Mohammed Morsi, Goodluck Jonathan and how to warehouse goodwill
Ambivalence! That is the most common of the failings of men.When points of view clash, in equal proportion and quantum, the human mind suffers. That is why there is temptation, sin and repentance – but we can leave repentance out of this. The human is categorized as being different from animals because he has the ability to think. Though, as babies, that ability is not immediately put to the test!
Therefore, the phrase, he/she is only a baby, or child, is used to indulge and tolerate some funny mannerisms put up by the young ones.
Indeed, because of infancy, most learners of trade, profession or vocation, are sometimes allowed to make mistakes and then correct their wrong steps. For democracies, the same can be said. That is where the ability of man to decipher, to differentiate between that which is good and that which is bad, comes in handy.
Because the world is no longer made up of pockets of isolated republics or nations, lessons are learnt from
the mistakes of nation states, their rulers and their people. And that was why on December 18, 2010, in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia , after Mohamed Bouazizi ‘s self-immolation , an act which he carried out in protest against police corruption and ill treatment, things began to change. “With the success of the protests in Tunisia, a wave of unrest sparked by the Tunisian “Burning Man” struck Algeria , Jordan , Egypt , and Yemen , then spread to other countries. The protests also triggered similar unrest outside the region – a testament to the fact that no nation is an island.
And with the Arab Spring came democratic elections.
Those who threw out Hosni Mubarak in Egypt saw hope of a new, freer, liberated Egypt. And between the choices they had to make, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, was, in their estimation, a better choice compared to the shambolic opposition – mind you, the Brotherhood had operated as a shadowy force within the political sphere in Egypt.
Morsi’s victory was impressive and Egyptians gave the Brotherhood their mandate. Just last Wednesday, the military in that country, after providing Morsi what was supposed to be a way out of the political crisis confronting him by suggesting that he called the opposition and negotiate peace, struck, arrested Morsi, appointed the head of the Supreme Court in the country as interim leader, and with it the end of an era. All these, just after one year in office.
In 2010/2011 Nigeria, the people were faced with a choice between a hegemonic force that wanted to place an unwritten agreement above the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic.
Just before then, a clique, otherwise referred to as a cabal launched a futile but concerted bid to deny Goodluck Jonathan the rightful opportunity to become Acting President.
But Jonathan, with the help and support of right-thinking Nigerians across the political divide, became Acting President. In fact, in pursuing his constitutionally guaranteed right, Jonathan sought and won the presidential election of 2011 with a landslide.
Some two years after that massive victory, the story is not the same.
Just as Morsi began to see things differently, President Jonathan, too, has been seeing things rather differently.
Within his first month in office, the idea of a single term of six years was suggested from his office.
Then came other instances of political distractions – most of them, self-contrived.
The most recent and indecipherable in some quarters is the action of Mr. President and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, suggesting to Nigerians that the type of agreement that was peddled by the North and which was to be used to deny Jonathan the presidency in 2010/2011, can be adopted after an election in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF; specifically that an individual with 16 votes takes precedence over his counterpart with 19votes in an election process.
More importantly, however, for this purpose, there are some things that remain eminently puzzling.
For instance, Olusegun Obasanjo’s style of politicking via subterfuge for eight years as President and Commander-in-Chief, with its attendant backlash, is being replayed all over again by President Jonathan. His handling (read meddling) of the affairs of his PDP is a major distraction that creates the impression in the minds of members of the public that staying in power and controlling the party is more important that delivering on the dividends of democracy.
Again, just as Obasanjo became consumed by his re-election plan, President Jonathan is allowing some people around him to leverage on that state of mind to his own detriment.
It is still some 19/20 months to 2015 general elections and nothing says Mr. President cannot stem this slide into confusion. The goodwill that brought him to power deserted him just eight months after being elected when, in January 2012, Nigerians protested against him, calling him all sorts of names.
Now, between Morsi and Jonathan, there must be a streak of mis-steps which has now caused the downfall of the former – notwithstanding the manner of the fall. Nigeria has passed that stage.
But Mr. President needs to accumulate and then warehouse more goodwill if indeed he wants re-election.
Lastly, the Flying Eagles of yester-years, fumbling and wobbling to breast the tape, has never fetched any athlete the medal. Mr. President should re-energise and focus more on good governance, lay off the excess baggage he is carrying in the shape of self-serving sycophants who deceive him and are readily available to point to him those who are disloyal or those who do not mean well for him.
Then he would also need to treat the diarrhea of the mouth that appears to be afflicting a few of his trusted pillars of support. The ministers, who insist that other Nigerians know nothing but whose miracle work is only on paper, would need to be made to understand that macro-economic growth without an elevation in the well-being of Nigerians is nothing more than voodoo economics because the well-being and prosperity of the people is the sole determinant of any economic engagement – and to think that by July 2013, a budget passed in December 2012 is still a subject of controversy regarding non-implementation.
On the home front, Mr. President would do well to help Madam at the top distinguish between the Presidency and the filial value of a spouse, as well as equip Madam at the top well enough to assist her reduce the collateral damage that her actions, utterances and inactions would cost in tangible and intangible form. Finally, the Nigerian people, to whom Jonathan would go back to and beg for votes in 2015 should take primacy of place in every action he takes. These done, he would have begun his journey to reclaiming the lost goodwill as well as warehouse enough for the electoral battle ahead.
Any suggestions of disloyalty, political permutation sans the above suggestions may not necessarily cost him the 2015 election. But he can be rest assured that after his second term of office and by the time he would have packed his load to Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Obasanjo’s near irrelevance beyond being an irritant today may turn out to be more glorious that how Nigerians would regard him post-2019.
Culled from: The Vanguard
