President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday re-echoed his earlier advice to politicians to avoid sowing the seed of discord and hatred through their utterances ahead of the 2015 general elections.He also reminded opposition politicians that Nigeria does not belong to anyone and cannot be considered anybody’s personal estate. PremiumTimes NG I doubt if this is the type of speech that resonates with us and makes charismatic leaders in the Nigerian context. Long years of real democratic leadership interregnum and societal depravity make such humanly and humble messages come across as a pantomime of weakness . We prefer being treated with iron hands and controlled with bestiary threats like elections being a do or die affair, Baboons and Dogs soaking up in blood,if we dont pander to the power grabbing whims of the aristocrats we have been hemmed to be vassals to. Goodluck Jonathan may really have not been inspiring on many grounds and far from being the needed ideal,but I admire the equanimity and humility with which he approaches issues. His tolerance and respect for democracy is something we also take for granted, considering our recent past. This morning I read how a 16 year old was hounded by the police in Turkey for criticising Erdogan, and for many reasons I couldnt but dread the sceptre of such draconian and oppressive tendencies coming to fore,if Nigeria,post 2015, does not plunge into the Yugoslavian nether of cataclysmic implosion,in a Buharis presidency. Would teeming young bloggers,like yours truly, still reserve their dignity and rights to release bottled up frustrations in a cathartic manner ,and freely disagree with the government of the day on sundry issues like we presently do, and like some in this present regime, insolently use abusive and disparaging words on the President, and be tolerated, not arrested like it used to be in a not too distant past when the likes of Soni Irabori Irabor were made scapegoats in a system that pointedly abhorred freedom of speech,in a Buhari’s Presidency? Would someone like me, who for the past six years of my existence on the social media, standing the risk of exposure to government actors on same medium, have been an ardent proponent of systemic restructuring premised on regional federalism,using every media ,and doing my bits with sociopolitical movements that share my aspiration, in propagating it, not have to start seeking asylum overseas?
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 10:13:48 +0000
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