The election year of 2011 is still fresh in my
memory. I remember it just like yesterday. It was in
that year that Goodluck Jonathan was elected the
third executive President of the Federal Republic. It
was a momentous occasion for him and the nation.
His election, comparable only to the election of
Barack Obama as America’s first black president,
was unprecedented. It signalled the triumph of the
struggle for relevance by Nigeria’s long-suffering
minority groups. When Jonathan was elected,
Nigerians dreamily believed that the maladies that
afflicted the nation would cease to exist. They
believed his election would usher in a vigorous wind
of economic and political change for the nation.
Jonathan himself vowed that his election would
demarcate the conclusion of grisly “politics-as-
usual” to the commencement of democratic and
political freshness. However, as this administration
continues on, it is clear that Jonathan has not only
failed to deliver in a general sense, he has also
completely betrayed Nigerians.
Looking back now, I have often rued the lost
opportunities of the Jonathan Presidency. I wish
Nigerians had not been so trusting. I wish they had
not been so gullible. I wish they had not easily
believed the “no-shoes-at-childhood’’ tales told by
this president. Now, some years down the line, the
events that have shaped the Jonathan Presidency
have revealed a gross betrayal of the Nigerian
people. But how could Nigerians have known that
they were electing a leader who would eventfully
surround himself with those that have brought our
country to its present state? Who would have known
that this President will be more of the same or even
worse? Any honest person in Nigeria today must
look at the President’s demonstrable disregard for
issues that affect the common man and come to the
inescapable conclusion that Nigerians are the very
least of his concerns. The President has since
pitched his tent with the corrupt political elite.
Ordinary Nigerians who voted for him, who trusted
him, can go to hell after all he does not give a damn.
The system many thought he would change for the
good of ordinary Nigerians has apparently taken
him hostage. It is indeed a great betrayal. What has
become really scary is the President’s surreptitious
support of primordial ethnic schism that has been
the bane of our underdevelopment. His silence in
the face of ethnic irredentists who make statements
that threaten the polity will further polarise us as a
nation. The President has also been found to breach
the secular status of the country as entrenched in
the constitution as he goes from one church to the
other where he makes policy statements. He has
converted the pulpit into the theatre of political
bitterness. Those churches who allow the President
to use the pulpit as a campaign platform also
contribute to our national malaise.
This is certainly not the type of President Nigerians
envisaged. Now, the schism is so pronounced that
one cannot even criticise the government without
one’s ethnic group coming into play. If you criticise
the government, it is because you are Yoruba, Igbo
or Tiv or in the opposition. Where is the
nationalism? The President is sacrificing patriotism
on the altar of religion and politics. In the years
former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power,
his most ardent critics were those of his ethnic
group. Where is the Pan-Nigerian mandate given to
Jonathan in 2011? Jonathan has betrayed Nigerians
in many fronts. Is it in his record of non-
performance? Is it in his lack of political will to fight
corruption? In fact, his dismal anti-corruption
record is the worst betrayal of trust by Jonathan.
Because of his lip service to the fight against
corruption, Nigerians are worse off than in 2011. All
the institutions of government have been corrupted.
Even his Niger Delta is not better off. Who would
have known that Jonathan will not fight corruption?
Who would have known that this President would
render the anti-corruption agencies so pineffective
as to not to convict any individual for corruption in
spite of the allegations of corruption involving high
ranking officials of his government? Nigerians have
lost count of corruption scandals in the Jonathan
administration. The President even hobnobs with
indicted individuals. Who would have known that this
President would condone corruption to the extent
that oil theft which had previously existed minimally
would deepen under his reign? Are the scandals in
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation not
embarrassing to the President?
Besides, Nigerians have certainly been hoodwinked
by a President who promised change. He looks the
other way while his cronies steal the country blind,
prevaricates when he ought to sack indicted
officials, and carries on not minding the effect of his
inaction on ordinary people. The power sector has
yielded no result in spite of trumpeted reforms.
There is no indication that the country will have
constant electricity even if this President gets a life
term. The health sector is worse off. Public
hospitals are nothing to write home about.
Privileged Nigerians visit hospitals abroad even for
minor health issues like a headache or to treat
rubber bullet “injuries” while ordinary Nigerians die
of common ailments at home. The betrayal of
Nigerians has manifested in all areas of governance
in which this government has shown its
incompetence.
Is it in the creation of jobs? Is it the voodoo
economy where government and its officials have
bandied bogus job statistics? If indeed they have
created employment, how come job statistics
continue to rise with millions of Nigerians roaming
the streets? The Jonathan government claims
phantom growth in the economy but over 100
million Nigerians are, according to verifiable studies,
impoverished. Recklessness, official wastage, and
outrageous recurrent expenditure characterise
budgetary spending. More egregious than the high
rate of unemployment is the fact that Jonathan has
been completely disconnected from ordinary
Nigerians. He has failed to articulate any policy that
would deal with emerging socio-economic crises.
Rather, he is more focused on articulating and
enacting policies that are favourable to his friends
and cronies. The excuse has always been that the
he did not create the problems Nigerians elected
him to solve. This feeble argument exists for the
sole purpose of deflecting legitimate criticism of his
failure to meet the needs of Nigerians. They said
Nigerians should be patient yet they have no road
map for the future.
The President has also displayed gross insensitivity
to the past suffering of his Niger Delta people. The
centenary award he bestowed on the late dictator
Sani Abacha amounts to a betrayal of the Niger
Delta cause. At the centenary awards, he betrayed
his own people by making heroes of yesterday’s
villains. He gave a centenary award to a dictator,
Abacha, who plundered and oppressed Nigerians.
He honoured a wicked leader who sent soldiers to
destroy villages and killed his own people. A
President who is mindful of history would have
declined to endorse such an ignominy. By so doing,
Jonathan has spat on the graves of activists and
others who died in the struggle to restore
democracy of which he is a beneficiary. Now, he is
aiming to recontest his lack lustre presidency in
2015. Nigerians should reject Jonathan in 2015 as a
payback for his betrayal.
CREDITS: Bayo Olupohunda
memory. I remember it just like yesterday. It was in
that year that Goodluck Jonathan was elected the
third executive President of the Federal Republic. It
was a momentous occasion for him and the nation.
His election, comparable only to the election of
Barack Obama as America’s first black president,
was unprecedented. It signalled the triumph of the
struggle for relevance by Nigeria’s long-suffering
minority groups. When Jonathan was elected,
Nigerians dreamily believed that the maladies that
afflicted the nation would cease to exist. They
believed his election would usher in a vigorous wind
of economic and political change for the nation.
Jonathan himself vowed that his election would
demarcate the conclusion of grisly “politics-as-
usual” to the commencement of democratic and
political freshness. However, as this administration
continues on, it is clear that Jonathan has not only
failed to deliver in a general sense, he has also
completely betrayed Nigerians.
Looking back now, I have often rued the lost
opportunities of the Jonathan Presidency. I wish
Nigerians had not been so trusting. I wish they had
not been so gullible. I wish they had not easily
believed the “no-shoes-at-childhood’’ tales told by
this president. Now, some years down the line, the
events that have shaped the Jonathan Presidency
have revealed a gross betrayal of the Nigerian
people. But how could Nigerians have known that
they were electing a leader who would eventfully
surround himself with those that have brought our
country to its present state? Who would have known
that this President will be more of the same or even
worse? Any honest person in Nigeria today must
look at the President’s demonstrable disregard for
issues that affect the common man and come to the
inescapable conclusion that Nigerians are the very
least of his concerns. The President has since
pitched his tent with the corrupt political elite.
Ordinary Nigerians who voted for him, who trusted
him, can go to hell after all he does not give a damn.
The system many thought he would change for the
good of ordinary Nigerians has apparently taken
him hostage. It is indeed a great betrayal. What has
become really scary is the President’s surreptitious
support of primordial ethnic schism that has been
the bane of our underdevelopment. His silence in
the face of ethnic irredentists who make statements
that threaten the polity will further polarise us as a
nation. The President has also been found to breach
the secular status of the country as entrenched in
the constitution as he goes from one church to the
other where he makes policy statements. He has
converted the pulpit into the theatre of political
bitterness. Those churches who allow the President
to use the pulpit as a campaign platform also
contribute to our national malaise.
This is certainly not the type of President Nigerians
envisaged. Now, the schism is so pronounced that
one cannot even criticise the government without
one’s ethnic group coming into play. If you criticise
the government, it is because you are Yoruba, Igbo
or Tiv or in the opposition. Where is the
nationalism? The President is sacrificing patriotism
on the altar of religion and politics. In the years
former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power,
his most ardent critics were those of his ethnic
group. Where is the Pan-Nigerian mandate given to
Jonathan in 2011? Jonathan has betrayed Nigerians
in many fronts. Is it in his record of non-
performance? Is it in his lack of political will to fight
corruption? In fact, his dismal anti-corruption
record is the worst betrayal of trust by Jonathan.
Because of his lip service to the fight against
corruption, Nigerians are worse off than in 2011. All
the institutions of government have been corrupted.
Even his Niger Delta is not better off. Who would
have known that Jonathan will not fight corruption?
Who would have known that this President would
render the anti-corruption agencies so pineffective
as to not to convict any individual for corruption in
spite of the allegations of corruption involving high
ranking officials of his government? Nigerians have
lost count of corruption scandals in the Jonathan
administration. The President even hobnobs with
indicted individuals. Who would have known that this
President would condone corruption to the extent
that oil theft which had previously existed minimally
would deepen under his reign? Are the scandals in
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation not
embarrassing to the President?
Besides, Nigerians have certainly been hoodwinked
by a President who promised change. He looks the
other way while his cronies steal the country blind,
prevaricates when he ought to sack indicted
officials, and carries on not minding the effect of his
inaction on ordinary people. The power sector has
yielded no result in spite of trumpeted reforms.
There is no indication that the country will have
constant electricity even if this President gets a life
term. The health sector is worse off. Public
hospitals are nothing to write home about.
Privileged Nigerians visit hospitals abroad even for
minor health issues like a headache or to treat
rubber bullet “injuries” while ordinary Nigerians die
of common ailments at home. The betrayal of
Nigerians has manifested in all areas of governance
in which this government has shown its
incompetence.
Is it in the creation of jobs? Is it the voodoo
economy where government and its officials have
bandied bogus job statistics? If indeed they have
created employment, how come job statistics
continue to rise with millions of Nigerians roaming
the streets? The Jonathan government claims
phantom growth in the economy but over 100
million Nigerians are, according to verifiable studies,
impoverished. Recklessness, official wastage, and
outrageous recurrent expenditure characterise
budgetary spending. More egregious than the high
rate of unemployment is the fact that Jonathan has
been completely disconnected from ordinary
Nigerians. He has failed to articulate any policy that
would deal with emerging socio-economic crises.
Rather, he is more focused on articulating and
enacting policies that are favourable to his friends
and cronies. The excuse has always been that the
he did not create the problems Nigerians elected
him to solve. This feeble argument exists for the
sole purpose of deflecting legitimate criticism of his
failure to meet the needs of Nigerians. They said
Nigerians should be patient yet they have no road
map for the future.
The President has also displayed gross insensitivity
to the past suffering of his Niger Delta people. The
centenary award he bestowed on the late dictator
Sani Abacha amounts to a betrayal of the Niger
Delta cause. At the centenary awards, he betrayed
his own people by making heroes of yesterday’s
villains. He gave a centenary award to a dictator,
Abacha, who plundered and oppressed Nigerians.
He honoured a wicked leader who sent soldiers to
destroy villages and killed his own people. A
President who is mindful of history would have
declined to endorse such an ignominy. By so doing,
Jonathan has spat on the graves of activists and
others who died in the struggle to restore
democracy of which he is a beneficiary. Now, he is
aiming to recontest his lack lustre presidency in
2015. Nigerians should reject Jonathan in 2015 as a
payback for his betrayal.
CREDITS: Bayo Olupohunda
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