I read this article by one Ayo Sogunro online and decided to share it with u all.


THE WORST 10 OF GOODLUCK
JONATHAN’S 2014 | A Review by Ayo
Sogunro
At the risk of putting a dampener on your
holiday festivities, here’s a quick reminder of
how badly 2014 went. Of course, we’ll rather
sweep all of this under Nigeria’s Big Rug of
Forgetfulness, but now that the presidential
campaign is in full swing with the
achievements of Goodluck Jonathan’s
administration in roads, bridges and other
petty infrastructure, here’s a quick look at
the worst tragic events, inane policies and
unresolved issues that plagued us in 2014
alone.
1. The Continuing Boko Haram War which,
insanely, is yet to be treated as a war.
Instead, the Federal Government of Nigeria
treats it as a mild annoyance while the
military keeps pretending it’s a top secret
experiment being conducted in the
basements of Sambisa Forest. Meanwhile,
tragic news from internally displaced
persons tells of unbelievable horror:
captured towns; wanton and brutal killings;
extortion by terrorists. The year 2014 has
been a kill-fest for Boko Haram: the Borno
Massacre, Abuja and Kano bomb blasts, the
sudden emergence of female suicide
bombers, and terrorist flags raised over
Nigeria territories: one would be forgiven to
think that the terrorists have been handed a
free pass across the North of Nigeria. There
was a point in the year where it seemed that
the Nigerian Army had got its game on and
would soon rout the terrorists, but the
Federal Government announced a one-sided
“ceasefire” and, to put a cliché on it,
“snatched defeat from the jaws of victory”.
Boko Haram is currently the biggest
headache in Nigeria—and it’s also the most
ignored by the Presidency.
2. The Missing Chibok Girls have made
international news through the
#BringBackOurGirls campaign, suitably
embarrassing the Presidency and gearing
them to some half-assed attempt at damage
control for their initial disregard. Even worse
than the disbelief was the earlier lie pushed
out by the military that they had recovered
the girls—a statement that wrecked
whatever little trust Nigerians had in the
military. Meanwhile, the Presidency, either
because of its unbelievable disconnect from
the military or simply through general
nonchalance, didn’t believe the girls were
missing, that is, until the aforesaid
international embarrassment. Afterwards, the
President flew to France for a problem
solving meeting and later met with members
of the Chibok community (in deference to
Malala’s wishes—we should add), and then
—nothing. Honestly, nothing else. That’s all.
The girls are still missing—some of them
presumed dead.
3. Abba Moro and the Tragic NIS
Recruitment is a story that should have
shaken the foundations of public
administration in a saner climate. But, not
in Nigeria. How do you connect a public
service recruitment exercise with the deaths
of several people while making a truckload
of money too? Leave it to Abba Moro,
Minister of Interior. Bad enough that the
Immigration Service charged money from
potential government employees; bad
enough that the recruitment exercise was
badly planned and fatally executed, bad
enough that Abba Moro was not sacked
afterwards—but utterly shameful and
irresponsible that the Federal Government
didn’t even consider it an issue worth
stressing about. There was no sense of
shame or regret. Just a casual promise to
find jobs for the injured and compensate
relatives of the fatal victims—a promise
which I understand is yet to be fulfilled. Yet,
the same government lost no time in
suspending a weekly Federal Executive
Council meeting following the death of—wait
for it—the Vice President’s brother.
4. That Embarrassing Centenary Celebration
would have been deeply hilarious if it wasn’t
also a tragic reflection of the distance
between the federal government of Nigeria
and the reality of millions of everyday
Nigerians. This was at a time when the
country was in a sour mood and nobody
was looking to a national celebration. But,
by heavens, the Presidency was determined
to party—and party it did. It ran amok with
the celebrations and dashed imaginary
awards to everyone who ever slept in a
government house. Just to rub this
indiscretion in the noses of Nigerians
properly, the Abachas were also invited to
dine. And that’s when even Jonathan’s
supporters started to worry about the quality
of his advisers.
5. A National Conference or Something Like
That, which, to be frank, was neither national
nor was it a conference: more like a cross
between a political party conference and a
bucket list for old men. The President
wanted to impress some intellectuals,
maybe, but all it featured was a couple or so
brilliant speeches and a lot of puzzling
fights. We really don’t know where the report
by the Conference is headed or what benefit
it has conferred on Nigeria. In short, the
Conference was another brainwave of the
GEJ administration that just didn’t make
much sense. The best I can say is this: it
started too quickly and ended too late.
6. Twenty Billion Dollars and other Sorry
Tales: we all learnt a lot about numbers this
year. I learnt that you can host a
magnificent World Cup with thirteen billion
dollars or thereabouts—ask Brazil. Which is
why it’s puzzling that a figure even in
excess of that amount could lose its way to
the Federation Account and nobody in Aso
Rock bothered to send out a search team.
Well, the erstwhile governor of the Central
Bank tried to raise an alarm and we all saw
the President come on TV to insult the
man’s intellect on the premise that a man
who mistook a mere case of “stealing”
public funds for one of “corruption” was
unfit to be a central bank governor. A new
governor was promptly appointed and that
leads to the next point.
7. Rebased, Reserved, Revalued aka
Economics, Economics and more
Economics. Look, I’m not quite sure any
single person in Nigeria can tell you exactly
what the hell is going on with the Nigerian
economy. First, the economy was rebased in
what was supposed to translate into
“Nigeria has more money circulating in its
industries than we realized” and next, we
learnt that our external reserve was going
down faster than a belly dancer, and before
we could comprehend that imagery, we saw
the naira go down even faster against the
dollar. All of this in 2014. Till date, the
President has not told us what these
economic travails mean and how he plans to
handle it (except you count the dismissive
explanations set out in the 2015 budget).
Meanwhile, the new CBN governor has
politely asked for a sixty-five naira ATM fee
to save banks the trouble of stealing it
directly from your account.
8. The Signing of the “Anti-Gay” Law was
another indication of the total lack of
seriousness by the Federal Government of
Nigeria. Not content with dismissing the
menace of Boko Haram across the country,
the legislators and the executive decided to
focus on the singular most important issue
bothering all Nigerians today: the lives of
gay and lesbian folks getting married in
America and Europe.
9. The Military Went Gaga and not against
Boko Haram—we’re all for the military going
gaga against Boko Haram within the rules of
engagement. Instead, newspaper bundles
and public buses got a hard year from
military onslaught. Front pages were
slashed, trucks were waylaid, and buses
were set ablaze. When all that fighting had
settled for a while, the military suddenly
resurrected their death penalty court-martial
—not to shoot the soldiers burning buses
and newspapers—but to shoot the soldiers
fighting an ill-equipped war. And in all these
things, the Presidency said nothing but
focused squarely on running down the
opposition party.
10. The Year of All the King’s Men: The
President must have picked up on the
criticisms that, maybe, too many women
were running the government and we
needed some gender balance. So, enter
Oritsejafor, Alamieyeseigha, Tompolo,
Dokubo, Obanikoro, Femi Fani-Kayode and
so on and so forth. Of course, we’ve always
had the usual suspects: Okupe, Maku and
Abati. But this year was big for the new
names: Oritsejafor got to run interference,
Alamieyeseigha got a pardon, Tompolo got
some warships, Obanikoro got to monitor
state elections, and Dokubo got more
Dokubo. And so 2014 was a great year for
presidential retorts and responses and
reactions. GEJ always had a comeback for
every idle comment and serious criticism.
You could actually hear El-Rufai’s silence—
and even Amaechi took a breather.
_________________________________
Ayo Sogunro is the author of Everything in
Nigeria is Going to Kill You . A lawyer by
profession, he also indulges in socio-legal
philosophy on this blog. Interact with him
on Twitter via @ ayosogunro

With few points of yours GEJ must vacate office next year...

Change

Hmmm, d clueless one too knw dat he can't stay in that office more than 2015.... Well I just de observe

sad experience. GEJ just disproved the prophesies of men of God who had promised great breakthroughs. unfortunately share.

*in PEJ voice* God will judge us, there is God....

And u will still see someone urchins shouting gejb till 2039.

shakaZuIlu:


BUHARI is a terrorist
Apc is BOKOHARAM
Tinubu is a bastard
Osinbajo is a vagabond
Gej till 2019
Your ancestors are urchins

tell me one reason why u support badluck aside the fact that's he is a Christian southerner....


With sentimental myopic foooools like u running around I dare say we have a long way to go.