Friday, 22 February 2013
Monday, 17 December 2012
Jega’s Promise And The 2015 Elections
While fielding questions from members of the press a few days ago, Professor Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), promised that he would make the 2015 el
ections “remarkably” better than the 2011 general elections. That statement alone, which, on the face of it, should encourage people and gladden their hearts, has instead drawn the ire of many Nigerians.
Unless the INEC chairman wants to lie to himself, he should be the first to know that he has serious credibility problems at the moment – a direct aftermath of his conduct of the 2011 general elections – and, as someone who generally considers himself Jega’s friend and well-wisher, I say that he needs to do everything to start restoring his image.
Professor Jega’s image was simply in the clouds just before the elections. People talked romantically about his antecedents and, even though Nigerians didn’t expect magic, they thought that, in the very least, they would see something close to what the nation saw under Professor Humphrey Nwosu or even Justice Ephraim Akpata, the first chairman of INEC as we know it today.
But what eventually happened put all of us in the very awkward situation of comparing Jega with Professor Maurice Iwu. And you know what? Many actually believed he was worse.
And I think Jega worsened his case with the way he behaved during the presidential election petition case, especially when he was asked to produce documents. But did I believe him when he said he would do everything to improve on 2015? No, I didn’t because I have not seen anything he has done to make me optimistic. But will the 2015 election be better and different from the 2011 elections? Yes, definitely so because no one is going to simply sit down trusting that Jega would be fair on his own.
The adage, “once bitten twice shy,” still holds very true. People are not just going to put their future in the hands of a couple of people. Nigerians are totally mobilised now and, if the Occupy Nigeria phenomenon is any pointer, then, I think all concerned should be careful about the 2015 general elections.
But it is also important to know that even if Jega sincerely decided to brave the odds against his employers and decided to change and the elections were held today, PDP would win the presidential election even without anybody rigging the process.
The opposition are still in a trance, still very confused about the pathway to victory. Nigerians are scared of a future life with the PDP but the opposition have not provided the alternative. The opposition parties, especially the CPC, ACN and the ANPP, are too weak standing on their own. None of them can win a presidential election on its own now and, unless they come together early enough to give time for organic blending, the PDP will sail with the wind at its back.
So far, they do not appear to be in any particular hurry. The Nigerian opposition clearly do not appear to understand that politics is a very, very serious business and that taking power from a sitting government in Africa is not a piece of cake. It requires very serious planning, cold strategising and unity. The Senegal experience is still very fresh in our minds. The PDP will win if the opposition do not come together to stop them from doing what they have been doing since 2003 to win.
They will also win because most Nigerians would not even bother to come out to vote if they do not think that their votes will make a difference. But, between now and 2015, a lot of water would go under the bridge – and 2013 will be critical.
And I see 2015 as very unpredictable. What is very clear, however, is that the status quo with the PDP is unsustainable. It is not even in the interest of the people. 2015 will also be compounded by the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan would be the standard bearer of the PDP. Jonathan has a right to contest and nobody can stop him.
Whether the president would seek re-election or not is squarely his decision to make and he has clearly made up his mind to do so and nobody within the PDP can stop him from becoming their candidate. President Jonathan’s case is very similar to that of President Lyndon Johnson. President Johnson was the vice president to President JF Kennedy and became the 36th president of the United States after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Johnson completed Kennedy’s term, contested in his own right in 1964 and won the election.
In 1968, he joined the presidential race to seek re-election and had actually taken part in the initial stages of the primary election which he won, but he had to withdraw basically because Senator Robert Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother, had joined the race. Johnson withdrew from the race only because he thought Robert Kennedy was more popular than him and was going to disgrace him at the polls and nothing else.
As we know, our presidential system draws kinship from the United States presidential system. The only difference between President Johnson of the United States and President Jonathan of Nigeria is that the PDP is not the American Democratic Party and has no rules when it comes to their primaries or, to put it more correctly, it is the president that draws up the rules for the primaries and can make changes or forge the law in the middle of the game as we saw when Obasanjo was attempting re-election in 2003. That is the legacy that Obasanjo left in the PDP and that is why, whether anyone likes it or not, Jonathan would get the PDP ticket. But that is only a scenario for the PDP.
On the other hand, Nigerians have become restless watching the opposition; and, if very soon they do not see any seriousness in their coming together, new tendencies are likely to emerge that will push the current opposition players aside.
This is clearly because Nigerians have become too impatient with the current opposition and are not likely to place their hope on them if they do not see any purposefulness – very, very soon. It is already a disturbing augury that they have not fused by the end of 2012. All said, with or without Jega improving, 2015 will not be business as usual. But it will be good for his image and the way he wishes to be remembered if he improveswww.facebook/operationnigeria
Unless the INEC chairman wants to lie to himself, he should be the first to know that he has serious credibility problems at the moment – a direct aftermath of his conduct of the 2011 general elections – and, as someone who generally considers himself Jega’s friend and well-wisher, I say that he needs to do everything to start restoring his image.
Professor Jega’s image was simply in the clouds just before the elections. People talked romantically about his antecedents and, even though Nigerians didn’t expect magic, they thought that, in the very least, they would see something close to what the nation saw under Professor Humphrey Nwosu or even Justice Ephraim Akpata, the first chairman of INEC as we know it today.
But what eventually happened put all of us in the very awkward situation of comparing Jega with Professor Maurice Iwu. And you know what? Many actually believed he was worse.
And I think Jega worsened his case with the way he behaved during the presidential election petition case, especially when he was asked to produce documents. But did I believe him when he said he would do everything to improve on 2015? No, I didn’t because I have not seen anything he has done to make me optimistic. But will the 2015 election be better and different from the 2011 elections? Yes, definitely so because no one is going to simply sit down trusting that Jega would be fair on his own.
The adage, “once bitten twice shy,” still holds very true. People are not just going to put their future in the hands of a couple of people. Nigerians are totally mobilised now and, if the Occupy Nigeria phenomenon is any pointer, then, I think all concerned should be careful about the 2015 general elections.
But it is also important to know that even if Jega sincerely decided to brave the odds against his employers and decided to change and the elections were held today, PDP would win the presidential election even without anybody rigging the process.
The opposition are still in a trance, still very confused about the pathway to victory. Nigerians are scared of a future life with the PDP but the opposition have not provided the alternative. The opposition parties, especially the CPC, ACN and the ANPP, are too weak standing on their own. None of them can win a presidential election on its own now and, unless they come together early enough to give time for organic blending, the PDP will sail with the wind at its back.
So far, they do not appear to be in any particular hurry. The Nigerian opposition clearly do not appear to understand that politics is a very, very serious business and that taking power from a sitting government in Africa is not a piece of cake. It requires very serious planning, cold strategising and unity. The Senegal experience is still very fresh in our minds. The PDP will win if the opposition do not come together to stop them from doing what they have been doing since 2003 to win.
They will also win because most Nigerians would not even bother to come out to vote if they do not think that their votes will make a difference. But, between now and 2015, a lot of water would go under the bridge – and 2013 will be critical.
And I see 2015 as very unpredictable. What is very clear, however, is that the status quo with the PDP is unsustainable. It is not even in the interest of the people. 2015 will also be compounded by the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan would be the standard bearer of the PDP. Jonathan has a right to contest and nobody can stop him.
Whether the president would seek re-election or not is squarely his decision to make and he has clearly made up his mind to do so and nobody within the PDP can stop him from becoming their candidate. President Jonathan’s case is very similar to that of President Lyndon Johnson. President Johnson was the vice president to President JF Kennedy and became the 36th president of the United States after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Johnson completed Kennedy’s term, contested in his own right in 1964 and won the election.
In 1968, he joined the presidential race to seek re-election and had actually taken part in the initial stages of the primary election which he won, but he had to withdraw basically because Senator Robert Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother, had joined the race. Johnson withdrew from the race only because he thought Robert Kennedy was more popular than him and was going to disgrace him at the polls and nothing else.
As we know, our presidential system draws kinship from the United States presidential system. The only difference between President Johnson of the United States and President Jonathan of Nigeria is that the PDP is not the American Democratic Party and has no rules when it comes to their primaries or, to put it more correctly, it is the president that draws up the rules for the primaries and can make changes or forge the law in the middle of the game as we saw when Obasanjo was attempting re-election in 2003. That is the legacy that Obasanjo left in the PDP and that is why, whether anyone likes it or not, Jonathan would get the PDP ticket. But that is only a scenario for the PDP.
On the other hand, Nigerians have become restless watching the opposition; and, if very soon they do not see any seriousness in their coming together, new tendencies are likely to emerge that will push the current opposition players aside.
This is clearly because Nigerians have become too impatient with the current opposition and are not likely to place their hope on them if they do not see any purposefulness – very, very soon. It is already a disturbing augury that they have not fused by the end of 2012. All said, with or without Jega improving, 2015 will not be business as usual. But it will be good for his image and the way he wishes to be remembered if he improveswww.facebook/operationnigeria
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Mubi Student Massacre: Gunmen Called Out Names Of Students Before Shooting Them
It was a bloody 52nd Independence Day gift for four higher institutions when gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram massacred 43 students on Monday. Many people wer
e injured, fueling fears that the death toll may rise. The schools attacked were Federal Polythecnic, Mubi, Adamawa State University and the School of Health Technology, Mubi.
The killings took place at a private hostel This is even as gunmen killed three students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), also on Independence Day, as residents of the Borno State capital witnessed shootings and bomb explosions. The city witnessed a war-like situation as the military Joint Task Force (JTF) engaged the militants. While the Federal Polythechnic, Mubi lost 26 students, 14 were killed at the other two higher institutions.
The remaining students hurriedly left the hostel. In the Adamawa attack, a church and some buildings were also burnt by the gunmen who shot indiscriminately. Although the attack on the students’ hostel took place outside the campus, the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi has shut down the institution whose examinations expected to start yesterday, had to be postponed. According to a senior staff of the institution, who doesn’t want tobe named, there was exodus of students from the campus while security had been beefed up at the hostels and the main campus.
A student who narrowly escaped the attack but lost two course mates, said that the gunmen stormed the area at 10.00pm and started shooting indiscriminately, killing many students who fled the private hostel for safety but were cut short by the bullets. The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Dr. Stanley Stephen, told our correspondent that though he was not on campus, but that the gunmen opened fire on the students, set ablaze a church and other buildings.
Dr. Stephen, however disclosed that no lecturer was affected, but confirmed that the polytechnic had been closed as a result of the attack even though the students were to start their exams this morning. The National President of ASUP, Mr. Asomugha Chibuzor, described the killings of the over 26 students at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi as unfortunate and that information available to him indicates that there was exodus of students. The ASUP boss appealed to the Federal Government to tighten security around all the tertiary institutions in the country to avert similar attacks.
He said the nation cannot continue to waste its youth through such killings and urged the government to stop the menace. At the Adamawa state University, Mubi, undisclosed number of students were reportedly killed by the gunmen, while staff and students fled the campusdespite the dusk-to dawn 24-hour curfew imposed on Mubi by the state government. As at Press time, heads of security agencies in the state were said to be heading for Mubi, and its environs.
The state government had imposed curfew about three weeks ago. The JTF was able to arrest about 158 Boko Haram suspects who had volunteered statements that facilitated apprehension of top shots. The JTF has also recovered over 600 weapons, Including Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), arrows, daggers and other sophisticated weapons in Mubi and its environs. Similarly, in the course of house-to-house search, JTF discovered a number of factories, where bombs and other sophisticated weapons were manufactured in Mubi.
In Maiduguri, the first explosion occurred at about 7am around Bayan Quarters area, headquarters of the Boko Haram sect where a lone bomber was blown off on Monday. Sources said the suspect who was on a mission to attack telecom facilities around the area suddenly ran out of luck as his car which was highly wired with explosive devices went in flame, leading to his death. While residents were still grappling with sporadic gunshots by JTF soldiers which trailed the explosion, another bomb targeted at the troops around a popular hotel along Lagos Street also went off, killing a soldier, three people were wounded
www.facebook.com/operationnigeria
The killings took place at a private hostel This is even as gunmen killed three students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), also on Independence Day, as residents of the Borno State capital witnessed shootings and bomb explosions. The city witnessed a war-like situation as the military Joint Task Force (JTF) engaged the militants. While the Federal Polythechnic, Mubi lost 26 students, 14 were killed at the other two higher institutions.
The remaining students hurriedly left the hostel. In the Adamawa attack, a church and some buildings were also burnt by the gunmen who shot indiscriminately. Although the attack on the students’ hostel took place outside the campus, the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi has shut down the institution whose examinations expected to start yesterday, had to be postponed. According to a senior staff of the institution, who doesn’t want tobe named, there was exodus of students from the campus while security had been beefed up at the hostels and the main campus.
A student who narrowly escaped the attack but lost two course mates, said that the gunmen stormed the area at 10.00pm and started shooting indiscriminately, killing many students who fled the private hostel for safety but were cut short by the bullets. The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Dr. Stanley Stephen, told our correspondent that though he was not on campus, but that the gunmen opened fire on the students, set ablaze a church and other buildings.
Dr. Stephen, however disclosed that no lecturer was affected, but confirmed that the polytechnic had been closed as a result of the attack even though the students were to start their exams this morning. The National President of ASUP, Mr. Asomugha Chibuzor, described the killings of the over 26 students at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi as unfortunate and that information available to him indicates that there was exodus of students. The ASUP boss appealed to the Federal Government to tighten security around all the tertiary institutions in the country to avert similar attacks.
He said the nation cannot continue to waste its youth through such killings and urged the government to stop the menace. At the Adamawa state University, Mubi, undisclosed number of students were reportedly killed by the gunmen, while staff and students fled the campusdespite the dusk-to dawn 24-hour curfew imposed on Mubi by the state government. As at Press time, heads of security agencies in the state were said to be heading for Mubi, and its environs.
The state government had imposed curfew about three weeks ago. The JTF was able to arrest about 158 Boko Haram suspects who had volunteered statements that facilitated apprehension of top shots. The JTF has also recovered over 600 weapons, Including Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), arrows, daggers and other sophisticated weapons in Mubi and its environs. Similarly, in the course of house-to-house search, JTF discovered a number of factories, where bombs and other sophisticated weapons were manufactured in Mubi.
In Maiduguri, the first explosion occurred at about 7am around Bayan Quarters area, headquarters of the Boko Haram sect where a lone bomber was blown off on Monday. Sources said the suspect who was on a mission to attack telecom facilities around the area suddenly ran out of luck as his car which was highly wired with explosive devices went in flame, leading to his death. While residents were still grappling with sporadic gunshots by JTF soldiers which trailed the explosion, another bomb targeted at the troops around a popular hotel along Lagos Street also went off, killing a soldier, three people were wounded
www.facebook.com/operationnigeria
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
OPERATION NIGERIA: IN DEFENCE OF THE PEOPLE
OPERATION NIGERIA: IN DEFENCE OF THE PEOPLE: Today and always, we refuse, reject any view, suggestion or preachment that seeks to excuse Nigeria's political leadership for the a...
IN DEFENCE OF THE PEOPLE
Today and
always, we refuse, reject any view, suggestion or preachment that seeks to
excuse Nigeria's political leadership for the avoidable socio economic,
political quagmire the country is enmeshed in the preceding 52 years
Most of
today, comments and recurring narratives around our not too impressive journey
as a country seems to place the blame for our baby- steps on the long suffering
people of Nigeria.
History of
our country is replete with a long, tiring, unrelenting struggle of the people
, first, to shake off the rapacious and exploitative stranglehold of the
colonialist, many suffered incarceration and some even paid with their lives,
from the Sokoto revolt of 1908, Aba women protest 1929,Imoudu's COLA strikes,
Iva valley massacre of the coal miners 1945 to Anglo Defence pact struggle of
Yaba and Ibadan students of 1961 and many more, Today we salute the courage and
untrammelled resilience of those patriots.
It is in
fact the determination of this martyrs and heroes that threw up those we now
celebrate as 'fathers of Nigeria's independence '
The people
basked in the euphoria of their freedom from the colonial predators, unknown to
them that majority of the new ruling elite were businessmen and fronts for the
departing exploiters.no sooner they took over through a combination of greed,
abuse of office and rascality than another set of rascals in uniform found
excuse to take over the reins of power thus plunging the country into a near
three year debilitating civil war.
The people
endured their wasteful regime and jackboot, from then under one guise or the
other successful coup plotters will run the country for a stretch and by some
hideous arrangement will hand over to their civilian collaborators and friends
largely sustained by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
All these
got to a head by the middle 80's to the beginning years of the 90's when the
people felt they had enough , rejecting military dictatorship and tyranny,
recall the anti-sap protests of '88 and '89, many again paid with their lives,
many student leaders were detained under the obnoxious decree 2 , many
victimized, rusticated, suspended and expelled, many labour and civil society
leaders lost their livelihood, suffered long detention occasioning health
complications that many never recovered from. Again today, we salute the heroes
and Martyrs of the struggle of this era
The people
in their bid for freedom continued to resist the antics of political guinea
pigging by the military and their collaborators voting across ethnic, religious
lines even when they understood clearly the hopelessness of 'Hope93' yet, it
was anything, but the despots.
Then came
the struggle to revalidate the mandate freely given by Nigerians on June12,
1993 to the late chief MKO Abiola. Over 200 citizens paid with their lives,
many were ‘raptured’, student leaders chucked out of school, trade union and
civil society Activists hunted, many were forced into exile, the battle and
contention raged, something had to give, local and international conspiracy
helped to resolve the political logjam.
The people
heaved a sigh of relief, in the closing year of the 90's the resolution of the
conspiracy threw up someone the collaborationists favoured, many felt he will
commit ‘class suicide’ having been a casualty and victim of the ruthlessness of
the maximum ruler, his gap toothed friend foisted on the country in the wake of
the June 12 debacle.
It turned
out the reverse was the case, this new band of beneficiaries of the struggle of
the people had as their sworn agenda to steal the country dry.
The people
were rudely shocked by this turn of events, but largely restrained by 'nascent
democracy' 'don't heat up the polity' first 'civilian to civilian transition'
and such other bunkum.
Not content with
the perseverance of the people, they sort to tinker with the constitution for a
weird third term, the people had enough.
In
retaliation and anger for the people’s rejection of the third term plot, they
foisted a terminally ill leader on an extremely energetic people.
The people
bore the lack of movement and proxy stealing of that period with 'he means well
for the country' let's give the 7point agenda a chance' and such bunkum that
was bandied at the time.
When the
worst happened, the people again came to rescue, to pave way for the man who
today punishes us for protesting that our constitutional order must be
respected, he ushered in the mantra of transformation agenda under the bogey of
transformation, our 2.6 trillion naira was stolen and nobody is in jail,
people's compulsory savings running in billions can't be accounted for and as
we speak nobody is in jail.
In January
all over the country the people rose and said they had enough.
Today we
salute the resilience of the Nigerian people and urge them to ignore the
puppets and puppeteers who seek to hold them responsible for where we are,
even, when many had given their toes, limbs, livelihood, lives and careers to
see a better country.
Everything
considered; it is obvious that Dr Goodluck Jonathan is overwhelmed by the
deluge of challenges that confronts him as the leader of Nigeria at this time.
Critical moment of time, we hear arguments like 'no government has been saddled
with the level of security challenge this government has faced ' and we ask the
question, if the president is demonstrably I'll prepared for contemporary
challenges of his time should he not honourably give way? Should those whose
expectations that with a PHD, chance Governor of a state, chance Vice president
and now President that he possesses the competence to truly transform the
country wait endlessly for an elusive kingdom of transformation, productivity,
performance and fulfilled promises.
Why is it so
difficult to appreciate that peace is elusive when he continues to honour
serial loan defaulters, known oil thieves, appoint persons who have pending
corruption charges into positions of responsibility ,retain in government
persons who have been openly accused by corporate entities of abuse of office
on issues bordering on conflict of interest.
Is it rocket
science to understand the link of corruption to social dislocation,
unemployment and insecurity, the link between a corrupt police, policing
system, complicit, corrupt customs and immigration i.e. porous borders to the
festering of terrorism?
The trouble
with Nigeria indeed is LEADERSHIP, many thanks to Chinua Achebe.
Ezenwa Nwagwu
Executive Director
Operation Nigeria
Operation
Nigeria is a civil society Organisation based in Abuja Nigeria
Jonathan’s Secret Assets Declaration
by
| SAM NDA-ISAIAH
The Monday Column - Last Word
Last week, the Code of Conduct Bureau made it known that President Goodluck Jonathan had declared his assets secretly, reminding Nigerians that the president really “does not give a damn” about public opinion.
The Nigerian president is quite touchy about this constitutional matter of assets declaration and has shown from his actions that if he had his way at all, that requirement would be expunged from our statute books. If Jonathan had to do his assets declaration secretly, then, he would not do it at all if he had his way. From an earlier media interview, he barely concealed his anger at his predecessor, President Umaru Yar’Adua, for making his own assets declaration public, thus forcing him as vice president to follow suit. Below is what the president said verbatim (unedited) during the media chat:
The issue of public asset declaration is a matter of personal principle. That is the way I see it, and I don’t give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven. When I was the vice president, that matter came up, and I told the former president, let’s not start something that would make us play into the hands of people and create an anomalous situation in the country. The law is clear. A public officer should declare his assets, and if there are issues, then, the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not. When it is said that people should declare their assets in public, it is not only the president and vice president, it includes everybody, including ministers.
When I was a governor in Bayelsa State for about a year before becoming vice president, I was investigated thoroughly. I have nothing to hide. But because I was under somebody and it was becoming an issue, because of the media, and because my boss had declared, it was said that the vice president must. I declared, not because I wanted to.
Initially, I said they can talk about it from morning to night. I will not. I said it is a matter of principle. It is not proper. If one amends the law to say that only the president and the vice should declare assets publicly, fine. But, presently, everybody who is holding political office is expected to do, and I say it is not right. Those who made the law knew why they put the law that way. I could be investigated when I leave office.
You don’t need to declare assets publicly, otherwise you are playing to the gallery. You don’t need to publicly declare assets. That’s a matter of principle. If I have to declare publicly, it means every political officeholder will have to declare publicly. And it is not the right thing to do. That is my belief.
It is not the president’s declaration of assets that would change the economy. There are challenges – security, power and revolutionising agriculture. These are areas we should be interested in. Whether Mr Jonathan publicly declares his assets or not is not the issue.
That revealing interview actually marked a watershed in the presidency of Jonathan. It has also decidedly defined everything about him and people are taking advantage of hindsight to say “we should have known”. Everything about President Jonathan is really about his not giving a damn. The other perception the president also gives about himself is that “I don’t give a damn about my reputation”. And anyone who doesn’t give a damn about his reputation is not cut for high office.
The problem with this president appears to be that he did not prepare himself for the office he now occupies. That is, even though he was vice president to a terminally ill president, he did not ready himself to become president. The president obviously also didn’t learn anything from his predecessor. All over the world, especially in a democracy but also in dictatorships, people who desire to be leaders of their countries groom themselves for the realities of that office. There are no schools where people are thought to be presidents of countries and no one teaches you when you become president but, at least, a president or one who thinks he could be a president prepares himself by studying the histories of his predecessors, where they went wrong and what they did right.
More serious people would actually look into the presidential histories of other countries, especially of those countries that have done very well. It is not for nothing that President Barack Obama has become a student of the presidencies and leadership styles of presidents Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton even though Lincoln and Reagan were Republicans, and he, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. He has quoted ideas from the presidencies of these former US leaders. And President Clinton it was who, a few weeks ago, gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to present Obama to the American public for a second term.
President Jonathan did not prepare himself at all and it shows so transparently in his conduct and utterances. A serious Nigerian president would not only have learnt the lessons from the good, the bad and the ugly of former Nigerian leaders and even the lessons from our nationalists, such a person would inevitably have to pick notes from such great world leaders as Nelson Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew, Mohammed Mahathir, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Deng Xioping and a host of others. A serious Nigerian president would also want to know why fellow African countries like Ghana and Botswana are doing well and see how some of their lessons could be grafted in Nigeria. It should also interest a serious Nigerian leader who really desires to lift Nigeria from its current state to know why and how more populated and probably more complex countries like Indonesia and Brazil have left us so far behind.
One common thread in all countries that become great is the attitude of their leaders toward corruption. No country ever develops or makes any progress in this world where corruption is not fought to a standstill. And Nigeria will never develop with the kind of mindset that people like President Jonathan have about corruption.
In politics and governance, perception is everything. The kind of perception Jonathan is sending by not giving a damn about making his assets public is that he doesn’t give a damn about corruption. And, indeed, Jonathan’s Nigeria doesn’t give the slightest damn about corruption. That is the only reason why some of his associates did not bat an eyelid while stealing N2.6 trillion under his watch, knowing full well that he doesn’t give a damn and stealing such a frightening amount would therefore have no consequences. And that is also why billions and billions of naira belonging to pension funds would be stolen under the president’s watch and he would not express the least outrage. All these and many, many more have made Jonathan’s Nigeria one of the most corrupt in the world and certainly the most corrupt so far in Nigeria’s very corrupt history.
Yes, the law does not make it mandatory to go public with a president’s assets declaration but there are certain messages that are sent out when a president makes it public. First, by doing that, a president who goes public would have challenged everyone on the fight against corruption. By going this extra mile, he would actually be throwing his hat in the ring and would be challenging all other political officeholders to go public (the same way that President Jonathan himself confessed that as vice president he was forced to go public because his predecessor went public). This message also has an in-built warning that he, the president, who has just gone public would have zero tolerance for corruption. And when you openly declare like Jonathan has just done — that he doesn’t give a damn about making his assets public and then proceeds to do it secretly — you send the message that you don’t give a damn about corruption. Jonathan should have found out why President Yar’Adua did it even if he thought his predecessor was playing to the gallery.
President Jonathan declared unashamedly that he went public with his assets declaration when he was vice president because he was under somebody who did it. If the president knows a thing or two about leadership, he would not degrade himself by saying that. But maybe the president is right after all. People like Jonathan must always be under “somebody” to do the right thing. The president’s office is about leadership, and should we be surprised that President Jonathan has failed abysmally?
A man who would not respond to popular public opinion on issues bordering on probity should not be president. If Jonathan had remained in OMPADEC, why should anyone want to know the value of his assets? And what is he hiding anyway? Maybe he doesn’t want us to know the wealth he amassed as deputy governor, governor and vice president. Next time Nigerians go fishing for a president, they must make sure that he is a person who gives a damn.
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