Last Sunday, President Goodluck Jonathan responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s biting remark, which had put Jonathan’s performance at below average. In defence of his government, the President claimed he had run the best government the nation had ever witnessed. BAYO AKINLOYE of THE PUNCH, in this report, considers what others think about the positions taken by the former and current presidents

A week ago, President Goodluck Jonathan had described himself as the best leader to be produced by Nigeria. The President claimed no leader since the country gained independence in 1960 had performed better than he did. That was a reaction to what was regarded as a scathing statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The former President had, two weeks ago, during a session with book writers in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of activities celebrating the Ake festival, lambasted Jonathan and his administration for performing below average.

“His performance is below average. I will not accept responsibility for his performance. There is nobody that gets such a position without being helped,” Obasanjo told his audience when asked by journalists to score Jonathan’s administration.

The former president also debunked the insinuations that he had selected Jonathan as the running mate to the late President Musa Yar’Adua because he knew the latter was sick.

“Yar’Adua told me he was well. He showed me his medical report and I even consulted experts,” he said.

He pointed out that he had only supported the idea of a South-Southerner succeeding Yar’Adua to extend the sense of belonging that the emergence of a Southern President in 1999 represented. The former president had, in a December 2, 2013 18-page letter to Jonathan entitled, “Before it is too late” raised many issues concerning Jonathan’s administration.

His latest comment on the president was however considered by the Presidency as an unwarranted attack, with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, saying such assessment of his principal was “not true and in error.”

“If indeed former President Obasanjo said that, that statement was in error because no government since independence has done close to 50 per cent of what this administration has done in less than four years,” Okupe said.

He recalled that when Obasanjo was leaving office, the total power generation capacity in the country was about 2,600MW, claiming that the present administration had been able to raise the figure to about 4,000MW.

Okupe also said the Jonathan administration inherited 24 airports that were in a state of disrepair across the country at inception.

According to him, all the airports have so far been refurbished by the present administration, thereby increasing the country’s reputation globally.

The presidential aide further cited the restoration of the dilapidated National Integrated Power Projects, eliminating rot in the agricultural sector, repairing 70 per cent of the nation’s road networks and reviving the nation’s manufacturing industries which were hitherto moribund.

“These are just a few among the achievements of the present administration. So if that statement was indeed made, it is most uncharitable and it is not true,” he added.

As part of its disclaimer of Obasanjo’s statement, the Presidency put up a two-page advertorial in the newspaper, on Monday, enumerating Jonathan’s achievements. But a day before that, the president had issued a statement through Okupe stressing that Jonathan was the best President the country ever had.

Okupe’s statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to comments made by a former President of this country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, regarding the performance of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Obasanjo had at an event over the weekend declared that he rated the President Goodluck Jonathan administration ‘below average.’ We aver that Obasanjo’s comments are untrue, misleading and clearly do not tally with the facts on the ground. We therefore wish to assert without equivocation that in terms of performance and achievements, no administration since 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain, has done as much as that of President Jonathan.”

He said that every discerning and unbiased Nigerian would definitely attest to this “as the evidence stare all of us in the face.” The media aide added that contrary to Obasanjo’s position, the Federal Government under Jonathan had performed excellently given the prevailing circumstances and resources available to it.

He argued further that while it was true that Nigeria had been faced with incidents of insurgency and terrorism, especially in the last few years, the Jonathan administration had successfully contained the initial widespread activities of the insurgents, which he said were prevalent in 12 states of the North, including the Federal Capital Territory.

SUNDAY PUNCH sought the views of some prominent Nigerians on the disagreement between Obasanjo and Jonathan over the latter’s performance as president.

One of them is Balarabe Musa, a former governor of Old Kaduna State. The elder statesman described the high performance score the presidency gave itself as a delusion of grandeur. He noted that Obasanjo’s verdict on Jonathan was correct even though he stressed that the former President should not shy away from the blame that he was responsible for the emergence of Jonathan as the country’s president.

“How could he (Jonathan) say he is the best president the country has ever had? He is deceiving himself. It is during his watch that Nigeria has descended so low to a terrible level. He is not doing well at all. It is not that he has not performed well; he has not performed at all given the opportunities he has had.

“It is for the All Progressives Congress to respond to his claim so that we can decide whom to follow in 2015. Such self-assessment is a lie – it’s pretentious. What Olusegun Obasanjo said is the truth – Jonathan has performed below average. But be that as it may, he (Obasanjo) created the phenomenon called Goodluck Jonathan, except that the phenomenon is worse than he could imagine. There is no credibility in what the current government does. Even if the Federal Government took out several pages of the newspaper to advertise what they claim to have achieved, we Nigerians know better,” Musa argued.

But, a former presidential aspirant and national leader of the Social Democratic Party, Oluyemisi Falae, agreed neither with the president’s claim to be the all-time best Nigerian president nor with Obasanjo’s assertion that Jonathan has performed abysmally.

Falae said, “He has the moral and political right to do a self-appraisal of himself; he has the right to score himself either high or low. It is a fundamental human right for every person to freely express his or her mind and give an opinion on issues. If he (Jonathan) feels strongly about his performance as the President of Nigeria and he expresses such conviction, so be it. It is freedom of speech. He is free to assess himself.

“However, one thing people should take note of is the fact that self-assessment is subjective. It is the same thing with being assessed by another party or person – that too is subjective. We have seen a situation where the governor of a particular state scored himself 100 per cent and when election came he still lost.”

Also speaking on the issue was the former personal physician to Moshood Abiola, the alleged winner of the 1993 presidential election, Dr. Ore Falomo.

To Falomo, Jonathan’s assessment of himself and assertion that he is the best president to rule Nigeria is an exercise in vainglory.

Though admitting that the President has done well, given the difficult circumstances in which he leads the country, he said the Jonathan-led administration went too far claiming to be the best administration Nigeria has ever had.

“That is his own view – thinking that he is the best president Nigeria has ever produced. That is not the position of the country. He (Jonathan) should conduct a referendum to know his true position in the scheme of things. He should not self-praise. I will admit that he has done his best so far but adjudging himself as the best president before millions of Nigerians leaves much to be desired.

“I don’t think he can claim to be the best. History will judge him – he can’t judge himself. I however pray that he is not the last president of a united Nigeria. It is self-glory. I think he should have left it to history to judge him.

He shouldn’t have said, ‘I’m the best Nigerian president.’ He should have considered the condition of the country before uttering such a statement,” he stated.

The acting Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Mrs. Janet Omisore, noted that on average, the country had done well.

“There has been a significant improvement, though there are challenges. Nigerians are confronting the challenges and the Federal Government is doing its best too. Nevertheless, there is still much to be done.

“Our industries have yet to fully benefit from the privatisation of electricity generation and distribution. Power supply is very vital to our industries.

“Another area that calls for improvement is that of facilitating credit –in this area too the government is trying. We however look forward to a single-digit credit that will make our industries to be very competitive globally. I will say we are not there yet; a lot still has to be done,” the NACCIMA boss said.

The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises National President, Garba Gusau, also commended the Jonathan-led administration for all its efforts at promoting small-scale enterprises though admitting that the problem of electricity supply and good road networks still persists.

Gusau stated, “For small and medium enterprises, it’s been a challenging period (referring to between 2011 and 2014). While we are still faced with electricity supply and roads issue, it is very important to commend the government for what they have been able to achieve in this sector.

He lauded Jonathan for the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria initiative, saying that it had helped to grow the economy.

“To be honest with you, the achievements have not been 100 per cent but we are not doing badly. The government has made alot of incentives available. I think over time with proper monitoring and the critical involvement of all concerned parties, this sector will continue to grow. Being a critical sector, it will contribute to the growth of the nation’s general economy,” he added.
Source: .com.ng

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