Look who’s talking

In addition to nervousness when speaking in public, Jonathan appears incapable of delivering an address without reading directly from a prepared speech. In most televised addresses, all that the citizens can see of their President is the top of his head and the hat which he insists on wearing indoors as he peers down at […]

In addition to nervousness when speaking in public, Jonathan appears incapable of delivering an address without reading directly from a prepared speech. In most televised addresses, all that the citizens can see of their President is the top of his head and the hat which he insists on wearing indoors as he peers down at scripts.  
This inability to speak off the cuff is probably the reason why his handlers are averse to the idea of presidential debates, and restrain him from talking too much. The problem with this approach is that in the absence of our president saying anything meaningful, we are forced to pay attention to others. For example, the Washington Post newspaper says that the awareness brought by #BringBackOurGirls cam-paign has forced our President to abandon his normal “do nothing” approach to governance. They further alleged that a Washington Public relations firm was paid $1.2 million (approximately 200 million naira) to “reverse mounting criticism of his presidency”.  
Whereas opposition leaders insist Jonathan should leave as soon as possible, his supporters don’t “give a damn” about the monumental costs to the nation of presidential incompetence. Not surprisingly they care more about maintaining the privileges they currently enjoy than about national development – which of course is why he must remain irrespective of actual performance.
The Ijaws, at a convention organised in Edo State, described the 2015 election as the “right” of the Niger Delta people to have a non-negotiable second term. Given the rampant Boko Haram atrocities, widespread poverty and economic hardship, massive corruption and government’s failed economic policies, our nation is teetering on the brink. Regrettably, while it appears impossible to move forward under this current dispensation, nothing stops us from further stumbling into economic and religious alienation which breeds anarchy.
The contrived “national conference” jamboree was all talk and no substance. A diversionary ploy to take attention away from the massive failures of successive PDP administrations, nothing meaningful emerged and it ended in a hurried and indecorous debacle. Perhaps truly as American analysts predicted Jonathan may be the last president of Nigeria as we know it.
Ex-president General Olusegun Obasanjo, who never seems to stop talking to anyone who cares to listen, has confessed that he corruptly imposed Jonathan on the nation by dismissing a clause in the PDP constitution which disqualified him from contesting. Another General, Theophilus Danjuma, has also been talking. Inaugurated as Chairman of the Committee of the Victims Support Fund and told to visit Sambisa Forest, he made a veiled reference to cowardice by declaring, amidst laughter, that the President and Commander-in-Chief should lead the way and he would follow! Malala Yousafzai (the young Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for advocating girl’s education) and Nigerian girl child advocate Zuriel Oduwole have both been talking, urging President Jonathan to explore more avenues to rescue the Chibok girls.  
With her penchant for addressing foreign media overseas the Minister for Finance Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala admitted on CNN that the Federal Government didn’t “adequately communi-cate” with the press about the fate of the Chibok girls. The truth is that apart from bad communication, this government and its supporters are guilty of releasing demonstrably false information.
The “Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria” and the “Protectors of Nigerian posterity” insist that our problems are all over. Claiming that Goodluck Jonathan has some hidden qualities shared with Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and President Barrack Obama, which are apparent to them and not the rest of us, these groups sponsor advertisements claiming (without conducting any sort of opinion poll) that Jonathan has more people with him than against him. Knowing full well that if a Nigerian said this it would be laughable, they use paid American voices as if the white man cannot lie!
Paradoxically, when in 2011 a superior “American voice”, the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called for an investigation of the presidential election results due to “inordinately high” figures for Jonathan, this statement was dismissed as untrue! The PDP Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh has also been talking, insisting that the party has never been involved in the activities of pro-Jonathan groups such as the irresponsible one called GEJites.
Founded quite evidently to benefit from the colossal sum allocated to the re-election campaign, their insensitivity was despicable, and their behaviour vile. At this crucial period when the nation is dismayed at this administration’s sheer cluelessness in providing purposeful leadership, and stopping Boko Haram’s daily carnage, this group has made it clear that to his supporters, Goodluck Jonathan’s re-elec-tion takes priority over every-thing else. Even though the President has not said he intends to seek re-election, his actions speak louder than words and what isn’t said is more significant than what is.
He is surrounding himself with all sorts of stained characters who have electoral value. After former Adamawa Governor Boni Haruna decamped to PDP it didn’t take long for him to be rewarded with acquittal of corruption charges and appointment as a Minister of the Federal Republic.  Ex-convict Diepreye  Alamieyeseigha was granted presidential pardon while on the run from justice in Europe, and became a delegate at Jonathan’s conference to shape Nigeria’s future! Governor Jang who lost election by 16 votes to 14 is Jonathan’s accepted leader of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF). Both Stella Oduah and Mohammed Abacha have been forgiven their sins and re-integrated into PDP under this totally corrupted administration.
President Jonathan would be well advised to open his heart, listen to the cries of the suffering masses and speak directly and meaningfully to them. He must disassociate himself from sycophants, otherwise history will surely castigate him for the sheer misery and hopelessness caused by the serial failures of his administration.