Monday Lines What is wrong with Jonathan? There is so much division and anger in the land.I received a phone call last Monday from a man who railed, cursed and yelled at me for joining what he called ‘press boys’ specially primed by Bola Tinubu to attack Ijaw interest. By Ijaw interest he meant the Jonathan presidency - and he was not kidding. I wanted to know who he was but he would not listen. He proceeded to remind me that all the money “the Yoruba people” make from Nigeria is actually Ijaw money. He refused to listen to whatever I wanted to say. I kept quiet and listened to the voice of his flood of expletives. When he thought he had had enough of me, he ended the call. I called him back. Again, he went on a long, windy excursion into how the press had been very unfair to Jonathan and Ijaw land. How the “Yoruba press” always thought they were the wisest in Nigeria. He wondered why, in particular, the press wrote “from a distance” about “what is happening” in Ijawland and in particular, in Rivers State. Alright! Is Rivers State the problem? I asked him and he answered yes. So, what is Tinubu’s interest in Rivers?, again I asked him, and he told me the former governor of Lagos State was using “his press boys” just to “scatter “ the South South for Jonathan ahead of the 2015 elections. And those Tinubu boys are supposed to include me?, I asked. “Of course,” he thundered and I laughed. It was my guest’s turn to relax and laugh when I reminded him that his Jonathan and Tinubu were friends and had done so many things together in the past and could even do more as the nation waits in bated breath for the next round of elections. He was happy to hear that and then advised against any further discourse on the Rivers crisis that would not see Rotimi Amaechi as the bad boy of the Niger Delta. “ In fact, he is an Ibo in Ijawland, his community borders Owerri,” my new friend tutored me on the geography of Amaechi’s roots. Tuesday morning, he woke me up again. “My good friend, Lasisi,” he said in a rather relaxed tone. “Good morning,” he said as he proceeded to lecture me on the type of stories the media were supposed to be publishing. He mentioned a northern governor and wondered why the press did not know that he has a university in Ghana where he promised the authorities there that 80 per cent of the workforce in his school would come from Ghana, while he would provide the balance. He added two other northern governors to his list of corrupt public officials outside the Niger Delta who should be pursued by the “Yoruba media.” “That is the kind of story you should be writing, not Jonathan did this, Jonathan did that...” My friend concluded. I thanked him and quietly asked who he was. “ I am Chief Alabo,” he said. The two-day interaction got me seriously thinking about the mindset of a people with the divine grace of having one of their own as the president of Nigeria. It also raised posers about whether the nation has been this divided since the end of the civil war. It is so sad to think that the same Jonathan who had a pan-Nigeria endorsement in 2010 and 2011 is the same person his Ijaw kinsmen are struggling to force the rest of the country to support barely two years after his first election. What could have happened? Could the problem be because the Jonathan presidency has been truly ineffectual in putting actions into the pledges the man made to the people when he sought their mandate two years ago? His supporters would readily answer this question by pointing at physical developments across the country. And you would look at the list and see that they are truly on ground. The man too should be worried why almost everyone outside his Ijaw clan is decidedly against whatever he stands for. He should ask questions from people outside his circle of friends and acolytes. He should find out why people who put their everything into his ascendancy are now openly opposed to his second term or are at best evasive or reluctant about it. He should find out why the press that took him as the symbol against northern hegemony are now almost pro-north. He should ask questions about whatever it is that is polarising even his Niger Delta region. Has he heard about what a non-Ijaw South-South journalist called Ijawnisation of the Niger Delta struggle? What does it mean? He needs to find out and also ask Olusegun Obasanjo how he managed to keep his South West base intact for his second term ambition in 2003. There is so much division (Northern presidency, Igbo presidency, Ijaw presidency) in the land and Jonathan should be worried except he prays to be the last president of Nigeria. The battle cries are too loud not to be audible. North vs South South vs South East. The South West appears to be the last tendon holding the system. So, what is the problem? Is Jonathan the problem? Jonathan’s Ijaw kinsmen need to help him by doing some self examination. They need to know that no part of Nigeria is completely useless and no part is entirely indispensable. They should not assume that they are the Niger Delta when in fact, they happen to be just a privileged group in the region. Like the Middle East, they need to appreciate the reality of the volatility of the area and what a Niger Delta without Nigeria would look like in peace terms... Above all, (and this is very important), they should know that their son would be re-elected (if he deserves it) by Nigerians, not by just Ijaws or by the amount of expletives they hurl at his perceived opponents. Written by Lasisi Olagunju
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:24:04 +0000
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