“Jonathan replies Obasanjo”: Really! Did he? (II)

OBJ never said insecurity was caused by GEJ but he correctly observed that it has worsened under this president’s watch. How comes that soon after “we have overhauled our entire national security architecture, improved intelligence gathering”, as GEJ claims, our police stations, air force base and military barracks were overrun in a single day by […]

OBJ never said insecurity was caused by GEJ but he correctly observed that it has worsened under this president’s watch. How comes that soon after “we have overhauled our entire national security architecture, improved intelligence gathering”, as GEJ claims, our police stations, air force base and military barracks were overrun in a single day by insurgents. Never mind that Maiduguri now houses the so called 7th Division!
Definitely, the cases of armed robbery, communal clashes, piracy, oil theft and kidnapping and extra-judicial killing have increased. The latest victim of kidnapping is Bishop Peter Akinola. Before him there was Barrister Mike Ozekhome. Before him there were Archbishop Ignatius Kattey and his wife Beatrice. Before them there was….. Armed robbers and Boko Haram suspects are routinely and wantonly killed by the state without recourse to courts. Asking USA and UK to help curb oil theft is a gimmick; you can’t tell neighbours to help you watch out for thieves while you leave the door of your house open. Where is our navy? Where are the Admirals? Nasir El- Rufa’i maintains that GEJ knows the oil thieves and for OBJ: “when the guard becomes the  thief,  nothing  is  safe,  secure  nor  protected  in  the  house”. GEJ’s answers to questions about general insecurity pander to the gullible whom he reminds: “the first major case of kidnapping for ransom took place around 2006”, “the Boko Haram crisis dates back to 2002. Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then”, etc. So what, Mr President? Have you eliminated kidnapping? Did you stamp out Boko Haram which you promised to do by June last year?
What additional proof of general insecurity does one need when by its own admission the Jonathan government has deployed armed soldiers in two thirds of the states in Nigeria to maintain law and order? Do you still need the fresh air?
Even though GEJ said: “My election is not worth spilling the blood of any Nigerian”, this regime has been the bloodiest since the civil war, beginning from the stampede at his presidential campaign rally at a stadium in Port Harcourt on February 12,  2011 during which 11 people (officially) died. More bloodshed is assured if GEJ doesn’t back out of the race or claims victory in 2015.
Equally, OBJ warns for the umpteenth time: “Please, Mr. President, be very wary of assistants, aides and collaborators who look for enemies for you. I have seen them with you and some were around me when I was in your position”. Need I mention Ahmed Gulak, Tony Anenih, Doyin Okupe, Mike Oghiadomhe, Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, etc?
If OBJ made GEJ and now wants to unmake him, how is it my problem? OBJ’s warning that: “The Nigerian President must be above ethnic factionalism.  For you to allow yourself to be “possessed”, so to say, to the exclusion of most of the rest of Nigerians as an ‘Ijaw man’ is a mistake that should never have been allowed to happen”, has been scornfully dismissed. If OBJ correctly diagnoses President Jonathan’s shortcomings and makes recommendations which the president pooh-poohs, where then is the basis for reconciliation between the two as canvassed by some losers? Last year, Chief Edwin Clark arrogantly said that Northerners shouldn’t seek for presidency on the ticket of PDP in 2015. As he must have realized by now, in 2015 Northerners are going to give the PDP a bloody nose and inevitably take the presidency on the ticket of APC. In 2015, the Ijaws can have both Jonathan and their oil if it is their desire because we cannot continue to tolerate a corrupt, extravagant, dishonourable, incompetent and lying government. OBJ expressed the minds of the citizens of Nigeria when he advised Jonathan to “move away from culture of denials, cover-ups and proxies and deal honestly, sincerely and transparently with Nigerians to regain trust and confidence”. Not even during Abacha did NNPC fail to remit $49b or $12b or $10b to the national treasury.
No, OBJ isn’t the cause of ethnic disharmony in Nigeria. Those who denied zoning of presidency in PDP in 2011, clamped punitive emergency in the North East, marginalised the South-West and placed the Ijaw above others; those who continue to endanger the country through their misdeeds and misjudgements; those who’ve refused “to pursue a more credible and more honourable path”; will bear full responsibility for ethnic disharmony and no amount of “rumbling by overzealous aides” can change the reality of the emerging political equation as we approach 2015.
The truth is that the GEJ reply to OBJ failed far short of the expectations it raised. Its language is uncivil and unpresidential; it rings angry. The GEJ letter reeks of Reuben Abati’s trademark disrespect for critics and as usual, selective of which issues it reacts to. “At the African Union, we now have a Commissioner at the AU Commission”, is a clumsy construction that conveys chaotic thought.  Despite promising paragraph by paragraph response, GEJ fails to do so and excuses himself thus: “I cannot possibly find the time to offer a line-by-line response to all the accusations and allegations made in your letter while dealing with other pressing demands of office and more urgent affairs of state”. There is wisdom in OBJ’s advice to GEJ to “move away from fringes or the extremes and move to the centre and carry ALL along”. “Time is running out”, Mr President.