It gets to this moment, the moment when lies run
their full course and ugly twisted tales are laid
bare. It’s the moment of truth. Four years and 10
months after Goodluck Jonathan assumed office as
president, it’s time for reckoning.
In Jonathan’s early days in office, I remember a
conversation I had with someone very close to
him, someone who had known him since his days
as deputy governor in Bayelsa and who became
very close to him when, as vice president, he had
oversight of the Bureau for Public Enterprises
which oversaw the privatisation process, including
the independent power projects.
After one of his numerous meetings with Jonathan
in those early days in 2010 following the death of
President Umaru Yar’Adua, I teased my
acquaintance that he had become part of an inner
circle preparing Jonathan to stand election in
2011. He said he was sure Jonathan would run,
but added that “the man vowed that even if he did
– and he’ll do so very reluctantly – he will not
stand again for election if the power situation in
the country did not improve.” On that, he said, the
man was categorical.
On September 28, 2010, when Jonathan formally
declared his intention to stand election, his second
promise from a long list was: “We will fight for all
Nigerians to have access to power.”
It’s been five years since. You must ask yourself
today if Jonathan has kept his word. I’m not
talking about a privatisation framework that
completely ignored the gas master plan and
shared public assets largely among cronies, with
little regard for due diligence.
I’m not talking about the fraudulent commissioning
and re-commissioning of power plants that had
been commissioned by former President Olusegun
Obasanjo years ago. I’m not talking about lies in
newspaper adverts that power generation has
reached 5,500MW when, in fact, it is less than
3,700MW as you read this piece. I’m not talking
about TAN adverts, which some estimate to have
cost over N5billion in dodgy funds.
Nor am I talking about a recent memo by Vice
President Namadi Sambo to Jonathan asking for at
least N42billion to buy meters for consumers, only
for the money to be diverted and shared for PDP
campaign.
I’m just saying you should ask yourself a
straightforward question: after five years and
billions of naira, do you have more electricity in
your home today than you had in 2010?
In that same speech by Jonathan, which is
available online at http://
www.vanguardngr.com/2010/09/100003/), he
said, “We will fight corruption.”
In words and in deed, no government has
embraced and fed on corruption as generously as
has Jonathan’s government. Sometimes, I think he
does it without meaning harm. He just does not
know how to run a government differently.
That’s why even though the Nuhu Ribadu
committee found that N2trillion had been stolen in
the subsidy scam, Jonathan ended up using the
report to prop his armchair. That’s why, twice in
public interviews, he has made a distinction
between stealing and corruption. That’s why even
though serving ministers in his government
collected N120billion in backdoor payments for
Malabu Oil, he has not lifted a finger. And that’s
why his government cannot account for
N150billion stolen by thieving pension officials
who still enjoy presidential protection.
The theft list is formidable and pervasive, but I
promise you that not a single one in this column is
false or mentioned maliciously. I have, in fact, left
out the famous $20billion flagged by Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi. That figure will get worse if you
tear yourself off Diezani Alison-Madueke’s skirt for
a moment and ask what the government has done
with $81.3billion received from the sale of
445,000bpd of crude oil allocated to NNPC for
almost five years when the price was not less than
$100 per barrel.
Part of the waste trail has been out there for
everyone to see in the last six weeks – in the vile
political campaigns and bribes in place of honest
effort that should have been invested to govern in
the past five years.
In 2011, under this same Jonathan who promised
to “fight corruption,” 450MHz, a premium
spectrum valued at $50million, was sold to an
incompetent licensee for $6million and a waiver of
N1billion granted by ministers Omobola Johnson
and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a transaction in which
the NCC boss had a vested interest. The first leg of
the 800MHz was sold for 13million euros in
Nigeria – an asset which Germany sold for
1.53billion euros around the same time.
If Jonathan was really interested in fighting
corruption, he would have had the back of Bashir
Gwandu, who not only opposed the NCC bazaar,
but blew the whistle on the fraud. But Gwandu was
shafted and removed, only for a competent court
to overturn his illegal and unjustified removal.
And Jonathan wants to come back? This is the
moment of truth. In his own words, he promised to
“fight to create jobs for all Nigerians.” In his recent
campaign promises, he has even promised to
create two million jobs every year!
Since we can only judge him by his record, figures
from the NBS show that his best has been
2.2million jobs in three years. If you believe that a
man who could not create more than roughly
730,000 jobs a year will create two million yearly
at a time when civil servants are going without
salaries because the government is broke, that’s
fine. But you cannot claim tomorrow that his
promise was counterfeit.
I’ve read about the dubious promises of thousands
of kilometres of roads and the claims of better
education, healthcare and fast trains. These
promises were made five years ago and they are
being repeated for our enjoyment in colourful
newspaper adverts.
How can you forget that the longest teachers’
strike in years – five months and three weeks by
university teachers – has been under Jonathan?
As for healthcare, his own man and secretary of
the Centenary committee charity ball, Kingsley
Esegbue, said in October 2013 that Nigerians
spend N250billion on medical tourism. So where
did they spend the money on healthcare? And the
fast trains? It’s a lie that has no second part.
Security has been a nightmare, with extraordinary
incompetence that led to the kidnap of the 279
Chibok girls and the killing of over 12,000 persons
including the brutal murder of young school
children, before this government outsourced
security, its basic function, to mercenaries and
neighbouring countries.
If Nigeria were a company, the shareholders would
have fired Jonathan long ago. But if after nearly
five years of incredible incompetence and failed
promises you sincerely believe that you must vote
him as reward for his poor performance, that’s
fine.
The die is cast. They are out there as you read hthis
piece, sharing bribes amassed from NNPC and
deploying force where their bribes cannot reach. I
know we have an incredible capacity to quibble
and move on, but let this be clear: we cannot
escape the consequences of the choice we make
tomorrow for another four year.

Leadership

Personally I consider GEJ gone! And nothing can stop the change!


Let's just vote wisely 2mao and


Please Vote for Change





Team change






Cheeerz