DR REUBEN ABATI: SIR, YOU MISSED THE POINT
Save for President Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience, no other serving Nigerian public official, in my reckoning has in the past year attracted more vilification than Dr Reuben Abati, the president’s spokesman. The Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Allison-Maduekwe comes pretty close, but Abati leads the way. There was actually a period not quite long ago, where the name, Reuben Abati appeared in just about every article published by a Nigerian commentator. That period has since rolled by; but has returned. Returned with a bang!
Abati orchestrated the return. He wanted it badly, I guess. Opting against letting disappointed Nigerians manage their despair quietly, only few days ago the spokesman published an essay he titled ‘The President Jonathan they Do Not Know’. In this piece, Dr Abati made a bold albeit unconvincing attempt to launder the president’s image. In fact, it’s to me an unnecessary work, which was destined to attract if anything, more flaks than commendations. It did. The president’s spokesman, has through his tactical miscalculation, resurrected the hitherto hibernated grudges against him, and his principal. In soccer, this is akin to an own goal.
While I will not duel further on this, I do wish to posit that President Jonathan’s government has though earned some marks in an area or two; it has come disappointingly short of expectations in general considerations. Hence, much to Abati’s frustration, the swift loss of loyalty among the president’s friends on the social media – I mean the same set of Nigerians he first made his substantive Aso Rock residency ambition known to.
I remain in shock that a gargantuan pro-masses advocate of Abati’s calibre appears to be a loss as to the reasons for the scathing criticisms the president seems to suffer on a regular basis these days. The erudite Dr Abati surely has acted true to my prophecy in my July 2011 piece which I titled, Dr Reuben Abati: It’s Hard to Say Goodbye.
Well, perhaps, by stating the reasons as to why people like me remain disappointed with this administration thus far, the picture would become a bit less blurred before the former Guardian Newspapers top shot.
Firstly, the government has never failed in advertising its determination to stem the ugly tide of corruption in the land. Seductively worded scripts on the war against this disease have been read by the president, the vice president, state governors, ministers, legislators, and just about everyone connected with the government. But, as though Nigerians are being deliberately considered as irredeemable mumu, the more the government speak, the less the people see.
It is a settled fact that Nigerians love the EFCC as an institution. They wish to see an EFCC that barks loudly, and then bites mercilessly; an EFCC that would guarantee the sights of influential politicians behind bars; an EFCC that would become the cornerstone for anti-corruption and prudence in public service. Nigerians want to see an EFCC that would recoup trillions of our stolen common wealth stashed in banks and converted to choice properties across Nigeria, America, Switzerland, Britain, Dubai, and elsewhere.
President Jonathan met a struggling EFCC, an institution fighting to win back the trust of Nigerians; rather than reinforce it, this government instead seems to be working assiduously to hasten its collapse. Ibrahim Lamorde may not be a weak man per se, but he does definitely need the fortification and protection of Mr President to go after the most powerful ones in the land. Today, only few Nigerians know the name of the incumbent EFCC Chairman. I do not need a dibia or babalawo to tell me even fewer Nigerians could recognise his portrait when one is displayed. Juxtapose this with a certain Nuhu Ribadu, and a glaring sign of yet another vital institution that has since shed its skin of relevance, and now at the precipice of oblivion flashes at your face.
The way things stand, it doesn’t seem a bit that this ugly downward spin of the EFCC would change anytime soon, but, if the president could reverse this, he surely would win back some new converts to his flailing Transformation movement.
There is yet another set of Nigerians whom the president has since side-lined, much to his own disfavour. These are the fellows who neither want Boko Haram to be celebrated nor pampered. I, too belong here. Like many, I believe that the president has the powers, and the instrument to adequately contain Boko Haram. The only item amiss is the willpower to do this.
Boko Haram was never in the stature of Al Qaeda. Boko Haram was a group of illiterate local outlaws with a poor understanding of the good faith they profess. Unfortunately, this government mismanaged their lawlessness, and in the process handed relevance, and value to a group of unskilled pastime criminals.
Granted, every leader has his own strategy and personae but, in this circumstance, I feel right to say that Boko Haram would have since become distant history if we had the likes of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in power. Rather than tame, this government has only succeeded in nurturing a hungry domestic pussycat to become a wild terrifying tiger.
I still cannot fathom the motivation behind allowing defenceless Nigerians to continually live in tangible fear, and die cheaply in the Northern half of the country, no thanks to Boko Haram.
Some utterances credited to the president, the defences of the Minister of Information, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, and the events surrounding the ouster of General Azazi as NSA suggests to many that the characters behind the new Boko Haram menace are not ghosts after all. It appears to a large extent that the government has a healthy dose of information; information that could be harnessed towards a satisfactory solution.
Things have gone pretty bad, but if Mr President could deliver Nigerians from the scourge of the regrettably new improved Boko Haram, he surely would have succeeded in deleting the trending word, “clueless” (as used by Dr Abati in his piece) from the books of quite a lot of Nigerians.
That’s two. Now, the third reason President Jonathan has lost popularity is the petroleum subsidy subject. Nigerians want to know everyone involved in this monumental fraud; I mean the real ones. Nigerians wish to see these influential fellows answer to their crimes; Nigerians want to see these ‘big men’ face justice, and Nigerians want to see our stolen funds returned, and invested in infrastructures across the land.
The seemingly well-rehearsed distractive drama starring the hypocrite, Farouk Lawan, and Femi Otedola, the son of former Lagos State governor further complicated issues, and alludes to a pre-meditated plot to rip off the remnants of every outstanding living substance out of the massive subsidy fraud.
Reports have since surfaced that the government would settle for a plea bargain. This, if true, would not only be disgraceful, but also unfair on the petty criminals behind bars in our prisons today. There is no justification whatsoever in seeing a man accused of stealing (items worth) a few thousands of naira sentenced to a lengthy jail term, yet, fellow compatriots who swindled the nation of billions or trillions of naira allowed to freely and casually negotiate their freedom, or worse still, continue to live unpunished. I do know that even the holy ones in heaven are averse to such double standards.
Dr Abati in this article of his, made efforts to sell the president’s simple and unassuming nature, broad spiritual disposition, routine chores, and even advertised his surprisingly modest menu, but, with due respect, what I, nay most Nigerians desire at this time is neither presidential simplicity nor presidential spirituality; what we crave for is presidential action, period. Nigerians are tired of fine speeches, foreign trips, loads of committees, and probe panels that yield no visible results.
It’s high time our president stood up for what he believes, and what he passionately wants; he needs to put an end to this very simple posture of his where he seems to give the impression to the public that he truly wishes to transform Nigeria but some others actually dictate the tunes much to his own displeasure; displeasure? Yes, that is if he or his close allies truly, very truly bear no hands whatsoever in all these unpopular, anti-people complications.
Written By Philips AKPOVIRI