[size=14pt]Jonathan’s outstanding campaigns [/size]
Written by Abdul Nanshap Wednesday, 09 March 2011

AS I watched the kick off of the Mohammadu Buhari presidential campaigns in Kaduna from the comfort of my living room that Wednesday, my interest lay less in the size of the crowd that gathered at the Muritala Square to welcome Buhari. Buhari, sole-owner and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, for obvious reasons, has remained a crowd puller in the states of the North-West since 2003, when he began angling to be the president of the country. As such, I knew in Kaduna that day, history was bound to repeat itself. My interest, my fear, my worry was about what Buhari would open his mouth and say, and probably, what he might fail to say.

Would he tread the same old, weather-beaten path of verbal attacks? Would he go on and on, identifying problems, lapses, without proffering a line of solution? Any likelihood of a new and refreshing thing from Buhari? Somehow, my mindset in all this was that Buhari would not deviate and disappoint. And he didn’t! Except for a vow to resist rigging, the former Head of State, who is now taking his third shot at the Nigerian presidency, did not utter any promise to the vast crowd of Nigerians that gathered to listen to him. He also did not advance a single line of solution to even one out of the deluge of the problems he identified with Nigeria, and the system.

I closely followed the 2008 US presidential campaigns of President Barack Obama and his closest rival, John McCain, and wondered after listening to Buhari last week, if any political party in Europe or America, South Africa, Ghana, or even Kenya, would ever have gambled fielding Buhari as its presidential flag-bearer. In all these cultures, the substance of a politician is measured on the electoral field by the content of what he says, not grandstanding, not moonshine. If Buhari and others truly desire to reap any harvest out of their campaigns and tours, they must veer off the path of empty banalities and place worth on content. What every candidate is bringing to the table, and how they intend to bring them are the issues, for heaven’s sake!

Attack politics, Buhari and company must be told, no longer pays. It failed Atiku Abubakar at the Eagle Square in the PDP primary. It will fail Buhari again, because Nigerians have had more than a fair share of the divisiveness and acrimony it breeds. Emptiness of mind and ideas. It is an escape route for the rabble-rouser.

Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential flag-bearer of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has not been much of an issue. And probably would not be beyond his current melodious “Stand up for Ribadu” TV commercial. With all due respect to the mallam and the ACN, it must be said that Nigerians largely believe that Ribadu is more of a material for the future.

But Jonathan has been able to creditably distinguish himself from the errant fray. President Jonathan has been able to re-shape the template of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign message this year. The shift from grand-standing to issue-based contents has been evident in Jonathan’s campaign tours. Remarkable also is the attempt of the president to identify and address the peculiar needs of specific localities.

Arising from his concern to restore Lagos as the industrial and commercial hub of the country, President Jonathan, for instance, declared in his Lagos rally that: “We want all the factories in Lagos to pick up again. We must stimulate commerce and trade in Lagos. We will work with all the relevant agencies and the private sector to get that done. We will continue to modernize both the Tin Can and the Apapa ports, to ensure that they operate at the best international practice, to stimulate trade. We must generate wealth. We must generate employment, and Lagos is where we must start.”

For the upgrading of Lagos roads and every other infrastructure which falls with the threshold of the Federal Government’s responsibility in the state, the president, while announcing his decision to expand the Oshodi-Airport Road to eight lanes, revealed a decision of his government to conduct a holistic review, and inventory of Federal Government’s infrastructure in the former Nigerian capital, for upgrade and proper management. “If it is a road, we must repair it; if it is a house, we must renovate it, to make sure that Lagos is given its pride of place. I am committed to it, I will do it, and we will need the cooperation of the private sector,” the president said. Refreshing also is the novelty of inviting federal ministers to render a score-card of their stewardships to the people on campaign grounds.

For every state in the North that the president tours, he makes a rigorous study of the peculiar social and economic problems of the people, and announces solution strategies right on the campaign ground before his audience. The effort to dwell on peculiar needs of a given people makes his campaign promises vary from zone to zone, and even within a given zone, his campaign promises often vary from state to state according to what may be the peculiar problems of the people of a given state. A similar approach also distinguished Jonathan’s campaign rallies at zonal levels.

In the northern states, the president would usually address issues of water scarcity in his rallies with provision of adequate waterworks, solar-powered boreholes and motorized bore-holes. For improved and all-year-round farming for the predominant subsistence farmers’ population in the region, the president would make commitments for mechanised farming techniques. For improved power generation in states with strong windy conditions, he talks of intervention with wind-driven power generation technology. He identifies specific degraded roads for upgrade to ease human movement, trade and commerce. He talks of a standard gauge rail system. He talks of a new Almajiri education programme. He talks of an enhanced government health initiative to rein in the soar-away infant and maternal mortality rates in the region. He talks about security, and specific attention to ethnic and sectarian violence. He addresses the threat of desertification.

In the South-East, he talked of enhancing trade and commerce. He addressed the wide-spread issue of bad road network, and the pervasive ecological threat of sheet and gully erosion. He talked of more Federal Government presence in terms of infrastructure, and the resuscitation of dead giant industries in the region. He talked about power and the cheery news of consummating the Alaoji 1,074MW Power Station, the biggest gas-fired power plant under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP. He talked of a new drive of government for a coal-to- power project in states that have coal deposits. He talked about securing lives and properties in the face of rampant armed-robbery and kidnapping cases.

In the South-West, he talked about roads and rail system, linking Lagos and Ibadan for improved trade and commerce. He talked about improved agricultural techniques. He talked about increased industrial productivity, power and the good news arising with his government’s commitment to Olorunsogo and Papalanto power stations.While waiting for the president’s package for the individual states of the South-South region, the people of the region, through the president’s PortHarcourt zonal rally, already know the blessings that are on their way with the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and the Local Content Act.

Jonathan has also thrown up his package for the country’s teeming youth population in terms of job creation and education. He has also show-cased what he has been able to do with the economy within the short period he has held sway; what the petroleum industry would become with his government, and where he is going with the electricity question. The following success indices speak for themselves in these critical areas.

For job creation, the president in the 2011 Budget, his first as a substantive president, set an impressive precedent that would sure change the fortunes of job seekers. For Nigerian youths to train in high institutions and come out and get employed, and for those that are presently unemployed to have a sure hope of getting employed, Jonathan took the decisive approach, of creating- the National Job Creation Scheme- which was empowered with N50 billion for a prompt take-off in the 2011 Budget. It is projected that through this initiative, over 10,000 jobs would be available for job seekers yearly.

For more availability of jobs, the president has also made it a policy of government that all contracts, coming to the Federal Executive Council, must indicate, and prove the number of jobs it will bring to Nigerians, as a pre-condition for approval. And on education, the president gave the highest allocation of over N900billion to the educational sector. This comes as the very first time in many decades that the education sector has received a near commensurate outlay in the federal budget.

Nanshap wrote in from Kaduna

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/opinion/18577-jonathans-outstanding-campaigns

Attack politics, Buhari and company must be told, no longer pays. It failed Atiku Abubakar at the Eagle Square in the PDP primary. It will fail Buhari again, because Nigerians have had more than a fair share of the divisiveness and acrimony it breeds. Emptiness of mind and ideas. It is an escape route for the rabble-rouser.

This is a truth that needs telling. We have had all sorts of low tactics, from bombing to hauling abuse that will shame most motorpack touts. Lets cool it down and demand substance from the candidates, lets know exactly how each of them wishes to carry out their promises. Lets know if they have a vision for the country or if they are only desperate for the "cookie jar."

I have repeatedly said that among all bidding for the Presidency in this despensation, Jonathan remains the best option.

They prefer to shout "change" without telling us what we are changing to.

@Poster, don't be suprised if you have 1000 views with just 2 replies.

cmmon, cnt u see wer the article is coming from TRIBUNE, OGUN PDP are the new owners of PDP

All we here from the people that claim they want to change Nigeria is"] April Polls: Lynch anybody who attempts to rig, Buhari tells Nigerians".that is how they want to start change in nigeria by lynching people.GEJ is proving why his the best candidate in this election and of course pat utomi

Change is coming soon to sweep off all looters, killers, bombers and their friends alike

[size=24pt]Vote Buhari-Bakare 2011[/size] _{for the future of your children}

noblezone:

I have repeatedly said that among all bidding for the Presidency in this despensation, Jonathan remains the best option.

They prefer to shout "change" without telling us what we are changing to.

@Poster, don't be suprised if you have 1000 views with just 2 replies.

lol! Its like people cramming stuff and reciting it like clockwork, without the slightest understanding of what "change" entails.
How can change come from a 70 year old man? How can change come from an ex-ruler and coup plotter? How can change come from one of the architects of the mess the country is in?

Some Nigerians sometimes can be very funny, no doubt, we have very good comedians in this country. One of the most popular and yet the most untrue joke of all times is the talk that Jonathan represent fresh breath or fresh air. Nothing is so far, from the truth.

Jonathan have been in politics since 1999, he ran elections with is boss in Bayelsa (1999 and 2003). He supported and financed Obasanjo 3rd term bid. He was a beneficiary of the 2007 rigged elections. He was the vice president, acting President and now the President of Nigeria. He rolls with gangsters, thugs and ex convicts (Obasanjo, tony Anenih, Bode George, Alao Akala, Babangida). And he is the Presidential aspirant of the most notorious political party in Nigeria's history.

How is Jonathan Ebele Goodluck fresh breath/air?

If GEJ is any where close to fresh breath, I pray to Suffocate

Jonathan's oustanding campaigns. You are dreaming. Bunch of Jokers.

Most of the posters here are simply confirming the thrust of the article, which is, that camps opposing GEJ's would rather throw words, stones or abuse than engage in a cerebral conversation that proffers actual solutions to the issue's Nigeria faces. Its sad really.

Attack politics, Buhari and company must be told, no longer pays. It failed Atiku Abubakar at the Eagle Square in the PDP primary. It will fail Buhari again, because Nigerians have had more than a fair share of the divisiveness and acrimony it breeds. Emptiness of mind and ideas. It is an escape route for the rabble-rouser.

Thats right sir!

Including those that have been sacrificed died for democracy.

If those that died during GEj  campaigns can be labelled as dying for democracy  - what label would we give to the dead


ones  in Libya, Tunisa, Egypt and co.

abeg give me break.

Vote two honest Nigerians

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