‘A Sordid Tale in Gross Incompetence,’ CPC Says of Jonathan’s First Year
Posted: May 27, 2012 - 16:10
By SaharaReporters, New York

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), in a retrospective assessment of the first year of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency, yesterday returned a verdict of incompetence and dismal failure.

“Beyond the grandstanding and abundant rhetoric of the government, there is nothing worthy of note that the Administration of Dr Jonathan has done to improve the infrastructural development, Education, Security and Economy of the Nigerian State,” the party said in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin.

It pointed to the poor results of Nigerian students in NECO, WASC and JAMB Examinations, the country’s infrastructure, roads, electricity, insecurity, and ethno-religious divisiveness that is supervised by the leadership for vain political advantage as examples of this failure.

“The policy summersault in the economic management is enough indication of the confusion at the top echelon of the Nation’s governance,” CPC said. “The leadership-induced sleaze tendency is still nightmarish, as the like had never been seen in the Nation’s checkered history.”

Jonathan: President Of CAN, President Of Ijaw Or President Of Nigeria?
Posted: May 2, 2012 - 15:29
By Teslim Sanni

It is surprising to see how debates over the 2015 presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan has suddenly come to the front burner of national discourse.

If the assumption that the present security challenges in the country has its roots in politics is true, then it is quite incautious of the president to pass any commentary on whether he stands a chance to participate in the 2015 presidential election or not.

There is no doubt that Nigeria is today more divided than when President Jonathan became the leader of the country, no thanks to certain interests that have hijacked and personalized the popular mandate that made Jonathan the president of the country. At any such times when there appears to be any sort of challenge to the Jonathan presidency - be it the fuel subsidy removal protests or during the church gift scandal - the president has always been ensconced into either religion or ethnic protection.

It has become characteristic in the mannerism of the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, to act as a godfather to the president during such moment of distress. As a matter of fact, the rabid response of the CAN president to most matters of national concern have often stultified the President's handling of those matters; and, worse still, projected the presidency as being an appendage of CAN. That is why there is so much distrust all over the country, especially among the predominant Northern Muslims and Christians in the South.

Much as the country had been battling with the Boko Haram menace before the installation of the Jonathan presidency, the posturing of the leadership of the Christian community in the country has, regrettably, reduced the Boko Haram threat to a Muslim-Christian warfare, or a North-South face off.

It is in the midst of this preponderant lapse in the nation's security setup and mutual inter-ethnic cum religion suspicion that the president is even dipping his hands into the labyrinth of an election that is three years away. All over the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja, big sign posters are beginning to sprout, purportedly sponsored by some groups close to the president, asking for the support of Nigerians in the President's fight against insecurity. It is bewildering to figure out what other support President Jonathan is expecting from Nigerians after being unanimously elected as president barely a year ago. But the only way to decode the real message behind the posters canvassing support for President Jonathan is to put it against the background of the recent media campaigns by several Ijaw interest groups canvassing Jonathan's eligibility in the 2015 election.

Whereas President Jonathan got the overwhelming support of Nigerians during his election about a year ago, the manner in which the Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor-led CAN and politicians from the South-south zone have personalized the Jonathan presidency has alienated other Nigerians from the ownership of that mandate.

That is the dangerous direction in which Nigeria is drifting under the Jonathan presidency. It is under this administration, in the history of this country, that ethnic leaders and religious bodies like CAN will be making inciteful statements with government keeping mum about it. If it is not Edwin Clark threatening of the break up of the country, it will be Pentecostal pastors led by Oritsejafor making statements inciting Christians to get ready for a war with the Boko Haram sect members. And yet, at no time did government ever deem it fit to call the CAN leadership or the Ijaw leaders to order over their inflammatory statements.

What the Ijaw leaders and Pentecostal pastors have forgotten is that the Jonathan presidency will one day, come to an end; and what will remain will be their different constituencies - CAN and the Ijaw nation - and no matter how hard they try, Nigeria will remain one indivisible country.

But President Jonathan will need to up his bargain if truly he intends a second term in office. As a presidential candidate standing for election in 2011, the president could have run his campaign with sweet promises of super performance. He also could have come to the soapbox with a joker of ethnic sentiment, being the first minority president Nigeria would have. But a president seeking a second term in office needs more than sheer ethnic or religious emotions to keep his job. He needs a compelling record of performance. And, does President Jonathan possess such a record of performance thus yet? I think Nigerians know better than they did in 2011.