NIGERIA. I took time to watch the grand finale and I couldn’t help but wonder what jazz acolytes deploy on leaders that make them fall mugun for stunts by such men and women. Nollywood could not have scripted a better tragi- comedy. Speaker after speaker came out to describe President Goodluck Jonathan in superlatives and to dress him in borrowed robes in many instances. Not that the President did not merit some adulation but these Griots went overboard. I’m sure Mr President must have cringed at some point if he ever watched the live broadcast. I watched the body language of our Vice President, a cerebral and decent gentleman by all accounts, who appeared stupefied by the level of crass hypocrisy being re- enacted in the over-Molested city of Abuja. My conclusion was that many of these actors were abroad the day Shame visited Nigeria. If you must lie, you can still do so with some class. The one that took the mother of all cakes for me was that of a gentleman who claimed to have travelled all the way from GHANA with a Goodwill message from four million Nigerians living in the old Gold Coast. This brother of ours took the use of hyperbole to a new level I never encountered as a student of Literature. What I found amazing was the ease with which the Nigerian- Ghanaian dropped his bombshell and still managed to keep a straight poker-face. I didn’t know whether to laugh at the message or cry for the messenger. As at 2013, the population of Ghana stood at 25.9 million. So how can Nigerians occupy about one-sixth of their national population? Anyway, they sold these things to our President either directly or by proxy and I won’t be too surprised if he and his supporters paid a premium for it. My guess is that PDP is nursing a secret fear of APC despite its public grandstanding. This is the only explanation and justification for jumping the INEC gun by campaigning for President Jonathan’s re-election through the backdoor. But the President, if I may sincerely advise should not waste so much time and resources on trying to out-do the APC. I expect him to concentrate on how to get money for salaries, strengthen the economy; fix as much infrastructure as possible; reverse the debilitating insecurity and leave the rest to God. The more he opens the vaults to jokers to walk in and pick the little that is left of our national treasure, the more he would irritate the people and incur their wrath. The President should be Presidential in appearance and composure. He should never act in any desperate manner. For now he is the champion and cannot afford to betray any sense of fear. What I see is a jittery party doing everything to appear serious. Despite the obvious reinvigoration of the APC through the alliance, there are still many bridges to cross. The President should begin to worry the day General Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Rochas Okorocha, Bukola Saraki, Babatunde Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rotimi Amaechi, and others all stand together to unite behind a candidate without bitter acrimony. For now, APC is still finding it hard to quickly reach a much needed consensus and get ready for elections in the next three to four months. The fate of APC is like that of ants fighting over sugar. SOURCE: THISDAY NEWSPAPER. FROM A PIECE TITLED; PRESIDENT JONATHAN AND A LEAP OF FAITH BY DELE MOMODU.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 07:45:29 +0000