We have not been fair to Jonathan 0 By Ducor Handel on August 15, 2014 · Opinion “I so desire to conduct the affairs of this administration that if, at the end when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me.” - Abraham Lincoln Contrary to the apparent indifferent response in certain circles, President Goodluck Jonathan has achieved a commendable timeline for the systematic reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Northeast, devastated by Boko Haram insurgency. Such executive collaborative intervention that has attracted international attention and partnership is exactly what the situation requires, rather than the misplaced effort by some delegates at the National Conference who nearly ruined the historic dialogue by introducing a 5% special fund specifically for the northeast in addition to another 5% already earmarked for the development of solid minerals, which will mainly benefit the North. What Jonathan’s relief timeline for the region shows clearly is that there has not been any dull moment in his quest to uplift the region and get the states therein on their feet again. Although the press has not been able to properly capture this, it is all the same available for all to see. The abduction of the Chibok School girls took place in April, precisely on the 15 and within the same month the presidency invited Borno State education officials as well as the School’s principal and WAEC representatives to Abuja for what was believed to be a preliminary investigation into the matter. This was followed in May/June by a Presidential Investigative Committee headed by a retired senior military officer. The panel has since completed its task and submitted its report to the President. The same month, obviously taking advantage of the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) which he hosted in Abuja, Dr. Jonathan in collaboration with the World Business Coalition for Education (WBCE) launched the Safe Schools Initiative estimated at $100m. This was followed on June 17 by a Comprehensive National Emergency Relief Fund which integrated the Safe Schools Initiative. One month later, on July 16, the Presidential Committee for Victims’ Support was inaugurated in Abuja, with Gen. T. Y. Danjuma as Chairman. The fund proper was recently launched in Abuja in what was described as “a well-attended event.” The fund will be operational almost immediately with Chibok community as a major beneficiary. Then on July 22, President Jonathan hosted the 51 girls who had escaped from Boko Haram’s captivity. They came with their parents and the parents of their mates who are still being held. Needless to say they were handsomely blessed by the President in cash, and assurances that have concrete backing. In spite of this superb handling of the security challenge and the resultant abduction matter, it does not appear to me that Nigerians have displayed sufficient gratitude to President Jonathan due to the strange nature of our politics which has effectively coloured and obscured everything so that we hardly appreciate performance and beauty anymore. But Jonathan should not bother for every great leader in history had faced similar situation. The President should not feel distracted but persist in the good work. Abraham Lincoln suffered a similar fate to the extent that he was forced to declare his resolve and remain who he was in spite of attempts by his detractors to make him something else. In the end he won, and today the Americans regard him as the greatest president ever. Jonathan struck a chord while addressing his Chibok guests when he stressed the need for care in any enforced effort to rescue the girls. “We want the girls out but we are very, very mindful of their safety. If they are killed in any rescue effort then we have achieved nothing”, he said – a fact that those trying to stampede the government into a rescue operation seem not to have reckoned with probably because they are still subjecting the whole thing to partisan politics. This is why Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s recent advice to our politicians should not fall on deaf ears. At the end of the last Council of State meeting in Abuja, briefing the press, Oshiomhole told Nigerian politicians to subordinate partisan political interests to national security interests. His words: “We politicians should be more sensitive to national security. When it comes to national security partisanship should give way and all hands should be on deck and speak with one voice in denouncing terrorisms”. Oshiomhole spoke the mind of every well-meaning Nigerians. Terrorism is a global phenomenon affecting many countries, including the United States, Britain, Kenya, Italy, Colombia and a host of other nations, besides those in the Middle East from where it was exported to Nigeria. Terrorism is by no means restricted to Nigeria and should not be seen as President Jonathan’s “business” to tackle. Boko Haram poses real national threat that does not discriminate between protagonists of the ruling PDP and the main opposition platform, the APC. A former Ghanaian President Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings once told Nigerians to seize the opportunity of Jonathan’s Presidency to build and entrench democracy in the country because the man “is a consensus builder” – the same quality which his critics mistake for weakness or inability to take prompt action. Jonathan understands what it takes to preside over a complex and delicate polity like Nigeria under a democratic dispensation. According to an African proverb, if you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together. Jonathan has gone so far, and is poised to go farther because he believes in going together. Being not rash in taking decisions, he carries everybody who matters in his government along in the policy formulation process. By so doing mistakes that result in policy summersaults such as the Odi and Zaki Biam killings during the OBJ era and the Bartholomew Owo, Glory Okon and the 53 suit cases blunder of the Buhari regime. Had Prime Minister Anthony Eden’s government in Britain consulted beyond his kitchen cabinet in 1956 he wouldn’t have inflicted the Suez Canal debacle on the country in 1956. Ditto for President Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs blunder of 1961. Jonathan knows that those who refuse to learn historical lessons are bound to repeat historical mistakes. He has eloquently demonstrated that true heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. True heroism is not the urge to surpass all predecessors at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. By not visiting Chibok yet he is not demonstrating cowardice, after all he passed a night in a Maiduguri that was then surrounded by the Haramites.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:08:17 +0000
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