It does not take rocket science to see through the cheerful and confident mask of President Goodluck Jonathan these days. A mask that obviously conceals
deep worries and uncertainties with smiles and cheers on the façade! After all, the President and his handlers did not bargain for the tight corner in which they now find themselves. There is no doubt that they did their homework scrupulously and assiduously.

They had good four years at their disposal to prepare themselves for the present doomsday scenario.

In other words, four years of President Jonathan’s government was spent on the priority issue of securing a second term in the Presidency. For this purpose, no stone was left unturned.
No government work was more important. “Good” friends were lost and “hungry” friends were found all along the way.
Foot soldiers were employed. Attack dogs too.
Nothing was left to chance. “Simlins” were created and friendly voices bought all over the network scene on social media. Readers’ comment forums of online newspapers were well manned to prepare grassroots support for 2015.

Yet they missed out on several key and crucial issues. Aside governance and achievements that would have done the trick singlehandedly, they counted too strongly on securing a power base with powerbrokers who are masters of the game of treachery and deception. With the regional influence of the “local champion” Mr. Edwin Clark, they sought to secure the home front and seemed to have done that with some degrees of success. Even though I have no evidence to back up this claim, something strongly tells me that they relied too strongly, on former military dictator Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to secure the national front as a counter
weight to General Olusegun Obasanjo, who they had chased out of their camp with jeers and boos against all wisdom.

After unwittingly compelling the realignment of political forces, they needed a military wing in the creeks that must be robustly fed with weapons hoping that the North would decimate and weaken itself with the bloody onslaught of the self-inflicted Boko Haram.
The Nigerian military that the traditional establishment would have used against theif things got out of control, was secured in the hands of kinsmen and loyal surrogates in what now looks like a deliberate move to systematically weaken the military. They left nothing to chance. The President declared his candidacy very late and he could not be
crucified too brutally in advance. The militants made potent threats in advance and we knew they meant business. Hints wereeven deliberately made in public, of the typeof weapons at the disposal of the militants and we now know that they have warships.

They left no stone unturned. They anticipated the emergence of retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the opposition even though they secretly wished for Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso or Aminu Tambuwal. They were prepared for Buhari. The all-out assault that they skillfully and very effectively launched on
Muhammadu Buhari would have ended up a huge success if Nigerians were not simply fed up with Jonathan’s regime of aggravated larceny and dishonesty.

First, the cloak of th Muslim fundamentalist that would lock his wife in purdah and proceed on the campaign trail with the shine of his masculine charm
did not fit Buhari. His wife surfaced and is now known to not only be very good lookingbut also far beyond the market class of those who know that “there is God”.

Then they produced a medical certificate claiming that Muhammadu Buhari was terminally crumbling under the yoke of prostate cancer. The document was finally declared fake. A simple misstep and loss of balance on a campaign podium was suddenly
reported in headline news as Muhammadu Buhari crumbling and collapsing before the gaze of the public due to ill health informedby old age. This too was discredited by footages from the campaign scene.

Then every other ace up their sleeve was staked on one single issue left: The former Major-General’s
secondary school leaving certificate and his
declarations in this regard. In the end, we realized that President Jonathan did not even complete the doctorate degree program, for which the nation has known and addressed him as “Dr.” Goodluck Jonathan since 1999.

They left just nothing to chance. The campaign of mudslinging and dirty tricks was quite masterfully prosecuted. They released another masterpiece. It took the eye of a professional to recognize professionals at work in the making of the documentary “The Real Buhari”.
But the facts did not fit. The bunch of very obvious lies and smears inherent in the clip simply ended up making mockery of a clip that was ordinarily very professionally compiled with effects and style. They could not but end up in frustration. Rather than
killing and burying Buhari’s political ambitions, all the aggressive moves of the President’s men did not only fuel their ownfrustration but increasingly betrayed their image of the desperate runaways fighting a mysterious battle for their own survival. It is mysterious because it now makes Buhari look
like the incumbent President seeking to be dislodged by a desperate challenger.

Today, we know that President Jonathan is not alone in this ominous struggle to retain the Presidency at all costs. In fact, in his own admission, the campaign dynamics has been let loose on his managers and co-travelers in the journey of theft and brigandage such that Mr. Jonathan himself is not always aware of
decisions taken on individual moves each step of the way.

Yet it is unbelievable that the President was not aware of plans to force the postponement of the Presidential election that was slated for February 14, 2015. Everyone heard it from Lagos to London. Even the booze-man elder Edwin Clark openly called for the sack and prosecution of Atahiru Jega and we all know who that is.

It is not so much the trust in the honesty of
Muhammadu Buhari and the modesty of his character that drives his acceptance throughout the nation today. After all there are very many serious and credible issues that people also have with the General and he has rightly explained many of such issues as fallouts from governance under the banner of unassailable military formations. It is very
much the rejection of Jonathan’s inept five years of dishonesty, corruption an unimaginable spookiness that has translated into the massive boost of Buhari’s prospects today.

Moreover, the Jonathan’s camp wantonly underrated the role of the international community and those internal forces who wield immense influences abroad than at home. This in spite of the immense resources they invested in high-end expertise to configure and knit an effective smear
campaign.

Today, the weight of international diplomatic pressure has been brought to bear on Jonathan like he has never before known in his years on the frontline of domestic politics.
The first hint was seen in his latest media chat in his answer to the question, if the election will truly hold on March 28, 2015. Even though the questioner did not mention any word about the international community, the President’s answer was a clear reflection of his characteristic confusion and the pressure that has been brought to bear on him by
international forces. In his answer, he ended up expressing understanding for the international community who is used toAfrican leaders, who are reluctant to give up power. He proudly added that he would be the first African leader to give up power if he loses the election forgetting that Ghana had
performed this feat just as recently as 2008.

The President may have realized the painful attacks that one may suffer after breaking a promise to an American Secretary of State within 10 days that elections will not be postponed.
Now the President’s camp is witnessing its first crack with considerations being insinuated, of the replacement of Mr. Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the ruling party. These are all evidences that the ruling party has been completely taken
unaware by several developments that it did not bargain for and these developments are not all happening within the domestic front alone. After all, whoever arms militants in preparation for the eventual partitioning of the country will hardly give a damn about dire consequences and all other impacts in the domestic scene. Such a person is most likely impressed by the foreseeable prospect of
outright defeat informed by a chain of events as highlighted in my last article positing that any civil war that is unwittingly provoked by President Jonathan will be decided by international alliances.

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