4 Nigerian Officials Who Can Guarantee The Success Of The 2015 Elections By Dr. Wumi Akintide DEC 13, 2014 “We The People” as defined by the 8th wonder of the world, the American Constitution can be taken for granted as the most culpable for the failure of Democracy anywhere around the world. When Chinese trooped out in their millions at the Tiananmen Square to protest the negative effects of Communism and Human Rights violations in their country, the Chinese leadership across the board, despite their public denial, definitely took notice that something had to change in China if Communism and their regime were to survive. Dr. Wumi Akintide Sahara Reporters Media I am using China in this comparative analysis as the most populated country in the world and now the second largest economy running a distant second to God’s own country. You could say the same thing of “the Arab Spring” which started with a huge rally in Cairo to serve notice to the Arab dictators and feudal Lords across the region that it was time for a change that should bring the middle class in their society to the limelight and to begin to recognize and respond to the needs of the poor and the underprivileged in their society, if justice, peace and stability are to reign supreme in those countries. The Soviet Union under Gorbachev faced the same reality when they decided to end the cold war with America and the West and to embrace some elements of Democracy as practiced in the West and the dividends that come with that heightened awareness which eventually broke up the Soviet Union under the heavy weight of “Perestroika” leading to a major realignment of countries around the world as we speak even though Vladimir Putin and some of his loyalists are still in denial. But sooner or later they would wake up from their slumber to realize they have been wrong all along, and should embark on a face-saving damage control to come back to their senses. They are going to do that when more Russians begin to feel the full impact of the sanctions unleashed on them by America and the West, and when Russians start rebelling against the iron curtain rules and conditions that Donald Reagan once urged Gorbachev to tear down during his famous landmark speech in Berlin. The Nigerian people as a whole including you and I are the most culpable for the tragedies of Corruption, impunity and indiscipline which have held our country to ransom for too long because we tolerated the recklessness and the sheer incompetence of our leaders. Many Nigerians are now openly canvassing the return of the Military in total desperation because a country so much blessed by God by way of good weather and natural resources has been reduced to an effigy of herself by a clueless Government and leadership. I see no visible light at the end of the Nigerian tunnel and “axis of evil.” A lot of our people are suffering in silence. Anikulapo Kuti put it best when he said Nigerians are suffering and smiling at the same time. Our shock absorbers to endure abuses from our own government are limitless. I am amazed. I saw a little bit of that during my short visit to Nigeria. Nigeria is supposed to lead the way for the nascent Democracy in South Africa after so many years in bondage under the Apartheid regime. Nigeria fought tooth and nail and championed the release from prison of Africa’s greatest statesman, the legendary Madiba Nelson Mandela who led South Africa for 6 glorious years as the authentic transformational President of South Africa because of what he did as a pioneer President. Today, South Africa leads Nigeria and the rest of Africa in every index of development. Even though President Thabo Mbeki and President Suma who took over from Mandela could never match the track record of Mandela, but they inherited from Mandela certain attributes of selflessness and transformation they could only ignore to their own peril. The problems faced by Mandela on assumption of office were far more complex than those faced by Nigerian leaders at Independence. Why? Because Mandela and the South African leadership had to collaborate with their long-time oppressors and enemies in the Apartheid regime to forge ahead and to build a stable South Africa for all South Africans, black and white including Indians. That meant taking what was good in South Africa and building on them while creating a multi ethnic society and creating an environment that is acceptable and workable both for the enslaved and the slave masters in a synergy or symbiosis hard to find anywhere around the world. Mandela was a magician in that sense if you get what I am getting at, because he had to chart a path for South Africa never before traveled by any world leader. He became the quintessential transformational leader that our own President Goodluck Jonathan could only dream of. President Jonathan is asking Nigerians to re-elect him in 2015 based on his phony transformation agenda which is nothing compared to the Mandela transformation. Mandela gave 27 years of his prime to fighting for freedom and before becoming President. Goodluck Jonathan was picked from the gutters or nowhere by Obasanjo to be running mate and Deputy Governor to a disgraced and corrupt Alimiyeseigha of Bayelsa State. By just being lucky and being at the right place at the right time, he became Governor of Bayelsa when Alimiyeseigha ran afoul of the Law in Britain and became a fugitive offender from that country dressed up as a woman trying to escape justice. Rather than letting the man face justice back home in Nigeria, the next thing we got was a state pardon for his former boss. He, therefore, succeeded in transforming his boss from a jail bird into a free citizen with all his ill-gotten gains returned to him on a platter of gold. I can see Alimiyeseigha running for office as Senator of Vice President some day because blessed are those whose sins are covered up or forgiven. President Jonathan wants Nigerian voters to view his low tolerance level for Corruption as transformation. He actually made the point that stealing is not corruption but a misdemeanor that will disappear over time and Nigerians don’t have to be concerned about stealing because the problem would heal itself. That statement alone is enough to cost him his presidency in a more civilized society. I don’t care how much Reuben Abati fine-tunes that statement for him, the Jonathan dog is not going to hunt for Nigerian voters who place country over and above their own enlightened self- interest. Jonathan lost the presidency the day he made such a Freudian slip he would forever regret. Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter the day he openly admitted that the Soviet Union did not dominate Poland. He never recovered from the devastating effect of that statement and I can predict that Jonathan has committed the same unforgivable gaffe that should come back to haunt him big time as the election gathers momentum. Yes the man built a second Niger Bridge for the benefit of Nigerians and his most loyal supporters in the Southeast which is praiseworthy, but what is the state of the road leading to that bridge from Lagos to Shagamu, from Shagamu to Benin and from Benin to Onitsha and beyond. I traveled on those roads during my short trip to Nigeria. All I can tell all of you reading this is not to believe anything coming out of Jonathan’s mouth. I fully understand why the majority of the Igbos, not all of them, is rooting for him for re-election in 2015. He has done pretty well for the Igbos rehabilitating them and allowing them their own slice from the national cake like no other President before him since the civil war. I have no problems with his taking care of his ardent supporters and assigning to them the most lucrative Ministries of Government like Finance, Health and Petroleum and for sponsoring Deziani Madueke to be President of OPEC. But if the man is a truly transformational President he claims, he would do a few things differently just like Mandela did. The President talked about transforming the Nigerian Railway system by recently awarding the contract to the Chinese. If that was all he could do in 6 years in that office, he has failed as far as I am concerned, and he should step aside for someone who can work at a faster pace. I actually traveled from Oyingbo to Oko Oba area, Agege in one of the trains Jonathan has been talking about. I took a risk doing that because I nearly got trampled upon by the maddening crowd who called themselves passengers. I had to take the train to beat the Lagos traffic. All I could think about was that the Federal Government moved the nation’s capital to Abuja to ease Lagos traffic and to create some level of comfort for people in the newly minted capital where one could easily die of heat wave and where the traffic jam from the city center to Karu or Garki or the road going to Kaduna or Kano or even the one going to Nasarawa could last for hours as drivers, okada riders and caterpillar drivers and truckers struggle to beat each other as they try to claim their right of way because the outlets to Abuja are a far cry from the ones recommended by Justice Akinola Aguda Capital City Commission. I personally spoke to Justice Aguda before his death because we both came from the same town and from the same St Thomas’s Church in Akure. One of the man’s greatest regrets in life was the failure of the Federal Government to follow the master plan his Commission had recommended. Abuja was developed with an Hausa mentality which says “Don’t worry, be happy on the presumption of “Allah ikemu” that Allah would do the rest” With that kind of mindset, the average northerners, not all of them, I concede, do not believe in the British adage “that those who fail to plan, plan to fail” Most Nigerians, President Jonathan included are of that mindset which is really a tragedy for the country. Power outages remain a huge problem in Nigeria anywhere you go. If Jonathan is truly
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 06:41:19 +0000