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Tag: Goodluck

  • Obasanjo, Falae and why Buhari is ‘Goodluck’

    Obasanjo, Falae and why Buhari is ‘Goodluck’

    To many Nigerians, the Fourth Republic came into being with ease. But, seasoned journalist Dare Babarinsa says the democracy that has endured for 16 unbroken years could have been a stillborn if not for the intervention and sacrifice of some stakeholders. He traces the journey and says the concession of defeat by a sitting President to an opposition challenger has saved the country its worst nightmare.

    TWENTY-FOUR months ago, it may have appeared far-fetched to think of Nigeria’s immediate future without the role of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in it. He was the leader of Africa’s most powerful and richest country.  He was the Commander-in-Chief of the continent’s largest armed forces.  He was propelled to power by the largest and most formidable political party in Nigeria’s history which was destined to rule in the first instance for “60 unbroken years.”  He had in his grasp, the powers of the Nigerian Presidency with its near omnipotence and all-pervading reach.  Then he started believing in his own invincibility and inviolability, ensnared by the sirens of sychophants and shackled by his own idiosyncratic preoccupations.  He was going full-steam in his “unsinkable Titanic” and did not see the tip of the iceberg ahead. Now, he is home after almost six years in the sanctum of power, to embrace the creeping sunset. ‘Goodluck’ to him!

    Yes, Jonathan did a lot to earn himself the red card from the electorate, though he was a beneficiary of a multi-ethnic rainbow coalition in 2011.  He lost his command, almost lost his party and led it to its first defeat in 16 years of Nigeria’s unbroken democracy.  Future historians may unravel what happened to a man brought to power by uncommon ‘Goodluck’ and with so much roaring support, who finally ended his tour of duty on a note of sorry whisper.

     

    Handover ritual

     

    Whatever they may unravel however, they would not but commend him for his dignified carriage which lends solemn majesty to the ritual of handover to President Muhammadu Buhari, his old opponent and ultimate Nemesis.

    Transition has always been a problem for Nigeria, especially from one elite group to another.  Before Gen Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) handed over power to elected President Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979, all Nigerian heads of government since independence have died in office with the notable exception of Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), who was toppled in a military coup on July 29, 1975. Before then, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, the country’s first and only Prime Minister had been killed on duty on January 15, 1966.  His successor, Maj-Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, the first military Head of Government, was also killed on duty on July 29, 1966 and he was succeeded by Gen. Gowon, who ruled for nine eventful years.  Gen. Gowon’s successor, Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammed, was also killed on duty on February 13, 1976.

    After Gen. Obasanjo broke the jinx, two other Nigerian rulers have died in office.  Gen. Sani Abacha’s iron rule was brought to an abrupt end when he died suddenly in June 1998 paving the way for Gen AbdulsalamiAbubakar (now rtd).  The death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, after a lingering period of illness, ushered in the era of former President Jonathan. Now, Dr. Jonathan has taught us how to have an almost seamless transition with a sitting President conceding victory to his opponent and then attending to the rigour and drama of the inauguration rituals.

     

    History beckons

     

    Dr. Jonathan was the man who saved Nigeria from fulfilling its worst nightmare, especially, considering the hate-campaign that characterised the presidential campaign and the saber-rattling from his so-called militant supporters. One is happy that President Buhari gave him due recognition during his inauguration address, commending him for his statesmanship and grace.

    One man who played a similar role was Chief Olu Falae, the presidential candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) and the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), joint alliance that tackled the behemoth Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1979.  Falae’s opponent was the redoubtable Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a Civil War veteran and the country’s most profound political strategist.  The 1999 presidential election was fraught with irregularities, but in the end, Chief Obasanjo was declared the winner by the electoral commission.

    Chief Falae and his supporters were seriously disappointed.  Most members of Idile Odua, the pan-Yoruba group to which I belonged, were supporters of Falae, who was the official candidate of Afenifere, the mainstream Yoruba political and cultural organisation under the leadership of the late Senator Abraham Adesanya.  After Obasanjo was declared the winner, Falae met with his close aides and supporters at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.  Our friend and member of Idile, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, (the immediate past Minister of State for Works under Dr. Jonathan) was with them at the Abuja meeting.

    While Falae was billed to address a press conference in Abuja, one of our most prominent leaders, Bayo Adenekan, the deputy leader of Idile and then the managing director of Capital Oil Plc., called me on the phone (there were landed phones in those ancient, pre-Obasanjo days!), saying there was fire on the mountain! I was already dressed up to go to work and the Adenekan’s phone call changed my itinerary for the day. He said Otunba Solanke Onasanya (now late), one of the most prominent Afenifere leaders, had called him, asking for our intervention in preventing a crisis that may be ignited by the pending press conference of Chief Falae.  Sure enough, the late Otunba Onasanya called me and in an agitated voice, requested me to talk to Chief Falae immediately.  “He must not go ahead with that press conference unless he is willing to amend the content of his statement,” Baba Onasanya said flatly.

    Onasanya said he was privy to the draft statement to be read by Falae where he would call for the cancellation of the result of the presidential election.  He said those like Falae (he was also detained by the Abacha dictatorship), who had been at the vanguard for the restoration of democracy should not be calling for the cancellation of the presidential result.  “The worst civilian regime is better than the best military government,” Onasanya said. “Cancellation means annulment.  We know what our people suffered, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, widely believed to have been  won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola.”

    I promised Baba Onasanya that I will carry out the assignment. Chief Falae was our candidate and he emerged according to our prescription.  Our colleagues wanted the presidential candidate of the AD to be nominated by the caucus of the leadership of Afenifere and not by open primary.  We had wanted the same for the governors, but the late Senator Adesanya said he had to agree to hold open primaries because of pressures on him from some of the young Turks within the movement.  This almost led to the emergence of those we called “Abacha politicians” (those who served in the military government or participated in the politics of Abacha’s five political parties) as governorship candidates of the AD, especially in Lagos and Ondo State.  Rearguard action restored our favoured candidates, but the damage was extensive.  In Lagos, Senator Bola Tinubu emerged and in Ondo State, Chief Adebayo Adefarati emerged, shutting the door to the formidable Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, one of the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin’s most trusted lieutenants. Hence, the close caucus primary that led to the emergence of Falae, a phenomenon that, ironically also, divided the movement for supporters of the late Chief Bola Ige, the first elected governor of the old Oyo State, who lost the contest, believed he was robbed.

    Therefore, Chief Falae went to war with a divided army, but we were not prepared for defeat.  Our candidate was a first-class bureaucrat, who had ran a presidential campaign before and had a nationwide structure and acceptance.  But he had lost to the ‘old soldier’ muscle of Chief Obasanjo, whose campaign war-chest was incomparable.

     

    Between Falae and Obasanjo

     

    When the result was announced, we believed Obasanjo had won unfairly.  What with the critical report of the international observer teams and the secret reports of the security agencies? How can Obasanjo and the PDP defeat the combine forces of the AD/APP, which produced the vice-presidential candidate of the alliance, Alhaji Umarru Shinkafi, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO), now State Security Service (SSS), who were entrenched in the politics of the old north? We wanted war.  Then the call from Baba Onasanya, he said if Chief Falae calls for annulment, then he would be playing into the hands of a clique within the ruling military junta which was not happy with the transition programme.  He said if Falae rejects the result outright, then that clique may have an upper hand over the group that supports Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, who wanted the transition to go on.

    I called Adeyeye at the Sheraton and briefed him on the Onasanya assignment.  “We are calling for cancellation because we have been robbed,” said Adeyeye.  “There is nothing wrong with starting again.”

    Yes, we may start again, but we don’t know how long the journey would take and the cost in lives and property.  The journey that started after the annulment of the late Abiola’s victory in 1993 had been long and costly.  We cast our lot with Falae because he shares our belief that Nigeria needs constitutional reforms.  We want a federation that would allow the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria living in Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo State to have one regional government instead of the present six-state government.  We believe that “there is only one Yoruba Nation, it has a common interest and one inescapable destiny.” We are convinced that such a regional government would have the capacity to promote the political, cultural and economic interests of our people and this would impact positively on the fortunes of Nigeria.  It would have the capacity to embark on life-changing programmes like the construction of modern rail lines, airports, power projects and create a template for relating to other Yoruba people in Nigeria, especially in Kogi, Kwara, Edo and Delta and also outside Nigeria in Benin, Togo and the American and Caribbean Diaspora.  We believe this could be achieved politically if we have a president who shared our passion for constitutional reforms.  Falae was ours, but the electorate preferred the old soldier, Chief Obasanjo.  Despite the loss, we were not sure we want to go back to the starting block.

    Adeyeye said the press conference would hold in the next 20 minutes.  I told him about our fears of another protracted political crisis.  Soon, he was able to get Chief Falae to the phone. It was a long conversation lasting more than 15 minutes.  In the end, Falae addressed the press conference, about two hours behind schedule.  He did not call for the cancellation of the result.  Instead, as we counselled, he rejected the result and promised that he would challenge it at the tribunal.  He did.

    The following Monday when the ruling junta met at the Aso Rock Villa, the clique within the junta called for the cancellation of the result, based on the reports of the security agencies and some of the international observers, but Gen. Abdulsalami was able to wave them aside.

    “You cannot weep more than the bereaved,” he was quoted as saying. “Chief Olu Falae, the man directly involved, has said he would challenge the result at the tribunal.  Let the tribunal do its duty.”

    But that was not to be the end of the matter.  Few weeks later, the tribunal was siting in Abuja.  One of the witnesses from the government side said he was not aware that Chief Obasanjo had been pardoned by the military government.  He said there was no instrument of pardon which could only have been signed by the Head of the Junta, Gen Abubakar. This was a critical development.  A friend of ours close to the tribunal said without the instrument, then Obasanjo would be declared ineligible to contest and therefore, the tribunal would have no choice than to cancel the result of the presidential election. He said it was not certain that it would declare Chief Falae elected by default.

     

    Protecting democratic

    institutions

     

    There were only two options.  We should get the instrument of pardon and present same to the tribunal.  Or, we could get Chief Falae to withdraw his petition and save the entire process. It was late afternoon when we got this information.  We decided to act on it immediately.Two of my colleagues Bayo Adenekan and Prince Adedokun Abolarin, now our royal father, the Orangun of Oke-Ila, Osun State, were dispatched to see the late Senator Adesanya in Ijebu-Igbo, and discuss the options with him. The late Senator Adesanya immediately invited them to a meeting of the caucus at the palace of Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland.

    The meeting became an all-night one.  Present along with Adesanya were many of the leaders of Afenifere including Baba Onasanya, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.  Kabiyesi Awujale and some of his chiefs were also present.  Senator Adesanya said the best thing to do was to inform Obasanjo and Falae immediately about the new development.  A few phone calls confirmed that Obasanjo was somewhere abroad in South America.  Chief Falae was in London as a guest of the international businessman, Chief Harry Akande.

    In the end, it was decided that the best option was to prevail on Chief Falae to withdraw his petition and save the embrayonic democracy.  A call was put through to Chief Falae and his host.  Chief Falae said he was in the dark about this development and that only his lawyer could brief him properly.  His lawyer was in Nigeria and Falae believed he was competent to handle any development.  The lawyer was called in the middle of the night. He listened patiently to Baba Adesanya and then said he can only take instructions from his client, Chief Falae.  Another call was put through to Falae who said he cannot give instructions on the phone without a proper discussion with his lawyer. Senator Adesanya requested that Chief Falae should return immediately.  Chief Akande then promised to bring Falae home in his private jet.

    In the end, events took an unexpected turn.  The top official who claimed he could not find the instrument of pardon later changed his testimony and tendered the instrument to the tribunal during a subsequent sitting.  What was clear was that Chief Falae, despite his being the aggrieved party, was ready to make all necessary sacrifice to save the system and protect the institutions of democracy.  Those institutions have survived in various forms since that eventful night at the Awujale Palace.  Since then, Adesanya, Onasanya, Bola Ige, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Solomon Lar and many of the great veterans of the anti-Abacha struggle that gave our great country the current democratic dispensation, have since passed to the great beyond.  Their sacrifices made our freedom possible.

     

    Conceding defeat

    as antidote to   nightmare

     

    Like Falae did in 1999, we have seen again how the statesmanship of Goodluck Jonathan mayhave prevented the fulfillment of our worst nightmare.  Africa’s greatest nation has passed an historic test.  It is now the good fortune of President Buhari to ensure competent men and women to man national institutions to ensure the growth and prosperity of our great country.  We are on the threshold when new demands would be made, for there are outstanding issues, especially constitutional issues that have not been addressed since 1999, and only competent persons could handle them.

    Nigeria is lucky to have Buhari as President.  His passion and patriotism are necessary ingredients to take necessary action to make Nigeria continue on an irreversible journey to stability and progress.  He was military ruler when Nigeria had only 19 states and 20 governments.  Now we have 36 states and 37 governments including that of the FCT and the Federal Government.  There is a need to visit the demand for constitutional reforms so that those zones that want their own regions can have them.  If unity is good for Nigeria, it cannot be bad for the regions.

    We are lucky too that Jonathan is back in Otuoke in good health if not in high spirit.  God is good to Nigeria and our leaders are no longer going home in body bags. Jonathan has now joined the most exclusive Boys Club in Nigeria, the club of retired Heads of Government. He, President Shagari and Chief Ernest Shonekan are the only civilians there.  The others: Gowon, Obasanjo, Babangida and Abubakar are old soldiers. A job is also waiting for him as the next chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT). I hope now he will find time to reply most of his letters and write new ones.  I am sure if the new tenant of Aso Rock does not reply his letters, he will not be surprised, and find the good humour to take it in his stride.

    Babarinsa, journalist, media entrepreneur and author, is the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Gaskia Media Limited.

     

  • From Goodluck to Goodwill

    From Goodluck to Goodwill

    My great joy is that darkness did not fall on the country on May 29. A new democracy illumined the entrails of Eagle Square.

    Jonathan, with repressed, if dignified, reluctance passed the torch to the dangling septuagenarian general who should now rise to the role of avatar.

    The day began with the glory of the soldier. From my seat, I thrilled to the elegant discipline of the parade, the colours, the starchy beauty of the uniforms, the stentorian authority of the commanding officers, the blend of the martial with the cultural. The bright and sultry morning rippled with familiar church and folk songs drummed out by the military bands to the accompaniment of saxophones and cymbals. With gusto the audience watched the formations. The lines were now straight, now fluid, a jigsaw puzzle broken and restored. The soldier’s feet rose, zipped forward, stamped down, up again in rhythm. The shoulders turned and eyes glowed in tandem with erect necks. It was the military at the service of the civil order.

    The irony was not lost that in this transition, a man was morphing from a general to president. In this ritual, the army was playing the role of this glorious surrender. Perhaps it was the last rite of Buhari officially ceding the army in him to a democrat. He swiveled from GMB to PMB – President Muhammadu Buhari.

    There was a torch of vanity to some guests. Nigerians who came wanted to be seen and heard. They appeared and spoke with their sartorial displays, especially the ex-this and ex-that. They wanted cameras to click. Others saw it as opportunity to rise out of the shadows, to commingle with perceived potential powers brokers of the new dispensation. They twirled their business cards, fawned before the new big men. Some told the big men stories about their past meetings or something they did together. Some others just worked the memories of the big men to remember them. “I was that guy or that woman, do you recall?” they would ask, simpering. The big man would feign a kindled memory. Yes, he remembered and asked after the family, and both moved on.

    Some just wanted to be seen so they could be drafted into a project or job. Cell phones were at the ready to take pictures with the big men, just to force some sort of intimacy even if the big men only obliged out of courtesy. I observed this more at the two banquets, the inaugural one with Jonathan attending, and the gala, which was an APC gig.

    Once Jonathan and Buhari arrived, the formal ceremony began. The ushering in of GEJ was more dramatic than Buhari’s, and that’s understandable. It was the last grand act of the departing President. Guards accompanied his SUV on both sides as it glided slowly to the front of the state box. The man alighted and walked in with his usual casual gait and smile into the box and his seat, his last front roll in Nigerian history.

    When Vice President-elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) strode to the platform for swearing-in, the audience realised that something epochal was happening. Once he, and his elegant wife, had read out their oaths of office, a sigh of history filled the commodious square.

    Then we saw the rites that followed after PMB was sworn in, and it dawned we now had a new president. An era had passed. Jonathan stood with respect to the majesty of a system that ushered him in just four years earlier after he had eased into the position when Yar’Adua died.

    He seemed lonely from where I stood near the platform. He was almost unaccompanied in his last day in office. Not his wife, not many of his presumed great friends were present.

    More telling was when he walked out of the platform through the steps to his vehicle. He never returned to the state box to say a final goodbye. As he descended the steps, he met the tall ex-governor Timipre Sylva, shot out his hand and shook hands with the man he ousted with impunity from the Bayelsa throne and hounded with the EFCC.

    “Sylva,” he said with a smile. Sylva smiled back and greeted. It was curt and telling. I wondered what coursed through the ex-president’s mind. Was it disguised defiance or apology?

    What was more curious was when his SUV left. The crowd around the car waved with deep feeling, but it seemed a genuine pity glazed their eyes as they saw him go. He waved back through the tinted window.

    The stage turned to Buhari, who mounted a vehicle and rode around the square to inspect guards and wave to the audience. The army again regaled us with their poetry of the parades, a thing that made me wonder if it was this same army that chafed at the predations of Boko Haram. I also thought the army was so beautiful it is a pity they have to shed blood. I loved the 21 gun salutes and the chaotic flutter that greeted the release of birds at the inauguration.

    The highlight, however, was Buhari’s maiden speech. It was elegantly couched speech with the right tone. The crowd cheered to the everybody and nobody phrase. But I still wonder if it meant he did not belong to APC or those on whose back he rode to power. It will be clear in coming months. For his and our sake, I hope he did not mean he would not have primary constituency of consulting. No great leader in history shunned the platform on which he rose. His speech reflected a Unitarian impulse when he espoused the independence of local government.  A throwback to military era? He did not seem to be in sync with the idea of fiscal federalism by promising to interfere in erring states. Did he mean it in an authoritarian way or as moral leadership? I expect that he could use his bully pulpit to initiate a constitutional federalism that is at odds with today’s malformed structure.

    Some expected a hammer and anvil temper, but I disagree. His pitch dropped halfway through, indicating tiredness. His handlers must learn to manage the exertions of a man of his age. His speech might have been shorter given the ritual rigours of the day in relentless sun. For me the speech was less moving than the one he gave at the gala later that night where he spoke from the heart.

    On the gala, what was Tunde Ayeni of the N5 billion campaign donation for GEJ doing there? Has APC decided to associate with such characters? Not good. The beautiful Joke Silva, who was compere, either naively or out of sublime mischief, acknowledged his presence. It was a dark spot in a fine day. I expect that he – with the Vice president – will publish the declared assets as promised during the campaign. He owes that to Nigerians as a matter of honour. With Boko Haram pounding Borno and Yobe, it is surprising he has not even announced his chief security adviser, as well as key staff. As he has noted, the job at hand is urgent. It is still early days though, but Buhari must dispel fears of the dillydally.

    Well, “the revels now are ended,” noted Shakespeare in The Tempest, and Jonathan is no longer in “cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces…solemn temples…” His time, like an “insubstantial pageant,” has faded into thin air. The substance now belongs to Buhari. It will work not with good luck but goodwill with hard work.

    Ambo and the rainbow

    For all its grandeur, Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s inaugural speech struck a tone of harmony. After all the truculent cacophonies of the campaign season that saw religion pit itself against religion, and tribe overshadowed tribe in bitter acrimony, it was heartening to hear the new governor note that Lagos is for all. In his voluminous white agbada and sunny face, he promised to erect a big tent. I call it Ambo’s rainbow.

    His opponent had tried to cast him as the candidate of a part against all, and the image of lagoon drenched a sense of coexistence Lagos always knew. In the coming months, we expect to see fruits of this so that the past of doubt will give in to a future of peace and plenty in Lagos, the oasis of Nigeria.

  • Goodluck is not enough

    Goodluck is not enough

    Some 28 days from today, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will be addressed as former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. By then, he would have been president for six years. Two of the six years were inherited from his late principal, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died in office. He went on to win the 2011 elections. His attempt to have a second term and emerge Nigeria’s longest serving leader ended on March 28 when he was crushed by Hurricane Buhari.

    Though he lost, Jonathan has no cause to mourn. God has been kind to him. And for the rest of his life, God deserves nothing from him but praise.

    Some 57 years ago, Jonathan was born in Otuoke, a backwater community,  not far from Yenagoa, now the capital of Bayelsa State. At the time of his birth, Otuoke was rusty. Life was not good and to make matters worse, his parents were not well-heeled. Eking out a living was a Herculean task. Luxury did not exist in the Jonathans’ dictionary. Or, it existed only in their imagination.

    Shoes were prized possessions for Goodluck and his siblings. For years he had no shoes to wear to school and when he eventually had a pair, he cherished the footwear as though they were from an Italian factory.

    Through thick and thin, Goodluck went to school. Lucky him, he had primary, secondary and tertiary education. His immediate environment did not limit him. He did not stop at just first degree. He earned second and third degrees.

    He was contented working with the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) as a director. Then 1999 came and that marked the beginning of a journey he obviously was not aware of. The military exited from power after the death of Gen Sani Abacha, who had wanted to transform to a civilian leader until death liquidated him.  Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who took over, hurried a transition programme.

    In Bayelsa, a state carved out of Rivers State and occupied only by the Ijaw, needed a governor.  A giant by the name of Diepriye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha was the clear favourite to clinch the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket. He needed a running mate and he chose Jonathan.   They won the election and were sworn in as governor and deputy governor.

    Alamieyeseigha was not a quiet governor. He was ubiquitous. He soon became known as governor-general of the Ijaw nation. He was not satisfied being just Bayelsa governor. So, he self-styled himself the governor of all Ijaw in the country.  At the beginning, it appeared there was no stopping him from ruling the state for eight years. Jonathan obviously did not think of becoming governor so early. But Alams, as he later became known, soon ran into trouble with the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo. He was impeached and a reluctant Jonathan became governor.

    He completed Alams’ term and won the PDP ticket to fly its flag after shrugging off challenge from the likes of Timi Alaibe, who was Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). It did not take time before his name came to play again. Luck smiled on him and Obasanjo, who made him governor after ensuring Alams’ impeachment, nominated him as Yar’Adua’s running mate. He became Vice-president without struggling.

    As Vice-President, he was largely anonymous. The first year rolled by and the second was soon here. The thought of becoming the first minority to lead Nigeria never crossed his mind. But again, luck smiled on him. Yar’Adua fell ill. After months of games, he became acting President. It did not take long before Yar’Adua kicked the bucket. And Goodluck became Nigeria’s president. It was a meteoric rise that could have been queried as unrealistic if it had appeared in a work of fiction.

    His ascension to the Presidency proper was to show to Nigerians and that his wife, Patience, loves power and she threw her weight along until Hurricane Buhari stopped her. She insulted everybody possible while trying to secure a second term for her husband. She described the North in unsavoury terms and said Buhari was brain-dead. Many agree that Nigeria has never had it so bad and it appears her husband could not tame her.

    As president, he did not forget his former boss, Alams. He ensured he got a presidential pardon, which clears him of the corruption baggage. He even tried to run for the Senate to prove he was not a free man until he was stopped.

    One thing must be pointed out and it is the fact that no Nigerian has had the sort of luck Goodluck has had. Though I am reluctant to praise him for doing the right thing by conceding defeat, this feat has also made him some hero and it is bound to occupy a major slot in his resume. The international community will most likely also give him some respect for not playing Gbagbo.

    My final take: I am not sure of what future awaits him. But his experience in the ‘cage’ in the last 16 years was the sort he never dreamt of. If he compares the last 16 years with the years of beginning in Otuoke, praise and worship songs should eternally come out of his mouth. If he chooses to stay in Otuoke, Port Harcourt or Abuja, it matters not. What matters is that he should find a way to be closer to God and worship him with all of his heart. He should truly accept Christ as his lord and saviour and not worship God and Mammon.

    If anyone still wonders what is in a name, then the Goodluck story exemplifies it. It, however, also shows that good luck is not always enough. There is a limit it can take you. It has taken Jonathan to heights he never expected. Now, is the time to live for God and humanity. Perhaps a GEJ Foundation dedicated to positively affecting lives in tangible ways won’t be a bad idea.

    Mr. President, I wish you good luck.

  • Goodluck and squandered goodwill

    SIR: President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), according to Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the Ondo State Governor, is the most abused and the most reviled President in Nigeria’s political history. This is true! Never before has a sitting president in Nigeria become so unpopular. When the late President Umaru Yar’Adua became incapacitated and could not discharge the responsibilities of the office of the President, majority of Nigerians rallied support for the President against a cabal. That support came from the North, East, South and West. That support came from Christians and Moslems. That support put pressure on the Senate and House of Representatives to come up with the Doctrine of Necessity that made him to become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Two years after, President Jonathan rode on that tremendous goodwill to get himself elected. The President must engage in sober reflections on how in six years he squandered the goodwill that made him president and got him elected in 2011. This is a lesson to leaders at all levels. Leaders must not take the people for granted. No matter how long their tenure appears to be, the day of reckoning is just around the corner.

    What is very worrisome is the descent to actions that are fracturing the nation along tribal and religious lines. The presidential election is not about religion, neither is it about tribe. It is about issues -good governance, corruption, the economy, infrastructural development and security.

    It is about Nigeria taking a dignified place in the comity of nations. Visits to Christian religious leaders and peddling of lies are signs of desperation that may divide the nation along religious lines. This is the time for religious leaders to comport themselves. The president has had his chance and blew it! The misdeeds of six years cannot be corrected overnight. Majority of Nigerians have made up their minds. However, he still has a chance to rise up to the position of a statesman by his conduct and utterances. The choice is GEJ’s.

     

    • Victor O. Adetimirin

    University of Ibadan, Ibadan

     

  • Goodluck in Maiduguri

    IT was meant to be cheery news. President Goodluck Jonathan, after months of dithering, chose to visit the troops at war-torn Maiduguri, intending thus to boost the morale of the troops. For months, he has been pilloried for refusing to instill confidence in the people. It was seen as rejection by many and the neither the President nor his men had any good explanation for his inaction. If the Commander-in-Chief could stay out of the state for fear of what could befall him as a result, it was reasoned, no one could feel safe.

    However, what logic could not achieve, politics eventually did last week. The President spoke, giving the impression that the country has what it takes to defeat the insurgents. He assured the wounded men that they would not be abandoned and told the public that the war would soon the over.

    But, really? It does not lie in only excellence of speech. What more has been done? How institutionalized have the welfare schemes been? The state has a duty to demonstrate that the life of any fighting man means a lot. The wounded must be promptly taken care of, and the living deserves every encouragement they could get. The commanders must be taught to be sensitive to the feelings of their men and officers. The condition that led to mutiny and firing shots at a commander last year must be avoided at war time.

    The President has a duty to ensure that weapons are not only budgeted for, but actually procured. It is sickening that plane loads of foreign currency are sent to South Africa ostensibly to buy arms, get seized and then got the country embarrassed before it was repatriated. A Commanded-in-chief who cannot get arms procured legitimately has no business sitting in the saddle.

    The President, Defence Minister, service chiefs and other high-ranking officers have a duty to routinely comfort those who fell in battle and give succor to their families. So far, this has not been so.

    In the same way that President Jonathan visited Maiduguri, he ought to create time to visit Yobe and Adamawa, as well as Gombe and Bauchi. Those in Displaced Persons camps deserve more attention and the multinational force put together must be made to work.

    It is a pity that politicking has taken the centre-stage. I suspect that President Jonathan agreed to visit the war zone just to make a political point. But, as recorded in the Bible, whatever the motive for preaching Christ, all that matters is that the gospel is spread. It is better late than never.

    The President in Lagos

    I could not believe the transformation. It was not the meek Jonathan who mounted the rostrum as he took the campaign for another term to Lagos. He was visibly angry. At nothing. He blamed and abused the opposition. He probably thought that being President grants him immunity against criticism.

    I find it curious that the President thought his administration had achieved so much, including in the power and transport sectors. Really? The point has been made so many times on this page that statistics mean nothing except they reflect in improved quality of living. I challenge the President, who confessed in 2011 that he started life not having the means to buy shoes, to ask his men to take him through the slums of all the major cities. How come the President who does not think stealing and corruption are related is just promising to seal up the leakages in the treasury? What formula does he intend to adopt? If in six years he failed to make any meaningful effort to tame the monster, why should he be trusted with another four years of toying with the lives of the people? Does our President know what to do to improve on security? It is surprising that President Jonathan now blames the Independence Day Abuja bombing on Niger Delta militants who wanted to end his life. What could be the motive? I recall that this same leader was very quick to absolve MEND of any part in the terror attack, even before investigation.

    Once again, reading about the utterances and activities of the President and his party, I call on the people of Nigeria to choose this day a leader they can trust with handling affairs till 2019.

  • Mama Goodluck Nigeria

    When it comes to celebrating the country’s First Family, every angle deserves to be explored, to go by the creative sycophancy of the Ethical Leadership Academy, which has dreamt up an award for Mrs. Ayi Eunice Afeni Jonathan, mother of President Goodluck Jonathan.  This is no laughing matter, considering that the award for excellent motherhood is reportedly designed to “promote transparent family values that inspire honesty, truth, justice, discipline, unity, better understanding, reconciliation, equal opportunities and respect for others.”

    If words have meanings, and indeed they do, it may be difficult, if not impossible, for objective observers to associate the string of positives with President Jonathan, meaning that in the eyes of the dispassionate public he reasonably cannot be said to stand for honesty, truth, discipline, unity, better understanding, reconciliation, equal opportunities and respect for others.

    But it would appear that the Ethical Leadership Academy is driven by a peculiar understanding of ethics, which may paradoxically prove enlightening for its lack of insight. According to a statement by the academy’s Executive Director/CEO, Dr. Chijioke Nwandikom, the maiden award will be given to Jonathan’s mother to “celebrate the joys of motherhood and give God glory that you are alive to witness the transformation of the child you delivered like a Hebrew woman, rise to become the president of Nigeria.”

    In case anyone missed the significance of the president’s birth for the country, the academy, with a tinge of regret, noted that little “is known of MAMA who has bestowed on Nigeria a gift of a great leader who has within a phenomenally short period transformed the political and socioeconomic landscape of Nigeria, a virtuous woman who has become an inspiration to generations and worthy of being celebrated.”  It is against this backdrop, Dr. Nwandikom said, that “Mrs. Ayi Eunice Afeni Jonathan will be conferred with the title of MAMA GOODLUCK NIGERIA for giving Nigeria the gift of GOODLUCK as our amiable and transformational president and national leader.” Mama Goodluck Nigeria is expected to take this grandiose title on December 20 when the academy will also launch the Mama Eunice Afeni Foundation for Excellent Motherhood.

    All things being equal, it should be expected that Mama would grace the occasion with her presence, most likely calculated to boost the apparent publicity stunt for her son. In addition, it may not be unrealistic to expect President Jonathan and First Lady Patience Jonathan to attend the event as well, considering that it has the quality of an image-building exercise, or perhaps more specifically, an image-redeeming project, with both of them as the indirect focus. Certainly, it does not require any special gift of discernment to recognise that the award is a not-so-subtle effort to sell President Jonathan in connection with next year’s general elections and to promote his re-election ambition.

    It may well be that the organisers of this unique event would miss Pa  Lawrence Ebele Jonathan,  President Jonathan’s  father  who died  in  Aso Clinic, Abuja , in 2007 at the age of 81, while his son was still Vice President. If he were alive, it is possible that he also might have been factored into the ceremony by the academy. However, those he left behind would probably spare a thought for him on the important day.

    Interestingly, according to the awardee’s profile: “Madam Eunice Ayi Jonathan swept the Anglican Church in Otuoke every day for 30 years from when she became a Christian in 1976. She recounts that when she saw young people singing hymns from the hymnal she would say, ‘All I wanted was for them (my children) not to be illiterate like me, for them to be able to sing Christian songs from the hymn books as well as read the Bible for me.’  ‘God in his infinite mercy saw my sincere desire and decided to bless our family the way He has done. I know we do not deserve it, but when God says yes, who can say no? We give Him all the glory.”

    Mama’s words are not only thought-provoking; they have a disturbing ring. By appealing to divine intervention, she suggests that her son’s ascendancy is beyond human intervention, which may have the implication that she probably believes President Jonathan’s re-election cannot and will not be humanly decided. While she may be entitled to her faith and her understanding of divine operation, her perspective is not to be encouraged in a democratic context. Indeed, it ought to be emphasised that people power should determine the people in power, and not divine benevolence as suggested by Mama Jonathan. It may be a good sign that she said her family did not merit the unbelievable height; and, hopefully, she should appreciate the reverse saying – when God says no, who can say yes?

    The dubious idea that Mama Jonathan represents model motherhood, and the shaky projection that President Jonathan has been a success in office, and stands for exemplary leadership, are perhaps predictable as the 2015 elections approach and desperation reigns supreme; however, the baseless communication cannot translate into acceptance.

    It is relevant to recall that Mama Jonathan made news in August last year when she donated two multi-million naira buildings of 20 flats to Federal University Otuoke (FUO) in President Jonathan’s hometown in Bayelsa State. Of course, President Jonathan was present at the event. Of course, no questions were asked, and no answers were provided, concerning Mama’s resources. There was no need for questions because the answers were clear enough. It was, without question, another unconscionable instance of dishonesty and untruthfulness, which are euphemistic in this case, and opposites of two of the qualities Mama Jonathan’s award seeks to promote.

    As President Jonathan’s mother becomes Mama Goodluck Nigeria, it is reminiscent of the dramatic move by First Lady Patience Jonathan who last year renamed herself Mama Peace.  Mrs. Jonathan announced her new name to a probably bemused audience at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.  The occasion was the December 13 launch of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Maternal and Child Health (SURE –P MCH) known as MAMA Project.

    She said: “My name is no more Patience but now Mama Peace because I believe that without peace, there will be no more women, no more children and no more health sector. Without peace, the international community will be afraid to come and invest in our country.”  It is one year since this theatrical name-change, but where is peace?  Similarly, concerning Mama Goodluck Nigeria, the question is: Will this title be less senseless one year from now?

  • President off to Israel on pilgrimage

    President off to Israel on pilgrimage

    President Goodluck Jonathan will today depart for Israel on pilgrimage.

    A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said Dr. Jonathan will be accompanied by the Chaplain of the Presidential Villa, Venerable Obioma Onwuzurumba and his principal aides.

    Apart from visiting Christian holy sites, he will join other Nigerian pilgrims in a prayer session for the well-being and progress of the country at an Inter-Denominational Service in Jerusalem on Sunday.

    He is expected back in Abuja on Monday.

    The statement reads: “Before leaving for Israel, President Jonathan will participate in the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Seme-Krake Joint Border Control Post on Friday morning.

    “The President will be joined at the event by President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic and officials of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).”

    “The Seme-Krake Joint Border Control Post is being constructed under the ECOWAS Transport Facilitation Programme which has the objective of boosting trade and economic relations among member countries.”

  • #BringBackGoodluck2015# shame

    #BringBackGoodluck2015# shame

    SIR: It took the intervention of Washington Post to draw attention of the world and President Goodluck Jonathan to the primitive machinations of the president’s men who tried to use the hash tag, #BringBackOurGirls# to pursue their wicked and narrow agenda for 2015.

    First, it was the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) going about the zones, staging rallies even when INEC has not blown the whistle for campaign rallies and drumming support for President Jonathan’s 2015 agenda in the face of massive hunger, insecurity, lack of electricity, joblessness, decayed infractstruture, brazen corruption, impunity, threat of insurgency, weak leadership, etc

    The TAN advocates have been blurring our line of vision and insulting our sensibilities but we have been silent believing that a time will come when a spade will be called a spade. TAN is a resurrection of Abacha’s Youth Earnestly Ask For Abacha (YEA).Their mission and concept are the same and tallies with the decayed politics of our country.

    How can a people with minds of their own forget that nearly 300 of our young girls have remained in captivity for more than 150 days? How can they ignore the feelings of the parents? Do they know that some of these parents have died of heart break because of the missing girls? Are these people real parents?

    Why do they have to abuse the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls#?   Who is playing politics with the missing girls? Are these people not intelligent enough to find something else to use to sell their candidate than to steal the #BringBackOurGirl# hashtag? How can a people who claim to possess good education indulge in this show of shame in the 21st century?

    A friend once told me that you cannot lead people if you do not love the people. You cannot save the people if you do not serve the people. Has the PDP led the people of Nigeria? Have these people served the people of Nigeria very well?

    Another learned friend of mine tells me that it is better to present a weak argument strongly than to present strong argument weakly. The campaigners of President Goodluck Jonathan are presenting a weak argument weakly. In their thinking, Nigerians cannot think or recall otherwise, they would have advised their candidate that he and his government have not done enough to justify the votes they got in 2011. They would have told him that the mounting state of insecurity, the unacceptable level of poverty, the state of unemployment, corruption and infrastructural decay are not testimonials for re-election. Yes, they keep dividing Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines but these are not credible pedestals to power.

    We live in interesting times in Nigeria where fake drugs are being presented to us as original drugs. They are giving us fake currencies for genuine ones. Their campaign for re-election is structured on weak platforms. They are not structured on credible platforms of performance and integrity. They are not based on stellar performance. They are not based on facts. They are based on phantoms and fantasies. Now can this kite fly? It cannot.

     

    • Joe Igbokwe.

    Lagos

  • Jonathan and his TAN rallies

    Jonathan and his TAN rallies

    NO one doubts the determination of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election. Certainly not any Nigerian. The president of course continues to pretend to be consulting or weighing his options, and his fawning aides give the impression they are putting pressure on him to contest. But both the president and his aides, not to talk of thousands of others, many of them in suspended animation, and others demonstrating herd mentality, know exactly where they are going. Should Ebola disease wipe out a whole state, and Boko Haram exterminate a whole region, it is certain that President Jonathan will run for the president. He has not declared his interest in the race, not because of the Electoral Act, nor because he thinks he has not done enough to get ahead in the race, but because he is an extraordinarily indecisive and cautious man. His pawky caution is such that he prefers to do things only when he is assured of the outcome.

    So, instead of telling the country he would run for president, he wants the electorate to develop a consensus and deliver it on a platter of gold to the presidency for his magisterial consideration. Well, so far, he has not been disappointed. In several Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) rallies, of course inspired by his presidency, coordinated by the officious Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, and marshaled by the obsequious and ultra-reactionary Kunle Fagbemi, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faithful and other journeymen have supposedly signed registers designed to pressure President Jonathan to run for office. The president is pleased by the response, so, too, are his men, most of them owing their positions to his good and banal pleasure.

    The TAN rallies themselves began on August 16, perhaps not too puzzlingly, in the Southeast, a region more Catholic than the Pope in supporting President Jonathan. With the ongoing work on the Second Niger Bridge, and key appointees like Mr Anyim, the sometimes messianic Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and a host of other bureaucratic and political fanatics in his cabinet, the Southeast has made up their minds that the president is incomparable. Indeed, at the South-South TAN rally, Dr Okonjo-Iweala enthused that there had never been a president like President Jonathan. According to the fawning Mr Fagbemi, some 1.5m signatures had been collected in the Southeast to persuade President Jonathan to run for office. According to him, the now increasingly docile and mainstreaming Southwest, led apparently by the loquacious and effervescent Olabode George, had offered 1.8m signatures, and the exasperating South-South had offered over four million. A joyful Mr Anyim collected all the registers, hinting piquantly that the president would have no choice but to heed the people’s call.

    With the TAN flurries had come series of other spectacular ideological and party collapses. Labour Party (LP), long thought to be floating in a cosmic haze and imprecise ideological soup, has virtually hinted it would do nothing but support President Jonathan. LP’s main proponent, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, is even speculated to have covertly defected to the PDP. If he did, it would confirm that his soul and body never really left the ruling party in the first instance. But the more spectacular collapse has been enacted by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which since the death of Emeka Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi, had seemed to swim in ether — soulless, guileless, unprincipled and eager to jump into bed with the first dashing rake to flex his virility.

    But would to God President Jonathan had saved us the embarrassing rigmarole. He wants a fresh four-year term. Let him fight for it openly and like a man. Let him quit pretending. He has no real records to run on, and he has never acted presidential either in defence of the constitution, or when challenged by complex conflicts and policy matters, but what does anyone care. The Southwest, or at a least a noisy faction from that zone, has lost its mind. The Southeast is infatuated with meretricious beauty, and the South-South never ceases to amaze in its clownishness. So, who really is preventing President Jonathan from declaring his interest? Is it the pathetic assemblage in the Northwest, which adopted caucus method to endorse the president instead of organising TAN rally? After he had appeared to secure a national consensus through the ‘five fingers of a leprous hand,’ the late Gen Sani Abacha boasted of his impending transmutation into civilian rulership. More than a decade and a half later, it is curious to watch history eerily replay itself.

  • Confab: Lagos delegates may not endorse report

    Confab: Lagos delegates may not endorse report

    The delegates representing Lagos State in the National Conference have resolved not to sign the final report to be presented to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Their decision was prompted by the failure of the conference leadership to allow the presentation of the state memorandum for consideration during the plenary.

    The conference is to reconvene on Monday to review and adopt its resolutions preparatory to the compilation of the final report to be endorsed by members.

    A Lagos delegate who confided in our correspondent said:  “Several attempts made to present the state memorandum were rebuffed. The position of Lagos was not allowed to fly.

    “Our opinion was not reflected in the Yoruba agenda accepted by the conference. Every move made by the Lagos delegates to be part of Yoruba position was rejected. Given the treatment meted out to us by the conference leadership, we may not sign the final report.”

    Reflecting on the delegates position, Chief (Mrs) Yetunde Arobieke said: “We in the Lagos East Senatorial  District support the decision of the delegates not to endorse the conference report because it does not reflect the interest of Lagos State.”

    Arobieke, the immediate past chairperson of Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area, cited three issues in the memorandum that are critical to socio-economic development of the state but which were never allowed to be aired by the conference leadership.

    She explains thus: “The issue of Value Added Tax is very crucial to the economic viabililty of Lagos State. Oil producing states are talking of derivation because of the values that oil contributes to the Federation Account. Much of the VAT proceeds that go into the federal purse are generated in Lagos.

    “So if the oil producing states are qualified for derivation, Lagos too is entitled to it on the basis of VAT.

    “The Lagos State position is that immediate steps should be taken to repeal the Value Added Tax Act and the Federal Government should forthwith desist from the practice, administration and collection of VAT.

    “In true federalism, the central authority lacks control over waterways. The right of sub-national states to their intra-state waterways is inviolable.

    “It is a breach of the rule of law for central authorities to administer inland territory of any state in Nigeria against the wishes of the people of the states.

    “We expect the Federal agencies to respect the constitutional autonomy of states over intra-state inland waters, its violation must abate forthwith.

    “We made a case for special status for Lagos.

    “Up till tomorrow New York is still being compensated for being former United States capital. Lagos should not be abandoned because capital has been taken to Abuja.

    Federal roads in Lagos are abandoned. For example the Federal government has failed to maintain Oshodi-Apapa High way that leads to the sea ports where the Federal Government generates huge revenue on daily basis.

    “Our position is that Lagos should be accorded special status for the purposes of allocation of revenue and other resources as a final line charge on the national budet in keeping with recognised practice of rehabilitation for former capital territories.”

    Arobieke said no one should blame the Lagos delegates for refusing to sign the report. The report has not taken the interest of the state into consideration, she added.