A President Under Fire

As the nation edges closer to the 2015 elections, President Goodluck Jonathan has a difficult task leading his Peoples Democratic Party to victory, write Shola Oyeyipo and Ojo M. Maduekwe

In January 1, 1964, the late Tai Solarin, one of Nigeria’s foremost social activists, wrote an essay in the Daily Times newspaper, titled, ‘May Your Road Be Rough’. It was a saying that could be mistaken for a curse in a religiously obsessed Nigeria, but ironically, the title of the essay has become widely accepted and greatly quoted.

Solarin's great quote has come handy as campaign for the 2015 elections intensify, albeit surreptitiously. Although politicians are not mounting the soapbox yet to canvass for votes, what they are doing is to launch a perception war for the minds of the electorate.

The two leading political parties in the country, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) and their allies have engaged in grand campaigns to position their parties in the minds of the electorate so that when the elections come in 2015, they might be sure of victory.

It was in this light that many have seen last week's attacks on the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan from different quarters. 

At no point in his now embattled political career had the president been faced with open critical appraisal of his stewardship and character than in recent times. In a space of two weeks, notable and respected Nigerians such as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had passed damning verdicts on the Jonathan administration.

The salvos that were fired at Jonathan by critical stakeholders who feel he is not leading the country right  were based on accusations, basically against the backdrop of allegations of corruption, ineffectiveness as a leader and propagation of ethnic politics as well as dishonest leadership.

Penultimate week, Tambuwal had castigated the president at a public lecture, for allegedly encouraging corruption through his body language. He said the president was encouraging corruption by not dealing decisively with allegations of misdeeds affecting top officials of his administration.

According to him, instead of taking firm steps to tackle the issue, the president has resorted to red herring by setting up administrative committees to investigate corruption cases instead of allowing anti-graft agencies to do their work.

Tambuwal, who was the guest speaker at the 2013 international anti-corruption day organised by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) anti-corruption committee, predicated his position on some cases of corruption where the president's action seemingly provided protection for top officials of his administration faced with corruption allegations.

Such instances, according to Tambuwal, included the recent N255million bulletproof cars scandal involving the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah; the multi-million naira pension scam and the rot in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The speaker also said the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, was being used by the president to persecute perceived political opponents.

His comments generated accolades from Nigerians, especially the opposition parties. As Tambuwal and Jonathan come from the same political party, despite their known political differences, the APC found his position all the more interesting, and according to it, a rise above crass partisanship.

“Hon. Tambuwal and President Jonathan belong to the same political party, but this did not deter the speaker from rising above crass partisanship when the issue involved borders on national interest. This is the stuff of good leadership,” said the party, in a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Still grappling with how to react to this allegation that came from an actor who is believed to be high enough, as the nation's number four citizen to know what is going on in government, the presidency was hit again by more damaging allegations. The next indictment of the administration came from Sanusi.

Sanusi, in a letter dated September 25, 2013 and addressed to Jonathan, made some startling revelations on how the nation's resources are being mismanaged under the president. 

The CBN governor indicated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not remit $49.8 billion to the Federation Account, being proceeds from crude oil sales between January 2012 and July 2013. The money was 76 per cent of the value of crude oil lifting, within this timeframe, put at $65.3 billion. According to Sanusi, the NNPC had only remitted $15.5 billion, which is 24 per cent of the total value of $65.3 billion.

Though the NNPC refuted the allegation, saying Sanusi misunderstood the process for remitting crude oil sales revenue into the Federation Account, as being practised in the oil and gas industry, the Sanusi disclosure elicited reactions from many Nigerians, who demanded accountability from the president, who is fast gaining the reputation of a leader that encourages corruption.

While establishing that the audit of the transaction traced the monies to third party accounts, Sanusi also stated that the CBN would be willing to help in case the president was determined to unravel the alleged corruption in the NNPC.

Human rights lawyer, Fred Agbaje, while reacting to the revelation by the CBN governor and the speaker, said the president had never shown any willpower to fight corruption.

“In fact, corruption is fighting this government. The media team of the president was quick to react to the statement made by the speaker, but is this letter from the CBN not confirming what Tambuwal has said? Will they also accuse the CBN governor of being partisan?”

The main opposition party, APC, said the Jonathan-led administration had not shown the willingness to fight graft. APC described the non-remittance of proceeds from crude oil sales by NNPC to the nation’s coffers, as an indication that the president was building his war chest towards the 2015 polls.

Reacting, Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), asked   Jonathan to urgently query the NNPC over the allegations. The organisation also asked the president to “publicly announce to Nigerians what he is doing to find the missing funds and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice,” adding that “this case provides the president a rare opportunity to show that he is truly committed to the oft-repeated fight against corruption.”

While the rumpus over the twin attacks from Tambuwal and Sanusi was yet to die down, Jonathan came under a blistering criticism of his administration and leadership style by one of his "political godfathers" and one of his predecessors, Obasanjo. The former president, in an 18-page epistle dated December 3, 2013, which detailed Jonathan’s ineptitude, accused the president of working towards destroying Nigeria.

Instead of taking steps to advance the country's interest and improve the standard of living of Nigerians, the former president said Jonathan had rather “betrayed God and the Nigerian people that brought him to power,” adding that he has been “pursuing selfish, personal and political interests based on advice he receives from self-centred aides.”

The former military head of state who became a civilian president in 1999, decried that Jonathan through his kind of politicking was polarising the country along regional and religious lines and bringing Nigeria to ridicule among the comity of nations and destroying his own party, PDP.

He attributed Jonathan mismanaging of the party affairs, through his cronies in PDP, to the defection of five PDP governors to APC.

He noted that PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, should not be blamed for the crisis in the party as he was only doing the bidding of the president. Tukur, he added, was been egged on by the president to    instigate division among the party hierarchy for political expediency.

Obasanjo also accused the president for failing to stick to his promise not to seek a second term in office; an action he said was the real reason for the tension within the PDP and the country.

According to him, Jonathan had indicated to him before the 2011 election that he would not seek a second term, adding that the president’s refusal to act by his words portrayed him as a man without honour.

“It is fatally morally flawed for Mr. Jonathan to contest in 2015. As a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear among others are trust and honour both of which are important ingredients of character. I will want to see anyone in the office of the presidency of Nigeria as a man or woman who can be trusted, a person of honour in his words and character,” he said.

  Jonathan’s unspoken second term interest aside, Obasanjo went ahead to accuse Jonathan of anti-party activities by supporting opposition parties’ candidates in the governorship elections in Lagos, Ondo, Edo and Anambra States against PDP candidates. This was a pointer that validated the rumour that the PDP and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) went into an agreement before the 2013 governorship election in Anambra State, which the opposition party won.

On security, Obasanjo said the president was yet to address the real causes of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has turned some parts of the North into a no go area. While he reiterated the need for Jonathan to explore a ‘carrot and stick’ model in addressing the lingering crisis, Obasanjo maintained that the current “conventional military actions based on standard phases of military operations alone will not permanently and effectively deal with the issue of Boko Haram.”

On the resort to ethnic and sectional sentiments to advance a second term of office for Jonathan by his South-south kinsmen, Obasanjo said he was making a huge mistake. “For you to allow yourself to be possessed, to the exclusion of most of the rest of Nigerians as an Ijaw man is a mistake that should never have been allowed to happen.

“Yes, you have to be born in one part of Nigeria to be a Nigerian if not naturalised but the Nigerian president must be above ethnic factionalism. And those who prop you up as of, and for Ijaw nation are not your friends genuinely, not friends of Nigeria nor friends of Ijaw nation they tout about.”

Obasanjo was apparently referring to the duo of former militant leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and former federal commissioner for information, Chief Edwin Clark, both of whom have led the campaign for Jonathan’s second term that is anchored on ethnic sentiments.

Obasanjo also made bold to allege that Jonathan has placed over 1,000 Nigerians on political watch list and accused him of training snipers and other armed personnel secretly. He did not stop at that, he added that he was clandestinely acquiring weapons and was working towards returning Nigeria to the year of terror under regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha., adding did ad that he was “training his snipers where Abacha trained his killers”.

Obasanjo who said the letter was in the interest of Nigeria, tasked the National Assembly to rise up and take decisive action on the revelation by Sanusi that the NNPC has failed to remit billions of dollars in proceeds of crude oil sales to the Federation Account. He said the issue must not be swept under the carpet by non-action, cover-up, denial or bribing of investigators.

“Please deal with this allegation transparently and let the truth be known. The dramatis personae in this allegation and who they are working for will one day be public knowledge. Those who know are watching if the National Assembly will not be accomplice in the heinous crime and naked grand corruption. May God grant you the grace for at least one effective corrective action against high corruption which seems to stink all around you in your government.”

Indicating that he was prepared for whatever backlash the letter to Jonathan would provoke from the presidency, Obasanjo categorically stated that he had passed the stage where he could be “flattered, intimidated, threatened, frightened, induced or bought,” adding that “death is the end of all human beings and may it come when God wills it to come.”

There are questions regarding the genuine interest of those accusing the president. While both the CBN governor and House speaker could be viewed making their comments based on their interest in ensuring probity and accountability in government, political experts view Obasanjo’s letter as reeking of frustration and hypocrisy.

Reacting to Obasanjo’s claim that his letter is in the interest of the nation, the National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, cautioned Nigerians to be wary and not allow a set of retired generals who have the antecedents of resolving the Nigerian crisis to sooth their personal purpose a leeway in the present matter.

“If Obasanjo, who happens to be a retired general, is now beckoning on fellow retired generals and at the same time inciting Nigerians against a sitting president, something untoward must be going on. Obasanjo referred to former generals like Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar and others in his letter. There is the need for caution.”

Punching holes in Obasanjo's accusations, Odumakin spoke of the issue of corruption, stating: “The former president has no moral justification to accuse the president because corruption was at its peak under his (Obasanjo's) regime. Political murder was not as bad or rampant ever in the history of this nation like we all witnessed under the former president regime, while as a matter of fact cases of rigging of elections were unprecedented during Obasanjo's regime.”

Whatever the case may be, political watchers are of the view that as the nation approaches 2015,   Jonathan has many hurdles to cross not only in leading his party to victory, but also in realising his second term ambition, which has so far declined to acknowledge.

Many are of the view that his road was bound to get rougher, unless he could prove to Nigerians that he is not corrupt, by precisely tackling corruption head on and swiftly addressing the many issues raised by Tambuwal, Sanusi and Obasanjo   in the nation's interest.

The Monday Discourse: A President Under Fire, Articles | THISDAY LIVE
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-monday-discourse-a-president-under-fire/166646/