LAST week, having heard multiple complaints about the state of the country from several Nigerians, I expressed concerns about chronic fuel shortages, prolonged electricity cuts, widespread poverty and Mr President’s incessant globetrotting. I said that I and many other people who voted for Buhari (and the Change he promised) last year had started to feel disillusioned and would feel more cheerful if he spent more time at home, providing hands-on leadership and solving problems.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan (L) With President Muhammadu Buhari, After A Close Door Meeting At The Presidential Villa In Abuja On Monday (2/11/15) Whenever I try to objectively assess this newish APC government’s performance and suggest ways in which it can up its game, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s cheerleaders swamp me with sad, mocking or abusive emails and text messages.
Quality professionals Since I will never have enough time to respond to all of these pro-Jonathan comments individually, I thought I should respond to them en masse on this page. Response to PDP devotees who sadly reproach me for not voting for Jonathan because they honestly believe that he is a Great Guy who was misunderstood, underestimated, unfairly vilified and unjustly robbed of a second term: I totally share your view that Jonathan had a nice personality and agree that he recruited some quality professionals (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for example) to work with.
But I honestly believe that he didn’t do a good job overall and would have done much better if he had been firmer with his wife and had disciplined those members of his team who were blatantly greedy, inept and crooked. Response to PDP devotees who address me mockingly (especially those who take delight in gleefully reminding me that they “told me so”): I must admit that some of you DID contact me before and shortly after the election, to predict that Buhari would disappoint me and most of his supporters. Let me also humbly say that you have been proved right so far and that I can see why you feel entitled to taunt folks – like me – who have been proved wrong so far. But many of you are practically rejoicing about the fact that the nation is going through a lot of stress.
You are displaying schadenfreude, a German word that neatly describes the satisfaction or pleasure that some people feel when they hear about the misfortunes of others. And it’s my turn to issue a reminder and point out that current misfortunes are not being solely endured by me and other APC voters! In a nutshell, I am completely mystified by your obsessive political partisanship.
And do not understand why you are so ridiculously thrilled about governmental failures that are making every Nigerian, yourselves included, suffer! When your country is in the doldrums, is it not somewhat unpatriotic, childish, warped, strange, unhinged and irresponsible to be happy that it is in the doldrums simply because you didn’t vote for the man who is running the show at the moment? At this rate, you will mourn rather than celebrate if things begin to improve for Nigeria – and for you and your families and friends! – under Buhari’s watch! Response to PDP devotees who hurl insults at me through cyberspace or via phone lines, mostly because they are Niger Deltans like me and Jonathan and regard me as a terrible “traitor” for “abandoning” our “Brother” and shifting my allegiance to Buhari, whom they hate with a burning passion, purely because he’s a Northerner.
Do you also regard the Northerners who voted for Jonathan, rather than for their Brother, Buhari, as traitors? You have called me all sorts of awful names – “evil backstabber” being just one of many demonizing labels you think I deserve. For the record, I voted for Jonathan in 2011 because I felt that it was time for we minorities from severely neglected oil-producing areas to finally produce a Head of State; and I assumed that Jonathan would (in addition to taking care of all Nigerians) profoundly empathise with our region’s woes and uplift his people, ordinary Niger Deltans who lived in pollution-ravaged villages in particular. But Jonathan disappointed me on this front and for all sorts of other reasons. And, to cut a long story short, I had decided, by 2015, to vote for Buhari because I thought that Buhari would control his First Lady, tackle corruption, keep public servants on their toes, inject some sanity into the economy and possibly wind up helping the Niger Delta more than Jonathan ever had.
If I’m also disappointed in Buhari at the end of his tenure in 2019, so be it. But I don’t think one should be abused for open-mindedly giving a candidate from the other side of the country a chance to deliver the dividends of democracy! And it is, as far as I’m concerned, absolutely tragic that anyone can be as blinded by tribal and regional bigotry in this day and age as some of Jonathan’s fans. First-class flight ban EARLIER on this month, the Federal Government banned all top government officials from flying first class while embarking on official trips.
According to the statement, the decision was made in a bid to save money; and henceforth, ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Chairmen of Federal Committees, Chief Executives of Parastatals and so on will have to travel on business class. Given how broke Nigeria is at the moment and considering that some ambassadors of some countries that are considerably richer than Nigeria – the UK for example – travel Economy Class, I don’t think the Federal Government has gone far enough!!!
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