A few days before May 29, I have been asking questions trying to x-ray Mr. (sorry Dr.) Goodluck Jonathan’s first year of his own full term of office as Nigeria’s President. It is so sad that I do not have enough in my brain or purse to rival Oga Ebele or his cronies in the art and act of governance. I however have the privilege of seeing a few things and commenting like many people have been doing in the last one year.
I am sorry if I disappoint a few people with the direction of this piece. It is however how exactly I feel. I have asked why many people simply delight in taking a dig at the President at any available forum. Truth be told many of us will not fare any better as President of the complex entity that the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “Uneasy lies the head that wear the crown”, they say.
Let us not be unnecessarily harsh, the Jonathan administration has tried one way or the other. I can even say without any fear of contradiction that this administration has tried in ways than one. Whatever the court of public opinion says, the achievements of Dr. Jonathan are there for all to see and for those whose sights are blurry, the achievements speak for themselves.
It is on record that this administration has made a lot of promises and will go down in history as the one which showed a lot of concern for the populace. The administration that concerned itself with the future and sought to remove fuel subsidy because the economy would crumble if things went on that way. Tell me what is bad in planning for the future. It is said that he who fails to plan, plans to fail.
Palliatives in form of buses came in to the country as quickly as possible. Tell me which government will hurriedly bring in refurbished buses to “cushion the effect of subsidy removal” if it is not a government that sincerely cares. The distribution of these buses has been put on hold because the people have not appreciated the kind gesture of government and government does not want to send a wrong signal to ‘ordinary Nigerians’.
In whose tenure has sordid details of the way our ‘rulers’ brazenly loot been exposed? Yet unappreciative Nigerians keep abusing His Excellency for not taking action. Who has achieved the feat of cans of worms being opened on a regular basis. Fuel Subsidy scam, Malibu (or whatever they call it), Aunty Diezani’s few trillions of naira. Under whose leadership has much scandal broken? Yet you say Dr. Jonathan has not achieved anything in one year. Unfair Nigerians.
A President whose administration has been carefully studying subsidy probe reports to avoid jailing people wrongly is here accused of not showing commitment to fighting corruption. Why should a person who is accused of stealing trillions go to jail? Such a person can use that brain to the benefit of mankind in Nigeria. Petty thieves must go to jail because they are too dumb for them to have committed crimes that small. Yet we are so unappreciative and unfair to this government.
Tell me which government in the history of Nigeria has spent quite enough money on security like the Jona administration. People still open their mouths to condemn a government which has shown enough commitment to fighting terrorism by allocating a sizeable sum of money for security. Please can someone tell me if there is any amount too much to secure lives and properties in the country, a vast country with diverse cultures like Nigeria.
This government has only taught the youth how not to spend money anyhow. Yet ingrates who the government has given a source of livelihood and a ‘whooping’ N20,000 monthly complained that their ‘allawee’ came in late. How on earth will they face up to the reality of the present day Nigeria. Some others abuse a government that is working tirelessly to provide electricity (or power as they call it) of breeding the ‘generator generation’. This ungrateful set of Nigerians
A government that is trying not to overheat the polity is being accused by many Nigerians of being protective of the ‘cabal’. Why in God’s name should the Jonathan administration release the list of Boko Haram sponsors? There is tension in the land already, so why should any list of Boko Haram sponsors be released? Why should the so-called ‘cabal’ be prosecuted? The polity is too hot to be heated the more. The useless opposition parties just want to add more fuel to the current fire in Nigeria.
Will Nigerians just show some more understanding and stand by this government in these trying times. Dr. Jona has begged us not to abandon him, he needs our unalloyed support. Please let us support him and his team with prayers, prayers like that of Most Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola, a Nigerian legend that has spoken himself into my Nigerian Hall of Fame, a group that also include the like of Reverend Father Matthew Kukah, Gani Fawehinmi, Professor Sabitu Olagoke and other reputable Nigerians.
I’m outta here…xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
OSCARPOEMS 