Dr Jonathan’s Mandate

“Honestly from what I know, our country is in very serious crises. More serious than most people could even imagine”. But I already know that, I told myself, even school children understand that much. I didn’t take all the trouble I took to have audience with this gentleman only to be told what is already […]

“Honestly from what I know, our country is in very serious crises. More serious than most people could even imagine”.

But I already know that, I told myself, even school children understand that much. I didn’t take all the trouble I took to have audience with this gentleman only to be told what is already public knowledge. The man in question is not an ordinary Nigerian; he is a recently retired senior civil servant. Before his retirement, he was one of the few people who got to see the president regularly. He was reputed to have a pathological dislike for the media and publicity and would do anything to avoid having anything to do with the media. I had come to the gentleman on the advice of a good Samaritan who helped to set up the meeting on the express condition that the gentleman’s identity will not be disclosed.

In the aftermath of the tragic massacre in Kano penultimate Friday which occurred only a few weeks after the deplorable Christmas day bombing near Abuja, I had found myself bereft of the ability to think of anything sensible to hang unto as an explanation of what was happening to the only place in the universe where I and my children call home. My world was literally falling apart before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was, if you would pardon the grim language, pretty much like being buried alive. If this gentleman, who had made a fortune by just being a civil servant thought he could get rid of me by telling me what even my ten-year old son could figure out, then he had another thing coming. I therefore decided to be precise and persistent.

“Sir, you understand the workings of the mind of the president. You know more than millions of people what actually goes on inside the villa. My question is, does the president fully understand the full implications of what is happening around him? Does he really appreciate the full import of the responsibility that rests on his shoulders? There is a popular rumor circulating that the president is so completely overwhelmed by the requirement of his exalted office he’d decided to find solace in booze?” Those blunt questions appeared to produce some results:

“Look, what I can tell you for sure is that Mr Jonathan is a very good man. He has no iota  of evil in him. But unfortunately, he is surrounded by terrible people, I can almost say that he is a captive of those people. I don’t know about booze and all that, but I think the nation as a whole would have to pray for the president to be able to extricate himself from the negative forces that are acting on him”

With that, the man signaled to me that the interaction was over, and he wasn’t going to say any more than that.

Given his antecedent, I was satisfied that the gentleman had revealed to me more than he’d wanted to, and I also accepted that I had enough information to come to terms with just how dangerous our situation is.

I think in the midst of all this seemingly hopeless and confusing situation, what we need to do is to focus our minds on the mind of the president. We definitely need to resolve the question of whether the president is in the right frame of mind to really appreciate the gravity of our situation. It is all too easy to heap blames, and even insults on the president for being responsible for our present situation which has the potential to degenerate into anarchy. but of what use are all these insults and blames if the subject is blissfully oblivious of his culpability? Does the president, for instance, realize that should this present drift towards anarchy persist, the first casualty would be his most cherished mandate? If, as some people believe, the president is being nudged on by a so called cabal or kitchen cabinet towards the destructive  path he is following (or allowing to develop), do the members of this cabal realize that once the point of no return is attained ( God forbid), they would themselves be reduced to absolutely nothing? Do they realize that they owe their position, and hence derive their influence from the sovereignty of the Nigerian nation? Do they realize that once that sovereignty is successfully neutralized by those who are opposed to it, new power blocs would emerge in which even the president could be but an insignificant entity–or worse, a victim of it?

I am not sure these questions would make sense to the president, not because he doesn’t care, but because of his own peculiar shortcomings that he might not necessarily even be aware of. In this case, it is the state governors, who willfully enthroned by coercing their party delegates to give Mr. Jonathan the ticket, that the responsibility of tackling this very dangerous crisis would naturally fall; them and the members of the National Assembly who have, individually and collectively, privately and publicly, admitted that unless urgent and radical steps are taken, the current drift to anarchy might soon get out of hand. We are not quite there yet; but we are certainly dancing on the precipice ( with apology to Ambassador John Campbell).

Virtually every one who is expected to do something have done their bit: The so called northern traditional and Muslim religious leaders have made categorical statements dissociating whatever they represent from the indiscriminate violence that is happening; even the Christian leadership, notably  Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, have made and are still doing everything they can to help contain the slide to anarchy. So have the ordinary man and woman on the street. In an unprecedented gesture of solidarity, Nigerian Muslims and Christians took turns to be “their brothers’ keepers” in the height of the fuel subsidy protests and beyond. I don’t think anybody could do more.

It is only the president now whom everybody is looking up to. And the president, unfortunately, does not appear to have a clue of what to do next! Sure he has summoned the will to sack the IG of police. But as many people have correctly pointed out to him, Ringim was never the problem and if he truly wishes to reform the police force, there are existing reports compiled by a committee of former IGPs which he can simply implement.

To confound matters, the president’s security adviser, Gen. Azazi (rtd), had four weeks ago shocked the nation by openly canvassing for the United States to come in and help sort us out. This kind of mindset from those in charge of our security at the highest level is arguably more dangerous than the challenges of Boko Haram. Does Azazi not realize that in spite of the raging violence in Syria, where thousands of people have so far been killed, the Syrians have resolutely refused any kind of foreign intervention? Does it take a genius to see that the kind of foreign intervention that Azazi was/is canvassing have always ended in greater tragedy for those who accepted it?

By the way, where is Pastor Adeboye, before whom Mr Jonathan had famously knelt down when he was seeking to be president? I think it’s time Adeboye stepped forward and do what he must to stop Jonathan from turning all 150m of us into refugees. Everybody has now come to the conclusion that given the quality of leadership we have, only God can prevent the country from going up in flames.

So, let us pray. That is one thing that has never failed us; and the way Nigerians of different religious beliefs are going about it, I am absolutely convinced it will not fail us now. Let Azazi look up to America, we’ll look up to God.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO…

Professor Barnabas Qurix, who was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Kaduna State University last month by Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa. Although Qurix’s appointment is currently a subject of controversy between the state governor and some stakeholders, it is heartening to know that even those who have issues with Qurix’s appointment have admitted that he amply merits the position. Professor Quirix was my roommate at CAST, Zaria and since that period thirty years ago, we’ve maintained irregular contact. But having shared a room as teenagers, I feel both obliged and qualified to vouch for Qurix’s competence and sense of responsibility. I hope that whatever the issues are, they would be resolved quickly for him to settle down to carry the school to it’s next level

And, ah, yes, also congratulations to Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi who has regained his mandate as senator representing Kaduna North senatorial district and who, incidentally, was the initiator of the Kaduna state University, which has grown so influential in just a few years that the position of it’s VC has become so coveted. Legacy? Yes.