was going on.
I
woke up that March 16 to receive my good friend and brother, Mr Charles
Oputa, in my house. He did not know I was planning to march with some
young Nigerians to the National Assembly after our meeting. He became
suspicious when he saw me wearing a red top and jeans and wondered where
I was going. I had to tell him my mission and he immediately offered to
join us but he had to go home to dress for the rally and also pick his
power-bike.
We started the rally at the Eagle Square but
Charly Boy joined us at the main road leading to the National Assembly
where some special anti-riot security officers in red berets were on
ground to break up our rally. Rumour had it that they were
Israeli-trained. As I write this I wonder why they can't unleash them on
Boko Haram. Charly Boy and I tried all the tricks in the books to
persuade the police officers to let us go in to deliver our message but
we didn't succeed. I don't know where the courage came from, I
approached them finally and announced that I was going to walk through
their barricade and they were free to shoot.
I did not know
how bad the risk was until I saw the scary shots recorded for posterity
by my great friend, the Thisday Photo Editor, Mr Sunday Aghaeze. I was
so possessed by raw anger that I did not realise the police had grabbed
my neck and were trying to snuff life out of me by throttling my throat.
We pushed their iron-curtain and their crude Berlin wall collapsed. We
enjoyed our triumphant march but the main gates of the National Assembly
were firmly shut against us. I will never forget how Audu Maikori of
Chocolate City Entertainment Company defied a policeman who pulled a
menacing pistol at him. I was proud to see star actresses Omotola
Jalade-Ekehinde and Stella Damasus-Aboderin walk under that scorching
heat with other volunteers. We were not fighting for personal gains but a
better Nigeria.
We returned to our homes, far and near,
satisfied that we had contributed our quota. The good news came the very
next day that the Federal Executive Council finally found the courage
to approve Dr Goodluck Jonathan as substantive Acting President. And our
joy knew no bounds. Some of us had placed our optimism on the foolish
belief that the Acting President would appreciate the burden placed on
him by Nigerians who fought for the restoration of his relevance in the
scheme of things. Only if we could see the future!
A very
close friend and confidant of Dr Jonathan had called me shortly after.
He's one man I believe had implicit faith in him to be a very good
President. We had met in London and drove around the city in one of his
fabulous cars to discuss the intractable problems of Nigeria. His ideas
sounded lofty, even fantastic. He said he was sure Jonathan will be
President but that it was only a matter of when. He said he owed it to
his friend to help him to succeed. But not many people reasoned like
him.
For example, he dreamt of a star-studded cabinet for
Jonathan. I told him matter-of-factly that the hawks in PDP will never
agree. And even if they allow him to pick the best Nigerians that litter
everywhere in the world, the hawks will still frustrate them. Brilliant
Nigerians hardly know how their country works and those behind the
wheel of fortune, the Nigerian Mafia, live far up in the control towers
away from the prying eyes of ordinary Nigerians. They hold their
nocturnal meetings in the dead of the night and they have their stooges
everywhere especially in the civil service. Some of the wealthiest
Nigerians don't look the part. You pass them all the time on the
corridors of those Ministries but won't smell the crazy wealth on them.
President
Jonathan's friend dreamt of a total of nine years in power for him. I
told him he would achieve that if he performs. To perform, he would have
to square up to the many demons buzzing around Abuja. All the leaders
before him failed because they couldn't do that. The only one who had
the uncommon sense to quit when the ovation was loudest was General
Abdulsalami Abubakar. Jonathan would have to jettison politics and
concentrate on rebuilding Nigeria. He should not worry about how many
terms he serves but what legacy he bequeaths to future generations.
I
started having my doubts when I saw how Jonathan blew money on his
campaign like no one before. A source within his Presidential campaign
said they burnt about $1.5 billion. That was how much it cost to build
the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building in Dubai. There were
indications that the fuel subsidy payments went out of the roof as a
result of Africa's most expensive presidential campaign. May be the
rumour-mongers are right after all because, curiously, we lost all that
money and nothing happened. Not even President Barack Obama would have
survived the anger of Americans if such a dastardly act happened under
his nose.
I was still slightly hopeful after the 2011 elections that
President Jonathan may surprise us. I wrote him an open letter on June
11, 2011 and gave my candid advice:
"The task at hand for you
is tantamount to the sacrifice made by Christ for humanity. The problems
of Nigeria are manifold and to succeed, you must be prepared to
sacrifice everything. You will fail if you are afraid of taking
difficult decisions. There is really nothing to fear if you reciprocate
God's love for you… Please, look at the faces of most people around you
today, many of them must be very familiar people. The reason is simple.
You've been seeing the same faces since you were probably in secondary
school. .. Please beware of them. You won't need these godfathers
because you already have God the father. If you look back in history,
you will realise that they really have nothing to offer. They've always
spelt doom for your predecessors."
On July 2, 2011, I wrote yet another open letter to Mr President:
"Your
choice of Ministers I believe is impressive, minus a few controversial
names… I'm particularly impressed about the fact that most of your
cabinet members are well educated. They are also young and cosmopolitan…
I assure you that if you remind yourself constantly of millions of
Nigerians who are suffering as a result of bad leadership, you may be
forced to do things differently. If you live by example, you will be
able to enforce discipline, combat corruption, and confront criminals…
Most of the faces you see hovering around the corridor of power are bad
people. Like vampires, they will devour everything in their wake. You
must do everything to navigate away from them. Rather than allow the
whales to swallow you like Jonah, you must swallow the whales. You may
not wake up like like Jonah if you choose to sleep in the belly of a
whale."
On July 9, 2011, I wrote an open memo to the new
ministers and highlighted the urgent and priority areas they must tackle
with all seriousness:
"At the end of your assignments, Nigerians
would be waiting to judge how well you have improved the quality of
their lives or how much you have contributed to taking us closer to the
precipice. The essence of my memo therefore is to assist in reminding
you of your responsibilities as well as the expectations of the people…"
I've
written several such memos to government offering free and unsolicited
advice in the hope that we can all lift our nation up. I lost hope in
the Jonathan administration after the lackadaisical way he treated the
fuel subsidy crisis. The second reason is the manner the Federal
Executive Council comes out every Wednesday to announce fresh billions
to be spent on frivolous projects in a country where most of our youths
are unemployed. The third is how the President behaves as if he's not
supposed to be in charge of the whole of Nigeria but simply a remote
part of Nigeria and a few wealthy individuals. He simply abdicated power
to terrorists and retreated to the innermost recesses of Aso Rock. I've
been greatly alarmed at the dictatorial tendencies of Mr President who
now behaves like the Presidency is his personal property and is ready to
run all opponents out of town.
The way this
government is amassing new debts is absolutely scandalous. I can never
understand why a government that is frittering away resources is not
ashamed of borrowing money. I'm not impressed that the Niger Delta
region has not witnessed any appreciable growth since its own son became
President. With all the money being pumped into the Niger Delta
projects, there is really nothing on ground to justify such gargantuan
investments. The people still live in penury. NDDC is commissioning
boreholes in the 21st century. All the promises made to Nigerians by
President Jonathan remain in the realm of phantasmagoria.
There
is neither the will nor the resolve to create positive change. Like all
others who love Nigeria, President Jonathan's friend and confidant must
be cringing at the shambles that "Oga" is presiding over. Is this how
they hope to spend their nine years in power?
I rest my case on this note.
PSN
Contrary
to widespread reports that the Deputy Goveror of Imo State, Sir Jude
Agbaso, has resigned his position over allegations of fraud against him
by the State House of Assembly, the embattled deputy has stated that he
is still the “validly elected Deputy Governor”.
