Featured, Politics
–
President Goodluck Jonathan’s formal declaration of his intention to run for a second term in office at a rally held in Abuja, on Tuesday, November 11, has been generating serious debate about his chances of getting re-elected in view of daunting state of insecurity and corruption in the country
| By Olu Ojewale | Nov. 24, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
PRESIDENT Jonathan declared his intention to seek for a second term in office at the well-attended rally which held at the Eagles Square, Abuja, on Tuesday, November 11. If all the speakers at the declaration ceremony are to be believed, Jonathan is indeed, the candidate to beat at the forthcoming presidential election. Hence, since the declaration, several interest groups, supporters and opponents of the president have been speaking on the merits and demerits of his going for a second term. While the president’s supporters have been pointing at his much talked about transformation agenda and asking him to continue so as to do more for the country, his opponents have been bashing his alleged dismal record on security and his inability to fight corruption.
As usual leading the opposition in castigating the president is the All Progressives Congress, APC. A statement issued by Lai Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the party, accused President Jonathan of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians who were daily falling victims of Boko Haram attacks. It accused him of dancing on the graves of Boko Haram victims.
According to the APC, the decision of the president to declare his second term bid a day after about 50 students were killed in a suicide attack in Potiskum, Yobe State, was callous and unfortunate and nothing short of celebrating a national tragedy. It, therefore, said: “Nigerians should also be ready to celebrate his electoral failure next year.”
Indeed, the state of insecurity in the three Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have left those states prostrate as they face daily attacks by Boko Haram insurgents. Besides, the attacks have also caused the displacement of more than 650,000 Nigerians. This also angered the APC which remarked that with the latest act of blatant hardheartedness, President Jonathan was only continuing along his well-trodden path of acting without deep introspection. It said: “When about 60 students were killed in the terror attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in February 2014, President Jonathan never visited the scene to commiserate with the families of the victims. When over 80 people were killed in the first Nyanya bombing in April 2014, President Jonathan went dancing ‘Azonto’ in Kano less than 48 hours later. And when almost 300 girls were freshly abducted in Chibok, President Jonathan neither acted fast enough to rescue the girls nor visited the village. His administration even denied anyone was abducted, until 19 days after!
“This President has, therefore, established a pattern of putting his political interest above the security and welfare of Nigerians who voted him into office. This President has trampled upon the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which makes the security and welfare of the citizenry the raison d’etre of the government’s existence. It is time for Nigerians to respond in kind by trampling on his political ambition and sending him back to Otuoke.”
Notwithstanding, Governor Godswill Akpabio of AKwa Ibom State and chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, who also spoke during the declaration ceremony, said that the PDP would win the presidential election but it would not be easy. “Mr. President, we know that the route to 2015 is not going to be very smooth but we are assuring you that at the end of the tunnel, victory will be yours and the PDP. We were robbed of three states, but the entry of Ekiti and Ondo states have increased our number. We may end up with about 30 states,” Akpabio said.
The governor said the president had done enough good works through his transformation agenda to earn a second term in office. He said: “You are fighting all the wars today so that future presidents in Nigeria will have peace. We recognise that. You have taken the right step by building the Almajiri schools particularly in Northern Nigeria; you are building other schools in the South. You have decided to take education as a major step to educate Nigerian children so that they will not be misled in the future again…. The opposition is fighting a selfish war; they are coming to distablise Nigeria. We will not hand over this country to blackmailers; we will not hand over this country to sponsors of terrorism.”
Also, David Mark, president of the Senate, who spoke on behalf of the PDP lawmakers, noted that if Jonathan did not come back in 2015, the programmes he initiated would be truncated. He pointed out that the PDP was the first to admit that Nigeria had security challenges and urged the president to bring the issue of terrorism to an end.
President Jonathan in his speech, which largely dwelt on his achievements and continuation of his transformation programme, the president assured the nation that his administration would defeat terrorists and get the release of the more than 200 abducted schoolgirls seven months ago. “We will surely get our daughters freed, we will defeat terror. I will do everything humanly possible to end these killings,” he told the crowd that attended the rally. He also said his government would not abandon victims of terrorism across the country, adding that N60bn had so far been raised for the Victims Support Fund initiated by his administration.
The president, who readily admitted that corruption remained a stain on his administration, promised to eradicate the monster in all sectors of the economy. While asking public officers to live by example, Jonathan vowed that he would bring to justice those who perpetrate corruption in his government. According to him, his administration saved more than N162 billion from the discovery of over 56,000 ghost workers in the system. The ghost workers’ case, he said, had been referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, for prosecution.
The president, in making a case for asking for a second term in office, took time to enumerate his administration’s achievements in the aviation sector, power sector, education, agriculture, transport, port reforms, health, housing as well as oil and gas. He also promised to do more if given another chance. “I am convinced that I have served my part with Nigerians and it’s now time to look into the future. With your tremendous support, you have collectively done so much in the last three and a half years. But to take our country to the next level, there is still more work to be done. History has shown that the part of honour of a true leader is not to walk away from his people in the face of challenges. We must stand together in adversary and overcome the threat to our development. We must defend our future for the growth of our children.
“In taking this decision today, I promise that we cannot go back to the era where our terminal buildings were an eye sore, importing food, where women were deprived from holding sensitive position. I promise to work with you…. I see a different Nigeria that will take us to outer space. I see a Nigeria that you can hold any office not based on ethnicity, I see a Nigeria that our young men and women will have work to do,” he said.
While many Nigerians have been commending the president for some of his achievements in the past three and half years, many others believed he had not done enough. Folorunsho Obalogemo, an Abuja resident, said the prevailing state of insecurity in the North East would provide the opposition enough ammunition to discredit some of the government’s laudable achievements. He said the president had done enough to earn him a second term in office with his transformation agenda on power.
But the likes of Benjamin Ogunnusi, a Lagos resident, wondered why the president would be seeking a re-election in the midst of insecurity with killing and kidnapping of school children. “Electricity blackout; unemployment; corruption in all sectors of the economy; shameful WAEC and NECO results among others are bane of Nigeria society,” Ogunnusi said. He said in as much as the president has the constitutional right to seek re-election, he does not have the moral right. “Thousands of families are in mourning in the North East as a result of insurgency. Electricity generation has not gone beyond 4000MW since he assumed office. Promises and promises are all we get. I want the president to ask himself what percentage of his promises has been fulfilled since 2011 when he got to the office,” he said.
Akin Ojo, a public commentator, said he would only be happy with President Jonathan if he could summon courage to put behind bars all corrupt big men and women in the country. “I would like to see people like Femi Fani-Kayode (former minister of aviation), Stella Odua (former minister of aviation), Farouk Lawan (former chairman of the fuel subsidy probe panel at the House of Representatives) former governors that have been accused of corruption being seriously prosecuted and jailed before I can take him serious that he is ready to fight corruption,” Ojo said.
From all indications, it is obvious that the president may not get the kind of support won him election in 2011, but his chances to win in 2015 will depend on how he is able to convince electorate that he deserves their votes.
|
Tags:
I was at the Eagle square to witness history by the president’s declaration. On almost all counts he is heads and shoulders above all the opposition aspirants for that office. Of course, the APC and its army of noise makers can continue to disparage the President because talk is cheap. But let the APC answer a few questions if they are serious. Some of the questions are:
1. We what party controlled states do we have serious state of insecurity?
2. Which APC governors are not collecting scandalous security votes like the rest of their counterparts?
3. Which Governor spent N30 million to buy two beds and built a statehouse of N3,3 billion?
4. Which of their aspirants is not corrupt? (is it missing $2.8 billion in NNPC when he was Minister, or 52 suitcases, or construction of a mansion in Daura, or being a Customs officers with their antecedents or Speaker of a house of commotion and ……….) Name one?
5. What has APC offered Nigerians as alternative other greed and rapacity for the spoils of office at the centre?
6. What is contained in the APC manifesto that is different from that of the PDP?
7. If Lagos is performing what will you say of Akwa Ibom?
8. Why are the best candidates not been put forward by APC and why are all their aspirants from the North?
9. Does a minority have a voice in the APC?
10. Who are the leaders of APC and what are their educational qualifications and antecedents? Are they honest people who can be trusted to keep their words?
I could ask a million questions but suffice it to say that “The devil you know is better than the angel you don’t”