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For a man who assumed office with a
huge dose of political goodwill, it is
really very odd that the Presidency led
by Goodluck Jonathan has sadly descended
in to the pussyfooting abyss where
urgent decisions are not taken with
dispatch.The fact that it is taking
President Jonathan so long a time to at
least publicly declare his intention,
for instance ,on his much vaunted 2011
presidency is a clear sign that
something has gone terribly wrong with
Jonathan’s method and tactics .
His former boss and predecessor, late
president Umaru Musa YarAdua earned for
himself the sobriquet Baba Go Slow.But
Jonathan seems to be carrying on like
Bobo indecision.Otherwise what on
earth will make things so difficult for
a man who came to office on the crest of
popular support and unprecedented
goodwill.He finds it difficult to act
until he is nudged by some kind of
criticism.It took the well-crafted alarm
from the new Chairman of Independent
National Electoral
Commission,INEC,Professor Attahiru Jega
who virtually stopped short of saying
the president was the one delaying the
signing of the electoral bill into law
to wake Jonathan up and have him append
his signature.
It would appear like the Jonathan
presidency has frittered away the
massive goodwill that ensured his
emergnce as acting president and
ultimately, the president. Recall the
groundswell of support from key leaders
like Generals Yakubu Gowon,Muhammadu
Buhari, Atiku Abubakar who were among
the first set of Nigerians to clamour
for Jonathan’s emergence as acting
president .Of course, the historic role
of the civil society and pressure
groups like the Save Nigeria Group, SNG
remain indelible.But it appears like
after assuming office, Jonathan simply
ran short of ideas about how to channel
the goodwill into effective use.
Ever since , a new kind of style
anchored on his South South-ness has
taken over,thus doing damage to the
pan-Nigerian movement which saw Jonathan
then as belonging to all of us during
the battle against the Turai YarAdua
–led cabal. It is either Jonathan did
not prepare for the challenge of
leadership or he misinterpreted the
historic import of the massive struggle
for his emergence .
Those who struggled for him looked
forward to a president who would
mobilize the nation along a new path for
the renewal of the nation.Sadly, the
battle for 2011 and the approach by
Jonathan and his strategists
indicate that he is more of a champion
of the old order anchored on base
instincts of where I come from first
before my Nigerian identity.Otherwise
why did Jonathan lose the coalition that
supported him so tenaciously and fought
equally fiercely against the cabal.
Some say this disconnect has arisen
largely because he is not a
messiah.Truth is that no one expected
him to be a messiah .He was simply
expected to play some refreshing kind of
politics that will heal wounds of the
past and move the nation away from this
perpetual jinx of rudderlessness.So far
that is not the case.Even the
president’s PDP is sinking deeper into
the abyss fuelled by the fissiparous
methods of the Jonathan presidency.
Perhaps the most outstanding proof of
Jonathan’s political naivity is his
failure to win the North over a in his
much expected presidential race.For a
president who was supported by all to
office, it should have been almost easy
for him to talk the north into seeing
why he should run.And the reasons are
obvious;He is from a zone that has long
been alienated and its environment
thoroughly devastated.No one can deny
the south south case for the presidency
as it presented itself under the unique
situation after YarAdua’s death.The
south south has a very strong case to
make in defence of the need for the
north to support their candidate .And
the fact is that the zone has been a
very loyal ally of the north all through
history.It is in all honesty , a
straightforward case to make.
Shockingly, rather than using the facts
of history and the unique opportunity
presented by the times to discreetly
launch into some intensive lobby of the
north, some steps taken of late began to
wear away the coalition that supported
Yar’Adua.For instance some northerner
saids Jonathan appeared to have bought
Obasanjo tactics of playing politics of
religion,thus making some muslims fear
that this leader is not inclusive.
They also said the utterances of some
South South leaders who are campaigning
for Jonathan have sort of given the
impression that this is a we against
them kind of regime.This method of
campaign has alienated Jonathan from the
northern masses one analyst said
recently.That is why northerners are
increasingly suspicious of Jonathan
now.
One of Jonathan’s biggest errors was to
have delayed decision about his
presidential ambition for too long.He
ought to have launched into secretly
smoothening the ground right from the
outset. Even more, the recent attempts
to hold summit, rallies and visits to
the presidency urging him to run remind
people of the late Sani Abacha era where
the dictator was being persuaded when in
actual fact he was the puppeteer behind
-the- scenes.
The countervailing argument that is
likely to be made by Jonathan’s handlers
is that the North has been too dogged in
its desire to have power back in
2011;that the Northern leaders have been
too unyielding.But what else would you
expect,said a northerner.According to
the highly informed northerner, all
these campaigner wanted was some serious
renegotiation of the term of engagement
within the party.But the president and
his men seem to be missing the point.
All that could have softened the north
according to this politician is some
equally dogged lobby and negotiation
away from pying eyes.After all even
Adamu Ciroma and Atiku Abubakar,two key
northern, pro zoning protagonists have
always said if the arrangement must be
changed, then the party should meet to
reconsider the issue.So the basis for
dialogue and negotiation has always been
there but Jonathan and his handlers have
been too absentminded to see the silver
lining in the horizon.
So far Jonathan’s campaign is
underlined by his tendency to allow
others do the talking for him ; he keeps
allowing himself come under pressure
from those seeking to persuade him to
run; he is always quick to deny he has
taken a decision to run or not to run
even though his aides say he truly wants
to run.
It is really very odd that the south
south leaders have found it difficult to
convince the northerners to allow
Jonathan to have a smooth sail without
coming under serious contest like the
looming battle suggests .Weren’t these
the two zones that had always stuck
together as political allies? What has
gone wrong now? It may all boil doing
to the method and tactics which have
failed engage the stakeholders
constructively. Rather than engage the
stake holders, a rather strange politics
of name calling has taken root.Worse
still, the president’s tendency to look
the other way while some key members of
his political bloc are doing damage to
his interest is not helping matters. He
may have taken this his predilection to
keep his intention away from those that
should help chart a cause too hopelessly
far.
But his problem is limited to the north
alone. There are growing rumblings in
the president’s south south base against
his kind of politics .Insiders say some
south south governors have been very
uncomfortable with the signals they are
getting from the presidency, signals
which tend to indicate that some south
south governors have been targeted for
political emasculation. This
development is said to be encouraging
some south south political chiefs to be
playing hide and seek with Jonathan
.Some are known to be looking in the
direction of Atiku or Ibrahim Babangida,
because the signals from the presidency
are not conforting yet, or so it seems.
It will really be sad if Jonathan who
came to power on the crest of popular
uprising against a widely condemned
cabal fails to galvanize the goodwill
into electoral asset. He is young and
without the baggage of the past.But his
seeming naivity and the wrong campaign
strategy appear to be making the 2011
race some unbelievable steeple –chase
for him. Whether he will truly run and
triumph remains to be seen.
Danlami Nmodu is now the
publisher/editor in chief,
newsdiaryonline.com
He wrote the piecebelow long before
resigning from Insider weekly:
Glimpses
into Jonathan’s 2011 plot-By Danlami Nmodu
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