Goodluck Jonathan’s Soft Landing. Goodluck Jonathan has finally admitted there is no connection between Islam and terrorism. All of his footsoldiers in Yorubaland, who had predicated their support for him on fighting “Islamism” and who have labeled APC as Islamist can now bury their heads in shame. All of these people, including pastors who have been holding seminars and church activities to try to mobilize their congregations into voting for a “Christian” president and in the process hiding behind the façade of evangelism at the same time saying they are against “born to rule” must now come clean as to their real reasons for their support for Goodluck Jonathan. Even if it is assumed that Jonathan is playing the electoral card in terms of the upcoming elections hence the necessity to appeal to Muslim votes, it can also be assumed that he is trying to distance himself from these Christians so that he will be able to present himself as a “statesman” above the fray, which will tally with his response to calls for him to re-contest, where he stated that he “will place the greater interests of national harmony, cohesion, unity, security, political stability, progress, equity, justice and fairness above any personal ambition or sectional agenda”. Which is only possible if he does not run. To run for office in the context of Nigeria’s elite political firmament is to pursue a personal ambition, otherwise, it would not be necessary to attempt an emasculation of the opposition without a superior philosophical or ideological paradigm as a substitute; to deny such personal ambition as immaterial to the quest for office, is to promote oneself as the ultimate in power, the embodiment of all solution to all issues that may arise, which is only one step away from absolutism; to deny such personal ambition is to deny all of the illegalities and massive corruption that has characterized his regime; and to deny any sectional agenda is to deny the ethno-national manifestation of his regime, which had, through the instrumentality of Ijaw terrorists and mercenaries, created a state of siege in electoral contests in Yorubaland. It had also prompted serious complaints from the marginalized sections, among which are his Afenifere foot-soldiers who have had cause to complain while he had to try to placate them with some road projects as well as latter-day official appointments which also led to serious infighting within the organization. Goodluck Jonathan had ensured the ascension of PDP criminal elements from Yorubaland into power through the neutralization of the Obasanjo PDP faction he sees as being an obstacle to his own quest for power; having ensured the emergence of criminals like Iyiola Omisore and Ayo Fayose as his candidates and having the audacity to not only campaign for them but also to let the Yoruba know that his PDP faction is engaged in warfare in Yorubaland; (needless to say, the emergence of both candidates, through raw force, was no different from how Seriake Dickson emerged in Bayelsa State); he had attempted to cause a rift in Yorubaland through a contrived crisis within the OPC while dangling the prospects of coastal and oil pipeline security contracts before the organization; he had demanded Igbo deputy governor for Lagos State based on a spurious census; his now having to “force” a Segun Mimiko to become a member of his PDP as a replacement for Ayo Fayose who may have to be sacrificed by losing his governorship seat based on his criminal attack on Ekiti State judiciary which will also allow Jonathan’s faction a foothold in Yorubaland coupled with his fully unitarizing Nigeria through his national Conference, of which Segun Mimiko was his anchor in neutralizing Yoruba demands, and this was after Goodluck Jonathan had “assured them he would restructure”. Yes, he is “restructuring” by making Nigeria more centralized and this is what Afenifere and the Jonathan PDP has to offer Yorubaland. Goodluck Jonathan had also embarked on several Unconstitutional and impeachable offenses primary of which is his sacking of the CBN Governor for the latter’s exposure of missing billions of dollars; and this was after his utilization of similar methods to sack the then president of the Court of Appeal with all of these under the ambiance of the most corrupt executive establishment in Nigeria’s history where, in spite of spending billions of dollars on security surveillance of the Niger Delta through contracts awarded to former Niger Delta operatives, Nigeria experienced the highest volume of crude oil theft; he had shielded absolutely corrupt officials in his government and lately been involved in covert operations to procure arms from South Africa where a covert operation was mounted with the active connivance of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria yet Nigeria’s military was officially unable to procure arms in its prosecution of the war against Boko Haram because it had become a laughing stock in the international community. All of these are not the hallmark of someone not pursuing a personal and sectional agenda but point to an attempt at ensuring electoral dominance, which, if it is not towards personal power, would be a preparation for a soft landing, whereby political power would be returned to the north under the guise of “national harmony cohesion, unity, security, political stability, progress, equity, justice and fairness above any personal ambition or sectional agenda”. Either way is not acceptable to Yorubaland. That OPEC would reject Allison-Madueke as Secretary General was a signal of Goodluck Jonathan’s rejection by the West which is now entering its final lap. The geopolitical North would not field a progressive candidate for the PDP, while the APC will have to battle within itself to make such a certainty as even Buhari himself had, in his previous attempts at the Presidency, made True Federalism a major plank of his quest, which, if pursued at this time, would endanger his own chances in the north. The end result would be that both major parties would field conservative and reactionary candidates and what these Yoruba enablers of Goodluck Jonathan would have us believe they are fighting against would have become a fait accompli under Jonathan’s direct supervision. Once, the Governor of Ogun State stated that Gbenga Daniel, another Goodluck Jonathan foot-soldier, is not Yoruba and it is now also being said that Segun Mimiko is not Yoruba. Both became accepted into Yoruba socio-political make-up simply because Yorubaland would not discriminate against anyone as it is a welcoming society proven by its existentialism through the ages. It is important to note, however, that the concept of a “foreign” Yoruba became a political issue in Ondo State under Segun Mimiko, where Yoruba from other states outside Ondo became labelled as “foreigners” simply for being in the political opposition; for Gbenga Daniel, his tenure in Ogun State was dominated by a deliberate, vulture-like under-development of the entire state such that even the elite who ordinarily would have been unperturbed by the then social and economic chaos in Nigeria, found its voice in opposition. Of course, this would not be the first time Yoruba tyrants would decimate the land, especially when, in contemporary times, we have had the Adedibu experience to show for it. Even so, with an Adedibu doing an Obasanjo bidding, we can also see that Obasanjo would rather leave Nigeria as it is, “unrestructured”, even while ensuring the dominance of the military politicians, rather than neutralize whatever was left in the hands of the ethno-Nationality. The issue is that, in historical times, even up to the second republic, resolution of the crises promoted by these Jonathanian types were always almost in the hands of the Yoruba nation and people; whereas, were Segun Mimiko and Gbenga Daniel to get away with their Jonathan-induced unitarization agenda, any form of resolution would be taken away from Yoruba nation and people and handed over to the central authorities. The task before the entire Yoruba nation, globally, therefore, is to see to the complete neutralization of this unitarist agenda and making its foot-soldiers in Yorubaland as politically irrelevant as possible.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 10:19:02 +0000
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