AN UNEASY CHOICE I have been struggling between reaffirming my sentiments for Jonathan, sentiments which take its root from my religious and regional biases and my personal commitment to what I perceive within me to be a true and honest appraisal of the presidency of my incongruous kinsman. Indeed, monkey nor fine, but him mama like am. Him mama nko nor fine na! This is the moral impasses I have had to deal with in the past three months as I contemplate the 2015 elections. Those who know me before now, know that I am particularly and unapologetically pro Jonathan for the same sentiments aforementioned. But as I objectively look at his performance card for the past five years over and again, I am compelled by my personal values and commitment to development to dispassionately re-evaluate my position. The lack of performance or poor performance by Mr. President is obvious and equally disturbing to say the least. It is completely unethical if not hypocritical to continue to excuse him. The President is under-performing and this is largely traceable to his personality and leadership style. Every leader bring his own values and temperament to bear on the interpretation of his office in the context of the job description. Jonan nor get action! I must note that there is nothing wrong as it were with the personality of the President. But unfortunately, his tenure is more or less the tragedy of having a compulsive peacemaker at the helms of affairs in a nation at war. As a nation, Nigeria is at war and at war on different fronts. We have the war against corruption on one hand and its colossal national effect on the economy and the war against terror on the other hand and its impact on the psychology of the Nigerian public. At first I thought his calm and collective demeanour in the face of the several national issues of immense concern was calculated and strategic. But with the passing of time, I have come to realize that it is rather a weakness. While the President no doubt have his good sides, Nigeria at this point, cannot afford the luxury of a peace maker and a complacent leadership that turns the other cheek to corruption and bad practices across the different sectors of government. And more importantly, we don’t need a slothful government that cannot provide security and effectively contain a rag tag army of disillusioned jihadists and amajerees running wild in sambesa forest. Considering the defect of President Jonathan, the other option in the 2015 Presidential election would rather be Buhari. But don’t forget he is the impatient, idealistic and ex-military junta who sacked a fledging and budding democracy on the pretext of trying to clean up corruption, only to replace one evil with another. While his character is diagonally opposed to that of the soft spoken, shoeless and timid Jonathan, his chauvinist personality and leadership style is equally undesirable. Between 1983 and 1985, Buhari ruled Nigeria with a sledge iron fists that made his administration notorious for human right abuses, extra judicial killings and the infamous decree No 2 that hushed the voice of opposition during his administration. But I must admit however that he succeeded in knocking some decorum and discipline into the coconut heads of Nigerians. Environmental sanitation, long queues, orderliness in public places enforced by the WAI brigade signaled a shifting socio-culture. But unfortunately, the remarkable gains were soon swallowed up by the brutality and insanity of absolute power. He may have had good intentions, but the outcome of his de facto regime is not any better than the fatalism of a prescription that cures by killing both the disease and the patient. Let us assume that was then. Over thirty years after, the reformed junta is back humbly seeking an opportunity to finish his fight with corruption. But if he is truly serious, he should fight corruption in his party APC. He wants to fight corruption but yet he is in an alliance with Bola Tinubu, the larger than life leviathan of the Oduduwa myth, who swallows the wealth of Lagos through self-awarded contracts and propagates an exclusive elitist development strategy that undermines the existence of the poor in Agage. I think he should start the war against corruption from his party, by asking APC chieftains to declare the source of the wealth they used in funding his previous elections. A fish in the river cannot deny the water. Buhari is a fish in river corruption that flows from kano to lagos and from Borno to Port Harcourt. Or better still, maybe he is an Amphibian. He lives on both land and water. From what I see, Buhari just like the idea of being in command. That explains why himself and his boys unceremoniously removed a democratically elected government in 1983 on the flimsy excuse of corruption. More, that is why he has refused to let go after been told repeatedly by Nigerians in the polls that they don’t want him. Does he love Nigeria so much or he loves power? Why does he want to come back to govern a country he has promised to make ungovernable if he does not win? He just love power. When he lost in the last elections, thousands of Nigerians had to compensate him with their lives. Well this time around, only God knows what will happen if loses again to a bloody civilian and seemingly weak one whose only virtue is his name – Goodluck. Well, I will definitely not be in Abuja when this drama plays out. My position, I am not going to vote. Firstly, like I said before, because I will not be in Abuja and secondly, because I just cannot take responsibility for any of the characters, especially my kinsman towards whom I seems biased. If a seer tells you that Jonathan will win, please let him tell you what will happen after so that I will know how to plan my travel. On a serious note, if you ask my opinion, I think Goodluck should be the President and Buhari the VP.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:17:12 +0000
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