By Frisky Larry
It does not take rocket science to see through the
cheerful and confident mask of President Goodluck Jonathan these days. A mask
that obviously conceals deep worries and uncertainties with smiles and cheers
on the façade! After all, the President and his handlers did not bargain for
the tight corner in which they now find themselves. There is no doubt that they
did their homework scrupulously and assiduously.
It does not take
rocket science to see through the cheerful and confident mask of President
Goodluck Jonathan these days. A mask that obviously conceals deep worries and
uncertainties with smiles and cheers on the façade! After all, the President
and his handlers did not bargain for the tight corner in which they now find
themselves. There is no doubt that they did their homework scrupulously and
assiduously. They had good four years at their disposal to prepare themselves
for the present doomsday scenario.
In other words, four years of President Jonathan's
government was spent on the priority issue of securing a second term in the
Presidency. For this purpose, no stone was left unturned. No government work
was more important. “Good” friends were lost and “hungry” friends were found
all along the way. Foot soldiers were employed. Attack dogs too. Nothing was
left to chance. “Simlins” were created and friendly voices bought all over the
network scene on social media. Readers' comment forums of online newspapers
were well manned to prepare grassroots support for 2015.
Yet they missed out on several key and crucial issues.
Aside governance and achievements that would have done the trick
singlehandedly, they counted too strongly on securing a power base with
powerbrokers who are masters of the game of treachery and deception. With the
regional influence of the “local champion” Mr. Edwin Clark, they sought to
secure the home front and seemed to have done that with some degrees of
success. Even though I have no evidence to back up this claim, something
strongly tells me that they relied too strongly, on former military dictator
Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to secure the national front as a counter weight to
General Olusegun Obasanjo, who they had chased out of their camp with jeers and
boos against all wisdom.
After unwittingly compelling the realignment of
political forces, they needed a military wing in the creeks that must be
robustly fed with weapons hoping that the North would decimate and weaken
itself with the bloody onslaught of the self-inflicted Boko Haram. The Nigerian
military that the traditional establishment would have used against them if
things got out of control, was secured in the hands of kinsmen and loyal
surrogates in what now looks like a deliberate move to systematically weaken
the military. They left nothing to chance. The President declared his candidacy
very late and he could not be crucified too brutally in advance. The militants
made potent threats in advance and we knew they meant business. Hints were even
deliberately made in public, of the type of weapons at the disposal of the
militants and we now know that they have warships.
They left no stone unturned. They anticipated the
emergence of retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential
candidate of the opposition even though they secretly wished for Governor Rabiu
Kwankwaso or Aminu Tambuwal. They were prepared for Buhari. The all-out assault
that they skillfully and very effectively launched on Muhammadu Buhari would
have ended up a huge success if Nigerians were not simply fed up with
Jonathan's regime of aggravated larceny and dishonesty. First, the cloak of the
Muslim fundamentalist that would lock his wife in purdah and proceed on the
campaign trail with the shine of his masculine charm did not fit Buhari. His
wife surfaced and is now known to not only be very good looking but also far
beyond the market class of those who know that “there is God”.
Then they produced a medical certificate claiming that
Muhammadu Buhari was terminally crumbling under the yoke of prostate cancer.
The document was finally declared fake. A simple misstep and loss of balance on
a campaign podium was suddenly reported in headline news as Muhammadu Buhari
crumbling and collapsing before the gaze of the public due to ill health
informed by old age. This too was discredited by footages from the campaign
scene. Then every other ace up their sleeve was staked on one single issue
left: The former Major-General's secondary school leaving certificate and his
declarations in this regard. In the end, we realized that President Jonathan
did not even complete the doctorate degree program, for which the nation has
known and addressed him as “Dr.” Goodluck Jonathan since 1999.
They left just nothing to chance. The campaign of
mudslinging and dirty tricks was quite masterfully prosecuted. They released
another masterpiece. It took the eye of a professional to recognize
professionals at work in the making of the documentary “The Real Buhari”. But
the facts did not fit. The bunch of very obvious lies and smears inherent in
the clip simply ended up making mockery of a clip that was ordinarily very
professionally compiled with effects and style. They could not but end up in
frustration. Rather than killing and burying Buhari's political ambitions, all
the aggressive moves of the President's men did not only fuel their own
frustration but increasingly betrayed their image of the desperate runaways
fighting a mysterious battle for their own survival. It is mysterious because
it now makes Buhari look like the incumbent President seeking to be dislodged
by a desperate challenger.
Today, we know that President Jonathan is not alone in
this ominous struggle to retain the Presidency at all costs. In fact, in his
own admission, the campaign dynamics has been let loose on his managers and
co-travelers in the journey of theft and brigandage such that Mr. Jonathan
himself is not always aware of decisions taken on individual moves each step of
the way.
Yet it is unbelievable that the President was not aware
of plans to force the postponement of the Presidential election that was slated
for February 14, 2015. Everyone heard it from Lagos to London. Even the
booze-man elder Edwin Clark openly called for the sack and prosecution of
Atahiru Jega and we all know who that is.
It is not so much the trust in the honesty of
Muhammadu Buhari and the modesty of his character that drives his acceptance
throughout the nation today. After all there are very many serious and credible
issues that people also have with the General and he has rightly explained many
of such issues as fallouts from governance under the banner of unassailable
military formations. It is very much the rejection of Jonathan's inept five
years of dishonesty, corruption and unimaginable spookiness that has translated
into the massive boost of Buhari's prospects today.
Moreover, the Jonathan's camp wantonly underrated the
role of the international community and those internal forces who wield immense
influences abroad than at home. This in spite of the immense resources they
INVESTED in high-end expertise to configure and knit an effective smear
campaign.
Today, the weight of international diplomatic pressure
has been brought to bear on Jonathan like he has never before known in his
years on the frontline of domestic politics. The first hint was seen in his
latest media chat in his answer to the question, if the election will truly
hold on March 28, 2015. Even though the questioner did not mention any word
about the international community, the President's answer was a clear
reflection of his characteristic confusion and the pressure that has been
brought to bear on him by international forces. In his answer, he ended up
expressing understanding for the international community who is used to African
leaders, who are reluctant to give up power. He proudly added that he would be
the first African leader to give up power if he loses the election forgetting
that Ghana had performed this feat just as recently as 2008. The President may
have realized the painful attacks that one may suffer after breaking a promise
to an American Secretary of State within 10 days that elections will not be
postponed.
Now the President's camp is witnessing its first crack
with considerations being insinuated, of the replacement of Mr. Jonathan as the
presidential candidate of the ruling party. These are all evidences that the
ruling party has been completely taken unaware by several developments that it
did not bargain for and these developments are not all happening within the domestic
front alone. After all, whoever arms militants in preparation for the eventual
partitioning of the country will hardly give a damn about dire consequences and
all other impacts in the domestic scene. Such a person is most likely impressed
by the foreseeable prospect of outright defeat informed by a chain of events as
highlighted in my last article positing that any civil war that is unwittingly
provoked by President Jonathan will be decided by international alliances.
There are presently frantic face-saving efforts to buy
the day for the hardened desperadoes. They suggest the synchronous replacement
of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the
opposition APC as a pre-condition for dumping President Jonathan. But I doubt I
heard them right! Should this proposal be true and not from the fiery kingdom
of Absurd'istan, I will humbly ask the proponents to have their heads
re-examined. Which right-thinking heavenly creature will ask Nigerians to rob
Muhammadu Buhari of his victory at this obvious moment to pay an invisible
“Paul” that is yet to be conjured out of Jenny's bottle? Nigerians from all
walks of life, North and South, fought together to install Mr. Goodluck
Jonathan as President of Nigeria against the oppressive machinations of the
Yar'Adua cabal. Now the Jonathan mafia expects Nigerians to reinstall the same
injustice because a Northerner is now at the receiving end? No. That just can't
be real. It is a huge joke.
Obviously seeking a humble way to negotiate a clean
exit for herself from the murky waters of Jonathanism, our former feminine hope
of divine redemption (Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) also volunteered a word for the
word-weary public of pitiable acclaim. We now know how easily she may have
feasted on President's Jonathan's characteristic dumbness and cluelessness
confirming former President Obasanjo's claims that Nigeria presently has 5
Presidents with Jonathan being the weakest in the midst of his 4 women.
Nigerians and indeed, observers the world over, shook their heads in disbelief,
when President Jonathan declared while flagging off his election campaign in
Lagos, that his solution to fighting corruption in Nigeria was high-technology.
He disavowed the expediency of putting corrupt people in jail and naming and
shaming them since that to him, means showcasing corruption. He therefore
advanced a fragmentally complementary preventive measure that relies on the use
of intelligent computer software as the magic wand in the fight against
corruption. He seems to see this as the ultimate solution that will do the
final trick. Now, we know that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the brain behind
this “government magic” since she declared in her latest outing that she
believes strongly in this magic work of technology. Her declaration however
that Nigeria has no system and institutions in place for fighting corruption
simply left everyone speechless, who understands that the complementary
introduction of preventive measures should not have meant that there have never
been systems and institutions in place in Nigeria. After all the EFCC, ICPC,
Police Force and the Courts have not been dissolved.
Everyone knows that corruption can never be wiped away
completely anywhere in the world but can simply be reduced to the barest
minimum possible. Since the machineries of prosecution and imprisonment have
been systematically weakened and sabotaged in Nigeria under President Jonathan,
it is no wonder that corruption has become a free-for-all act involving top
level government functionaries. With her actions and pronouncements, Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala has now unwittingly fanned the ember of speculations that she
too, may have been actively involved in this brazen act of killing the nation
softly. How else can one explain that she of all people would be propping up a
President of less intelligent acclaim in the belief that preventing corruption
alone and not the punishment and imprisonment of the perpetrators of corruption
will be the only system and institution to be put in place in the fight against
corruption?
All these weird explanations and views sticking out
the neck of individuals who inadvertently dig a hole for themselves simply
point to a pattern of desperation and the helpless weakening of their cruising
juggernaut. This was further compounded by the dramatic exit of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo from the seemingly drowning ship of the ruling
party. The former General had missed no opportunity in the wake of his schism
with President Jonathan in the past few months, to reassure anyone who cared to
listen that his membership of the PDP was sacrosanct. As a card-carrying member
of the ruling party however, he had always underscored his desire to live up to
his responsibilities as a respected international figure, who also established
many useful institutions in the country that are now being helplessly torn
apart. What then may have transpired behind closed doors to have angered the
former President this badly? I have heard critics declaring in the past few
days that his permission to have his membership card of the party torn in
public was indecent. Yet, I believe it was an angry move that forestalled
humiliating attacks on his person by agents of some internationally wanted
drug-traffickers that are now held up high on platters of GOLD by the ruling
party. I can fully imagine the scenario of serving queries on the former
President to explain why party disciplinary actions should not be taken against
him for anti-party activities, etc.
In the end, President Jonathan would have feigned
ignorance of such acts and referred to intra-party processes, in which he would
not interfere. Never mind though that late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's
anti-party activity of installing Governor Oshiomole in Edo State at the
expense of his own party's man in the name of dislodging Obasanjo's people
meant that the party was no stranger to anti-party activities by leaders. In
his usual pattern of hitting back at President Obasanjo though, incumbent
President Jonathan again enlisted a person, who in his heart, is deeply an
Obasanjo boy to do a hatchet job. Getting Femi Fani Kayode to read a prepared
script condemning President Obasanjo's actions reminded me of Iyabo Obasanjo
writing an open letter to abuse her own father – on whose shoulders she shot to
fame – in public domain to counter the former's rebuke of the excesses of
President Jonathan. It took the discomfort in the voice and body language of
Femi Fani Kayode to see that he was doing a hatchet job reading a script
drafted by core Obasanjo haters.
By all accounts, the chicken now seems to be coming
home to roost. The options open to President Jonathan are quite clear: Rig the
election and win and face the pariah status of international ostracism with
more to follow. Lose the election and start a civil war and be defeated on the
medium term with dire consequences for innocent lives and your personal and
regional safety. Unleash a military-led interim arrangement and face serious
consequences from international reactions. Lose the election, concede defeat
and tell the militants openly that they on their own. Whichever way it goes,
there are hard choices to be made and President Jonathan has never been known
for making the right choices. For now, Nigeria will be on record as having seen
better days than these. Yet no one will deny that this extreme level of
desperation shown by Mr. Goodluck Jonathan and driven basically by all the
fearful criminals around him, who feasted on his cluelessness and
unintelligence, was never expected in its present ferocity.
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