Who is Jonathan listening to?

If Jonathan is listening to his wife, there is little or no chance that the new and old PDP will reconcile. This is because her utterances and outing in Rivers alone indicate that she is combative enough to keep the blaze very hot in that state. Equally, if Jonathan is listening to the old man, […]

If Jonathan is listening to his wife, there is little or no chance that the new and old PDP will reconcile. This is because her utterances and outing in Rivers alone indicate that she is combative enough to keep the blaze very hot in that state. Equally, if Jonathan is listening to the old man, Chief Edwin Clarke and Asari Dokubo, as he may apparently be doing, then there can be no end to this standoff. This is because Chief Clark sees nothing wrong with Jonathan leadership and instead holds former President Olusegun Obasanjo responsible for the rebellion inside PDP. Clark condemns Rotimi Amaechi on mere suspicion that he wants to become Vice President and asserts that the action of seven governors cannot affect the electoral chances of President Jonathan in the 2015 polls. Chief Clark believes that Amaechi wants to become Vice President of Nigeria on the strength only of posters depicting him and Sule Lamido but the presidency forbids Nigerians from believing that Jonathan nurses wants to contest the 2015 elections even though his own posters have loudly proclaimed such. Such is the logic of democreeks.
If there was a slight chance that Jonathan had listened to old man Anthony Anenih, there would have been a different outcome in talks to settle the faceoff between the old and new PDP. This is because Anenih knows that if there is one rebellion that can ruin PDP, it is the August 31 in-your-face walk out by the seven governors who are now recruiting more influential politicians to their cause.  Just last week, Anenih spoke frankly that “some of the (rebelling) governors have genuine grievances.” But is anybody listening to the chairman of the board of trustees of the hitherto largest political party in Africa? The problem with Tukur and his sponsors is their failure to accept that PDP is irretrievably broken – for good.
Jonathan is not listening to Obasanjo either because Villa aides have variously accused the former President of being the architect of the current crisis. From all indications, President Jonathan is listening to the hawks both in and outside his government. Most probably Diezani Alison-Madueke, Mike Oghiadome, Oronto Douglas, Asari Dokubo and Tukur are egging the president on to use the massive resources at his disposal – foul and fair – to neutralise his opponents.
But can he? Surely, those who walked out of their convention, their president and party leader in full glare of the world should expect desperate, dirty counter-attacks. I suppose that the president has also continued to receive assurances from his service chiefs that they are absolutely loyal and any attempt to unseat him by any faction of his party or its unpatriotic membership will be dealt with. Factions could be encouraged or tolerated in other political parties like APGA but not inside the PDP. There can be no crisis or factions in the party.  
But what is the electoral strength of these hawks? Is it wise to ignore one third of your governors and listen to other people who have no electoral value? Is it not better to listen to the “genuine grievances” of seven governors than give in to the self-serving misrepresentation of reality by political appointees fearful of losing their temporary advantages?     Is it not better for the president to be a good party man by listening to the voices of other party men in order to preserve the political advantage enjoyed by his political party?
The president appears to be infallible and whatever mistakes are made his opponents are to blame, not him. Never mind the fact that it took Mohamed Morsi of Egypt just one year to admit to making mistakes. So when the president said the 1st October, 2010 bombing around the Eagle Square was done by people other than MEND, it was not a mistake. When he ordered the Super Eagles would not to participate in international competitions until they regained the winning spirit, he didn’t make mistake; he only reversed himself after being told about the FIFA penalties that awaited Nigeria.
When the President said he didn’t give a damn about the citizens’ criticism of his refusal to openly declare his assets, it wasn’t a mistake; Jonathan only meant that he would not share information about the quantum of his wealth with Nigerians and nothing would happen. When the president bragged that Boko Haram menace would be stamped out in June last year, he didn’t make mistake; he simply meant that the Nigerian security forces could do so in June 2013 or 2014 or even 2015 and that would still be fast enough. Again when the president promised enough electricity for everyone in Nigeria in 2012, it wasn’t a mistake; he knew that if this promise was not kept, it could be renewed in 2015.
Deep inside his mind, the president is well aware that indeed he made a solemn promise to his party men to serve only one term, but he also knows that politicians don’t have to fulfil all of the promises they made because there would always be away to explain it. Nor does it matter even if this one-term-only pledge is made in Nigeria, or on CNN or in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, because he knows that in the fullness of time, there could always be reason or words or another place to rationalise it.
Meanwhile, all the attack dogs in the Villa, young and old, appear to have been reined in and none of them are barking at Atiku, or Kwankwaso or Lamido or Babangida or Nyako or Wamakko or Abdul Fatah or even Amaechi.
Even Nyesom Wike is flabbergasted; he is still analysing happenings. From all indications, this unprecedented rebellion inside the PDP is yet to be fully digested by even those putting up a brave face; and as Malcolm told Donalbain in Macbeth:
“This murderous shaft that’s shot
Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore; to horse…..;”  
So, who is Jonathan listening to in this moment of disunity in PDP?