In less than two weeks from now, history would have been made. President Goodluck Jonathan would go down in history as the first Nigerian incumbent president to be voted out of office. The reasons for his ouster come February 14 presidential polls are numerous. Some of them are here:
Politicization Of Security Agencies
President Goodluck Jonathan appears to be so desperate to hang on to power that he politicizes every thing and lately, including the security agencies. First, the Department of State Security Service (DSS) broke into the office of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos and carted away its computers on trump up claim that it was cloning INEC’s data. Then came the so-called certificate issue being peddled by the Federal Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the military was now being made to sing in discordant tunes as never witnessed in the history of Nigeria. First they said “Buhari’s certificate is with us”. Later they said: “ Buhari’s certificate is not in his personal file”. How can the military say the Buhari’s certificate is not with them yet they were able to provide his grades contained in the certificate? Do we now have a professional military in the service of the nation or a military in service of GEJ? Or is the Nigerian Military Institution now at the service of the nation or the service of the PDP? Is Mr. President supposed to train, retrain and fully equip the army as an agile fighting force alive to its constitutional responsibility or drag them into politics? That was how the military announced a phantom ceasefire with Boko Haram whereas the military authorities were dealing with crooks who fooled them into Chad believing they were dealing with representatives of Boko Haram. This was a big national embarrassment and shame that President Jonathan’s military threw the nation into an embarrassing situation, when citizens expected them to be alive to defending the nation’s territorial integrity.
President Jonathan promised Nigerians that once the location of the kidnaped Chibok girls was known that the girls would be rescued in six hours. Nigerians were told by the military about a year ago they have found the location of the girls, where lies the President’s promise. What about the so-called killing of Boko Haram’s Leader, Shekau? The Nigerian army said they have killed him. Yet, months after the purported killing, Shekau is still releasing videos of himself threaten brimstone and fire and murdering more Nigerians while the President looks very helpless. What about the $1billion it went to borrow to fight Boko Haram? What have they done with that huge amount of money? This is why Nigerians believe the Jonathan government is clueless.
Poor Performance
Just like the wife, President Goodluck Jonathan went for his Presidential campaign in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State and said “I have created unemployment.” and many people felt that it was a slip of the tongue, but Jonathan has actually created unemployment in Nigeria. First, having inherited about 4,000 megawatts of electricity from the Obasanjo administration and he has crashed total electricity generated to around 2,700 MW across the country, industries that were hitherto depending on electricity generated from the national grid have had to pack up and new ones could get underway. Existing industries are operating at a higher cost of production owing to lack of electricity. Through this, Jonathan has created unemployment for millions of our University and college graduates.
Also, Jonathan is campaigning that he established 13 new Federal Universities in states that hadn’t federal universities. This was after he was attacked by Nigerians for citing Federal University in Utuoke, his water logging village. Now, the educational sector is buffeted with myriads of problems that has kept public university and Polytechnic lecturers on strike for better part of his administration. Some of the agitation of the lecturers is poor funding of the universities as a result of non-committal of 26 per cent of annual budgets on funding of education, wage improvement and research funding. It is after funding existing public universities, in such a way that research is now supporting government’s policies and programmes then you go ahead and establish more, not for political expediency as President Jonathan has done. That is why he now goes to most state capitals now on campaign to tell them that he gave them a Federal Universities, at a time the Federal Government is supposed to be devolving existing universities to state governments. You establish universities to serve people, not to play politics. What is the state of such universities? What infrastructures are in place there? What about the manpower? What of the much needed funding? Are they in place in these new universities?
Corruption Personified
Nigerians are united in their conviction that President Goodluck Jonathan is corruption personified. No body was effectively prosecuted and sentenced for corruption and money laundering in spite of the obvious stealing and mindless looting of public resources. Jonathan is notorious for providing incentives and rewarding corruption. The pardon granted some of the most corrupt Nigerians and honouring some with National Merit Award makes rubbish of whatever he has to say of anti-corruption.
Not the Best of Allies
President Goodluck Jonathan has around him characters that are capable of sinking him unknown to him. Some of them are Femi Fani-Kayode, a man who in sane society should be in prison for maoney laundering. His mentor, Diepriye Alamiyesigha , Chief Edwin Clerk, and Ex- Niger Delta militants, Asari Dokubo, Kingsley Kuku , Victor Ben Ebikabowei aka Boy Loaf, Government Ekpudomenowei, aka Tompolo, Chief Tony Anenih aka Old Pussy Cat, Alison Madueke, Former Aviation Minister and buyer of bullet proof cars, Labaran Maku, and many more. He trust them so well that he does not know when they are leading him to the slaughter slab. But there is an old maxim that says “show me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” We can not say this is who President Jonathan is given his army of allies that Nigerians know too well.
Dame Patience As Stump Of Shame
Another major minus to President Goodluck Jonathan is his wife, the First Lady of Nigeria who has conducted herself in ways and manners that have today taken something away from the exalted office. Apart from her comic relief of speaking half-half English with some sandwiched with Okrika Language, the First Lady is intellectually bankrupt and cannot help the husband whose PhD degree is still being interrogated by Nigeria who are curious how a PhD holder could run a nation aground in such a short while.
Dame Patience Jonathan is notorious to have murdered the English Language through some of her spoken words considered the worst since the history of Nigeria. Some of them are: “My fellow widows”, Nigeria is a great continent”, “I travelled to abroad to rest in peace” “Ojukwu is dead but his manhood still lives on”, “ the doctors are responding to treatment” “Great people of Okrika. This is my husband junior brother, a former minister of Education..I have tasted him and he is good…Nyesom Wike is your incumbent, incoming governor,” among several other terrible jargons she’s been using to crack the ribs of Nigerians who are fed up with her outlandish lifestyle that does not in any way support office of Mr. President.
Nigerians believe that Jonathan is the architect of his collapsed image because he has a wife he has very little or no control over, yet he wants to continue to rule others. One readily recalls his internecine war with Timipre Silva and how he booted him out of office and trailed him everywhere with EFCC.
They were quick to install Siriake Dickson as his successor. Same Dame Patience Jonathan again commenced another bout of trouble with Governor Dickson. Today, the first Lady is up in sleeves in her desperation to throw out Governor Siriake Dickson, while the husband looks the other way. If Buhari overruns Jonathan in Bayelsa State on February 14 polls, Jonathan must hold the wife accountable, if he can.
Dame Patience it was that tore his relationship with the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. Dame Patience Jonathan had openly grabbed a microphone from Governor Amaechi in a public gathering, since then Jonathan fell apart with Amaechi.
Misguided Attacks On General Buhari
Afraid of his poor performance and the towering popularity of General Muhammadu Buhari, President Goodluck Jonathan and his ilk have continued an unnecessary attack on his person and candidacy as the APC presidential flag bearer. From a needless accusation of being the sponsor of Boko Haram to a needless certificate folk tale to a campaign of calumny that he was too hard as a Military Head of State. Lately they talk of his age. If the age of Buhari is a bad one, may all those speaking against it not attain it. But what is the age of Chairman of BoT of PDP? What is the age of the immediate past chairman of PDP? What is the age of 3/4 of the BoT members of the PDP? What is the age of the current Africa Union Chairman and President of Zimbabwe, who has ordered the raising of 7,500 AU soldiers to fight Boko Haram for Nigeria? So, it is not a function of age , but what you can do for those you represent.
Nigerians are united in going to the polls come February 14 to vote out President Jonathan and the PDP that has pauperised them for 16 years now. Nigerians are set to vote for change to usher in a new administration that would bring about good governance for our people both at home and in Diaspora,
Mr. Dan Owegie is a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State.
President Goodluck Jonathan
