The Way Forward for Nigeria (II)
Pendulum By Dele momodu,Email:delemomodu@thisdayonline.com, 07.31.2010
When I wrote last week that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should not contest the next general elections in Nigeria, a few of his die-hard friends protested against my innocent suggestion. It is a pity that we never learn from other people’s misfortune in our country. This time last year, no one knew President Jonathan would ever be allowed to take the mantle of power by the cult of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s supporters. Those guys were known at the time as the “cabal”. A few months down the road that word has suddenly, albeit temporarily, disappeared from the lexicon. However a new “cabal” is attempting to sneak itself into Aso Rock. Rumours are afoot, tongues are wagging and we are hearing from usually authoritative sources that Nigerians would soon be shocked out of their wits to learn of a new woman who’s more powerful than her erstwhile Excellency, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, our audacious former First Lady. And this modern day Cleopatra is not even the wife of the President. Abuja is already agog with salacious tales of She, who must be obeyed, a quintessential character out of Henry Rider Haggard’s novel She: A History of Adventure.
Let’s leave SHE for now. The import of my narrative is that we seem to always waltz from one tragic persona to another. Once upon a time, the only name on every lip was Turai. It seemed no other woman existed. Even Dr Goodluck Jonathan did not possess the temerity to assume power when it was so obvious that power was his for the grabs. Some of us had to take to the streets without any prompting from him to help liberate him from the jaws of the lions of Abuja. The situation was so grave that even many of us feared for his life. There were reports that he was advised at a stage not to go near his office or accept any meal that was not personally cooked by his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, and his food was possibly sanctified by his pastors. But human memory is always very short. Nigerians have since moved on in our traditional habit of what Wole Soyinka called “collective amnesia”.
When God performs one miracle in the life of a man, the man often assumes that God has immediately retired, and no other man should benefit from God’s undeserved benevolence. He even believes that God deserves no compensation for being so merciful. What I expected of President Jonathan is to offer sacrifice to God as thanksgiving for elevating him from a man who was treated like nobody to somebody. The Bible is replete with tales of sacrifices. What Nigeria needs right now is a selfless leader who would put the nation above self. We are practically in a state of emergency, and it is obvious that Nigeria will haemorrhage to death if we allow the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as presently constituted to return to power for another four years after the 2011 elections. It is certain that most of the politicians at the Federal level have since convinced themselves that democracy is not a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is now a Government of MY people, by MY people, for My People! Indeed the selfishness displayed makes one to believe they have gone even further to turn democracy into a Government of ME, by ME, for ME.
The major plank of this thesis is that President Jonathan would have robbed Nigerians of the luxury of a free and fair contest once he participates in a race he’s expected to supervise. There is no where I suggested he was not qualified to run. It is his legitimate right and that of every Nigerian to aspire to any office of his choice. In a normal setting, I would not have suggested such a seemingly undemocratic idea. But ours is a “peculiar mess”, apologies to Adegoke Adelabu. Elections in Nigeria in the past 50 years have never produced the desired results because of the propensity of a few upstarts to force themselves on the rest of us. And in a situation where it is impossible for the people to freely elect the leaders who can represent their aspirations, we are playing with a bloody revolution.
But our leaders don’t seem to realise how close we are to the precipice. We are about to be thrown down the cliff as a nation. By the time we take this kamikaze plunge, the whole of Africa would be in a mess. What makes it so tragic is the fact that we are about to commit mass suicide because of the rabid ambition of those who have never demonstrated any sense of competence and achievement in their private and public lives. Most of those who parade themselves as very important personalities in our climes are accidents of creation. Without their unrestricted access to public funds, no one would have known of their existence.
The bigger tragedy is the fact that most Nigerians have since resigned themselves to fate. They have become despondent and seem not to have a clue as to how to exorcise the demons in our midst. What is worse is the fact that those who seek a change are always tearing at each other’s throat when they should conserve their energy for the battle ahead. They find it hard to even recognise the few good and genuine human beings amongst us. The way forward for Nigeria is for everyone who truly cares about our country to join hands with others to rescue this otherwise great nation from the evil grip of a few plantation slave owners. This would require personal sacrifice at the highest level. For President Jonathan to win the next election he would have to sign a pact with the devils that lurk around our corridors of power. He would have to compromise a lot of things because the many warlords and garrison commanders that flock his political party will never consider the interests of the majority of our people who are suffering in the midst of plenty. He is already distracted from his duties by the cacophony of electioneering campaigns. He would waste our resources on himself and his band of chorus singers.
It is not how long a man stays in office that defines his greatness. It is how well he touches the people. I have seen the hurried but slapdash jobs being done for President Jonathan by those who must make money at all costs. I have seen the unprofessional billboards springing up around the Federal Secretariat Abuja, and I’m very saddened by the fact that the desperados have returned with a vengeance. They are holding our President hostage by persuading him to contest, when really he has nothing more to prove. I’m reading statements from the man who never stops to amaze me, Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe. We have suddenly been teleported back to the eventful year of 1993. It must be true that history repeats itself. But what man would not learn from the lessons of history? What man but someone on the fringe of lunacy would do the same things repeatedly and expect different results.
What is more baffling is the fact that the gladiators have assumed that the long-suffering people of the South-South have no say in who represents them. In what smirks of unbridled arrogance, these power speculators are assuming that everyman from South-South is a member of PDP. This fact was pointed out to me recently by a senior leader of the South-South. It becomes a matter of concern and it is clear that this type of delusional attitude should be discouraged. The PDP believes it owns Nigeria. It believes abysmal non-performance is no cause for worry. If I was convinced that PDP has the capacity to discipline itself and move Nigeria to greatness, like many Nigerians I know all over the world, I would not worry too much about the participation of President Jonathan in next year’s election. However, it is important to note that a victory for Jonathan, in the present climate, would translate to automatic victories for the incompetent and irresponsible politicians who have brought our otherwise great nation to the disgraceful state we are today. There is no where a student is applauded for failure. And that is what our recent leaders have been – inept, lazy students, not graduates much less professors - struggling to understand the craft of governance but without the resources or the skill that could even enable them achieve a pass mark.
As for me and my house all he has to do in the next few months is to work hard and ensure he leaves a legacy of enduring democracy. He does not need to do anything more. Every country is in a continuum and other leaders will emerge in a truly democratic setting. They will take our country to the Promised Land and provide the infrastructure and governance required for this.
The point is the President cannot achieve the enthroning of true democracy if he joins in the fray. I do not suggest for a minute that he is not eligible or qualified to contest. However, if he does, he will naturally be in it to win and his reckless and unruly party will do everything to ensure this. The President, in order to fulfil his ambition, and possibly continue his much vaunted goodluck, will have to turn a blind eye, at the very least, to the serious infractions that the PDP zealots will inflict on democracy and the rule of law.
The only course is for the President to be an unbiased, impartial umpire. This appears to be his God sent errand in Nigeria. It is my hope that the President will seek God’s face, heed his voice and fulfil this mission.
