A nation on autopilot

According to President Jonathan he isn’t responsible for the crackdown on opposition, invasion of All Progressives Congress (APC) offices, harassment of opposition governors and lawmakers, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives fiasco. Nor in his opinion does the failing economy, rising insurgency, failure to rescue the Chibok girls, fuel and kerosene subsidy scandals, […]

According to President Jonathan he isn’t responsible for the crackdown on opposition, invasion of All Progressives Congress (APC) offices, harassment of opposition governors and lawmakers, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives fiasco. Nor in his opinion does the failing economy, rising insurgency, failure to rescue the Chibok girls, fuel and kerosene subsidy scandals, failed anti-corruption war, worsening electricity problems, immigration recruitment scandal, or postponement of elections have anything to do with him!
Listening to the media chat, it’s debatable whether our president understands, let alone possesses, the required leadership qualities to extricate us from this mess. What is clear is that he has a remarkable inability to give clear simple answers to direct questions. Asked whether release of the Chibok girls would be a priority within the six week military push, he replied that “politicising” the matter wasn’t the way to bring the girls back. Whether he likes it or not the Chibok girls is a political matter because securing the lives and property of citizens is his constitutional responsibility. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) voiced the widely held opinion that if the nation has such massive security issues, then the Commander-in-Chief has failed in his primary duty.
OBJ also alleged that “security issues” are just an excuse to cover up a scheme to stalemate the elections. Although the Jonathan Campaign denies this, few people believe that the decision to postpone the election was solely between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and service chiefs. Nobody in authority has apologized to the international news crews, foreign election observers, civil society members, and Nigerians who wasted time and money travelling in anticipation of elections. Apart from being an international embarrassment the six week postponement isn’t enough time for INEC to overcome their logistical challenges. They really failed in 2011 but the mindboggling sums squandered on useless IT equipment, and mess up in voting were overlooked because the ruling party was returned.
 Given four years to prepare the controversy created by the newly introduced PVC’s is evidence that INEC is still unable to cope with the realities of physical distribution management in Nigeria. As their reward for being ready to conduct elections which the ruling party may lose, the image of INEC and their chairman is being rubbished by the president’s supporters. The president point man Chief EK Clark is on record as saying the irreducible minimum for him and other Jonathan supporters to accept the election result is Jega’s removal, revaluation of the distribution of PVC’s, refining and adoption of option A4, and appointment of a new INEC executive to conduct the election on a new date to be determined. While all this is going on he wants an unconstitutional “Interim” Government put in place to be headed by Jonathan. The “Southern Nigeria People’s Assembly (SNPA) have accused him of holding clandestine meetings with the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) to strategize on how to rig the election. They allege the electorate in the South-South and South East where Jonathan expects his support has been shrunk and the distribution of PVC’s intentionally skewed in favour of the North. Their concerns are understandable considering Dame Patience Jonathan recently pledged 2.4 million votes from Rivers State to her husband when less than 2 million PVC’s had been issued in the state! Opposition parties claim this clearly indicates the presidency is working from the answer back to the question.
The postponement and all the tomfoolery is because the upcoming election is the first true presidential contest the PDP has faced and they are panicking at the growing support for General Buhari and the failure of their campaign of calumny against him. It’s just dawning on them that many people are so passionately fed-up about the non-performance of government that they feel any kind of change is better than the current state of affairs. The hawks within the presidency who would rather take the country down than lose honourably are having their day.
The saddest aspect of their shenanigans is the military’s involvement which is a virtual coup.  In a true democracy the military aren’t supposed to participate in the democratic process, yet in 2015 Nigerian elections supposedly aren’t possible `without the military’s permission!  Army Captain Sagir Koli revealed in The Nation newspaper (Sunday Feb 15th) that the real reason the military is required isn’t to provide security, but rather to manipulate the polls. Koli claimed that his operational orders in Ekiti State were to work with PDP thugs, prevent opposition leaders (including serving governors) from campaigning, and arrest opposition party agents going about their lawful duties.
At this critical point in our history the last thing we require is a leader who believes he has no responsibilities and the nation can run on autopilot. We require strong and patriotic leadership to build strong institutions, fight corruption, protect the lives and property of citizens, and alleviate poverty. Our nation can only progress when truth, fairness, justice and equity are entrenched. The onus lies with President Jonathan to call his supporters to order and disassociate himself from threats of violence after the election of he loses. The only consolation citizens have is that even though the nation is in crisis and no one in government accepts responsibility, nothing is about to happen that hasn’t happened before.