The Tragedy Of President Jonathan: A Clarion Call To Save Nigeria By Aonduna Tondu

I t is tragic that under the current PDP-led regime of
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria is arguably a more dangerous,
divisive and run-down place than at any other time in its
history. It is doubly tragic that much of the insecurity,
destabilization and escalating pauperisation of the people is
happening because of deliberate, impeachable acts of
impunity , maladministration and corruption on the part of an
uninspiring and visionless potentate whose non-sober
temperament and increasing desperation to hang on to power
are pushing the country to the brink.
Today, the president is behaving more and more like an
antediluvian ogre of predatory politicking, part –Mobutu, part-
Babangida, part-Abacha and part-Obasanjo, his creator and
mentor. That is to say that Jonathan is a Caligula-like
incarnation whose turpitudes and administrative subversions,
not to mention his remorselessly tyrannical assaults against
perceived enemies, are wreaking untold havoc on democracy
and the stability of the nation. Alarmingly, the man is running
a rudderless outfit, a soi-disant government whose
irresponsible onslaughts against revered symbols of authority,
cohesion and tradition like the emir of Kano, the governors of
Rivers State and Adamawa, the speaker of the House of
representatives, Tambuwal, just to mention a few, or those of
our democratic emancipation like the media, are badly
endangering our collective peace and harmony. It is tragically
ironic that a president who swore to defend and protect fellow
citizens and their interests is now actively competing (others
would say collaborating) with various forces of centrifugal
rascality and terrorism like Boko Haram in the destruction or
sabotage of our economy and other key sectors.
The unconscionable and unparalleled desecration of the
Nigerian presidency that is inherent in the brazenly reckless,
undemocratic and illegal conduct of Jonathan and his
henchmen does call for a strong, clear response from the civil
society and especially from genuine pro-democracy forces
devoid of the historical duplicity, treachery and complacency
associated with the leadership of organizations like the NLC.
This is a clarion call for the urgent salvation of the country
from malevolent forces of depravity, dictatorship, anti-
intellectualism and sleaze led by an inept, rash and mean-
spirited ruler whose worrisome abdication in the face of
daunting national challenges is pushing us closer to perdition. A
key aspect of the patriotic duty to confront the tragedy of
the imperial president and his anti-people PDP is helping expose
their reign of wanton profligacy and criminal misrule that
favors a den of misfits and noisy, loathsome parvenus while at
the same time savagely trampling on the decent but long-
suffering majority and their welfare.
Crucially, it is also about deconstructing the sinister ploy which
consists in desperately trying to hide the woeful and
unpardonable failures of the under-performing president and
his PDP kleptocracy behind a veil of pseudo-religious
rationalization or heckling whose abject objective is the
attainment of a diabolical divide-and-conquer situation
through the cultivation of ethno-religious schisms. We join
other decent Nigerians by insisting that Jonathan and his PDP
confederates must run for election on their track record of
societal ruination and anomie instead of seeking refuge in
contemptible, cowardly, unpatriotic and criminal attacks
against the opposition, the media and the people of Nigeria in
general. It is one of those tragic aberrations that the
president is unconstitutionally using the army, the police, the
SSS, the judiciary and other state institutions to settle
personal scores. The immediate and long-term consequences of
Jonathan’s misconduct here cannot be over-emphasized. For
instance, an army or any security force that takes sides in
partisan or byzantine quarrels cannot be counted upon to
defend the interests of the majority, talk less of defending
the unity, security and territorial integrity of the nation as
seems to be the case with today’s openly politicized military
whose reputation of corruption and indiscipline does, to a large
extent, mirror the Augean Stables around Jonathan and his
PDP. Sooner or later, an army or police force that is
compromised politically gets factionalized along the lines of
ideological or primordial allegiances with dire consequences.
History should be our guide here.
As the nation continues to groan under the tragedy of criminal
misrule, especially at the centre, and its cortege of calamities
like kidnappings, robberies, communal crises, the Stone Age
Boko Haram insurgency and tribal or sectional outfits in the
MEND mould which are imbued with a xenophobic mindset, the
Jonathan autocracy has typically chosen the path of infamy
characterized by irrational and heretical posturing that has
made matters worse. Nigeria is in deep trouble all because of a
bumbling, sleazy and incompetent PDP government whose anti-
social nature and conduct have transformed the country into a
dismal backwater of rampant desolation at the mercy of
heathen forces of savagery and reaction (in the image of the
PDP behemoth) as well as dubious foreign interests. Often
brusque and lacking in civility in their interactions with the
populace, President Jonathan and his megaphones have a
terrible habit of either rejecting with a sleight of hand cogent
and useful advice from the opposition and particularly from
the APC, or desperately trying to score cheap political points
by futilely trying to dress their failures in ethno-religious
robes. Paradoxically and alarmingly, the same Jonathan has
curiously become eagerly amenable to suggestion (if not
orders) from foreign governments or their representatives in
the wake of the recent abductions of over 200 Chibok school
girls by the Boko Haram terrorists, a tragic event, the
aftermath of which was characteristically bungled by the
president and his aides who preferred to remain nasty and
inhumane by diddling and playing petty politics with the fate
of the young female victims.
The president’s alter ego, Dame Patience, even treated us to a
bizarre pantomime of cruel, sacrilegious humor when she flatly
denied that any girls had been abducted by Boko Haram in
Chibok while at the same time invoking God’s name as caution
to those whom she thought were after mischief to discredit her
husband and his precious regime. Sadly, this is how Jonathan
has mishandled the entire Boko Haram-related quagmire. When
decisive action was needed like the taking of measured
administrative measures that included the deployment of an
overwhelming force of dissuasion in order to neutralize the
apparently menacing sect before it became the dreaded
terrorist contagion that it is now, the president and his
government dithered, retreating into whiningly recriminatory
finger-pointing with sectarian and sectional undertones. And,
as the foyers of the deadly insurgency multiplied with
corresponding devastation and barbarity, Jonathan and his
government sought further refuge in their traditional
incompetence and paralysis, only to be jolted by the
spontaneous outcry that attended both the Chibok kidnappings
and the regime’s scandalous dereliction of duty that followed
them. A pertinent question thus arises: Is President Jonathan
sober now in the face of the national outrage and its
international echoes that have greeted both the criminal
abductions of the girls and the way and manner he and key
members of his regime persisted in their revelry and partisan
political intoxication or desperation in the critical period that
would have been efficaciously utilized to secure their release?
We must hasten, though, to move beyond such rhetorical probing
in the knowledge that Jonathan and his PDP confederacy are
beyond redemption. To expect from them the pursuit of the
common good that is the product as well as the consequence of
exemplary leadership that is imbued with, amongst other
qualities, a sense of equity, decency and lucidity, is to indulge
in futility. Jonathan and his eminence grise share the PDP’s
mantra of “do or die” politics that is predicated on the
reprobate behavior of brazen election rigging which allows them
to loot the national treasury without qualms, thereby rendering
the masses forlornly destitute. The president and his gang are
more desperate and more dangerous also to the wellbeing of
the average citizen. A case in point is their grotesque and
undemocratic behavior in the last gubernatorial elections in
Anambra and Ekiti, respectively, and in Adamawa State where
the governor, Jonathan’s fervent critic and opponent, is being
irresponsibly and dangerously threatened with impeachment of
a kangaroo kind.
As their woeful failures and contradictions keep exploding in
their faces, it is obvious that the president and his associates
are becoming more panicky ahead of 2015. They are indeed
more vulnerable, too. That vulnerability may be exposing
Jonathan and his regime to more undue and unhelpful pressures
from foreign governments and their leaders whose various
offers of assistance, whether against the Boko Haram
terrorist machine or in other areas of national concern, may go
against the strategic or other interests of our dear country.
Vigilance is de rigueur here. We must beware Greek gifts ( or
Trojan horses, depending on the angle from which one views the
issue) from the Americans, the British, the French, the Chinese
and any other providers of ‘aid’. Citizens ought to know that
some of these foreign powers have always seen Nigeria as an
enemy whose size, potential as well as integrationist ambition
for the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole are
perceived as inimical to the economic and strategic interests of
these foreign hegemonies. Importantly also, we must reject any
interference in our internal politics. Any attempt to prop up
the unpopular Jonathan and his PDP tyranny will be repudiated
by the citizenry. That brings us to the ultimate question: Are
we the Nigerian people more sober now in our collective quest to
save our country? Are we wiser today not to fall for the silly
and illiterate skulduggery by an under-achieving, reckless PDP
and its clueless and sleazy owners who have ruined the country
for 15 years now and are desperate to hang on to irresponsible
power by wickedly and senselessly trying to promote ethno-
religious division ?
Jonathan and his PDP can wallow in their hedonism and other
vain pursuits, if that is their cup of tea, but we show that we
are not substantially different from them if we condone what
they do, are complacent regarding their criminal misrule which
has brought us to this sorry pass and especially do nothing to
redeem a badly battered Nigeria that is now a virtually failed
state, chiefly due to the PDP mafia and its current boss.
Of all the parties in the Nigerian political firmament, the APC
is objectively best placed as a credible alternative to the PDP.
Its optimism is borne out of hard work, vision and a rugged
determination to do what is right by restoring hope to the
majority through the provision of their basic needs and much
more. The masses of our people should support and actively
work for the APC’s agenda of change for the better. That
agenda of change is precisely the antithesis of the tragedy of
Jonathan and his PDP regime. It is critical that the APC and
the people of Nigeria remain focused, avoid any form of
complacency and work harder toward the salvation of the
country. This quick recall, just to state what is at stake:
Jonathan did set the tone for his calamitous rule by having the
police and the army shoot and kill scores of unarmed and
innocent citizens who were rightly protesting against his cruel
fuel price hike. Coming on the heels of the fuel subsidy scandal
whereby mainly PDP leeches were paid billions of dollars, some,
for importing no drop of oil, those atrocities were followed by
the military-aided deposition of the Bayelsa State governor
through sham polls that saw the imposition of a Jonathan
stooge called Dickson. The anti-democratic destabilisation
antics, the unbridled corruption that is destroying Nigeria, the
false piety of Mr. President and his men, the active promotion
of ethno-religious division , the rampant violence and
instability, orchestrated or not, the administrative ineptitude,
etc., are sufficient reason to say enough is enough.

Aonduna Tondu,
email: aondunatondu@gmail.com.