I am constrained to write this treatise as I know a lot of my friends are friends of Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the President of Nigeria. As a Nigerian in Diaspora I am like Nehemiah saddened by what I hear and read about our great country Nigeria (Neh 1:1-4; 2:1). I’ve asked myself “is President Goodluck Jonathan, the type of leader Nigeria needs at this critical time of her existence? Does he have the will, boldness, sagacity and might to frontally confront the evils that has befallen our beloved country? Is he his own man or a lame duck that is there to dance to the tune of seen and unseen drummers? Does he love the country to the point of saying “if I perish, I perish” for the sake of Nigeria? Will he prefer that the status quo be maintained in order for him to remain in power while Nigeria burns and her citizens suffer?
How has our president fared in last one year as both President and Acting President?
Corruption: how much has he been able to confront this cancer that is almost destroying the very fabrics of the nation? I hear/read that people very close to him have been involved in money laundering offences. What has done about it? Have we not seen people who were jailed for corruption and those with very questionable characters being part of Jonathan for President campaign teams.
Security: has he been able to make a difference in the security of lives of Nigerians? Has kidnapping abated or increased? Of course you and I know that its on the increase. What about the crisis in Jos? What has he done to bring the perpetrators of these carnages to book? Look at the bombings of Christmas eve, there had been security reports of the possibility of this happening, what did the government do to stop it? The same applies to the Independence Day bombing. The list of security lapses is endless.
What do we say about education, which you and I know is in a comatose. The health sector is nothing to write home about. No good roads. Power has not improved. Every facet of the nation is down for the count.
Fellow Nigerians, this is not the time for tribal or religious sentiments. All we need is a President who is his own person and not a lame duck. A President who has the will, judiciousness, wisdom and capacity to deliver. Irrespective of tribe, whether Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw, Kanuri, Fulani etc we need a President who is proactive and incorruptible. A person who sees himself as being accountable to Nigerians and not party warlords. Your religious affiliation has nothing to do with this. Your background whether you wore shoes to school or slippers to school is immaterial. I know of at least one of the federal legislators who when were in the university wore slippers to classroom for most of the time, because he couldn’t afford to buy a shoe. But today, what has he done to ameliorate the problems of the common man? Nothing!
Nigeria is on her brink. You and I have a collective responsibility to save her. So Shine Your Eyes. A word they is enough for the wise. He who has ears to hear let him/her hear.

@Oludyke.

Eloquently stated truth. It is sad that some are even contemplating voting for Jonathan with all we have seen from his misrule. Where do we begin ? Is it the legislative gangsterism his campaign coordinator for the SW is getting away with in Ogun State or the several and blatantly undemocratic attempts to skew things in GEJ's favour while the affairs of Governance is now , more or less, ignored ? Where do we begin to talk about the fiscal irresponsibility and insensitive profligacy of the GEJ Government that has attracted the uniform condemnation of respected economists home and abroad ? Below is a thread I started which details how Femi Falana directly blames Yar Adua and Jonathan for how wantonly wasteful and corrupt the legislative arm of Government has become yet it had to take the brave intervention of our CBN Governor for attention to be focused on the wicked role the legislative arm play in our National  underdevelopment because of primitive greed . Meanwhile, Jonathan knows precisely how to stand up to these Sharks yet he will not do it because he needs them , same as he needs so many enemies of Nigeria's progress, for his selfish ambition:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-576767.0.html

How do we claim to want change when we cannot eschew ethnic bias and parochial sentiments to do what we must ?

@ Oludyke,

I share your sentiments and feel your pain.

GEJ IS NOT THE MAN!!!!!!!!

The saddest thing in my opinion is that he is likely to win the general (s)election and it will be business as usaul for the next 4 years.

Yes every politician or political office seeker always weaken his power to get votes, after getting the vote u'll see his real self. It is a normal political phenomenon

All i hear is GEJ this GEJ that, i wonder how d so called people aka (noise makers) will perform if given d opportunity, u pepole think Nigeria's problem can be solved in a few months, not minding d fact dat some people tried for 8yrs and didnt accomplish much, pls we keep on talking all d time but what have we on our part done to make things better either in our place of work or in our communities, If those of us making noise on NL get to that seat of power i wonder wat they will do, NOISE MAKERS

oludyke:

As a Nigerian in Diaspora I am like Nehemiah saddened by what I hear and read about our great country Nigeria (Neh 1:1-4; 2:1).

I read that one sentence and almost laughed. You are too far from home, come back and make a difference, so you don't view the country through religious eyes. GEJ's only real opponent is the mega thief, Atiku. Who would you rather have?

Buhari could not win his home state and Ribadu is being thrown under the bus by ACN, not that they even begin to compare with GEJ anyway.

Dude, come home and see things as they are on the ground.

Beaf:

I read that one sentence and almost laughed. You are too far from home, come back and make a difference, so you don't view the country through religious eyes. GEJ's only real opponent is the mega thief, Atiku. Who would you rather have?

Buhari could not win his home state and Ribadu is being thrown under the bus by ACN, not that they even begin to compare with GEJ anyway.

Dude, come home and see things as they are on the ground.

am sure a lot of people already said it in this forum.
It will be a very sad day, the day Jonathan becomes a president of this country for another one day after May 29th.

Jonathan as a matter of fact is the worst of all the other guys you have mentioned. This Jonathan just makes me greatly miss late President Yar'Adua

calyx:

am sure a lot of people already said it in this forum.
It will be a very sad day, the day Jonathan becomes a president of this country for another one day after May 29th.

Jonathan as a matter of fact is the worst of all the other guys you have mentioned. This Jonathan just makes me greatly miss late President Yar'Adua

You Miss Yaradua ?


Are you okay


Jonathan has been in power for only a few months, give him a chance.

Once again Nigerians exhibiting one of their very well known vices, IMPATIENCE.

People that can't even take k of their immediate families criticising a 'virgin govt'

missing yar'dua!!! I dey laugh o, Nigerians impossible people to govern, wonder wat they can really do than to criticize,

Nsiman:

People that can't even take k of their immediate families criticising a 'virgin govt'

Give it a rest. It seems some of us don't understand that this is not about giving Jonathan more time. If we are politically sophisticated we will understand the parameters to use in judging candidates as per suitability for office . Jonathan has failed virtually all critical tests of leadership he has been faced with. That is the fact we must deal with for the sake of our Country.

From letting Gbenga Daniel set dangerous illegal legislative Precedence to the attempt to destroy our nascent democracy with desperately anti-democratic conduct we can all see , if we want to see, that the issue is not about giving GEJ more time . A Politically sophisticated electorate needs nothing more than what they have seen , with GEJ's actions in office, to conclude that the issue is of innate incompetence and unsuitability for office that more time cannot remedy. The man is effing up badly and stinking out the joint . He should go before things get really bad because he is clearly not up to the job.

Its a case of having to choose one devil between two devils, I reckon everyone will choose a lesser devil. Jonathan is the lesser devil.

@ gbawe, was it gej that passed the laws for Daniel to assent into law? My bros i bet u, if gej gets the real mandate, u will say with ur mouth that he's too hard to be president

@ OP
i feel your pain, sadly only few people have the capacity to see things the way they are,  either due to sentiment or myopicness.
   certainly, GEJ's inability to confront issue head on is worrisome with all indications of plunging 150 million souls in to mid atlantic. A case of two unfortunate inexperience pilots without a pre-required test certificates guess-mating and flying, all of a sudden the co-pilot died of renal complication mid air.
The other most inexperince pilot was struggling to control the air craft with the aid of an auto-pilot and some concern crew  members (kitchen cabinets) they  almost crash the plane before stop over (may 2011). Will you continue the flight or demand for pilot change??

>>> the choice is ours . . . . . . . . . . .say no to PDP and all bad pilots.
God Bless Nigeria.

@op dis is wat i hv bin saying. Unfortunately many people hv bin totally blinded by ethnic sentiments dat its now difficult 4 dem 2 open deir eyes let alone shining it. Wit d way he has bin operating its obvious dat dis goodluck has absolutely no clue on how 2 run dis country. 4 dose canvassing 4 more tym,hw in blue blazes can we giv him tym dat we cant afford? So just because he's a 'virgin' president,we are supposed 2 indulge him 4 anoda 4yrs? I tire!

Nsiman:

@ gbawe, was it gej that passed the laws for Daniel to assent into law? My bros i bet u, if gej gets the real mandate, u will say with your mouth that he's too hard to be president

It seems you don't know what I am talking about. Let me explain . Gbenga Daniel wanted to float a N100 billion bond .The speaker of the Ogun house and majority of its lawmakers stood against this because they , and most observers, believed Daniel and his acolytes were looking for retirement funds . Daniel then got 9 lawmakers , against the wish of 15 lawmakers, to impeach the speaker   Where does that happen in the world i.e minority vote carrying the day? Comically , the bond was approved by the 'new' speaker literally a few minutes after the 'impeachment' of the original speaker of the house!!!! Naturally there was a lot of controversy yet all Jonathan could do was to insensitively appoint Daniel his campaign coordinator for the SW region in the middle of the ongoing chaos Is that not a damning indictment of how Jonathan callously chose expediency above what is right when called upon to lead?


At the time many , including the ACN Party and Femi Falana, stated clearly what Jonathan , as commander in Chief, is empowered to do to bring order and forestall the setting of precedence that will no doubt encourage many of our criminally-minded leaders. How long before we see the likes of Alao Akala acting similarly? Now ask yourself why Jonathan chose to do nothing (*hint* Daniel is Jonathans SW campaign coordinator*). Then ask yourself if this is a question of "real mandate" or more time when it seems we are dealing with the fundamental issue of political opportunism inherent in poor politicians who will never place Nation above self.