Goodluck Jonathan: Nigeria's last
President?
By
Chido Onumah
conumah@hotmail.com
President Goodluck Jonathan did not
disappoint during his recent appearance
at the 66th United Nations (UN) General
Assembly in New York. At least, he said
what he thought the international
community expected him to say. The
focus of his speech was global terror.
“We must win the war against terrorism
because it infringes on the fundamental
rights of all peoples to life and to live in
safety from fear,” the president said.
“For us in Nigeria, terrorist acts, rather
than intimidate, will only help to
strengthen our resolve to develop
appropriate national strategies and
collaborate even more closely with the
international community in the fight
against this menace”.
Regrettably, there is little to indicate
that the Jonathan administration has
plans to develop an “appropriate
national strategy” to deal with terrorism
in Nigeria. But while Nigerians are used
to the rhetoric of the present
government, I am sure his audience at
the UN expected to hear, not empty talk,
but the practical steps the government
has taken to tackle terrorism in Nigeria.
His audience would also have been
interested in hearing what the
government was doing or has done to
address other issues, including poverty,
unemployment, and lack of access to
healthcare, all of which “infringe on the
fundamental rights of all peoples to life
and to live in safety from fear.” But it
did not happen and it wasn’t surprising.
Under President Jonathan, we have
come to expect more rhetoric and less
action.
For those looking for proof, you need
look no further than the president’s first
media outing a few weeks ago. If there
was any hope of an early resolution of
the lingering political and social crises in
Nigeria, that hope was dashed by the
president himself during his national
media briefing. The president’s remarks
were a bizarre mix of platitudes and a
frightening lack of appreciation of
history; a bitter foretaste of what to
expect in the next four years.
“Nigeria won’t break up” was the bold
headline the morning after. The
president had offhandedly dismissed
insinuations that Nigeria could
disintegrate by 2015. His reason,
according to press report: “The country
that will disintegrate, you can get it by
the study of the psyche of the people.
During the civil war, the South
Easterners were the bulk of members of
the proposed new country called Biafra.
Now, the Igbos have investments across
the country. Go to the South-West, go to
the North. As small as my village is,
Nigerians from North, East and West
have bought land. People who want to
disintegrate will begin to shift back into
their own geo political zones. The
behaviour of Nigerians shows that we
are not really going to disintegrate.
People look at us because of our ethnic
diversity and begin to predict that we
will disintegrate. We will not
disintegrate. I will not preside over a
country that will disintegrate and I
assure you that from now till 2015
Nigeria must remain one united nation.”
I don’t know whose psyche the
president has been studying, but to
dismiss the threat of an imminent
national implosion on the basis that
people are not “shifting back into their
own geo political zones”, would have
been laughable except that it is
misleading and terrifying. But even at
that, the reality does not support the
president’s position. Across the country,
there are thousands, if not millions, of
displaced people fleeing violence and
palpable threat to their lives. Many of
those who have not moved may have no
place to go having lived in their current
locations for decades. Nigerians leave
their homes everyday not knowing what
to expect. Not since the civil war has
there been this level of anxiety and
insecurity.
The reality is that Nigeria is on the
brink. The frightening truth is that the
“war” this time will not be between any
clearly defined ethnic nationalities. It is
for this reason that we should be
concerned.
There is nothing “sacred” about Nigeria.
Our country, like many of the 54
countries that make up the
Commonwealth of Nations, was the
result of British commercial and
expansionist interests. However, unlike
some other countries born out of
colonial or imperialist conquest, Nigeria
has managed to survive for 50 years.
We shouldn’t take our unity for granted.
Nations survive and maintain cohesion
through concerted efforts, not wishful
thinking.
I hope President Jonathan does not
think that by saying Nigeria won’t
disintegrate, that is enough to secure
the unity of the country. There are
ominous signs all around us. Indeed, it
is a miracle that Nigeria has survived
for so long considering the decades of
abuse?
The president was blustery about his
single tenure proposal, saying: “I have
no regrets at all (in proposing the
change). The issue of single tenure is to
stabilise the polity because you have to
stabilise the polity to stabilise the
economy.” Expectedly, there was nothing
on corruption, the major issue that
threatens to grind the Nigerian state to
a halt.
For a regime that talks about a
transformation agenda, one would have
expected the president to be more
forthcoming on a blueprint to tackle
corruption. Clearly, it is not likely to
happen, not when he has refused to
make public his asset declaration.
Hopefully, now that it appears the Code
of Conduct Bureau (CCB) wants to act,
starting with the case against former
governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Bola
Tinubu, it is expected the CCB will
accede to request to make public the
president’s asset declaration. This is
one issue the mainstream media in
Nigeria has refused to touch. Its
criminal complicity on this matter is a
great disservice to the country.
Of course, we can agree on one thing.
The current crises, whether it is
infrastructural deficient, the collapse of
public institutions, or the lack of
national ethos, did not start with the
Jonathan administration. But the job of
a president, particularly one at a period
of national emergency, is to show a
sense of urgency and courage in
confronting problems. These two factors
are lacking in the way the country is
currently being run.
I did not vote for President Jonathan,
but that point is irrelevant. He is
president of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and holds the destiny of 150
million people in his hands. For that
reason, I want him to succeed. His
failure does not bode well for the future
of the Nigeria project.
But for a man who claims he had to
walk to school without shoes, President
Jonathan, now the proud owner of all
manner of designer shoes, doesn’t look
like a president in a hurry to “walk the
talk”. He many well etch his name in
history, although for very tragic reasons

Fact remains that majority of Nigerians are not happy with the way things are in the Country presently. Socially, economically and politically, Nigeria needs a thorough re- birth, re- direction and very purposeful rejuvenation BUT by who

Well, its up to God.

Didn't read the article.