2015: South-east governors’ support for Jonathan

By Mohammed Alhassan

To a large extent, governors from the South eastern part of the country save thankfully for Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state are politically naïve. At the same time, it seems of all governors in Nigeria, they are the idlest. Worse still, except for Imo states’ Rochas Okorocha, they have little confidence in themselves and their people and to put it mildly, they are generally a disaster!
Like most Nigerians, this writer was full of expectations when it was announced with much fanfare that four of the governors, namely, Willy Obiano of Anambra state, Sullivan Chime of Enugu state, Theodore Orji of Abia state and the octogenarian Martin Elechi of Ebonyi were to hold a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidential villa in Abuja.

In view of the grave security problem facing the country and the gross incompetence so far exhibited by President Jonathan in dealing with the problem, it was expected by observers that the four governors wanted to rub minds with the President who is their party man and give him some tips on how to cure his gross incompetence in handling the myriad of problems facing the country and of course, present some issues of interest to their people. Alas, this was not to be. Typical of the governors, whose conduct is like those without a people to whom they are accountable, the foursome like spoilt children of a wayward father did nothing of the usual things expected of governors of an impoverished and long- suffering people.

The four governors shocked most Nigerians who were wandering about their mission at a time like this when the failure of the administration is all too glaring. In their own words, the four South east governors went to see President Jonathan just to tell him that ‘come rain, come shine, in spite of your glaring failings and incompetence, we are with you, all the way! What a bunch of so called governors! That South east governors are not ashamed to openly pledge their support to a non- performing president at a time when the country is thinking of who will succeed him and give the nation a new lease of life, is not a surprise. This is because, like the object of their political fancy, these childish and non- discerning governors have generally mis- governed their states and are confident that they will not be called to account because their people more than their counterparts in other parts of the country are politically naïve! Otherwise, why would any governor worth his salt, or any group of governors pledge loyalty and support for a president under whom the country has zero security and harvest deaths, destruction and violence on a daily basis? It can only be because, in Jonathan’s lacklustre governance, the four South east governors see mirror images of themselves! Thus they need to express support to a national burden to be part of a band wagon that strives to retain power by all means against the push of patriotism and national rebirth.

All Nigerians can see the nuisance meeting of these governors and their president as a self- serving and survival move. Pity for the South east where the politicians can pledge the support of their people for a pittance while the rest of the country go for real and beneficial deals for their people.
The luck of these bunch of political neo-phytes masquerading as governors is that the people of the South east are mostly traders and business people who know very little of the role of clear- headed politics in the development of a people as opposed to the individual- centred and oasis- like progress that comes from small time business and trading ventures. Not even in President Jonathan’s home political zone of South- south can he boast such pledge of unconditional support like the one given to him recently by the unsophisticated governors of the South east minus Governor Okorocha.

It is really sad and regretful that these four South east governors have chosen to stick with the lame duck President Jonathan when political discourse in the country has become post- Jonathan. This president, Goodluck Jonathan is no longer the toast of the good people of the South-South. On the contrary, the people of the region have made efforts to apologise to their fellow Nigerians for the poor governance of the Jonathan era. In fact, that gentleman and former governor of President Jonathan’s Bayelsa state, Chief Timipre Sylva, at a political rally some time ago, asked Nigerians to forgive the people of the South- south, for giving them a bad product in the person of Goodluck Jonathan!
One would like to advise the four pro- Jonathan South east governors to be more discerning and rigorous in their political observation of developments in their country and not to miss the band wagon of change, lest they wake up from their self- imposed slumber to find that they are alone with President Jonathan, while the rest of the country has moved on.

Alhassan wrote from Maitama, Abuja