It is not always easy to understand the way of politicians. It seems that in the realm of politics facts are not strong pillars of personal integrity. So, I confess I have some problems with this. President Goodluck Jonathan and his men and women have robustly and consistently argued that he has done more for this country than all his predecessors put together.
I thought that was a great promotional point for the president, even in the absence of independent, empirical proof his claim. I thought with such a sterling record, anyone who was unwise enough to challenge his re-election bid would have to show that he has a better record than Jonathan. I thought that would be impossible in the circumstances. After all, Jonathan is the only Nigerian leader so far to be numbered among the world greats such as Nelson Mandela, Lee Kwan Yu, Martin Luther King Jar and Barack Obama.
I thought General Muhammed Buhari, the presidential candidate of APC and Jonathan’s main and threatening challenger, would be an easy pick for the president. The man left office some 30 years ago. I am sure he cannot now recall the full records of his time in office, which are in any case, outclassed by Jonathan.
I expected Jonathan to welcome him into the ring and beat the general silly entirely on the basis of his incomparable records that have, you guessed it, transformed our country: as in uninterrupted power supply, a secure country in which you have the luxury of sleeping with your two eyes closed and a road network that makes travelling by road such a breeze.
So, why do I see that despite these records, impressive by all standards, Jonathan is swaying in a panic mode, afraid of holding the presidential election? Wahala. He has driven himself to a level of desperation that has become clearly dangerous for the country.
He has held our general elections hostage to his panic mode and desperation. No one needed a babalawo to confirm that he forced the postponement of the elections by six weeks because his panic button was not giving him the right reading. Sadly, it still isn’t.
Certain fundamental developments with clear and critical implications for our democracy, national unity and the rule of law flow from the president’s desperation to hold on to power, regardless, the rumours have it, of the outcome of the elections. His redoubtable wife insists he must do two terms in office. Yes, but the path to the renewal of his mandate lies in the conduct of the elections which, sadly, he would prefer not to hold – unless General Buhari steps aside. But that is not going to happen either.
Two vicious monsters have now been accorded a place of honour in our national politics. These are intimidation by ethnic militias such as OPC and MASSOB and the cynical purchase of individuals and groups of persons by the president. Jonathan is willing to do anything that he believes would firm up his hold on power.
If a two-kobo pastor asks him to kneel before him to receive God’s blessing and assurance of election victory, down he goes on his knees. If it takes dancing with Nollywood actresses to get the support of the thespian industry, he dances.
If a group of traditional rulers asks him to kneel before them to receive royal blessings, he does not even think twice. The man has systematically lowered the bar of serious-minded leadership in our country. Charlie Charlie? Don’t quote me.
We have all looked forward to the 2015 general elections, our fifth consecutive democratic elections in the history of our potentially great country. Their peaceful and successful conduct would be a firm confirmation that the taproots of our democracy are going deeper into the soil of best practices of the world’s most beloved form of government.
It is a thousand pities that our expectant hope has given way to the current fear, intimidation and confusion. Our country is convulsed in fear, naked fear. Both the fate of the elections and the future of our democracy are shrouded in the dark mist of fear and uncertainty. No one is sitting pretty. Pre-election violence claims a life or two daily.
The elections that ought to unite us have divided us. Our well-known fault lines of ethnic, religious and sectional divide are widening by the day. Jonathan has been mining and exploiting these differences to consolidate his hold on power.
He is missing something. He is missing the fact that this country is under his watch. His constitutional responsibility to the country and its people does not end with his right to remain ensconced in Aso Rock. He has a constitutional duty to make it a peaceful and united country. He is missing the fact that he is the chief electoral umpire in the country. Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC chairman appointed by him is only his staff officer directly charged with conducting the elections on behalf of the president.
When Jonathan permitted MASSOB and OPC, generously paid to do so through some mouth-watering contracts to their leaders, to demonstrate against Jega’s continued stay in office, he was in effect undermining himself. Jega’s failure would be Jonathan’s cross. He seems too consumed by his ambition to know that the noise he is hearing is not my generator misfiring but the rest of the world convulsed in a guffaw.
The president is missing that elementary fact in his relentless drive to capture the only prize that matters to him: his re-election. He cannot see that the bottom could easily fall out. I suggest that he should tell his men of God to tell God that a fractious country under his watch should not be his portion in the mighty name of Jesus.
I think it is fair to admit that Jonathan understands the game much better than those who sat on that chair before him. Believe me I admire him for putting his money where it can catch his prize. He uses what he has (money) to get what he wants (paid support). He knows that everyone has a price. He knows that political survival and electoral victory are about paying the right prices to individuals and groups of people.
As you can see, he is willing to pay and has been paying the prices that individuals and groups of persons are worth in terms of electoral support values, even if some are clearly merely nuisance values. The almost daily emergence of the president’s support groups and the willingness of some ex-this, ex-that to compromise themselves and soil their integrity and family names for a mess of Jonathan pottage speak attest to the instant power of lucre.
I have a healthy suspicion that when Jonathan is done, our country would have many more millionaires and billionaires. Newly-minted millionaire fuel importers and oil pipe line contractors; newly-minted millionaire prayer warriors and pastors; newly-minted millionaire traditional rulers; newly-minted millionaire labour leaders, etc. I know our men and women of God would take a brief look at their vastly improved circumstances under Jonathan’s watch and duly acknowledge that the Lord is good, all the time.
Pastor Ayo Oritseja for is the living embodiment of what happens when a man of God becomes the apple of a generous president’s eye. Many of the pastors who had been struggling for years to buy a canopy and plastic chairs are now drenched in Jonathan’s miraculous Naira rain.
Expect new cathedrals and buy private jets. And yes, traditional rulers have always been contented with kolanuts, the crumbs from the table of the politicians. Jonathan has shown them that their royal highnesses shall live by eating something better than kolanuts. No, not caviar, obviously.
Nollywood actors and actresses continue to enjoy presidential largesse under generous Jonathan. I now know what they call transformation agenda. Why did take me so long? Small irony: the federal government is counting its kobo.
The 2015 elections have the bar for mindless electoral corruption. Expect things to get worse and the competition for power to get even fiercer. I can also see that Jonathan has put away the gloves.
He is fighting with bare knuckles. He zaps and squashes whoever or whatever stands in his way. Is this the kind of courage that gives a president the right to be called a courageous president?
Help me, someone.
