NationalMirror 2015, Jonathan and politics of endorsement OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU July 9, 2013 Ahead of the 2015 general elections, several groups and individuals have continued to try to outdo one another in endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term. OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU examines the intrigues and politics behind the gale of endorsements of Jonathan for president in 2015. Despite the warning handed down by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to the political class over the existence of ban on political activities, according to the relevant sections of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), different groups and individuals have continued to engage in various forms of campaigns for the 2015 elections, with the electoral umpire not being able to arrest the situation. The latest in the various methods politicians have continued to use to maintain the tempo of political activities towards the 2015 elections, was the gale of endorsements that have swept across the landscape in recent times, with different groups and individual doing everything to outdo one another in the sycophancy game. Political analysts and watchers of political events in the country have become apprehensive with the avalanche of endorsements that has come the way of President Goodluck Jonathan in recent times as the race towards the 2015 presidential election gathers full steam. As at the last count, the South-West Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; the PDP leadership, the South-South, the North Central, the South-East and the North-East geo-political zones have endorsed Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election. And if the endorsement of a particular candidate simply transmutes to victory, then every other candidates jostling for the 2015 presidential election may have lost the poll even before the start of the race. Other groups have also continued to endorse Jonathan and prominent among these groups is the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, SNPA, led by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, Ijaw National Leader and foremost supporter of Jonathan’s re-election bid, Edwin Clark and Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi. Individuals also have not been left out of the endorsement fever. The SNPA, after a two-day conference in Lagos last month issued a communiqué which indicated that Jonathan’s 2015 reelection bid foot soldiers, have infiltrated the rank and file of the Assembly. The communiqué read in part: “Accordingly, the Assembly passes a vote of confidence on Mr. President and notes that within the realm of constitutionality, nothing inhibits him to seek re-election if he so desires. “The choice of who becomes the President of Nigeria in 2015 resides with the Nigerian people and not subject to the authority, whims and caprices of any one person or persons.” Analysts believe that whichever language it was couched, the communiqué was a tacit endorsement of Jonathan for 2015. The South-West chapter of the PDP in endorsing Jonathan said: “After carefully xraying the President’s qualities and in view of the fact that he is constitutionally qualified to seek re-election, the forum unanimously endorsed him for a second term in 2015.” The zone also passed a vote of confidence in the transformation agenda of Jonathan. The PDP, speaking through its Board of Trustees, BoT, chairman, Tony Anenih canvassed for automatic tickets for not only Jonathan, but governors on its platform who have performed well. But analysts saw through the gimmick and concluded that the main beneficiary of that position by the PDP would be President Jonathon. Anenih disclosed this game plan last month at a dinner hosted by the President and attended by the leadership of the party. Anenih had said at the dinner: “I do not see anything wrong if the party grants automatic tickets to its president and governors, who are seeking a second term. With President Jonathan’s achievements in the power sector and others, I don’t think the party should find it difficult to give him an automatic second term ticket.” Coalescing under the aegis of the Congress for Equality and Change, CEC, the South-South and Middle Belt elders also joined the endorsement bandwagon, when they declared their support for President Jonathan. Led by Clark, the Congress, after a meeting with Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, last month told journalists that anyone who is qualified to be the president of the country, be it from the minority or majority, must be given the opportunity. Clark said: “Shehu Shagari did it in 1979 and 1983. Obasanjo did it in 1999 and 2003. In 2007, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory did it and if he had remained alive, he would have done it again in 2011. “So Jonathan is not a different person; he is a Nigerian. As the President of Nigeria, therefore, he too has the right to contest again. Nothing new about it because the constitution says you must contest for two elections and rule for eight years; it is only when you are disqualified.” Earlier in May, the Rivers State chapter of the PDP declared its total support for Jonathan saying that at the appropriate time, the party and the people of the state would stand by the President. Among individuals who have been singing the endorsement song are former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who declared that there was no vacancy in Aso Rock come 2015. Former militant leader, Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo not only endorsed Jonathan, but threatened that Nigeria would no longer exist if Jonathan did not return as Nigeria’s president come 2015. Alamieyeseigha, who was recently granted a presidential pardon by Jonathan after his conviction for looting Bayelsa State treasury when he was the governor, must repay the presidential kindness and went all out to endorse Jonathan because of the heavy burden he removed from his head. He said: “Aso Rock is not vacant. The Northern agitators will all at the appropriate time join the moving train. Those against President Jonathan contesting for presidency in 2015 may have their opinion, but I can assure you that President Jonathan will remain as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2015.” To Asari-Dokubo, “There will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere if Goodluck Jonathan is not president by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for.” Most surprising was the founder of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, who said that Nigerians have not been fair to Jonathan. Fasehun, who had severally in the past been very critical about Jonathan’s government, has suddenly turned a new convert after allegedly cornering a multi-billion naira contract to protect oil pipeline, said that the President should be given enough time to prove his mettle. His word: “We all talk about Jonathan. He is not responsible for our ill luck. These prob-lems have been building up for decades and are the results of the activities of previous governments. Jonathan is not a magician, the problems that have built up over four decades, you wouldn’t expect Jonathan to come up and solve them all. And Nigerians are not giving him the opportunity to have the peace of mind to deal with the problems. During election, certain people said they were going to make the country ungovernable for him. Is the country governable now?” Senator Bode Olowoporoku, a Second Republic Minister and chieftain of the PDP from Ekiti State, believed that Jonathan’s adoption and endorsement was not only a good omen for the country, but a fundamental issue that a minority is ruling the country, adding that in the history of the country, this is the first time the minority will have the opportunity to rule the country, therefore his adoption for a second term would be a welcome development. He said: “It is the minority who do not want Nigeria to scatter. The other major ethnic groups had one time or the other threatened the unity of Nigeria. Therefore, giving him the opportunity of second term is a good omen.” At the presidential dinner, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, apparently speaking on behalf of the South-East, castigated those who were sermonizing about a decision Jonathan reached to serve only one term and who were hell-bent on frustrating his second term ambition. This was just as former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, was quoted as saying: “You are with us, nobody can defeat you. We supported you the last time; we will do it again,” also apparently speaking on behalf of the South-West. The traditional rulers are not left out of the endorsement syndrome. At a meeting of traditional rulers from South -South and South-East last week in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the royal fathers pledged to support President Jonathan’s re-election. The monarchs expressed their preparedness to mobilise support for Jonathan to ensure the actualisation of his political ambition. They spoke in Yenagoa at the inauguration of the South-South and South-East Traditional Rulers’ Forum. According to them, the President had provided effective transformational leadership despite the glaring challenges facing the country. But, as the spate of endorsement support continue to pour in for Mr. President, the man himself is yet to make a statement about his participation in the 2015 election or otherwise. Since November last year, Jonathan has continued to say that he would only speak on his 2015 ambition in 2014. But despite this declaration, analysts believe that the President’s body language was different from his utterances. But the tragedy of all the endorsements was that those advocating for Jonathan’s return to the saddle come 2015 have not been able to convince Nigerians on the performance index upon which the President deserves a second chance, except playing the ethnic card. To the Oyo State chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Mr. Akin Oke, it is within the rights of expression of the endorsers to endorse Jonathan for President, but he added that it doesn’t matter who adopts who or who endorses who, as long as there was a level playing field for a credible, free and fair election to take place. His words: “The truth of the matter is that Nigerians will determine who is going to be their president when election comes, not somebody, somewhere adopting anybody. Whoever is adopted does not matter as long as there is free and fair election and Nigerians are given the opportunity to elect their president at the right time without any intimidation of any kind.” Also Senator Gbenga Kaka said: “We are not producing the president of the South- East, South-West or South-South. We are trying to produce the president of Nigeria. Let anybody try to adopt/endorse whoever he/she desires, when it is time, the people of Nigeria will determine their president.” Kaka told National Mirror that he has no problem with those endorsing Jonathan because they were exercising their fundamental human rights, but “we are just at the half term of the current tenure, therefore rather than overheating the polity, they should allow all of us that are elected to concentrate on the assignment given to us so that we may have time to confront the problems in our hand. It is too early to adopt this or that. They should not put cotton wool on the faces of Nigerians otherwise the consequences may be too grievous for all of us.” Analysts opined that going by the PDP’s interpretation of endorsement, Nigerians may be in for a big surprise in 2015, if the election did not go the way of the expectations of some people and thus seize the opportunity to create havoc. This was against the backdrop of the fact that there is the likelihood of different groups and individuals using the avalanche of endorsements for the President to create a lot of ripples in the political landscape. This was as other stakeholders in the PDP, especially those with their eyes on the plum job, like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have kicked against the endorsement circus. Some of these stakeholders may remain quiet for now, watching what some of them called the drama of the absurd and wait for the opportunity to strike back, yet others may continue to counter every move of the pro-Jonathan agitators and endorsers, not only in the PDP, but also outside of the party. It was therefore no wonder that the sociocultural pan-Northern group, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, quickly dissociated itself from the purported endorsement of Jonathan for second term by the CEC, disowning one of its own, Gen. Lawrence Onoja, saying that he was not representing the interest of the ACF. The Forum expressed dismay at Onoja, who was at the CEC closed-door meeting with Jonathan, saying: “We noticed with dismay that some members of this organisation have gone to the president and assured him that he must contest in 2015 election. We are really surprised that some members that went there are also members of ACF. “It is very sad that the Presidency has employed the divide and rule against the North. I am speaking particularly of two gentlemen; the two gentlemen I am referring to, one is ACF and the other is of Northern Elders’ Forum.” The reference here was to Onoja while Senator John Wash Pam was the other. The ACF further added: “We were surprised that they have gone to see the president, particularly Onoja that is here with us in ACF. We have gone with Onoja to every meeting we have held, and he turned round to say the president must contest in 2015, using the word, must.” Also, the Lagos State House of Assembly, described the series of endorsements of Jonathan for second term as “paid endorsements” which signified “the deep fears and trepidation been nursed by the PDP as the 2015 general elections continued to draw closer by the day.” Speaking through the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, Hon. Segun Olulade, the House maintained that PDP leaders have become desperate following the poor performance rating of the Jonathan administration in addressing the various challenges facing the country and the intra- party crises that threatened to tear the ruling party apart. It said that these added together has culminated in the “resort to crude ploys aimed at cajoling Nigerians and the rest of the world that all is well with the country.” Reacting to the gale of endorsements sweeping across the country, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the APC is not losing any sleep over the endorsements coming the way of Jonathan. Mohammed said that it is easier to get endorsements than winning election, saying: “If I go to the traditional ruler of my town to say I want to contest my state governorship election, whether he likes my face or not, he will surely openly endorse me or else he would face the wrath of the people who would accuse him of truncating their chance of producing the governor. But that he publicly endorses me does not mean that he approves of my ambition or is ready to support me at the polls. “So anybody can endorse anybody; endorsements do not translate to victory at the polls and can never translate to victory. We are not fazed by the spate of endorsements across the country, because endorsements don’t win election.” Meanwhile, some observers connect the ongoing endorsement spree to same weird events during the military transition programme, shortly after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections, where so many political elites abandoned their parties and endorsed the then military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha; saying that what is ongoing in the polity now is not new. It is just politicians playing their usual game. National Publicity Secretary of the pan Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said that what is happening now in the polity is just an entrenchment of personal interest by political jobbers, who see what they are doing as simply feathering their own nest. His words: “It is clear to those power entrepreneurs that the ground is shifting and something must be done to sustain the production line. It is all about themselves and the sustenance of the undue advantage that access to the seat of power has conferred on them. It’s not even about Goodluck Jonathan, as they would do it for any president on the throne.” But more worrisome is the fact that despite glaring infringement of the extant electoral laws, the electoral umpire, INEC, either deliberately or due to lack of the political will, has refused to take appropriate sanction against erring politicians, perhaps, as many in the opposition have come to say, for the simple fact that the President, who pays the INEC’s piper and therefore dictates the tune and the ruling party are involved. Or how else would one describe the INEC’s lack of action, despite its call on security agents to arrest anyone found flouting the law; or are the orchestra of endorsements for the President not breaking the law? As the race for who occupies the Presidential Villa come 2015 begins to gather momentum; and the foot soldiers of the President continue to strategise on how to outshine one another, Nigerians are watching with bated breath how the political class will play the game, but what is uppermost in the people’s minds is that the democratic experiment must survive.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 08:51:08 +0000
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