I recall the thought in an essay written by the
venerable Tai Solarin more than three decades
ago when General Yakubu Gowon the then head
of state (1966-1975) dithered and continuously
shifted the date the military government
promised to return the country to democratic
rule. Tai Solarin titled his essay “The beginning
of the end”.
Solarin’s essay was ominous for the fate of our
nation then because the end eventually caught
up with General Gowon’s dithering military
regime, which earlier commenced the social,
political, economic and moral decay which serial
military dictatorship had caused the nation.
Today, the increased clannishness, lawlessness
and impunity within the ruling party-PDP- and
by President Jonathan have raised similar
concerns of uncertainty about the future of the
nation. The ruling government’s impunity,
lawlessness and clannishness are splitting the
nation right in the middle. With Mr. Jang, the
impostor “Chairman” of NGF as one of his battle
axes, President Jonathan has split the
governors in the republic. The question is: will
he also split our nation?
This state of lawlessness has a history. It
assumed a high tempo when the Federal
Aviation Authority of Nigeria-FAAN- grounded the
plane owned by Rivers state government. Later,
citizens found the law to be on the side of the
Rivers state government and the governor, Mr.
Amaechi. This has given room for the
speculation that the FAAN implemented a
presidential script in spite of its protestations to
the contrary.
Before FAAN took out the River state
government’s plane, Mr. Amaechi had decided
to contest for the post of the Chairman of
Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). Paradoxically
while the PDP opposed Governor Amaechi’s
decision, the same party-PDP- made a case for
President Jonathan’s automatic ticket to contest
the 2015 elections. One wonders what manner
of democracy would oppose Amaechi’s right to
contest an election on one hand and support
President Jonathan’s right to contest another
election on the other hand.
But in splitting the nation, what is strange is
that President Jonathan is brazenly fraternizing
with Mr. Jonah Jang as the “chairman” of Nigeria
Governors’ Forum after Mr. Jang lost the
election. With the PDP’s deliberate muddling of
the argument, Mr. Jang’s improper conduct and
President Jonathan’s insistence on ignoring this
impropriety has raised what may be said to be a
verbal disagreement between the citizens and
PDP on the NGF election. Of interest in this
regard is the obvious distinction between
consensus and election, what they mean,
something the PDP has deliberately muddled up.
Verbal disagreement involves the disagreement
with meanings of words or concepts being used.
To resolve a verbal disagreement we identify the
words causing the disagreement and each
person states what they mean. The
conventional wisdom is that there is no real
disagreement with verbal disagreement because
people are using the same word differently.
But ethical violations often creep into so-called
verbal disagreement when those who disagree
are not using the same word while
simultaneously they deliberately insist that this
is what they are doing. This is the case with PDP
and the ruling government with respect to their
position on the NGF election and support for Mr.
Jang.
For example, while Nigerian citizens on one
hand talk about election in NGF, Mr. Jang and
the PDP are talking about a consensus, yet they
wrongly give the impression that the 16
governors under Mr. Jang and the rest of
Nigerian citizens are saying the same thing. But
the truth is that the two sides –Mr. Jang and the
sixteen governors on one hand and Nigerian
citizens on the other hand- are not saying the
same thing. Hence, for PDP, Governor Jang and
his group to muddle our conversation by subtly
replacing one concept-election-with another-
consensus- is problematic. And the consequence
of this act is dividing the nation down the line.
Still on verbal disagreement and the muddling of
issues by PDP and the ruling government. A
while ago Mr. Jang, PDP’s impostor “chairman”
claimed that a meeting of “NGF” will hold and
that after, governors will meet president
Jonathan to resolve issues concerning the
sharing of revenue to the three tiers of
government under the Federal Accounts and
Allocation Committee.

http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/140411-and-president-jonathan-splits-the-nation-by-adeola-ademoyo.html

Mr. Amaechi the elected NGF chairman replied
Mr. Jang and said the meeting Jang was calling
could not be a meeting of NGF. So, in view of
due process, could the meeting Governor Jang
and his 16 governors-under the guise of a
meeting of NGF- held with President Jonathan
concerning revenue sharing be said to be a
meeting of President Jonathan with Nigerian
governors? No, it was a meeting with a section
of the governors under the guise of meeting the
governors as a body. With this duplicity,
President Jonathan and Governor Jonah’s
impunity and disregard for due process on
issues like this split the nation down the line.
Hence, Mr. Jang’s antics are raising serious
ethical questions, one of which is whether it is
lawful and morally acceptable that Governor
Jang’s act is receiving the support of the
Nigerian state under President Jonathan. Amidst
all the meddling in and muddling of issues
around Nigerian Governors Forum by PDP and
President Jonathan, one wonders what exactly
President Jonathan wants from the NGF. For
example, the NGF is not different from the
American National Governors Association, yet we
do not read or hear that President Obama is a
proxy participant in the American NGA as
President Jonathan is a proxy participant in
Nigerian NGF-a participation that has split the
nation.
So taking a cue from President Jonathan some
associations have invested in this divisive project
for “their own” equally questionable sectional
calculations. Mr. Anthony Sani’s Arewa
Consultative Forum, Mr. Paul Unongo’s Northern
Forum, Mr. Junaid Mohammed’s Coalition of
Northern Politicians, Academics and
Businessmen, all of who are motivated by the
questionable “it is our turn” disease that the
“north” must “take back” power in 2015 –
without directly speaking to merit, a better social
vision for the country and the need to rescue
our nation from the present lawlessness-fall into
this danger of splitting the nation down the line
along regional divide.
But these “Northern” combatants need to be
reminded that the burning issue in our country
today is not the “North” or any so-called region
driven by “our turn” disease-an obviously
socially retarded Nigerian elite notion. Rather,
the issue is our nation, the need for a 21st
century social vision for our nation, the future
of our children, our mothers, and the elderly,
those in need of good health, the working
people, the unemployed, the illiterate, the
orphans, the dispossessed among us-all of who
are socially greater than the “North”, the “South”
the “East”, the “West”.
In a similar divisive agenda, a meeting of a
Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly organized by
Mr. Frederick Fasehun met in Lagos to advocate
for President Jonathan 2015 re-election.
Amusingly, to the warm embrace of President
Jonathan, Mr. Edwin Clark put a dangerous
religious stamp on the “Southern” combatant’s
agenda by organizing a complementary trip of
“Southern” and “Northern minority” “Christian”
to President Jonathan.
All these ominous signs are a dangerous
beginning of an end, the division of our nation
along primordial lines. The center and the
nation are inherently fractured with the Arewa
Consultative forum, Northern Forum, Coalition of
Northern Politicians, Academics and
Businessmen on one hand and the Southern
Nigerian Peoples Assembly and the Southern and
Northern minority Christian group led by Mr.
Edwin Clark on the other hand.
The new and re-invigorated mushrooming of
these divisive groups suggests a continuation by
other means what the sectional terrorist war the
morally weakened creek terrorists-MEND, Asari
Dokubo’s Niger Delta Force, and other creek
terrorists on one hand and their morally
weakened Savannah counterparts-Boko Haram –
have been unable to achieve through terrorism.
But curiously, President Jonathan does not seem
to care about this split in the nation. Desperate
for re-election he seems to court, cultivate and
cuddle the split in the nation. Rather than
embrace the whole and cultivate the center, he
is splitting the nation. This is a threat to and a
retreat from the nation. Our soul is being split.
And President Jonathan is oblivious that Nigerian
children both at home and in the Diaspora are
watching his body moves and language in this
matter. The question is: what is president
Jonathan teaching Nigerian children about
democracy if he is investing in a split of the
nation and in the turning of the consensus of a
PDP caucus within an enlarged group-NGF- to an
“election”? Is this a dress rehearsal for the 2015
elections?

Finally, suppose Nigerian children ask President
Jonathan the following questions in a civics and
government class: Did Mr. Jang who you
fraternize with as “Chairman” of the NGF and
who you are using to split our nation win an
election or was Jang a mere candidate of a
consensus of a caucus? If what you and
Governor Jang are doing is ethical and legal will
you President Jonathan administer the Jang
medicine in 2015 elections? I wonder how
President Jonathan would answer these
questions. Fellow citizens, this is 21st century. It
ought to be democracy and not “demon crazy”.
Our president is splitting the nation down the
line and citizens have the obligation to stop this.
President Jonathan’s actions, embraces and
body language show that he is comfortable
going into 2015 elections on the platform of
Christian/Muslim and South/North divide. This
forebodes a dire state for the fate of the nation.
This is not the way of a president who is a
symbol of the state. President Jonathan and his
2015 election foot soldiers do not seem to
understand this. But we cannot make progress
as a divided nation otherwise this may be the
beginning of an end under the watch of
President Jonathan.
After the town crier’s moral call, the ball
remains firmly in the court of citizens. The
questions of the moment are: Who will occupy
the centre? Who will bring back the nation?
Adeolu Ademoyo (aaa54@cornell.edu ) is of
Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY.

why will you start addressing the house without 1st introducing yourself?

Who sent you to write this long epistle, how much were you paid, where is the final destination of this your gyration.

You need to answer me before I will study this homework you have given

Why wont the above epistle writer be hapy if GEJ should split Nigeria? Since to him he havent eaten since GEJ came into power. Its a pity that this hired jobber is even confused about the history of Nigeria.

Nice write up.an alternative perspective on the wayward ways of the chief executive officer and politically hungry vultures and which could easily spiral out of control . by the way , ignore the two dross above.

ogb5: why will you start addressing the house without 1st introducing yourself?

Who sent you to write this long epistle, how much were you paid, where is the final destination of this your gyration.

You need to answer me before I will study this homework you have given

emmydeep: Why wont the above epistle writer be hapy if GEJ should split Nigeria? Since to him he havent eaten since GEJ came into power. Its a pity that this hired jobber is even confused about the history of Nigeria.

Some have eyes but cannot see
All the op did was post a P Times article