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Jonathan: The Nigerian Dream
By Solomon Imohiosen Newsdiaryonline
Tue Apr 12,2011
Last Saturday, Nigerians went to the polls to exercise their
civic responsibility to vote for those who will be their
representatives at the National Assembly elections. The very
large turnout of voters was a most interesting spectacle,
indicating enthusiasm and excitement by the Nigerian voting
population to influence change in the desired direction, which
they do every four years, by voting out non performers and those
who have been unable to deliver on their promises.
There is still more excitement to come as Nigerians will again
file out in their numbers this Saturday to endorse their choice
for the nation’s first citizen. Among the front liners for the
Presidential race are the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, Nuhu Ribadu and
Ibrahim Shekerau.
The fundamental issue to be raised, is what are their pedigrees?
Nigerians have had the opportunities to rate these contestants
at different fora,
at campaign rallies across the country and just recently at the
NN24 television debate in which three of the Presidential
candidates attended except
Dr. Jonathan who participated in another television
debate organized by the Nigerian Election Debate Group which
many Nigerians watched live through the NTA network and also
aired on radio stations across the country.
Interestingly, Dr. Jonathan’s non participation in the NN24
debate generated some criticisms, notwithstanding, the very poor
reach of the station, available only through cable TV
subscription. However, millions
of Nigerians
who watched the NTA debate in which Dr. Jonathan participated
and despite the non appearance of the other Presidential
candidates, were convinced that the President has the requisite
intelligence, knowledge, eloquence, competence and capacity to
lead the country and to take it to an unenviable height.
What Nigerians should be looking out for at this point in time
is the quality of leadership that will translate to a better
life for the average man on the streets, not a leadership that
has the character to unleash hawks and scavengers on the rest of
the populace. Most significantly, President Jonathan is
propelled and driven by passion of the Nigerian dream that has
become so elusive and looks unattainable and unreachable by the
ordinary Nigerian who has been consigned to the depths of
poverty, hunger and scandalous deprivation in the midst of
plenty.
Among the other top contenders for the nation’s most top ranking
job, President Jonathan has seen it all. His rise from struggle,
sweat and toil to fame and recognition reveals and paints a
picture of a man who is touched and pained by the daily toil of
Nigerians who suffer so much inadequacies from poor
infrastructure syndrome to simple absence of the barest means of
survival. He lived among his poor folks in Otuoke, a small
riverine community in Bayelsa State. The son of a canoe maker,
he knew what it means to live without basic necessities of life
.As a school pupil Jonathan went to classes bare footed, he
walked long distances to school and helped in the daily chores
at home. This is a story that has been told all over for
Nigerians to learn from, President Jonathan was not born with
the proverbial golden spoon in his mouth.
Today, the hopes and aspirations of the ordinary Nigerian from
North to South, East to West are being translated from hopes and
dreams to their actualities and manifestation, no longer mere
aspirations devoid of all the support and solid foundation that
should bring them to fruition. His well televised advertorial to
Nigerians on both newspapers and the broadcast media is that:
``if I can make it, you can make it``. What does this message
portends for us as Nigerians? Principally, the reality being
conveyed is that that Nigeria is at the threshold of a new dawn.
This message drives home the wishes, hopes and aspirations of
the legendary black American human rights activist and cleric,
Martin Luther King Jr.
in the now famous civil rights protests by black
Americans over racial discrimination and oppression
in the 1963 march on
Washington. Excerpts of that great speech holds true for the
Nigerian people. Hear Martin Luther King in his eloquent vision
and dreams:` I say to you today, my friends that in spite of the
difficulties and
frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream
deeply rooted in the American dream.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its creed:`` we hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons
of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be
able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a
desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice … I have a dream that one day every valley shall be
exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough
places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together”
The dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. have become axiomatic
blowing the tide of events and reshaping history, destinies and
faith of peoples across the world. The exactitude of his dreams
was beyond the comprehension of the American people, and its
black population, perhaps may have been at a cross road. The
vision of a black American President, perhaps was also a forlorn
hope. Today, all that is now consigned to the record books of
history, that the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. were
fulfilled in the person of President Barack Obama, the first
black President of the United States.
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a manifestation of the
Nigerian dream: “If I can make it , you can make it`` is his
prophetic message to the Nigerian people. His meteoric rise in
politics of the Nigerian type, with all its muscle flexing
tactics, full of political foxes and wolves, confounds all
political calculations and expectations. Early childhood
struggles through adulthood and work careers were experiences
that shaped him for the readiness to serve his father land.
Political titans and giants in Nigeria are overawed, astounded
and overwhelmed by his emergence at the headship of the Nigerian
state.
He is the quintessence of the hope and dreams of the ordinary
Nigerian, transcending tribe and religion, symbolizing unity and
togetherness, humble and diligent despite the fame office
brought to him. He has traversed the murky waters of Nigeria’s
tough political climate .His records are unbeatable in the
annals of our political history as a nation.
His vertical strides to the top in the rough political
road saw him first as Deputy Governor, Acting Governor,
Governor, Vice-President, Acting President and incumbent
President in the unfinished term of late President Umar Yar’adua.
President Jonathan is therefore, a legendary political success.
As a torch bearer of a new transformation agenda, he rekindles
hope of rebuilding our dying infrastructures, raise electricity
to a level of stability in supply and distribution; engender
economic growth at both the macro and micro levels, thereby
creating massive employment generation.
As he seeks his own mandate, it is a crucially significant
period for all Nigerians who should throw religious and ethnic
sentiments aside and vote in President Goodluck Jonathan .This
is a time in Nigeria when party affiliations should be thrown
overboard for the sake of integrity,commitment, diligence and
faith in the restoration and transformation of the Nigerian
federation by a man driven by passion and zeal of a failed past.
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