Immediately it was obvious that the government of Goodluck Jonathan lost its bearing and began perambulating, one deduction that came to the fore was that in view of the colossal failure and loss of direction by people in government, the only way to begin to confuse the citizenry in the attempt to cover for the incapacities was to begin the clamor for reelection in 2015.
The reason is simple. Performance that is good would have been an automatic ticket, but the lack of it scares the government and sets a new tone of believing that another term would provide the opportunity to settle down and do well for Nigeria.
That is why at the heat of the insurrection in parts of Northern Nigeria; the salient political stance of the presidency was that the crisis was sponsored by certain crop of Northern politicians who believe that only they have the right to rule the country. An insurrection that is social in nature was badly put in political pot to the extent that its treatment and early arrest became impossible to the extent that today, everyone in the country, especially those of us on this part of the divide and including the central government, are going to sleep with our two eyes open.
The insurrection was further heightened by the fifth columnists that added a new dimension to it by sponsoring bomb throwing at places of worship, the Church especially. However, Church bombings have since the demise of the former National Security Adviser, Andrew Azazi, in December 2012, ceased dramatically.
The failures of this government in the view of this piece is more than any other thing responsible for the desperation to hang on beyond 2015 and whoever stands on the way of the moving train, he shall be crushed. This is a joke though a character of Nigerian politics as we have seen in the days of General Obasanjo, what those in authority today are probably not realizing is that people are increasingly becoming aware and internalizing the nuances of democracy or civil rule. As such it will be pretty difficult to continue to take them for a ride.
Wait a minute, there is one mistake Nigerians seem to be making, we have seen several times that those leaders we see as not so intelligent using every tool at their disposals to get away with so many tings those who are intelligent either have not or wont. This again explains the seeming violent route that the government in Aso Rock and its cohorts are deploying towards ensuring a Jonathan continuation post 2015.
The crisis in the governors’ forum is another major item on the agenda. Influential groups in the country such as the NLC, TUC, NBA or even the Nigeria Political Science Association (NPSA) have all kept quiet while the very fabric of election as the major hallmark of democracy is under threat by a president who claims the mandate of the people.
An election by 35 governors did take place and 19 voted against 16. It is clear that there was a winner and a loser, but simply because the losers were supported by the president and the PDP machinery, they refused to accept defeat on the ground that there was a consensus candidate before the election.
The question is: why the election if truly there was any consensus? The President, I understand, has accepted the loser as the representative of the governors. This is unfortunate and what Nigerians are saying is that Goodluck Jonthan may be unwilling to accept the result of the 2015 elections in the event that Nigerians decide to vote him out.
Nobody disputed that there was an election in the forum; the dispute arose when the candidate of the presidency was defeated. NLC and other critical political groups must tell the president and the renegade governors that there was indeed an election at the NGF and a winner did emerge and that has to be respected. Anything of short of that short-circuits the nation’s fragile political system.
I share the views of the Speaker and in fact what needs to be done is for all those who desire democracy in Nigeria to come together regardless of political party allegiance and save the nation against its ruiners.
I don’t care if it is the will of Nigerians to return Goodluck Jonathan to office in2015, but I care a lot about the methodology that that will take. The lections must be free and fair. President Jonathan has so far been favored to be in the position he has find himself in today. What should work for him should be what he has done with the mandate in his hands and not fake issues of where he comes from, the faith he professes or some claim to eight years rule as some of his point men are already making. Not even the threat by some uninformed militants could scare millions of Nigerians who are either made up or are still waiting on the fence to see how far President Jonathan performs before they decide what to do with his ambition.
In its 15-year history, the PDP has never had a terrible leadership as the one that is in place. I thought Colonel Ahmadu Ali was a dictator until I saw the tyranny in Bamanga Tukur. His mission is not the PDP but President Jonathan. If Bamanga Tukur was truly elected by the party, even if on the support of the president, he would have been more sensible. I am ashamed of myself that such an accomplished person could turn so cheap at tail end of his time.
Nigerians must take the statements made by Tambuwal very seriously and insist that things in the PDP, in politics and in Nigeria must be done right. How would you expect President Obama to visits your government when they see and read the mess that is in your government? Senegal and other counties of his choice are more mature and civil.
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