Goodluck 2015: The light goes dim
PUNCH, JANUARY 16, 2015 BY FOLA OJO President Goodluck Jonathan surfed
to power six years ago on the back
of widespread national approbation.
His approval rating spiked through
the roof in a historically-
unprecedented fashion. He was
Goodluck the beloved, Goodluck the
saviour, it was all about Goodluck!
Nigerians from all tribes were
determined to make his battle their
battle; wherever he led them, they
had braced themselves to follow; and
his God they were prepared to make
their God. The good and virtues
Nigerians saw in Jonathan were
probably much more than the virtue
Jesus saw in Judas Iscariot when he
appointed him a disciple overseeing
his treasury.
Today, the President’s political
fireplace has gone frigid, the fire-in-
the-belly of his government has
waned as Boko Haram and
widespread economic uncertainties
have come hitting Nigerians like an
unannounced swirling killer-blizzard.
And the President’s men, like a
losing kick-boxer are flailing at
anything and anyone real or imagined
with the sharp instruments of
presidential incumbency in an
attempt to win the fight.
My President is in the fiercest battle
of his political life against
Muhammadu Buhari, an astute, stout
and sharp-witted retired Army
General who is backed by an
undying, increasing, and resolute
following across Nigeria. Previous
fights the President had won were
fought by godfathers and the few
powerful who believed in him. Many
of the exalted positions Jonathan has
so far occupied were brought to him
by Goodluck. And where are those
ardent and true supporters now? One
by one, they have fled and found new
friends in the arch-rivals of Mr.
President as his ruling party, the
Peoples Democratic Party, continues
to run out of clue. Strip by strip, the
carpet of support is pulled from
under his feet, and the
haemorrhaging appears to have just
begun.
Nine governors did not show up in
his reelection declaration in Lagos; a
buddy-priest of his, Enugu-based
Father Ejike Mbaka, went on an
endless tirade that our own Goodluck
has actually brought Nigeria and
especially the Igbo bad luck. On
Monday, behind closed-doors in
Abeokuta, the President smooched
up in a room with two reputable
Nigerian clerics and his estranged
benefactor, Olusegun Obasanjo,
begging the latter for support. But
“Baba” told his late-coming penitent
son that someone else already
sought and received his support. I
learnt that this was the most
depressing moment of Jonathan’s
Presidency.
From state to state, Mr. President is
losing steam, ground, and men in
thousands to the opposition party
APC on a daily basis. I cannot recall
in Nigeria’s history where a ruling
party and an incumbent President
have lost so much support in a
rumbling sequence of 30 days before
an election. Jonathan’s electoral
chances in this election are getting
dimmer by the day.
His story can be likened to that of
the 29th president of the United
States, Warren G. Harding, whose
administration was a train-load of
unending scandals that ranged from
cover-ups of shady business deals
and large scale corrupt activities by
members of his cabinet. Like
Harding, no one has accused
Jonathan of corruption; and like
Harding, Jonathan’s Achilles heels
are those around him who are
believed to be the cruella-de-vil of
greed, graft and gluttony. Money in
the hands of Jonathan’s lieutenants
at all levels of government, many
believe, is like ice cream in the
mouth of a child; it melts fast and
easy through the conduits of
corruption and thievery, and you will
not remember it ever was.
Because of the complex and intricate
nature of Nigeria as a country,
Nigerians could have probably been
more forgiving if non-performance in
government were the only
shortcoming of this administration.
But dismal performance conjoined
with supersize corruption is not a
transgression that Nigerians easily
forgive. Profligacy has been
rumoured to be at a scary scale with
Nigerian politicians; and in the world
of the ruling party, the PDP, it
appears as if it is a necessary and
desired undergarment.
There is too much conscious or
unconscious coddling of graft by this
President. If former Head of State,
Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, believes that
his administration should be
considered an angelic being
regarding corruption compared to
Jonathan’s, then this administration
must be the unrepentant Lucifer of
larceny and a dashing baron of
daylight robbery that ever existed in
the annals of Nigerian history. We all
remember Babangida and his men.
When the President said that corrupt
government officials will not see the
four walls of a prison under his
authority, it was an announcement
that depraved minds will always have
a free pass with him. Incarceration of
those adjudged corrupt, Mr.
President, is a very powerful
deterrent for those who steal public
funds.
A heavy portion of this year’s budget
was set aside for entertainment in
the Villa, “estacode” for gazillion of
aides travelling with the President all
around the world, and the acquisition
of more airplanes. The government is
proposing to spend N517.9m this
year on meals and refreshments for
the Presidency, the Office of the
Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, ministries of power and
petroleum resources as well as their
parastatals. For the office of the
President, N142.47m was earmarked
for 2015 for refreshments and meals,
and N25.58m was earmarked for
meals and refreshments for the office
of the VP. In a country where over
100 million people are considered
poor, this is nothing but a legacy of
waste.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria,
James Enwistle, has now told us that
his country had intended to train a
battalion of the Nigerian Army up to
world standard; and the agreement
was that the US would provide the
trainers and the Nigerian government,
the equipment. After a few weeks of
training, the US had to back out
because no equipment was provided
by Nigeria. What happened to the
N1tn the Minister of Finance, Mrs
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, publicly
announced was in the 2014 budget
for the military? What happened to
the first-class equipment that should
have been procured? The minister
had said; “Defence spending is top in
everything, you know that military
establishment needs new things to
assist in its work and ours will not
be different…To be specific, the
military has about N968.12bn and we
have disbursed N130.7bn between
January and April 2014.”
With this huge sum, why is Boko
Haram controlling more than 20,000
square miles of the Nigerian
sovereign territory, an area larger
than Switzerland, Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Israel and 144
other countries of the world? Why
must our soldiers be ill-equipped,
badly-managed, and morale badly
bruised? About 17,000 innocent
people have been killed so far more
than those who died in the first US
Gulf War. Presidents of nations make
surprise visits to men and women
who are laying down their lives for
their countries in battles, but why is
Jonathan not in that league? The
music is fading for Mr. President, the
light is dimming for the ruling PDP,
and a shellacking train is about
tearing through Abuja into Aso Rock
taking the President and his men on
a first-class cabin back to abodes of
their choices. Nigerians can’t wait!
Having expressed this opinion, Dear
Readers, I want you to mark this: It
will be at your peril and pitfall to
count out an incumbent African
President called Goodluck. The battle
will get dirtier as we draw close to
February 14. But what shines in the
horizon is that candidate Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan who took the centre
stage of global attention four years
ago is not the same candidate today.
No doubt, the light has dimmed
drastically upon him, but he remains
the President and Commander-In-
Chief of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria throughout the election
period. You never know, President
Jonathan may still have some oil of
Goodluck left in his presidential jar.

www.punchng.com/opinion/goodluck-2015-the-light-goes-dim/

Otuoke/Kirikiri sure pass either way.His goodluck has expired BUHARI..................TESTED and TRUSTED.Oyin mo mo

Yes oooo

The light is not only dim.. Ts light out and dm don waste fuel so dm no ft fuel gen and dm no produce good electricity too...
CHANGE Must Emerge

It will go off completely by Febuhari 14, 2015.

Say no more to mediocrity.

Real man for President.

God bless GMB

Messed up the Goodwill with bad advisers and spokemen

hmmm.....

by Fola ojo.... lol says alot. Another Tinubu worshipper

OP,d LIGHT is not only DIM but NEPA don carry am!

Wicked
#Gej

Very interesting write up.

Jonathan has been nothing short of a curse to Nigeria and Nigerians. But not to worry, feBuhari 14th is only few days away. We'll send him back to Otuoke where he'll spend the rest of his uncertain days wondering why he didn't use the 6 good years he had to fix Nigeria

Yaayyy!!
#change