Enthroning the good and wholesome

Even in the aftermath of the abduction of the Chibok girls when good sense demanded that GEJ should visit Chibok town to commiserate with those whose children and wards had been made to disappear into thin air, as it were, still GEJ refused. So why did he pay the visit to the northeast last week? […]

Even in the aftermath of the abduction of the Chibok girls when good sense demanded that GEJ should visit Chibok town to commiserate with those whose children and wards had been made to disappear into thin air, as it were, still GEJ refused.
So why did he pay the visit to the northeast last week? Certainly, not to play the role of a triumphant commander in chief of a conquering army, because if the latest reports are anything to go by, north-eastern cities and towns are still being sacked, destroyed and generally at the mercy of marauding bands of well motivated and well armed insurgents. The latest being Baga, the bubbling city on the shores of Lake Chad now virtually a ghost town. The Boko Haram fighting cadres are quite the opposite of Nigeria’s demoralised soldiers sent to fight the Boko Haram hordes, many of whom are now being court martialled and dismissed for desertion and refusal to fight. The ostensible reason for GEJ’s visit was to bolster his standing in the eyes of Nigerians on how he has handled the insurgency, and deflect criticism that he has acted quite appallingly on the matter of empathising with the suffering people of that hapless region.
Therefore, it can be argued that his visit was dictated by political considerations. After all, with presidential election so close, showing up in Maiduguri would be just fine in improving GEJ’s electoral prospect there. For those who may deem this uncharitable, they should consider his blatant disinclination to go to the northeast when a visit was most needed, thus one cannot help the feeling that his visit was not only self serving but also a cheap cynical vote -catching ploy.  In all this, the blame should go to GEJ’s political strategists and advisers who, in an election year should have foreseen the damage any president would be doing to himself by refusing to visit a part of his country that has been rendered prostrate and disembowelled by adversity with its inhabitants chased from their homes and scattered, only to now go to the same place during election campaign time, surreptitiously like some out-of-favour son coming home to seek forgiveness for his sins.  
If GEJ had stuck to his guns of not venturing close to the northeast for reasons of safety as has been speculated, no eyebrows would be raised. His going there smacks of opportunism and calculated to achieve some political gains, particularly so when he needs the votes from that part of the country to make up for his re-election bid. Even if one grants that an incumbent could use any situation to help his cause, the untidiness of this one sticks out like a sore thumb. It is disingenuous. His advisers should have been able to appropriately evaluate the cost and benefit of the visit. By not doing so, they have  succeeded in making GEJ look like one who acts only if there is something to gain.
A similar case can be made on the reduction of petroleum pump price from 97 naira to 87 naira.  First, let’s note that in Nigeria the myth that prices once set don’t come down has been debunked.  Yes, petroleum pump price has come down before but after sustained labour union action forcing government to back down by granting miserly concessions, as happened recently when strikes caused fuel price to come down to 97naira per litre. The new 87 naira was necessitated by the continuous free fall of oil price in the international market. From its former dizzying height of more than $100 per barrel, the price is now hovering precipitously in the region of well under 50 dollars. This has caused people to call for a corresponding lowering of the pump price in Nigeria, an oil producing country that has found itself in the strange situation of importing the refined product.
 Going by the logic of the oil price fall which is now less than half of its former price, experts say the price in Nigeria should correspond with that of the oil market.  This argument sounds sensible and makes the new price of 87 naira per litre way too high. The pump price, pundits say, should be somewhere between 40 and 50 naira per litre, making the current price too little too late. But here is the rub-and it is that much as the price is welcome, particularly for its trickle- down effect on transportation, cost of food and consumer household goods, still it smacks too much like it is geared toward electoral gains. How, for instance, does one explain this sudden about-turn by a government which some 2 months ago warned of a regime of belt tightening-which invariably could mean paying more for fuel through removal of subsidy, on account of dwindling income from oil production? Well, it is hardly difficult to explain that any act that causes Nigerians to pay more for fuel would amount to the government using its own hand to consign itself to the electoral dung heap.  So, even as measly as the reduction of the pump price is, it is still calculated to reap some political benefit in form of votes.
The point being made is that every act of government is geared toward electoral success-through policies and other means. The campaigns have been nothing if not visceral; some people might even classify it as primitive. Despite that an all parties meeting facilitated by government organs caused all stakeholders to sign a pact forswearing acts that could remotely cause havoc, less than edifying acts and utterances have continued to occur. The most notable one is the advertorial placed by Ayo Fayose, the newly elected governor of Ekiti State which states morbidly that on account of the age of  APC’s presidential candidate- Buhari, and some phantom ailment he is suffering from, he might die in power if he wins. The other one imputing that Buhari was not qualified to contest because he did not tender his Secondary School Certificate result to INEC has received the disdain it deserves upon the release of the result from Buhari’s alma mater.
What are we to make of the point that a man that has served his country for almost 50 years both in war and peace times, and even at a point ruled the country is now being made to suffer the indignity of having to talk about a qualifying certificate without which he could not have gotten to where he is? This same man was found sufficiently qualified to enter elite military institutions both at home and abroad and performed creditably and got to the top echelon in his chosen profession.  The morbid wish towards a candidate whose only wish is to put his God-given energies to rebuild Nigeria and the diversionary emphasis on paper qualification at a stage when all you need to succeed are iron commitment to policy and sincerity of purpose in implementation, do not surprise anyone. If certificates were what was needed to lift a country up, why are we gnashing our teeth in anguish bemoaning the present state of the nation, because the GEJ administration is chocked full of people brandishing PHDs, including himself? All these less than politic actions are the desperate clutching at straw of a drowning entity. Therefore, rather than entertain death wish, let’s affirm the life giving, regenerative power of man seeking to enthrone the good and wholesome for all, which begins at Election Day on February 14.