By Lekan Akinosho
Dr. Lansana Gberie, my friend, a fellow political historian,
a well-travelled journalist and author of 'The Dirty War in Sierra Leone', and
I shared some fond memories reliving the tragic events which devastated his
home country, Sierra Leone.
I remember my boastful gestures to the effect that
what befell his country could never happen in Nigeria, my beloved country.
I indulged in
comparing two countries with manifest differences in terms of origin, size and
experiences. As the French aphorism goes, it is futile to place small and great
things on the same pedestal and not expect disappointment (Il est vain de
placer de petites et de grandes choses sur le même piédestal et ne pas attendre
déception).
Nigeria has,
evidently, fallen on bad times. If anyone had predicted that our country would
dwarf Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan concerning daily
occurrence of sordid events, he or she would have been dismissed as an amateur
shaman or a desperate swindler.
The pro-democracy struggles of the 90s, for
which many of us suffered privation of varying degrees of injuries, with some
unfortunate ones paying the ultimate price, could not have contemplated the disastrous
consequences of our passivity and, sometimes, active connivance.
Nigerians
watched with trepidation as General Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a sick man and a
mediocre personality on us as the President and the Vice President
respectively. The man is, currently, pontificating on the best way possible to
rule the country. He expresses regret, in a characteristic display of hypocrisy
and mischief, on the state of things in the country today. History reserves for
him and his cohorts a very harsh judgment.
The impostors at the seat of power
shocked the knowledgeable around the globe with a ludicrous claim that the
country is the largest economy. They ignore the simple economic logic which
places production at the base of any realistic economic development.
A country
that can hardly boast of 4000 megawatts of electricity, which prides itself on
being about the only place in the world where importation is based mainly on
what is produced locally, where life is the cheapest commodity and security
seems an utopian possibility that no news is considered tragic and shocking any
longer, celebrates her status as the importer of anything.
Any article of
trade, considered of little or no importance, finds acceptance in our country.
Is it not shocking that some people, among whom are World Bank and IMF agents,
will talk about rebasing an economy that is monolithic?
Could there
be any doubts with regard to the itinerary of this government? Is there anyone
who still harbours any hope of redemption coming from these elements in
government?
Since the current handlers of our affairs have surpassed their
predecessors in nation wrecking through unprecedented profligacy, recklessness
bordering on banditry, must we continue to waste our time discussing the
suitability or otherwise of having these directionless elements as our burden
as a people?
Who will deny the fact that the economy is comatose? All the
commentaries on the state of the country, both informed and downright ignorant,
appear to ignore the fact that the nature of the economy determines all other
things. Insecurity, unemployment, thuggery, collapse of infrastructure,
promotion of mediocrity in place of merit and other social vices, associated
with evil spirits by commercial pastors, are symptoms of a failing state.
Furthermore,
empty postulations on Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and per capita income by IMF
and World Bank pundits have been nothing other than dubious attempts by paid
agents of the state to hoodwink the ignorant with figures which stand at
variance with the harsh realities on ground.
Talking about gross domestic
product in a country where virtually all industries have folded up, where the
generation of electricity has become a perennial campaign point and a veritable
source of having slush funds for looting, where about 90% of the revenue is
derivable from one source, crude oil and unemployment of the most critical
segment of the population, the youths, has been embarrassingly high, making the
claims of the current impostors a huge joke and, most importantly and
deplorably, where there is seamless regression into the Hobbesian state of
nature, is cruel. Can there be any better befitting epitaph on the cenotaph of
the worst profligate government in the history of this government than this
distressing anecdote?
Giving this background, is it not tragic that the President, Goodluck Jonathan, is seeking to renew his mendacious mandate from the battered, dispossessed, and serially abused citizenry? How else can one explain this brazen disregard for the plight of Nigerians? What is democratic about this conscious expropriation of the commonwealth by a cabal? How more audacious and stupid can a political office holder, whose stint in public office has inflicted pains, endlessly, on the citizenry, be? Who will set the people free from this rudderless and roundly corrupt government? How else can an insult be described if the attempt by this man to remain is not one?
To imagine that an upstart, who was a nonentity when Nigerians took their destiny in their own hands during the military era, is now the one who is reintroducing and promoting a culture of impunity, is ironic. He underestimates the capability of Nigerians to resist his ruinous rule because many of the erstwhile activists who fought to chase away the military are now quislings. He is at home with the outlaw and scum of every clime.
He is less pretentious about giving ethical consideration to
governmental actions. You are good enough to belong to his band if your
immediate society has some grouse bordering on non-adherence to ethical values
with you. You become an instant celebrity if you have been accused of crimes
ranging from mindless looting of treasury to murder. You can be as uneducated
and untrainable as a donkey. Once you are considered a "grassroots
mobiliser", a euphemism for a certified brigand, you are his choice.
The most unsettling in all these
tragic histrionics concerns the regression into savagery exemplified by acts of
impunity perpetrated by his agents to support his re-election bid. He actively
encouraged sycophantic groups, prominent among which is the so called
Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, (TAN), whose activities remind all true
patriots of the Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha regimes, and their
futile attempts to transmute from military to civilian dictators.
So
commonplace and dubious are their message and style that no serious public
analyst will waste precious time discussing them. But just as these comedians
are allowed to entertain us on the imagined achievements of this profligate and
morally bankrupt administration, any trace of opposition attracts stringent
measures, almost all the time bordering on the subversion of the rule of law.
As things stand
on the political scene, he is the sole candidate of the PDP recently coronated
by his party! What is government of Nigeria doing to our people to make them
happy, obedient, loyal and honest as stipulated in our national pledge rather
than coming to seek their votes in the next elections?
This inept and corrupt
ruler wants us to believe that his rule which has had significant deleterious
impact on the polity deserves to be tolerated for another four years. He
continues to boast of his achievements that are only evident in the abject
poverty of the mass of the people.
As argued by Larry Diamond, who has
coordinated the quality of democracy project and the dimensions on which
democracies can vary in quality notes, “The assessment should include social
and economic quality and estimates the extent to which public policies
correspond to citizen demands and preferences.” A student will only pass exam(s) when he or she attends classes and meets
the requirements for promotion. Jonathan cannot seek another political capital
or votes when he has performed woefully in all aspects of administration.
Nigerians
are more divided now than they were under Obasanjo. It is a question of using
hermeneutics to determine or interpret what is best for our future, which
Jonathan and his corrupt cronies have been unable to guarantee. The whole country is virtually in the dark
now after billions of Dollars had been expended to procure darkness. The youths
are not only unemployed but they have become despondent as there appears to be
no hope in the horizon. Yet Jonathan and his fellow travelers want to cling to
power.
Obasanjo made
too much noise about debt repayment during his regime. Some N60 billion was
paid to some funny elements as commission on the debt forgiveness scam. We were
told that Nigeria was free from some nebulous debt purportedly owed some
equally shadowy characters and institutions. The same Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
played a very prominent role in the grand deception.
The indication of the economy since this current incumbent came to power
is that, it has recorded consistent failure in controlling spending and debt.
It is a government whose economic policies militate against growth in any form.
The socioeconomic climate is hostile to real investment required for development.
All claims to the effect that this government created jobs through some dubious
Sure P programme must be regarded as noises made by desperate apologists to
explain the colonial failure of these impostors. Is it not disgraceful that
this country parades over 70 million of his youths as hopeless, hapless,
despondent and desperate because of unemployment? On what basis is the
aspiration of Jonathan for a second term hinged?
Jonathan
has plunged us further into questionable debts with his profligacy. Our
domestic debt is now put at about $48 billion while external debts stand at
$9.3billion. The Naira has just been devalued officially by the CBN, yet
government apologists claim fictitious figures as evidence of growth. Our naira is so weak in the sense that it
has no value in the international market.
The naira has fallen against the
dollar to a new low of N180.59, bringing the total value loss by the local
currency this year to 10.59 per cent. This is what late Fela Anikulapo- Kuti
(Abami Eda) sang about in his Overtake Don Overtake Overtake, ODOO.
"Governement announce second tier, everything come tear to pieces".
“When
naira crash, everybody crash with am”. Oil theft is almost equal to the
official sales at the international market. Stealing is now a national culture.
After about $28billion was purportedly spent in the past 15 years to solve the
problem of electricity, this backward government generates less than 4000
megawatts.
On November 12, 2014, Jonathan, told his
gullible PDP supporters and his hirelings that “After seeking the face of God,
in quiet reflection with my family and having listened to the call of our
people nationwide to run, I, Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, have accepted to
re-present myself, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party for
re-election as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 2015
general elections.”
Which God did he call on? Who are the people who called him
to seek re-election? I am not going to fault his constitutional right to
contest; however, I argue that his claim that he received a call from God is
very dishonest and belies- as you cannot use the name of God in achieving your
primordial and primitive or inordinate ambition.
Is it the call of charlatans
or nonentity pastors who call themselves Christians - but unGodly and have been
having dalliance with your government - and living in the cesspit or cesspool of
corruption- and feeding on the sweat of their congregations or the Almighty?
Do
these pastors share with their thieving members the biblical passage of Isaiah
chapter 10:1? Or "Woe unto those who made unjust laws” or Psalm 82:2-4,
which states, “How long will you keep judging unfairly and favouring evil
people? Be fair to the poor and to orphans. Defend the helpless and everyone in
need. Rescue the weak and homeless from the powerful hands of the heartless
people”.
You cannot play chess with God and therefore, Jonathan and his so
called community of nitwits who witnessed his declaration that was nothing but
a catalogue of his failure must be encouraged to step aside for the country to
breathe.
Jonathan says corruption is not stealing.
$20billion simply vanished from NNPC accounts. The whistle blower was removed
from office unceremoniously as the Central Bank Governor. There was nothing
this administration did not do to humiliate him. He triumphed at last.
He
became the Emir of Kano after the death of the former king. On May 11, 2014, Hilary Clinton, a former US Secretary of State, put the
situation of Nigeria succinctly. As Clinton notes, “Nigeria has made bad
choices, not hard choices," Further, "They have squandered their oil
wealth, they have allowed corruption to fester and now, and they are losing
control of parts of their territory because they wouldn't make hard choices”.
This is a very touching one and serious indictment on Jonathan’s government who
is seeking another mandate under the brand of mis-governance and
maladministration.
Where is Jonathan’s love for the common
people? Like the brutal winter of Western Canada, they are left with no shelter
and treated like lumpens without a candle light flame on what the future holds
for them. They are like the lonely night, ordinary candle in the wind and not
knowing what tomorrow holds for them. Every day is not beautiful to them -and
yet, their votes count now that they have been grossly abused.
My mum, auntie Titilola, who voted for
Jonathan during the last Presidential election, has vehemently complained of
the negative performance of his administration. During the last election, I
tried to persuade her with coherent arguments on the need to vote for Buhari,
but she stood her ground- using irredentist counter.
I guess her blood tie to
Ijaw informed her decision at that time. She was born in Port Harcourt; her
mother, late Mrs. Angelina Onitiri, from the famous Banigo family of Bonny
Isiele in Rivers state, who married my late grandfather, Olawale Cole Onitiri
from Lagos. My mum speaks, fluently, some of the major Ijaw languages like
Kalabari, Okrika, Opobo and Nembe.
She is also very versed in Ibo language due
to her schooling at Orlu Girls High School in the then Eastern Region now
called Imo state. However, she is regretting and lamenting for voting Jonathan
-and without scruples- has vehemently told me that never again will she support
a character like the President.
Nigeria is going through devastating
experience of epidemic proportion. Corruption and insecurity have brought this
country to her knees. Our situation is akin to what James Wilson and George
Kelling call the ‘Broken Windows’. Wilson and kelling argued that bad
leadership is the inevitable result of disorder.
They posit that “If a window
is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude no one is in
charge. Soon, more windows will be
broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on
which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes”. All of us have the
bounden duty to stop Jonathan before he turns the rest of our people into
refugees in their own land as it is happening in the north east of the country.
Considering all that has been
happening in the country since the inception of civil rule in 1999 up till the
assumption of office by the incumbent in 2011 through to this time, it will be
safe to conclude that Jonathan is a walking disaster. Jonathan has become an
epidemic virus that walks and a ship wreck that is imminent. The corruption
virus has become a contagious epidemic in the land. There is virtually no
section of the economy that has not been affected adversely. The country bleeds
from its deleterious effects.
Nigeria is one of the most insecure
countries of the world today. The government has been overwhelmed by the
enormity and scope of the current wave of insurgency. This president is inept
and incapable of tackling the problems of insecurity. The economy problems defy
all solutions. Nobody is safe even in his own house and some are saying that we
have never had it so good under him.
Our girls were kidnapped after their male
counterparts had been murdered in a gruesome manner in Yobe. Nyanya was blown up
in Abuja and our people were mowed down like grass in Borno. Jonathan went to
Kano to launch his campaign for re-election in 2015. Road construction is
now part of the political campaign.
Contractors are mobilized to site not to
execute any project with maximum efficiency. Politics of presence is played in
the crudest of forms. The body language of this man is clear. He wants to rule
or Nigeria will not know peace.
On
February 14 in 2015, Nigerians will make another decision that will reverberate
across the country and the global world. The two prominent and major candidates
are busy selling themselves to the electorate. It is going to be between
Mohammed Buhari, a proven man of integrity and the current President, Jonathan
Ebele Goodluck.
The first stands out by virtue of excellence, personality,
charisma, achievements and trust, while the latter is exceptional for anything
that is negative. At stake, is the effective administration of Nigeria. Buhari
has emerged as the only candidate proposing thoughtful policies that represent
change. l en est sûr (He is sure).
In today’s politics, Jonathan has no market
place to sell his candidacy. We should all take note that failure of a
nation-state looms when the greed of rulers overwhelms their responsibilities
to better their people and their surroundings. In this situation, governments
lose legitimacy in the eyes and hearts of a growing plurality of its citizens.
Jonathan is a walking disaster that
must be averted.
If the country is afflicted with this menace once again, one
shudders to think of what may happen. Every onlooker is either a coward or a
traitor. The time to show him that the country belongs to all of us is now. As
the French says, “Abonne chance dans votre choix” (Good
luck in your choice). Your vote is your
choice as ours is to continue to articulate what is the best for the collective
interest.
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