Tag: President Goodluck Jonathan

Anti-Amaechi crisis exposes the PDP for what it is even as the Presidency plays the ostrich

What ordinarily should have passed as an innocuous election by governors in the country to elect their officers in a forum not known to the constitution has become a reference point for President Goodluck Jonathan’s popularity. And the reason is simple: the President himself has not done much to be detached from the forum that could easily pass for a social gathering where the governors unwind. So, if the President is feeling bad at the turn of events before and shortly after the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) election of May 24, it is self-inflicted. The humiliation, if the President sees the developments as such, is the kind of thing a leader suffers when he stoops so low to be involved in mundane things that should not have been his business, considering his exalted office.

But President Jonathan did not seem to understand the prestige attached to that office. If he did, he would not have been an interested party in who heads the NGF or whether the organisation even exists or not. The only time the forum attracted the attention of Nigerians probably was the time it supported the Federal Government on the withdrawal of fuel subsidy in late 2011. And that was because it wanted more money for its members. Interestingly, both the Federal Government and the forum were on the same page; so, there was no quarrel then, even though subsidy removal was unpopular among the generality of Nigerians. That did not matter, either to the Presidency or the forum, once their own needs were met. But for mass resistance, fuel subsidy removal would have been rammed down the throats of Nigerians while the presidency and the governors would have been smiling to the banks, with their ‘protruding’ treasuries.

Today, the music has changed. Governor Rotimi Amaechi, as chairman of the NGF in support of fuel subsidy removal who was then a friend to President Jonathan, is now his sworn enemy. But that is what life is all about. There are no permanent friends or permanent foes, but permanent interests. Of course, the story is well known. President Jonathan, despite a lackluster mid-term performance, is still interested in contesting the 2015 election. Apparently the man did not know how badly disappointed Nigerians are with his government because if he knew, he would not have awarded himself a pass mark in his assessment of himself on May 29. Where in the world is the student also the examiner? Or where in the world is an accused the judge in his own cause? This, unfortunately, is what the President has done and he can do that because this is Nigeria. But that is not our concern for today.

We have been told that Amaechi has been ‘blacklisted’ because he is interested in being vice president in 2015. If this is true, isn’t this a legitimate aspiration? The point is that unless political calculations change, or unless the President changes his style, he will be resoundingly defeated in 2015. This has nothing to do with the fact that he was massively voted for in 2011. The handwriting is becoming clearer by the day. And that explains the desperation to clear all enemies, real or perceived, from the way to ensure there are no formidable challengers, and Amaechi happens to be the scapegoat. The calculation is, once you deal ‘ruthlessly’ with Amaechi, others who might be nursing similar ambition would get the message and queue behind the President, whether or not he has anything to offer.

But Nigeria ought to have passed the stage where any elected official would breathe down the neck of another. The governor was elected just as the President. But for our warped federalism, nothing should make it possible for either to breathe down the neck of the other. It is obvious the architects of this anti-Amaechi crisis either overrated their own capacity or underestimated that of their opponents. That is why they have found it impossible to beat a retreat despite the fact that they have been fumbling serially and so embarrassingly; unfortunately dragging the Presidency along with them, notwithstanding that the presidency has said it is not a party to the crisis. They should go tell that to the marines!

Those who are saying that the NGF crisis is between Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Governor Amaechi of Rivers State either deliberately chose to amend the truth or simply want to make President Jonathan feel good; a thing that can never be because the president himself knows that the contest is this fierce because he (President) is leading the anti-Amaechi fray. And this explains the desperation on the part of the President’s goons to win by foul means since it is impossible for them to win fairly. The PDP, their party, also badly handled the crisis that should have been nipped in the bud before it festered. Rather than approach the issue maturely, the party’s leaders behaved like a village headmaster with a horsewhip to whip non-conformists into line.

And when this failed, they contrived all kinds of shenanigans, from the formation of a parallel forum which they called the PDP Governors Forum, to reduce Amaechi’s influence as NGF chair. That failed. They then thought it was better to pull the rug off his feet by slugging it out with him at the forum’s polls. They were sold a dummy which they sheepishly bought; forgetting that there is a difference between dreams and deeds. At the NGF polls, again, they were roundly defeated. And, rather than graciously accept defeat, they have contrived all kinds of things to give the impression that Jonah Jang, Plateau State Governor, their defeated candidate at the NGF poll, won the election. Not surprisingly, from the formation of the PDP Governors Forum to the NGF polls, they always found ready tools for the dirty games. Nigeria is never in short supply of such characters. One of their favourites has God as part of his name but it is doubtful if he is allowing God’s will in this matter. Then the other had a namesake in the Bible who was the problem to other passengers in a troubled ship on the sea; the ship remained troubled until he was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish in whose belly he was for three days and three nights before he repented. Now, this second tool in the hands of the PDP went to church to celebrate the victory he knew he never had. If anyone was in doubt that he never had that victory, that doubt must have evaporated with the number of governors (whose votes he purportedly had during the NGF election) that honoured his invitation to their so-called new NGF Secretariat on Thursday. But this must be a different kind of Jonah because the biblical Jonah repented three days after. It is over seven days and seven nights and this Jonah of our time is still swimming in the mud of iniquities.

Mark my words, the PDP rather than beat a retreat, will want to ‘deal’ with those governors that were absent at Jang’s event, their event. That is the way of Pharaohs. They don’t beat a retreat until they sink. We will start hearing the kind of things we never heard about those governors now that they have made themselves known. Their courage is however soul-lifting. However, those playing God today should know that this is the kind of crisis no one can tell the end. They should go ask those who played God yesterday. But the fact is that this crisis has exposed the PDP for what it is and it is a foretaste of what to come in 2015.