In 2009, millions of Nigerians joined in objecting to the refusal of President Umaru Yar’Adua to hand power over to his deputy, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.  I numbered among the disgruntled, and in this column, I urged the Yar’Adua team to do the right thing and obey our constitutional arrangements.

When one reviews Nigeria’s history since then—and then prior to that—it seems that Mr. Jonathan, during that time, must have been laughing his head off in his living room at what we were doing.  The incredulity of it: Millions yelling and crying because we believed that Mr. Yar’Adua and the cabal—that was when that word became such a dirty annoyance—were betraying the nation and cheating Mr. Jonathan out of his legal right.  Millions: Southerners and Northerners, Easterners and Westerners, Christians and Muslims, at home and abroad, dutifully standing by the constitution, and by Mr. Jonathan. 

I do not know how hard Mr. Jonathan laughs when he is with his nearest and dearest.  But he must have let himself go, again and again, seeing how deeply and seriously the nation was taking the matter.

We did win, of course.  Two years later, last week, Mr. Jonathan, having benefitted fully from that epochal development as well as the death of Mr. Yar’Adua, appointed his second head of police, AIG Mohammed D. Abubakar.  He replaced Mr. Hafiz Ringim, who had come to symbolize the gross incompetence and haplessness of the government during the Jonathan era.

Although Mr. Ringim had run the police to the ground as far back as 2010 when Nigeria’s official Independence Day anniversary was bombed by militants, he continued to be a member of Mr. Jonathan’s inner circle and one of his most trusted.  His influence and power grew in inverse proportion to the insecurity in the land, and Nigerians, high and low, called for him to be dismissed.

Again, Mr. Jonathan must have enjoyed guffaw after guffaw, wondering why Nigerians misunderstand the situation.  To prove that point, at the 2011 National Awards, he honoured Mr. Ringim with the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).

Still the insecurity in the country continued to grow.  The horrendous Christmas Day and Kano City bombings were separated only by the nationwide mass protests which greeted Mr. Jonathan’s New Year’s Day hike in the price of fuel.  Hundreds died. 

Eventually, Jonathan decided he needed to show some courage.  And so last week Wednesday, Mr. Ringim was sent away.  In his place, Mr. Jonathan, smiling that enigmatic smile that must be the public face of his private guffaw, installed Abubakar.

Many Nigerians insist that Abubakar is a dangerous choice; that Mr. Jonathan does not know he is a discredited religious fanatic who should no longer have been in the force. 

Not true.  Mr. Jonathan knows Abubakar full well.  To say he does not know the man into whose hands he has thrust the police is to insult the presidency.  The answer is that Jonathan has chosen Abubakar because he fits the world view to which Jonathan subscribes. 

I call it the Baggage Rule: the philosophy that nobody should suffer embarrassment or denial simply because he is corrupt, incompetent or malevolent. 

Think about it: only two weeks ago, Nigeria woke up to astonishing revelations of corruption and abuse of office against Mr. Jonathan’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohamed Bello Adoke.  The Minister took office only in April 2010, but according to the reports, he has already amassed millions of US dollars and British pounds, and billions of Naira, in several identified bank accounts. No matter; in last October’s National Honours, Mr. Jonathan gave him the CFR and kept him on the job.
Two months earlier, in November 2011, Farida Waziri, the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against whom there had also been allegations of corruption throughout her tenure, was relieved of the post.  Speculations were rife that she would be probed.  No! said Mr. Jonathan. 

In 2010 and 2011, The Punch and NEXT newspapers published various investigative stories on corruption at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that involved the Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and other top officials.  Mr. Jonathan responded by re-appointing her to his cabinet in June 2011, and comforting her with the CON thereafter.

Ojo Maduekwe, who is on his way to becoming Nigeria’s new Ambassador to the United States, was dropped from Jonathan’s cabinet as Foreign Minister in 2011.  On his way out, he lamented the pathetic state of corruption in the Ministry, and specifically begged the government to probe five of its foreign missions.  Jonathan laughed.

But remember: the first person Mr. Jonathan dropped from the cabinet when he became Acting President was Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.  Mr. Jonathan fired the Minister, but it was for his role in the bizarre drama during Yar’Adua’s hospitalization in Saudi Arabia, not for the mountain of corruption allegations against him. 

Corruption?  Last year, Mr. Jonathan brought back “Mr. Fix It” Anthony Anenih, the former Federal Minister of Works who is best remembered for the hundreds of billions of Naira he did not spend on Nigeria’s roads. 

Anenih’s job definition was to help Jonathan “win” the presidency. “Mr. Fix It” did not disappoint him.

And now, he crowns Mr. Abubakar, a man previously indicted for religious fanaticism by a federal Commission, and recommended for retirement or dismissal, as our country’s top police man.

Why?  Apparently because Mr. Jonathan fully understands the Baggage Rule some of us deny: that in Nigeria, it does not matter what—or how much—baggage, you carry.  It does not matter how much of an animal or a criminal you are.

Consider: Ringim’s last act of bravado was to send Police Commissioner Zakari Biu on suspension for his role in the Kabiru Sokoto jail break.  Mr. Biu, a man who had been dismissed from the same police force, but who, under the Baggage Rule, continued to rise in it. 

The Baggage Rule has deep historical foundations: In 2006, a Joint Task Force set up by Obasanjo allegedly to fight corruption found that 15 State Governors had breached the code of conduct for public officials, and recommended they be prosecuted.  It was a heavy panel that included the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); the Code of Conduct Bureau; the Department of State Services; the Nigerian Police; and the EFCC.

The governors indicted by the panel, which was chaired by EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu, included one Mr. Jonathan, who was found guilty of several counts of false declaration of assets.  Obasanjo’s insincerity may be found in the fact that he went on to appoint Mr. Jonathan, in effect, as Vice-President of Nigeria. 

This is all of the proof needed to establish that the Baggage Rule works.  It does not matter in what filth you have swum: pastors will bless you, voters will fight for you; people will die for you. And you can choose your own banks.

The Baggage Rule explains why, in 2009, Mr. Jonathan must have laughed his head off when he learned we were fighting Yar’Adua for him.  Look back at the passage of time and you will see that in 2006, Jonathan was indicted for a false declaration of assets; in 2007, he was forced to declare his assets; in 2011, he refused to declare his assets. 

It is a game: Ringim, like others before him, was not fired; he was released to go and enjoy himself.  And it does not matter whom IG Abubakar says he is, the Baggage Rule warns us to be afraid, very afraid. 
•    sonala.olumhense@gmail.com⁠

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/column/gridlock-jonathan-and-baggage-rule-sonala-olumhense

This article has raised so many moral questions against the President.

Not surprised by the article,just surprised by how forgetful Nigerians are and they voted for GEJ!

lari03:

Not surprised by the article,just surprised by how forgetful Nigerians are and they voted for GEJ!

Indeed. The article raises the important issues many of us warned Nigerians about before the elections. The fact that GEJ does not believe in punishing anyone, regardless of how terrible their actions are, was , for some of us, a very scary prospect for a Nation where leaders are already predisposed to acting with impunity.

Tilde, Mukhtar, Dambazau, Aliero, Ruma, Aondoakaa, Edevbie et al simply walked away despite their treasonous action which threatened the existence of Nigeria and may have attracted death sentences in a nation like China. Others who moved against GEJ, yet were deemed useful by a President with no interest in uprightness, simply quickly gained 'forgiveness' and  went on to aid Project Jonathan e.g Yuguda.

Now we are seeing the fallout from how GEJ , an accidental leader who believes in nothing passionately, has allowed 'madmen' to run the asylum.

Just 28 views?

OP, just change the title to 'The Reason Why Nigeria Will Never Progress"

No matter the fake prophecy of prosperity coming down from the thousands of churches and mosque we troop to every Sunday and Friday, this country will continue to stagger, falter and go backwards until we install justice and punish iniquity.


"Righteousness exhalts a nation" , no be so una bible talk?

Happy Sunday! 

We deserve the leaders we get. Next time, don't vote based on sentiment!

Thank you mr. olumhense.

Despite beginning to sound like a record/cd on 'repeat' i will say again that the suffering of Nigerians is of their own making. The beauty of the current administration is that it has forced Nigerians to admit responsibility for their own actions. Nigerians in their millions voted the current government in. They voted in numbers large enough to confer a measure of legitimacy on the current administration. (Of course, the election had very serious lapses & flaws, but by 'African standards' (whatever the hell that means ), the results were 'acceptable' .

This means that Nigerians are now being forced to confront the errors of the choice THEY made. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. After floundering for over half a century, we have run out of excuses. Some smart fellow once described a man's fifties as the time in his life when the choices he made in his twenties and thirties begin to bite.

Nigeria is that 'man'.