The incumbent president and one of the presidential candidates in the 2015 election, Goodluck Jonathan has disappointed Naij.com’s constant contributor Bayo Olupohunda over the years. In his exclusive contribution to Naij.com, Mr Olupohunda explains why he will not be thrilled should Jonathan win the elections and become Nigeria’s number one citizen for another four years.
Before I begin this piece, let me voice a caveat: my beef with President Goodluck Jonathan administration has nothing to do with his candidacy in this week’s election; for the avoidance of doubt, I did not vote for him in 2011. On Saturday, I will still not vote for him. I will rather abstain than sear my conscience. My grouse with the president also has nothing to do with his person. After all, we have been told that he is a good man who cannot hurt a fly.
My anger is with his position as the president of Nigeria. I have been a known critic of the president since he proved himself a leader not different from those past leaders who have ensured that our country never achieves her potential years after independence.
I have consistently criticised the president’s performance and style of governance. I have expressed dismay at his several embarrassing public gaffes and faux pas when he offered opinions on national issues. For these, I have no apologies. Really, I am often surprised when the president’s supporters express concern that he is “the most criticised president”. My answer to them is: the president is a public figure. He should expect to be criticised. That is the nature of the job. If the individual who aspires to lead a complex society like Nigeria expects it to be a walk through the park, then that person should steer clear of leadership — the seat is a hot kitchen that will always emit uncomfortable and scorching heat. In his time, even former President Obasanjo was daily criticised mostly by his Yoruba ethnic group. Former US President George Bush had a shoe thrown at him. No Nigerian has thrown a shoe at Jonathan. That does not mean he does not deserve to be so treated.
Since his administration took off in 2011, I have been unyielding in my criticism. Not because I hate the President, I do not. Rather, because the much-awaited Jonathan administration has not lived up to the symbolism of his presidency — as the face of the oppressed and marginalised Nigerians which his emergence represents. That the president has not fulfilled the aspirations of ordinary Nigerians is why I am hurt and disappointed. Considering that the president now measures development with the number of private jets a citizen possesses, you will understand my pain. As he faces another election, I have become indifferent to the outcome of this election. If you ask me, I do not care if he wins or loses.
My predicament with Jonathan’s presidency has nothing to do with his lackluster performance, but rather, with a disappointment that he failed expectations of leading an administration set to become a “breath of fresh air,” a symbolism inherent in his emergence.
Four years after, have I not been proven right? Six years down the line, I am still convinced a mistake was made in 2011.But now, the foul stench of malfeasance emitting from his corruption-ridden administration threatens the future of our country. In 2011, I was skeptical about the Jonathan’s “phenomenal” candidacy that was sweeping throughout the country. Even when my friends and everybody around were excited about what Jonathan represented, I had my reservations about entrusting the affairs of our country into the hands of a recluse. But it seemed I was alone in my skepticism.
Indeed, a terrible mistake was made in making President Jonathan even a vice-president. They have told us how Jonathan has transformed Nigeria with his elusive “Transformation Agenda”. We have heard how he has transformed the agricultural sector; how the trains have started working again; they said, the roads are better now. They have bandied rebased statistics of being the largest economies in Africa — nay, the world.
I am not worried about those. Any president, controlling our vast resources and trillions in budgetary spending, should transform Nigeria into a first-world country. Yet, our president and his handlers are celebrating a government of tokenism riddled with corruption. Is this the “breath of fresh air” Nigerians were promised in 2011?
President Jonathan does not seem to understand the symbolism of his emergence. The president gloats in the tangible achievements of his administration, yet fails to understand that his emergence was hinged on the intangible expectations of his presidency.
Why is it difficult to understand for the president and his kitchen cabinet that the symbolism of his emergence as the first minority president is hinged on his ability to unite the country? That it will not be business, as usual.
That his presidency will heal the wounds of our ugly past?
Why does the president not understand that ordinary Nigerians expect him to stand by them all the way and not surround himself with fat cats in Abuja who own private jets? The president even had the temerity to rub it in our faces that ownership of private jets is the measure of how well Nigerians are doing.
Yet, statistics have shown that about 100 million Nigerians are wallowing below poverty line. There is no denying how widespread corruption has contributed to the growing poverty among Nigerians.
I am not a fan of the president because he has not provided the needed leadership to inspire the country. Look at the states where governors behave like lords of the manor because the man at the centre is weak, so they steal our country blind.
I am not a fan of the president because the country is more divided today than when he assumed the mantle of leadership. The president acts more like an ethnic president than a national president voted for by all Nigerians. He allows ethnic irredentists to fester and heat up the polity with hate and ethnic-baiting rhetoric that portrays him as an ethnic Ijaw president, much to the consternation of Nigerians.
The president’s failure to rein his ethnic spokespersons is the reason why Nigeria is so divided along religious and ethnic fault lines today. Not even in the time of the former President Obasanjo has this country been this divided.
Obasanjo, with all his faults, was nationalistic and ran an inclusive government. Even his Yoruba ethnic stock never had a sense of entitlement.
President Jonathan may win on Saturday. But if he does not change his style of administration and behave like a Nigerian president; if he continues his latter-day deception on the issue of Boko Haram, as when he pretended to care while finally visiting the Northeast, my opinion of him will never change. If he continues to divide our country along ethnic and religious lines, as he has done in the last four years, I will never be his fan even if he becomes a president for life.
Bayo Olupohunda, a renowned Nigerian educator and columnist
This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/407233-bayo-olupohunda-disappointed-by-goodluck-jonathans-leadership.html
No comments:
Post a Comment