Jonathan - Africa's Only Hope, Says International Analyst.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-trippi/why-nigeria-will-not-need_b_839569.html

Very nice and positive write up about Nigeria and Gej but you can bet your March salary that it would be dismissed by the anti Gej squad for no reason other than it was written by someone that has worked for Gej. Who cares anyway, Another plus for Fresh Air.

This man is destined for greatness!
[img]http://1.bp..com/_O90Xgmx1TzM/TInTJEdpY1I/AAAAAAAAA7I/e3mBMpL8js8/s1600/Goodluck_Jonathan_Officialvisit_to_Rivers_State_165_176418519.jpg[/img]

LOL, i wonder in GEJ bribed them to write this.
j/p

Why Nigeria Will Not Need "A Tahrir Moment"
Joe Trippi
Democratic Strategist
Posted: March 23, 2011

FULL DISCLOSURE: As someone who has been active in both advising on and overseeing elections in Africa and Nigeria, I have worked for several pro-democracy candidates in Nigeria, including President Goodluck Jonathan.

With revolution unfolding in Egypt, civil war erupting in Libya, and citizens fleeing Cote D'Ivoire, it would not seem that the region is ripe for a successful democratic transition. But then there is Nigeria,

Despite a history of corruption and electoral fraud, Nigeria is on the cusp of solidifying its young democracy and becoming a beacon of hope for the region. President Goodluck Jonathan and INEC, Nigeria's electoral body, have been widely applauded for the investment and planning that will ensure a free and fair election for Nigerian president on April 9.

This is especially impressive, because it comes on the heels of one of Nigeria's most disastrous and fraud-ridden elections in 2007. Then, less than one year ago, a young and unlikely President, Goodluck Jonathan, assumed power following the illness of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua.

It has been a remarkable year for the President. Largely unknown, he became interim President shortly after Yar'Adua left the country. Jonathan calmed fears of unrest and then quickly embarked on a series of reforms, including sacking Yar'Adua's entire cabinet.

The one promise Goodluck Jonathan made to his people after taking office, however, was not one of peace or prosperity - "these issues will take longer than a year to resolve," he said. Instead, he pledged to ensure free and fair elections of a kind that have been the exception, and not the rule, in recent Nigerian history. The Nigerian people are taking him at his word and holding him to his pledge. So far, the signs are promising.

Jonathan has reaffirmed his belief that the government cannot be effective if there is no constitutional and robust process for selecting the leaders who will govern the country. When the first by-election was scheduled in Edo Central (a crucially important election district), Jonathan called it one of the first tests of free and fair elections in Nigeria. He told INEC and other security agencies that he wanted "one man, one vote; one woman, one vote; one youth, one vote."

Ironically, Jonathan became a victim of his own electoral pledge. In Edo Central, the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) outpolled Jonathan's PDP (People's Democratic Party). Jonathan gamely accepted the result, setting a standard unusual for Nigerian electoral politics. After the elections, Edo State governor Adams Oshiomhole Professor Attahiru Jega as the new Chairman of INEC. Although Jega is known for his activism and integrity, his selection was met with some skepticism by opposing parties, simply because Jonathan had appointed him. But the council selection meeting was the first in twelve years to have all former Nigerian leaders in attendance - an almost breathtaking precedent in a nation riveted by electoral ambitions. Attendees included Muhammadu Buhari, one of the President's opponents in the elections this April.

This type of reform has defined Jonathan's short term in office. He shed much of the patronage politics that has plagued Nigeria's young democracy. Instead of listening to the traditional Nigerian political "godfathers," the President started a Facebook page - and asked ordinary Nigerians for their ideas and concerns.

The idea took off. More than 500,000 citizens now follow his page and interact. Among world leaders, only President Obama has more Facebook followers.

What's amazing is that this is not just a gimmick. The President actually listens to citizen input and adjusts public policy based on what he hears. Public input led to decisions to open a consulate in San Francisco to spur technology investment, rescind the suspension of the Nigerian soccer team from international play, and modify policies to improve the power grid.

Without the direction of aides or consultants and in a country just breaking through on the Internet and social media, the young President "got it." From his first Facebook post, shortly after taking over power:

, there is an unchallengeable power of good in the Nigerian nation and her youth and through this medium I want Nigerians to give me the privilege of relating with them without the trappings of office. GEJ
It's clear there is a new generation of leadership - a fresh approach after the years of Obasanjo and Yar'Adua, a series of disputed elections, and widespread corruption. Goodluck Jonathan has high hopes for his country, and they seem to extend beyond his term or his personal power. He has pledged to run for only one term (to help alleviate the concerns of northern Muslims who feel this is their time for power based on a zoning arrangement). He has developed a comprehensive economic agenda and is proposing a massive increase in education spending.

The news is not all good for Nigeria - poverty remains rampant, corruption still exists, and violence continues, particularly in the Plateau state (though less so in the Delta, partly due to Jonathan's work on Yar'Adua's amnesty program). But Jonathan is making progress, and he has one thing very right: he is listening to his people. From his aggressive steps to ensuring free and fair elections to having conversations with Nigerians on Facebook, he understands that he holds his office to serve the will of the people.

In a belt of African unrest, that is a welcome sight.

i agree but thats the same thing that was said about OBJ.

sbeezy8:

i agree but thats the same thing that was said about OBJ.

Stop comparing Jonathan with that buffoon OBJ.

EzeUche_:

Stop compared Jonathan with that buffoon OBJ.

LOL is it that far from comparison-

OBJ boys are funding GEJs campaign?

Both were came to power ONLY after someone died?

GEJ is ONLY there to calm Niger deltans, as OBJ did for the yorubas ?

GEJ and OBJ have no known fathers?

[img]http://thewillnigeria.com/thumbnail.php?file=congress__goodluck_and_obasanjo_242162014.jpg&size=article_medium[/img]

i don't need any person to tell me that is obvious even Jaru knows the truth but ,

[img]http://thewillnigeria.com/files.php?file=last_2__555731265.jpg[/img]

Eze Uche said:

This man is destined for greatness!

Could he be our Mandela?  

This man has clearly never been to Nigeria. What a useless piece of drivel.

[img]http://4.bp..com/_DmHwB4ODR38/TCiUVAilxhI/AAAAAAAAASY/-gA35C1hl_g/s1600/Goodluck-Jonathan.jpg[/img]

[img]http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/thumbnail.php?file=AWOLOWO_ROAD_786139901.jpg&size=article_medium[/img]

^^^ i mean isnt it weird he started his campaign in the SW of all places?

why not abuja? the capital

i think GEJ might be Objs son

I don't understand why we are lauding the words of a guy who works for Goodluck. In the very first paragraph, he discloses this.

Joe Trippi is kind of a big gun though; GEJ I guess is very serious about winning since he hired him.

There is no point hatin' on Joe Trippi. The man is doing his professional job and he wisely placed a cautionary disclosure for all to see that he is often a paid consultant on these sort of things.

FULL DISCLOSURE: As someone who has been active in both advising on and overseeing elections in Africa and Nigeria, I have worked for several pro-democracy candidates in Nigeria, including President Goodluck Jonathan. -Joe Trippi


2007 article about his work in Nigeria;

Washington lobbyists develop strategy for Nigerian politicians
By Kevin Bogardus - 05/30/07 03:19 PM ET
 
The Democratic consultant who brought Silicon Valley strategy to Howard Dean’s 2004 White House bid exported his brand of high-tech campaign tactics to Nigeria during the run-up to the country’s April presidential election.

Joe Trippi, currently advising former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) 2008 campaign, designed a text-messaging campaign for opposition Action Congress Party candidate and then Vice President Atiku Abubakar.


“What drove me on this one was the need for an opposition party. Democracy has only been there for eight years,” Trippi said.

He was just one of many Washington consultants and lobbyists hired by Nigerian politicians to meet with policymakers here or campaign across the Atlantic. Abubakar and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, through the West African country’s government, each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the months preceding the vote on such services.

Obasanjo fought successfully to secure victory for his successor in the governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Umaru Yar’Adua. Yesterday in Nigeria, power was handed over to the new president.

The director of African Studies at Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies, Peter Lewis, said the feud between onetime allies Abubakar and Obasanjo had been “brewing ,  for several years and exploded into the open during the last 12 months.”

“The malpractices were carried out in an absolutely brazen fashion,” Lewis, an international observer for Nigeria’s April polling, said of the election. “While there certainly was misconduct by all parties, the main source of the misconduct was the ruling party.”

Trippi stressed Abubakar’s underdog status — the longtime PDP politician ultimately placed third in official results contested by the international community — in his efforts to win popular support for the candidate.
“Essentially, the text-messaging campaign said, ‘Democracy is at risk right now with Obasanjo, do not let them take the election,’ that sort of thing,” Trippi said.

“Frankly, with all the problems of being on the ballot, off the ballot, it was difficult to say the least,” he said. “There was a point where the campaign was decapitated because of the arrests or the top of the campaign was in hiding.”

His firm took in about $20,000 for its work in Nigeria, according to the most recent records filed with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) unit.

Through his lawyer, Edward Weidenfeld, Abubakar also hired PR giant Hill & Knowlton as well as an investigative-services firm.

According to Department of Justice records, the James Mintz Group, staffed by former investigative reporters and federal prosecutors, took in close to $16,000 for “research/consulting services.”

“As a matter of long-standing policy, the Mintz Group doesn’t talk about its client work,” a spokesman for the firm said.

Weidenfeld also met with State Department officials in October 2006 to “discuss the political environment in Nigeria and urge U.S. support for free and fair elections in Nigeria.” Overall, the lawyer has earned more than $120,000 since October 2006. Weidenfeld did not respond to calls for comment.

“Clearly, there were challenges to the election in Nigeria. But for the first time in 40 years, there was a successful transition from civilian to civilian government,” the vice president for government affairs and communications at Goodworks International, Austin Cooper, said. “We hope the international community will unite behind the new administration.”

Goodworks was Obasanjo’s main U.S. lobbying group during the last year. The firm has taken in $500,000 since April 2006 from the government of Nigeria, according to the most recent records filed with the Justice Department.

Cooper said his firm avoided the politics back in Nigeria: “Frankly, we could not afford to get caught up in the internal strife.” Instead, Goodworks highlighted the former president’s economic reforms and his fight against corruption, and “promote[d] the democratic election in Nigeria.”

The firm helped to organize meetings and calls with American policymakers for the heads of two Nigerian government agencies that were thorns in Abubakar’s side.

In May 2006, Goodworks organized an itinerary for Nigeria’s chairman of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) to discuss his country’s “efforts in voter education and registration” with the Carter Center, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and State Department officials.

All have been heavily critical of last month’s elections, run by the INEC. The agency banned Abubakar from running, citing corruption charges, before the courts reinstated him.

Goodworks also helped to draft congressional testimony last May for the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Cooper called the EFCC’s work an example of Obasanjo’s battle against corruption.

“Here is the head of the EFCC who can outline in clear and concise ways how his administration is fighting corruption, include jailing his own friends,” Cooper said.

The EFCC was the agency that charged Abubakar with corruption, crippling his presidential campaign. Though Goodworks said “there were no FARA-reportable contacts” in the months immediately preceding the election, Goodworks staff members met with Nigerian Embassy staff in early spring of 2007 and attended a March press conference for the EFCC’s chairman, in which he spoke of Obasanjo’s battles to halt corruption.

Cooper said Goodworks’s cooperation with the Nigerian government slowed as its contract drew to a close in early April. No proposal from the firm is before the new president.

With chosen heir Yar’Adua in office, Obasanjo has left public life after completing two terms. Abubakar is protesting the election results.

The past vice president may be out of luck. Lewis said that although election problems are being heard in Nigeria’s courts, it is unlikely Yar’Adua will be removed from office “due to the margin of victory and the concerns for stability.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/12062-washington-lobbyists-develop-strategy-for-nigerian-politicians

He works with politicians that can pay him.

Africa's Only Hope? - Arrant Rubbish.

All we want is a free and fair election - its sure he will have to tell our dear Niger Delta people what he have achieved.