The Jonathan Administration and its misplaced fear
April 16, 2011 was my first time to ever vote for a People's Democratic Party(PDP) candidate. I believe I do not stand alone in this statement. The source of this new attraction was not Jonathan's charisma or the air he carries about himself and most definately not his looks or level of exposure. Our attraction to the man as an aspirant was the fact that Jonathan seemed a deviation from the normal breed of leaders we hitherto had. He seemed to have through some stroke of luck, evaded the blessings of the ' king makers' and hence evaded their guidance. However, this was the man who took over after the death of his predecessor, not the one who emerged after the general elections. The variation in person of the President was, as some of us feared, that his emergence as President in the general elections wasn't a thing to fear,but emerging as the flag bearer of a party whose primaries are known to be either manipulated or goes to the highest bidder. A
senatorial aspirant under the PDP, openly stated that the party's delegates are best motivated by money but Jonathan was ready to dish out that. Apparently, some other persons within the party did just that for him and probably convinced him they'd secure his victory at the general elections which he not knowing would win with or without them. Thus, the change in the current man. A change from a man who owed nobody anything to one who feels indebted to certain people.
A worrisome feature which I don't consider new in the President is his weak personality and low confidence that is often translated to fear. The mere sight of the president gives that out. Today this feature is resulting in a major problem. The insurgence enveloping parts of this country heightened under his administration. I do not think I'll be terribly wrong when I say his perceived weakness has being a fuel and motivation to this.
The avoidable death of a single Nigerian-either by curable ailment, avoidable accident etc, should be a great source of worry to a responsible government. But today, scores of Nigerians die daily from action credited to a group... What kind of leadership comes out shamelessly to say the "bombings is a burden we must bear till it fizzler out"? Only a leadership that has accepted self helplessness over such an issue.
A thing of worry is the fact that several asserts have been made which should ordinarily mean that atleat the masterminds would soon be brought to book,but ... Does this mean our security forces and intelligence agencies are grossly inefficient? Or are the powers that be aware of who the suspected sponsors are and for some reason or fear halt investigations or stay actions on findings of investigations? Considering the trends at the moment, the latter seems more appropriate. Then I ask, sacred of what? Being impeached? Or lack of courage to deal with the 'untouchables'? Or fear of assasination?
These figures given daily of victims of this insurgence aren't just figures, they are human beings, Nigerians, fathers,mothers,children,siblings...they have names and families. There's an atom of violence inherent in everyone of us. The law abiding are only more disciplined than the lawless, not weaker, thus expect security among other things from the government. A perpetual failure in these duties by the government may be an invitation to the unprotected to take justice into their hands i.e mete out penalties to those responsible for their woes and losses, a people driven to despair is dangerous force to come against...and does anyone feel the government or existing structures would be recognised, or worse still, spared?
Weak willed as the leadership is, it should realise that even graver danger lies ahead if it continues to fail to secure its citizenry