14.10.10

When a Man does not Recognise the Time of God's Visitation

So what is the big deal about Jonathan running for office next election? Is he not already the President? And the Niger Delta region people , how they carry on these days about next year's Jonathan makes the rest of us feel left out of it all; even the way the Bruce family is using their resources to spread propaganda. Haba!
If a man becomes a President, is he not the president for all citizens? Why do I get this uneasy feeling that next year's Jonathan will be a President for the Niger Delta people alone?

Suddenly, everywhere I turn someone is showcasing Ijaw this or  Ijaw that as if they had just migrated to Nigeria; as if they themselves are just being aware that they exist. Well, all I will say to Jonathan is the same thing I said to Obama when the fanfare of his election was going on. I said to him
'' be the best you can be now for there may never be another chance for you to return to the White House ever again; not you nor any black person for a very very long time to come''.
Now, we all know that Obama has since been looking like the best thing that ever happened to American politics.
But Jonathan is not Obama, and could never come close to being him. Obama is sharp and doesn't look like one who will be hoodwinked. I guess it comes with the environment. America will not just tolerate it. Subtly, Jonathan people are likening him to Obama.The difference could not have been further apart as night is from day. Unless, for the offset they seek to create in the general election coming. Again, Obama was not an incumbent. Can Jonathan really fold his hands and let power slip away from him naturally?! Would he not intervene using the government might at his disposal? He can do it, and he would be excused by the country as he is the incumbent. That  is the difference between America and Nigeria. America will not stand for it!

Therefore, instead of Jonathan dreaming about next year's election, he should have taken the opportunity that God threw on his laps and used the guaranteed twelve months he had as President to do memorable things. 'Hey, Jo, live for now like there will be no tomorrow. Although, it must look like you have wasted so much time plotting to stay on  that you haven't got round to doing anything outstanding.'

I was saying that he should have been contented with what the gods have given him and do his best with it. If it then please them to extend his stay in office, then he will be grateful.
But not to have used an existing opportunity well enough and be looking for another one smirks of dereliction of duty and ingratitude to the gods. He should have appreciated that his government is a child of circumstance. It does not mean he is the best person this land can produce at this point in time for the presidency, no thanks to Chief Aremu Obasanjo. And the sycophants rallying around him should not delude themselves in same.

Jonathan’s government is much like Ernest Shonekan's interim government which late Sani Abacha relieved him of. Shonekan did not subsequently demand that he becomes  the president either by election or otherwise. In fact, with all due respect to the man, I think he realized he was way out of his league.

Jonathan should see too that he is possibly  not the best man for that job in this country now. He should serve as an unbiased umpire in facilitating a credible free and fair election to bring out the leader for the season that we await hungrily. He should avoid being misled by pretenders because, unlike our past military leaders, if he offends this land we will not let him get away with it. He does not have the clout to bragado it away. So, let Bro Jonathan search himself and be sure he really, really can do the job exceptionally.

Should he, Jonathan, feel capable in the future, he would have become a more matured and seasoned statesman for such a sensitive national task and not many people will be in doubt as to his readiness to lead us. But for now, we cannot afford to embark on the Jonathan experiment for the next four years. We cannot afford another President who has no mind of his own, who relies heavily on advisers who invariably manipulate him to do their whims and caprices.

Sorry to disappoint you Jonathan fans, but it's not about any one man. It is though about this perpetually green land. It is about our continued existence and survival as one nation. We just don't have the time to experiment any more. How much lower do we have to descend before we realize that we are running out of time?

I know that someone will emerge to take up the high office at Abuja. It might not be someone we are familiar with, but that person is a Nigerian well equipped for the work and the identity will be revealed surely if we all agree to let it be.  

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