Chamba Simeh
Yesterday’s declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been adopted by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its sole candidate, to contest for a second term in office achieved two main purposes. The first is that the president’s declaration dealt the death knell on the long drawn speculations, gimmicks, permutations, horse-trading and jerrymandering in the nation’s polity. The second goal is that the president has now drawn the battle line for the February 2015 presidential election against Nigeria’s 49 opposition parties, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) being the most formidable and dreaded. Although, the main opposition APC is yet to nominate its presidential candidate, it is noteworthy that any of its three leading aspirants, namely, General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Governor Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso, is capable of giving Jonathan a run for his money.
A striking feature of Jonathan’s declaration at the Eagle Square in Abuja, however, is its record setting as the first of its kind to take place outside the shores of this country. A replica of the event was staged in Johannesburg, South Africa; London, UK; and in four American cities of Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston. The global dimension to the President’s declaration was sponsored by his supporters and members of the PDP in the Diaspora, under the aegis of One Nigeria Coalition.
There is also a sharp contrast between yesterday’s declaration by Jonathan and that of 2010, leading to his election in 2011. In 2010, Jonathan, who, by virtue of the legislative doctrine of necessity, was entrusted with the mantle to complete the unexpired term of his demised principal, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, passed off as a meek, faithful and trustworthy person. In fact, his declaration speech was genuinely persuasive as he painted a graphic picture of a persona that aligned and identified with the ordinary folk. His ‘shoeless’ tale won deep sympathy from a battered citizenry, who became rest assured that, at last, here is the man who knows where the shoe pinches; indeed, the messiah has come and the days of darkness and penury are gone, and gone for good.
But four years down the lane, Jonathan, who appears to have been ‘quarantined’ or caged by over 2,000 ‘cabals,’ with the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) leading the pack, now talks tough on Nigeria’s lesser mortals without giving a damn. Sloganeering and rhetorics have clearly displaced tangible and concrete achievements of government. The standard of education is still at its lowest ebb with Nigeria’s paltry 8.4 per cent budgetary allocation to the sector (as against UNESCO’s 26 percent benchmark) trailing Ghana’s 31 per cent; power supply is still epileptic; insecurity is worsening by the day; much of Nigeria’s roads are still death traps; our hospitals have moved from being “mere consulting clinics” to mortuaries; corruption now bestrides the land like a monster looking for a prey.
Notwithstanding this gloomy reality staring us in the face, the pro-Jonathan campaigners ram it down our throat that all is well. A rebasing of the nation’s economy has shown that Nigeria’s economy ranks first in Africa even as many factories have either collapsed or relocated to other countries because of power outages and other disincentives. In fairness to Jonathan, his administration’s Transformation Agenda may have gone a long way in developing the real sector and solving the nation’s infrastructural deficit. Unfortunately, the Jonathan administration is being distracted by a new and deadly phase of terrorism and insurgency unleashed on the people by the Boko Haram sect, killing over 12,000 people at the last count.
Whereas it is reasonably justifiable to sympathise with the Jonathan administration, considering the peculiar landmines it has to contend with, the carriage and disposition of the president as depicted in his declaration speech, which contrast steeply with that of 2010, tend to diminish such sympathy. The Boko Haram insurgency dominated the president’s speech with the oft assurances that the nightmare will soon be over and that the over 200 abducted Chibok girls will be rescued alive. “Clearly, this has cast a dark cloud on our nation but we will surely win the war against terror. A number of young men and women have been kidnapped by these criminal elements including our daughters from Chibok. We will free our daughters and defeat terrorism.
“To ensure the long-term stability and development of the affected areas, government has launched three programmes: the Presidential Initiative for the Northeast, the Victim Support Fund and the Safe School Initiative. The Presidential Initiative for the Northeast is focused on improving infrastructure and economic growth in the region. The Safe School Initiative is centred on creating a safe environment to encourage our children in the communities to acquire education. The Victim Support Fund, a partnership with the private sector, has raised about N60 billion, which will help to empower and rehabilitate victims of terror. I promise the victims of these dastardly acts that we will continue to stand with you”.
This is quite reassuring and one can only say, amen.
