Onumah, after Igbokwe's response to his original article, clarifies his utterances. Interesting to note that Chido is a card carrying member of the ACN.

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=106322

Still on Jonathan, opposition and 2015 by Chido Onumah


I would be deluding myself if I imagined that my article last week, “2015: Who will defeat Jonathan?” would not elicit the kind of “violent” outbursts that have trailed it. After all, this is Nigeria where you can’t take a position without being accused of “looking for something”. It is understandable. Some journalists and columnists have written their way to plum government jobs.

That piece was meant as a wake-up call for the opposition and an attempt to redirect the jaded public discuss on the future of Nigeria. In a way, the diatribes notwithstanding, I am happy we are gradually shifting gear and are inclining toward a proper debate about 2015.

This is helpful considering that the only debate on that subject so far has been name-calling and threats by ethnic warlords and religious bigots. If it is not Ohaneze N’Igbo shouting from every rooftop, “It is the turn of Ndigbo” or Dokubo-Asari threatening that the country will go up in flames with the aid of oil from the Niger Delta or Kingsley Kuku promising us that militants will return to the creeks if Jonathan is not reelected in 2015, then it is Prof. Ango Abdullahi or Farouk Adamu-Aliyu assuring us that the North (which North?) will break away and form its own republic.
In his rejoinder to my piece, Joe Igbokwe took umbrage at my assertion that, “If free and fair elections were held today (even though the PDP would never permit free and fair elections), chances are that President Jonathan will emerge victorious”. According to Igbokwe, “I do not know what led Chido Onumah to believe that PDP led by anybody in Nigeria today can win a presidential election in a free and fair process”.

“Now the question is this: On what basis is PDP going to win this election? Is it based on performance? What is the basis? How good have we fared in the past 14 years to warrant Chido to make this egregious forecast? Are we getting better? If you still give PDP 50 years can it do anything better than what we have seen?” Igbokwe asked.

Need we remind Joe Igbokwe that even with the knowledge and experience of the wreckage and wanton pillage since 1999, the PDP led by Goodluck Jonathan won in the South-west during the presidential election just two years ago? In the same South-west, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won convincingly in the gubernatorial and National Assembly elections.
I did not infer that Nigerians do not have the capacity to bring about change by voting against PDP, but it will take more than saying President Jonathan is clueless to achieve that. For the avoidance of doubt and contrary to Joe Igbokwe’s assertion, I did not gloss over “the critical importance of performance in winning elections or the issue of party unity”. The point being made here which was the gist of my article is that Nigerian voters are not as “sophisticated” as Igbokwe assumes, notwithstanding the grinding poverty, President Jonathan’s lack of performance and the unmitigated disaster that has been the hallmark of the PDP since 1999.

I have watched Goodluck Jonathan closely since I first met him in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in 2006 during a continental environmental conference that looked at the impacts and implications of renewed mining boom on communities in Africa, and it is difficult to put performance and Goodluck Jonathan in the same sentence, yet he won a presidential election “convincingly” in the South-west, even with the level of education and exposure of voters in that geo-political zone.

We need to know what made that victory possible in an opposition stronghold. Obviously, Nigerians notice the imperative of performance in winning election as Joe Igbokwe rightly noted, but whether this imperative is overriding every time is another matter.


I did not tie the future of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to one man – Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) as Igbokwe erroneously implied. I was clear in my assertion. As an aside, the former head of state will be 73 in 2015. I personally do not support gerontocracy in an era in which the world is electing young and visionary presidents in their 40s.
Talking about the presidency in 2015, the APC, undoubtedly, is a party of immense potentials. But it remains just that, a party of great potentials. We would need to translate that potential to reality and time is of the essence. I stand by my assertion that, “If elections were held today, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) is perhaps the only person with the pedigree, name recognition and national appeal who can give President Jonathan and the PDP a run for their money”.

“Is Chido saying that if anything happens to Buhari today, APC will not fill a presidential candidate in 2015?” Don’t we have more than 50 presidential candidates who can do better than Buhari if we search for them? Joe Igbokwe queried. The answer, my dear Joe Igbokwe, is that the issue goes beyond fielding a presidential candidate. You want to field one with the pedigree, integrity, national appeal and acceptability that stands a chance. Now is the time to make that decision no matter how difficult it is; not tomorrow, not next year. As a card-carrying member of ACN, and now by extension a member of APC, I would love to have the debate about the 50 potential presidential candidates in the party.

I appreciate what Joe Igbokwe refers to as “mines and bombs PDP mercenaries have been sowing on APC’s highway to reclaim Nigeria”. We must add to this the fact that APC is contesting against an incumbent president (whom some have described as the most powerful in the world) who has made corruption the directive principle of state policy.

I hope this resonates with Joe Igbokwe. Let’s assume elections are in April 2015. There are 36 states and 774 local governments in the country. If a candidate (but not just a candidate) emerged today, that means he or she has 22 months (or about 675 days) to make an impression. This is not an attempt to pull down the APC, but in all seriousness to show the urgency of the task at hand.

I agree with Joe Igbokwe that it is not “easy for ACN, ANPP, CPC and APGA to come together in today’s Nigeria to challenge PDP”. In my appraisal of the APC a few months ago, I noted, “If the APC succeeds, and I hope and pray it does, it will be “a marginal improvement over where we are coming from”. I ended the appraisal by quoting Edwin Madunagu who noted in his piece “Reflections on Party Combinations”, The Guardian, March 7 & 14, 2013, “Someone has referred to the newly-formed APC as the ‘new’ SDP. Yes, there are a couple of elements in common. But there is at least one more requirement for the APC: It has to show that not only is the status-quo totally bankrupt (which is the case), but also that the APC is a historically progressive way forward at this moment, and that it is the only one”.

“Now, if the question is, ‘Is the opposition ready to compete in 2015?’ please take notice that the answer is yes and this is final”, Igbowke concluded. Quite reassuring! I am currently teaching a summer course for young journalists from around the world on media and information literacy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. There are many students and academics from Egypt – some of them active participants in the “Egyptian Uprising”.

Very often our debates veer toward the situation in Egypt which bears an uncanny resemblance to what we have in Nigeria. After one year in office, Egyptians are tired and angry with Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood/Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and they are eager to end their reign. Egypt is known as a nation where people, no matter their religion or culture, leave together in peace. But that is no longer the case under Morsi who, late last year, granted himself unlimited powers to “protect the nation and to legislate without judicial oversight”. My students say he is destroying Egypt, undermining its constitution and using religion to divide the country.

“If elections were held in Egypt today what would happen to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood?” I asked a group of students. They were unanimous in saying Morsi would “win”. I then asked why. The response was that the opposition had not been able to unite around a nationally acceptable candidate that could articulate the feelings of Egyptians. But beyond that, one perceptive student noted, “a lot of Egyptians are illiterate; they are easily swayed by religious arguments – which the Muslim Brotherhood is manipulating. The Muslim Brotherhood is well funded, getting support from some of the very rich countries in the Middle East. During election they will buy people with bags of rice, cloth and oil”.
Does this sound familiar?
conumah@hotmail.com

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=106322 Osun defender again? Thought they and Igbokwe rebuked Tunubu and Iyaloja news.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tinubu-s-daughter-installed-traders-leader-amid-controversy/151783/

doncaster: http://www.osundefender.org/?p=106322 Osun defender again? Thought they and Igbokwe rebuked Tunubu and Iyaloja news.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tinubu-s-daughter-installed-traders-leader-amid-controversy/151783/

Do you want to comment on the topic? I really don't see the point mentioning Osundefender over an article detailing the thinking of Chido Onumah.

Well you have osundefender as the source. meanwhile do you have anything to say about the rebuttal and the publication from thisday of today? Just a question pls.

@ Gbawe,

I left a few questions here for you, which it appears you never returned to -

https://www.nairaland.com/1238009/pdp-cpc-anpp-others-violate#16191951

doncaster: Well you have osundefender as the source. meanwhile do you have anything to say about the rebuttal and the publication from thisday of today? Just a question pls.

You are here asking me an irrelevant question while obdurately continuing to ignore the topic under discussion and you expect me to oblige you?

Deep Sight:
@ Gbawe,

I left a few questions here for you, which it appears you never returned to -

https://www.nairaland.com/1238009/pdp-cpc-anpp-others-violate#16191951

I have no interest in answering your questions. Why? Because your style of talking here means you simply want confirmation of opinions you have formed already. Nothing anyone says will make a difference to you and I would not really want to waste my time indulging such rigidity. I have been a member of this forum long enough to know I do not have to oblige everyone over every issue. If someone, for example, like eGuerrilla,Naptu2 or HNosegbe asked what you did, then I would be compelled to respond because of their e-character.

Looking at how you are here, arrogantly ignoring the topic under discussion, and trying to force me to go elsewhere and deal with your enquiry on another thread as if I owe you anything? Those are the sort of things that speak to me. That is the equivalent of getting in someone's face in real life and hassling them. I don't do such here. I live and let live.

Look at your own antics below against two respected posters here merely because they don't proffer argument to suit where you wanted to go with the discussion. Should you be losing your cool, going over the top, and calling them "cowards", "ditherers" and unfit kings? Now, tell me if I am wrong for not wanting to pander to argument I know, 100%, will end up getting me nowhere positive.

https://www.nairaland.com/1320692/gbawe-whats-take-acns-stand/2

Your response to Naptu2:

This is simply intolerance.

As far as I am concerned, with a mindset such as yours, an intractable problem such as terrorism could never be solved.

Never ever. You lack the decisiveness required.

You could never be a Good King, the head that has to take tough decisions for a massive group. Never. Such a population would disintegrate under your dithering this way and that, arguing ethics, while they are murdered by criminals.

Your response to eGuerrilla and Naptu2

All these "my last post here".

This only shows EXACTLY WHY we have this Boko Haram problem: because fellas like you are too scared.

Freaking cowardly guys!

Gbawe:

You are here asking me an irrelevant question while obdurately continuing to ignore the topic under discussion and you expect me to oblige you?

Ok sorry did you think I read the post? from osundefender? Gbawe pls don't insult meanwhile why are you avoiding this thread like a plaque?

https://www.nairaland.com/1339936/tinubu-daughter-officially-installed-traders/3#16502998

doncaster: Ok sorry did you think I read the post? from osundefender? Gbawe pls don't insult me.

I have not insulted you and have no intention of doing such. "Obdurately" just means stubbornly. If fair, you will indeed agree you are being stubborn and disrespectful here. You want to avoid the topic under discussion only to focus on getting in my face over something else and I don't like that. In fact I resent it because too many people do that here and it constitutes a lack of respect for others.

First and foremost, you should respond to the topic under discussion here and refrain from stalking me over something else. Feel free to engage me elsewhere when I have given my opinion freely, and in relation to the topic, and not when you demand I must speak to you about certain things I am not currently talking on. Do I do that to you? Tell me this?

Also, I am not avoiding any thread. Some of you simply need to develop the class and decorum to judge people on what they say and not their silence. Wait for me to give my opinion and don't try to bully one out of me. On controversial topics, I will comment when I know the full picture from several authoritative sources and stakeholders.

Gbawe:

I have not insulted you and have no intention of doing such. "Obdurately" just means stubbornly. If fair, you will indeed agree you are being stubborn and disrespectful here. You want avoid the topic under discussion only to get in my face over something else and I don't like that. Too many people do that here and it constitutes a lack of respect for others.

Respond to the topic under discussion here. Feel free to engage me elsewhere when I have given my opinion freely, and in relation to the topic, and not when you demand I must speak to you about certain things I am not currently talking on. Do I do that to you? Tell me this?

Also, I am not avoiding any thread. Some of you simply need to develop the class and decorum to judge people on what they say and not their silence. Wait for me to give my opinion and don't try to bully one out of me. On controversial topics, I will comment when I know the full picture from several authoritative sources and stakeholders.

But you responded to deep sight's question that is not related to this your thread. You even go the extra mile to import what he said in another thread. Gbawe why are you like this? Gbawe you can do better than this now.

doncaster: But you responded to deep sight's question that is not related to this your thread. You even go the extra mile to import what he said in another thread.

Because, like you, he has not stopped showing that he has issues with how I do not entertain his questions. If he does not have the sense to leave issues alone and insist on calling me out everywhere over his 'unanswered questions', surely it should be obvious to even you that I will, sooner or later, have to conclusively explain to him why I am not interested in his questions?

Gbawe why are you like this? Gbawe you can do better than this now.

This is why I avoid Deep sight and people like you once certain characteristics emerge about your e-conduct here. Does what you put up above not confirm you have your opinion about what you deem me to be and only wish to stalk me till I conform and be whatever it is you are obsessed with proving I am? Some of you guys simply need to grow up.

Gbawe:

I have no interest in answering your questions. Why? Because your style of talking here means you simply want confirmation of opinions you have formed already. Nothing anyone says will make a difference to you and I would not really want to waste my time indulging such rigidity. I have been a member of this forum long enough to know I do not have to oblige everyone over every issue. If someone, for example, like eGuerrilla,Naptu2 or HNosegbe asked what you did, then I would be compelled to respond because of their e-character.

Looking at how you are here, arrogantly ignoring the topic under discussion, and trying to force me to go elsewhere and deal with your enquiry on another thread as if I owe you anything? Those are the sort of things that speak to me. That is the equivalent of getting in someone's face in real life and hassling them. I don't do such here. I live and let live.

Look at your own antics below against two respected posters here merely because they don't proffer argument to suit where you wanted to go with the discussion. Should you be losing your cool, going over the top, and calling them "cowards", "ditherers" and unfit kings? Now, tell me if I am wrong for not wanting to pander to argument I know, 100%, will end up getting me nowhere positive.

https://www.nairaland.com/1320692/gbawe-whats-take-acns-stand/2

Your response to Naptu2:


Your response to eGuerrilla and Naptu2

With every respect sir, you are entitled to your views, just as surely as I am entitled to see this for what it is: namely a lame cop-out. It is obvious that you are not willing avert your mind to hard questions regarding the ACN when they are asked or are pointedly obvious. I cannot see how the ad hominem in yours speaks to anything: if anything I would have expected you to speak to issues and not to persons.

As for "rigidity," I find that rather strange as I am very open minded towards the various parties in Nigeria. I have the most praise for the ACN (which I have always voted for) and the most condemnation for the PDP, (which I have never voted for) as I am most eager to see the back of the PDP especially at the Federal Level in this country. I am happy to praise that which I see as positive, and condemn that which I see as negative, wherever it may be found, and in whatever camp it rests. That's hardly rigidity. Now, that you cannot stand it when hard questions are asked of your camp, does not render the questioner rigid - it rather renders you manifestly rigid.

As for your ad hominems and referrals to other posters, I note that that thread concerned the ACN's response to the proscription of Boko Haram/ SoE. It would therefore seem that you are in fact the very rigid one in this matter, as you would take this most intolerant stance towards anyone criticizing the ACN.

As for "Hassling" - you have my sincere apologies on that, I never intended to hassle you. It was just a reminder, and I thought it apt to place it here, since the ACN vis-a-vis other parties is also an issue here. I certainly have no wish, time or inclination to "hassle" you.

Have a pleasant weekend, noble, kind and gracious sir.

Gbawe stop clutching at straws we need them to drink coke and sprite. That thread needs you. Before today you issued a rebuttal or you re-issued a rebuttal when the publication first came out. Please go to the thread and tell them its not true b4 desola put a bill board of the new iyaloja on carter Bridge.

Gbawe:

Because, like you, he has not stopped showing that he has issues with how I do not entertain his questions. If he does not have the sense to leave issues alone and insist on calling me out everywhere over his 'unanswered questions', surely it should be obvious to even you that I will, sooner or later, have to conclusively explain to him why I am not interested in his questions?

One reminder in the very same thread, and one reminder here, amounts to "everywhere"? Please don't wax narcissistic. I do not have any issues with your refusal to answer any question, my friend. I merely reminded you about a question I asked you.

Aside from the fact that this is in pointed contradiction to your own comments on answering a question of mine recently, but no matter, I needn't descend into the pit to begin to quote it, lest I become narcissistic too.

It seems that your hackles are unduly raised and your temper up once simple but hard questions are asked of you. That's rather disappointing sir.

This is why I avoid Deep sight and people like you once certain characteristics emerge about your e-conduct here.

Thanks for your gratuitous insults (even when no one has insulted you). Looks like you woke on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Try and take it easy and have a beer in the evening, it could help.

Deep Sight:

With every respect sir, you are entitled to your views, just as surely as I am entitled to see this for what it is: namely a lame cop-out. It is obvious that you are not willing avert your mind to hard questions regarding the ACN when they are asked or are pointedly obvious. I cannot see how the ad hominem in yours speaks to anything: if anything I would have expected you to speak to issues and not to persons.

As for "rigidity," I find that rather strange as I am very open minded towards the various parties in Nigeria. I have the most praise for the ACN (which I have always voted for) and the most condemnation for the PDP, (which I have never voted for) as I am most eager to see the back of the PDP especially at the Federal Level in this country. I am happy to praise that which I see as positive, and condemn that which I see as negative, wherever it may be found, and in whatever camp it rests. That's hardly rigidity. Now, that you cannot stand it when hard questions are asked of your camp, does not render the questioner rigid - it rather renders you manifestly rigid.

As for your ad hominems and referrals to other posters, I note that that thread concerned the ACN's response to the proscription of Boko Haram/ SoE. It would therefore seem that you are in fact the very rigid one in this matter, as you would take this most intolerant stance towards anyone criticizing the ACN.

As for "Hassling" - you have my sincere apologies on that, I never intended to hassle you. It was just a reminder, and I thought it apt to place it here, since the ACN vis-a-vis other parties is also an issue here. I certainly have no wish, time or inclination to "hassle" you.

Have a pleasant weekend, noble, kind and gracious sir.

Dude, let us just agree to disagree. The fact you do not even learn from what I pointed out, and prefer to see it as "ad hominems" , is confirmation of all I have said. Why should you be calling other posters ungracious names, especially those who typify what is best about this forum, because they do not agree with you? I specifically used that thread to show you a contextually relevant example for why others may simply chose to ignore you. Have a nice weekend too.

Gbawe:

Dude, let us just agree to disagree. The fact you do not even learn from what I pointed out, and prefer to see it as "ad hominems" , is confirmation of all I have said. Why should you be calling other posters ungracious names, especially those who typify what is best about this forum, because they do not agree with you? I specifically used that thread to show you a contextually relevant example for why others may simply chose to ignore you. Have a nice weekend too.

That's all fair and good, but I must say very clearly that my take at their stance as cowardly (on a very critical national security issue) is fair and honest commentary, and not an insult. Besides, I do not follow this section as much as I follow the religion section, and so I am not conversant with many people's "e-character" as you say.

I address issues, and not people, and I would have expected you to have a similar approach.

Anyways, no palaver. Enjoy.

Ah, and before I go, just for the sake of posterity - regarding the bold - "everywhere" - - ->

Gbawe:
If he does not have the sense to leave issues alone and insist on calling me out everywhere over his 'unanswered questions'

and only wish to stalk me. . .Some of you guys simply need to grow up.

Deep Sight:

https://www.nairaland.com/1238009/pdp-cpc-anpp-others-violate#16200355

Ah. I see hard questions are simply ignored. Telling. Very telling.

Those who live in glass houses, as the saying goes, should not throw stones.

The quote above is the only comment I made in the other thread, prior to reminding Gbawe of the questions for the first time here. That post was made as far back as the 11th of June, and my first and only reminder came today, in this relevant thread, 28th of June. . . this is hardly "in your face hassling" and 'everywhere', is it?

I make this post because I do not wish anyone to falsely accuse me of being "everywhere" or "stalking" (used in response to Doncaster, but lumping us together) or "hassling" - - - which from the above, is very clearly false. I make this post just for records sake, for my reputation.

It emerges that this is in fact the first time I am reminding Gbawe about those questions, and yet he writes above that I am "hassling" him "everywhere" and insinuates some sort of stalking. This is dishonest, false, and most unethical to so deliberately and falsely denigrate another person's reputation, and I take exception to it.

Now, talk about e-character?