Running a good government is not
as difficult as President Goodluck
Jonathan has made it seem. There is
no magic to why nations succeed
or fail. It’s all about the quality of
the mind of the leader. And until
President Jonathan does a mind
transplant, he is guaranteed to fail.
Last week, the Ghanaian president,
John Mahama, fired a minister,
Victoria Hammah, who played a
major role in his election as
president. Her offence? She was
caught on tape saying she would
remain in politics until she made a
million dollars. In Nigeria, that’s
about N160 million. Note that
Victoria Hammah was not yet guilty
of corruption. So why should we
be surprised that Ghana has done
so well in the past few years so
much so that we now send our
children to schools in the country,
troop to its hospitals for treatment,
and those who can afford it are
locating their holiday homes there?
Ghana is not even nearly as
endowed as Nigeria. Yet, it has
recorded an average of 8 per cent
growth rate consistently for a very
long time. It produces only 115,000
barrels of crude per day, which is
less than a third of the total
quantity stolen by oil thieves in
Nigeria without repercussions
whatsoever. Officially, Nigeria is
supposed to be producing 2.5
million barrels per day; with a
better president, we can produce
up to 4 million barrels daily. No
president in the world ever
achieves anything if that president
does not see corruption as a
grievous crime. President Jonathan
does not think that corruption is
such a big deal and he does not
even pretend about it.
As always, President Jonathan is
currently in a rowdy corruption
row. Stella Oduah, his very dear
minister, has been caught red-
handed with her fingers in the till.
Nigerians everywhere, including
several members of the president’s
government and party, think Stella
should resign, and, if she refuses,
the president should sack her just
like his Ghanaian counterpart did.
Instead, what we hear filtering out
of Jonathan’s villa is that Stella is
being persecuted because she is
Igbo. What has being Igbo got to do
withstealing? Some of the fiercest
advocates of “Stella must go” are
Igbo. The truth is that it is not Stella
that is on trial here; it is Jonathan
himself. And if he insists on keeping
her, it is he that should go.
During the latest media chat,
someone asked the president what
he thought about corruption in his
government. Every other president,
even the most thieving president in
the world, would have pretended
and talked tough about fighting
corruption. But not our president!
Instead, he started quoting a
nebulous report which placed
corruption as the fourth most
serious problem facing Nigeria. It
was not the first, second or third,
he said, feeling very happy with
himself. So what if corruption was
placed fourth in the order of
Nigeria’s problems? Does that mean
it is not an issue?
It’s not only Stella’s aviation cars
that do not mean anything to the
president. The N1.6 trillion fuel
subsidy heist also means absolutely
nothing to the president; the N100
billion stolen police pension fund
means nothing to the president. It
was the Senate that was more
concerned and the president was
even accused of shielding the thief.
The Nuhu Ribadu Report means
nothing to the president. There are
sundry others.
Lee Kuan Yew, former prime
minister of Singapore and one
credited with transforming his very
tiny backward state into a First
World nation, has proved that
running a good government is not
nuclear science. He said that the
first thing he tackled as prime
minister was the corruption issue.
He made it very clear that no
country can ever make progress if
it is soft on corruption. Till today,
Singapore remains harsh on
corruption. President Jonathan
would gladly say that Singapore is a
small country compared to Nigeria;
what about China? China moved
from a very big, backward and
messy country into the country
with the second largest economy in
the world today and on its way to
becoming the biggest economy in
the world in the coming years.
Listen to the Chinese leaders speak
on corruption and you know one of
thereasons they are doing so well.
China is one of the very few
countries in the world where some
types of corruption carry the death
sentence.
But I know our president doesn’t
care and doesn’t give a damn. That
is why he will never succeed as
president of Nigeria or even as
chairman of a local government.
EARSHOT
‘Jonathan Under Pressure To Run’
A presidential handler amused the
world last week when he said
Jonathan was under pressure to
run. Of course, Jonathan is under
pressure to run. There are so many
groups that want the president to
run, most especially thieves (both
government officials and oil
thieves). But the presidential
handler is even more correct than
he realises. It is not only the thieves
that want Jonathan to run. I also
desperately want Jonathan to run.
That is the surest way to dismantle
that gangster party called the PDP.
Nigeria desperately needs to move
forward; so please Jonathan run,
run, run.

The funny aspect is that this man is a Northern Christian from Niger state. I have always said that true religious practice both Christianity and Islam are in the North while other people are doing business with very few doing the right thing in the name of religion.
These man does not give a damn on who you are but will always tell the truth point blank. Am i then to compare such a person with Aritsejafor( a yes man to every atrocities) in term of integrity?

Well presented opinion piece

Having to drive into warri over the weekend with some of the bad road portions repaired made me thought somebody remembered us again as human beings deserving better living. In no time on sunday I was caught in a standstill traffic congestion. The major roads were blocked because President Jonathan was about leaving the church for the airport. I made a turn after about 30 mins of waiting at the same spot. So I thought to myself we can all have a jolly bumpy ride on the roads as long as Jonathan isn't coming to town. We can all be on standstill until the presidency whisks by. ....democracy indeed