MY FEELINGS ABOUT PRESIDENT JONATHAN This is probably the 100th time I would be dwelling on this subject. I have been accused of being too hard on President Jonathan. Some even say that I hate the President. My comments and criticisms of this government have offended some of my good friends, surprisingly. I have told them privately and publicly to suggest to me anything good about the government that I could talk about. I would gladly talk about anything good in the government if I could find any. I have no personal stake in these things. I am not campaigning for any candidate. However, as an informed Nigerian, I have my feelings and views on what the future holds for this country. I would like to be fair to President Jonathans camp. But being fair does not meant that I should suspend my own knowledge, my own observations, my own assessment of the facts or my own feelings. Since I did not see anything I could praise Jonathan on, I have asked my friends that are with him to feel free to speak their minds and praise the President if they wanted. But my friends are not satisfied with that. They want me to speak their minds about the President for them. Their minds think Jonathan is a messiah, but they want it to be my mouth that would say it. Is that fair? Are they being fair to me? Since that is what you feel, why not say it yourself? Why should I be the one to say it for you? Or why should I shut up because you are silent? I have the right to hold a viewpoint. I have the right to look at something and tell you what I saw. I am not going to say what you saw. It is what I saw that I would speak about. Yes, I am worried about the accusations from Jonathans camp. They are running me down wherever they could. They are conspiring on how to attack me. I dont want to be perceived at the man against Jonathan because I am not. I want to see myself as an independent honest observer of history, but who feels free to comment on what he has seen. In this regard, I borrow from my idol, Voltaire. (Voltaire was persecuted and vilified all his life. But in his last moment, the streets were lined up with multitude to honour him). I really wish I could shut up. But it is in my blood not to shut up in face of injustice and abuse of power. However much I please you with my silence or with my false praises of Jonathan, I shall gravely offend my own conscience by such silence or false praise. Now, in my own opinion, President Jonathans administration is absolute disaster of unmitigated proportions. I know you will interpret this as a support for Buhari. But really, it need not be. Only few governments in human history failed as much as Jonathans administration failed. And what is my concern about this? Am I a politician? No, I am not even a member of any of the parties. Yes, previous regimes in Nigeria did just as bad if not worse than Jonathan. That is the popular argument of Jonathans supporters. I may agree with that. But I also hold the view that Jonathan was our best hope of overcoming the age-long problems that held Nigeria nailed to the walls. Our expectations were high and our hope was immeasurable. Jonathan was our elephant, whom we expected to give birth to elephants. But that elephant gave birth to mice and cockroaches. And now his supporters will like to point at the roaches and mice as evidence of progress. He tried, they would say. Lets praise him, they would urge me. Not my kind of person. I shall speak the truth as I feel it in my heart, whatever the consequence. Those who dont want to hear my views raise all kind of issues. Among them is their claim that DPA has turned into political attack vehicle. How so unfair? How so untrue? When it comes to our opportunity to express ourselves here, I do not have greater opportunity than those who supports the President. They can express themselves here. So, really, in so far as we would not hold DPA responsible for their opinions, why would they hold DPA responsible for my opinion? Is it not a free world and a free place for us all to say out minds? Or should I just shut up to please people? God forbid that! God gave me so much and God blessed me so abundantly. All that could not have been so that I would keep quiet and join the line. If God wanted me to be silent, He would have created me differently. He couldnt have given me this extraordinary energy so that I would crawl and hide under the bed. We can ignore everything else about this Government and focus on one thing. How come that the biggest economy in Africa, the strongest army in Africa (which was counted upon to save Sierra Leone and Liberia) could not protect its own people? How come? How come that Nigerian communities and children and women have to flee for safety in Cameroon and Chad (none of which is even up to two states in Nigeria)? How come that Nigerian children are in cameroon learning Cameroonian national anthem? How come that thousand of the citizens of the biggest economy in Africa are now on their knees thanking Cameroon for bread? It is mind boggling, but that is if you have a mind. For me, Jonathans failure is mainly in his decision to look for excuses instead of acting. He blamed the insurgency on political opposition from the North. And some clueless millions of Nigerians from other ethnic groups bought into that and cheered him on. But the fact is that as the President of Nigeria, he swore an oath to protect every Nigerian from every known threat to life. In fact, the State has the right to protect a baby from its mother if she threatens the babys life. If it is not okay for a mother to kill her child, why would Jonathans government be contented with the idea that the insurgency is sponsored by the Northerners so it is okay for it kill thousands of civilians in the North? How could he? Is he that clueless? To sum it up, I would say that I feel about President Jonathan the same way Father Mbaka felt about him. Mbaka said that Jonathan is a good man, who surrounded himself with evil men and idiots. It does not take time for such evil influences to corrupt the leader. Yet Jonathan still has a chance, but only one more chance, to save himself and restore his name in the golden books of history. There is just one thing he needs to focus on now and he could still end up a great leader to whom Nigerians would be grateful. But those around him may never let him. (The above is my personal opinion. Do not blame it on DPA. We all are the DPA, but we hold individual opinions and viewpoints.)
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:25:19 +0000
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