Tag: Jonathan

It is difficult to ignore two aspects of the speech by President Goodluck Jonathan during a thanksgiving and farewell service organized in his honor at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp Gwarimpa, Abuja. He had told his audience that he and his ministers would be persecuted by the incoming administration because of the hard decisions they took.

Hear him: “I have run the government this way that stabilized certain things, the electoral process and other things that brought stability to this country. They are very costly decisions which I must be ready to pay for”.

He also spoke of desertion and sabotage from some of his close friends. “Some people come to me and say this or that person is he not your friend that benefited? But this is what the person is saying”.

He said his reaction was that worse statements will still come and that if you take hard decisions, even some of your very close friends will abandon you at some point.

Jonathan underscored this point by drawing analogy with Fredrick de Klerk who he claimed abandoned by his wife for abolishing apartheid in South Africa-a decision, which he further opined, positively changed the face of that country. He said he sympathized with ministers and aides who served under him because they will be persecuted and urged them to be ready for it.

Apparently sensing the gravity of the allegation, the incoming government of the All Progressives Congress APC reacted very swiftly. Its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed said the Buhari administration will not persecute anyone and that only those who are guilty of crimes against the Nigerian people need to be afraid.

There are two planks to the issues raised by Jonathan. This first has to do with what he perceives as the likely attitude of the incoming government to some of the decisions of his regime. The other relates in the main, to the conduct of trusted friends and close collaborators once there is a change of government.

The two issues are weighty and fundamental. And in them you are likely to find some of the problems that have overtime worked against the progress and development of this country. In them also, you can locate the subsisting attitude of leaders and followers alike that have continued to pose serious impediments to statecraft. For us to make real progress, the disruptive influences of these issues on governance need to be closely studied and remedial measures taken.

Jonathan said his government took hard decisions that stabilized certain things and feared he and his ministers will be persecuted for them. The immediate question this evokes is why should it be so? Its corollary is why any leader in his right senses should persecute his predecessor for hard but well-tailored decisions? These are the issues to ponder.  Apart from the electoral process, Jonathan did not mention those other hard decisions that brought stability to the economy for which he fears persecution. But the overall impression he conveyed is that such decisions are in the overall public good as they will lead to the greatest good of the greatest number. He captured that much when he said “if you take certain decisions, it might be good for many but it might affect others differently”.

Given his elated office, it is safer to presume he has sufficient grounds to speak in the manner he has done. But for some reasons, he refrained from details. However, the inevitable impression the allegation conveys is that the incoming Buhari government may be embarking on a voyage of witch-hunting and vendetta against his government for some unwholesome reasons.

There is also the undertone that the incoming government may be upturning some of these hard decisions he considers good for many for reasons that are less than salutary. That is crux of the matter. Mohammed has dispelled insinuations that his ministers and aides will be persecuted. He said only those who have committed crimes have something to fear. That is the right way to look at the matter.

The attitude of the incoming government to policies that are popular but may have affected some other interests differently as alleged is yet to be addressed. There is the need to clear the air on that aspect of Jonathan’s speech. Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appeared to have spoken along the same line when she cautioned against the penchant with which some people are running down the economy through unguarded statements. She reasoned that these utterances some of which are at variance with extant economic indices, could pose serious challenges for or imperil the incoming government. That point goes without saying.

Those still concerned with what the outgoing government did wrong or how it mismanaged the Nigerian economy may want to paint the picture of an economy that has gone awry; where nothing is working. But in this desperation to discredit that regime, they inadvertently create a new set of problems for the incoming government. First, the unmistakable impression is created that Buhari is a miracle worker who will find a quick fix for the multi-dimensional problems of this country. Casting the incoming government in that mould may soon create problems for it if the high hopes raised are not quickly met.

The other is that it might be a subterfuge for the incoming government in case it is unable to rise to the high expectations generated by its campaign promises. When that happens, attention will be drawn to all the wrongs the Jonathan government allegedly wrought on the economy and the huge time they will require to clean up. That will not impress anybody as we have gone far beyond that point now.

Elections have been won and lost and these were the issues on which basis they were fought. The incoming Buhari government will be benchmarked against what it does to put things right rather that finding excuses on the failures of the outgoing government. That is exactly where we are now.

The other issue raised by Jonathan is the ease with which trusted friends and close collaborators desert leaders whence they are out of office. Some of them even go at lengths to divulge sensitive information in order to curry favor from the new government.

That is the fad. It did not start with Jonathan and will unlikely end with him. It is a malady just like corruption that pervades all strata of our nation’s social fabric. It is propelled and reinforced by the lure and logic of the stomach.

With an opposition government coming on stream, such a tendency is expected to be at an all time high. That has been the raison d’être for the embarrassing spate of defections we have witnessed. It has not got much to do with the hard decisions taken by the government but hinges more on lack of principles and desperation to be part of every government in power.

It is a lesson for all those in power. But can they reasonably avoid a repeat? That is the moot question.