‘We are disappointed by Jonathan's leadership style'

By Festus Owete

July 4, 2011 07:59AM
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A group, Clean Nigeria Campaign (CNC), on Sunday criticised President Goodluck Jonathan over the manner he has run his administration in the last one month, saying it was anchored on a "transaction agenda" and not his much-touted transformation agenda.

The group also faulted the arrest of some critics of the administration argued that they would have not suffered the fate if they had remained in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

It stated the foregoing in a statement by its national coordinator, who is also a leader of the Coalition of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Osita Okechukwu, in Abuja.

"Indications have emerged that President Goodluck Jonathan is wittingly or unwittingly running a transaction agenda rather than his publicly acclaimed transformation agenda," it said.

"CNC is of the candid view that the business of government with the go-slow attitude of Mr President is stagnated and the scant business is only negotiated with Mr President on a ‘man-know-man' basis." They described as "untidy" the manner adopted by the president in constituting the Federal Executive Council (FEC), insisting it negated the urgency and expectations of Nigerians on the imperative of fixing the country's decayed infrastructure, adding that there was no iota of transformation on the cards."

Lead us aright

Recalling that late US president Ronald Reagan knew little but accomplished so much in power, the CNC said it thought that having been in the saddle for over one year, Mr Jonathan would have become primed to be his own man and not fall into the viselike grip of the hawks in PDP.

"A transformational agenda-prone president," it noted, "would have submitted the list with their portfolios and in the same view persuaded the Senate to stand down Senate rules and use Friday to conclude the screening e xercise. Mr President lost the urgency appeal, more so when the list of ministers is still incomplete."

The group also expressed worry over what it described as the witch-hunt of opposition politicians in the country, especially with regards to the arrest of a former minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir el-Rufai, and one Hassan Lawal, both of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

According to the group, both men would not have suffered that fate if they were still in the PDP.

Babangida advice

Former military president, Ibrahim Babangida also said yesterday that a suspected hounding of opposition leaders could derail the focus of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration.

Mr Babangida, who stated this in a statement signed by his media aide, Kassim Afegbua in Abuja, said the minimum wage crisis, petroleum subsidy debate, crisis over ministerial nominees and the proposed Islamic Banking should worry President Jonathan more than fighting perceived political enemies.

He said that many Nigerians are not happy with some events taking place in the country and therefore called for the process of moral and political healing rather than arrest perceived enemies of government.

"The arrest and release of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is a deliberate distraction which the President must run away from. He must avoid gambling with decisions and he must be willing to seek a third opinion on issues before he takes his decision," he said.

The former president advised Mr Jonathan to listen to voices of the opposition and or dissent, as he stands to gain experience and knowledge from theirwell-informed criticisms rather than build hostilities around them.

"If his body of advisers do not understand the temperament in the country and decide to embark on arresting and releasing people on very questionable allegations, they will be making enemies for the President instead of friends. The prerogative is that of the President and no one else," he said.