You are watching a two-hour movie. President Goodluck
Jonathan is the “actor” (that’s what we used to call the
main character as kids). It is just 10 minutes to the end of
the movie. Jonathan has been dodging bullets on the
streets in the last one hour, running from pillar to villa.
Many of his fighters have deserted him and joined his
adversaries, led by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. They lob
missiles at him, like javelin, from every direction as he
snakes towards his fortress. Out of breath, he uses the butt
of his AK47 to smash the padlock of his gate, and his rifle
falls into pieces. He is now left with only a pistol and a
hand grenade.
Eight minutes to go…
His vest torn, blood crawling from his exposed biceps down
to his forearm, he makes a dazed dash for his entrance
door, barely hooking the gate with a chain from inside. The
adversaries are closing in. They volley gunshots at the
fence as he desperately runs to open the door. He has
bruises all over his body. His nose is bleeding from a stone
just thrown by Obasanjo which landed on his nose with
mathematical precision. Soyinka had earlier knocked off his
front tooth at a blind corner. The scar on his forehead was
scribbled by Kolade. Jonathan now hates the mirror. It is a
hostile piece of glass.
Five minutes to go…
His right hand is hurt by the door knob as his trembling
arms try to force it open. His mouth is in dry season,
dreadfully in need of saliva or anything liquid in form. The
enemies are massing outside the fence. He whispers to
himself, in pidgin English: “Wetin I do dis people na?” He
does not quickly reckon that the door is playing its own
trick. It refuses to open. He has to fire the last bullets in
his pistol to force it open. He is now left with only a hand
grenade as he creeps into the villa.
Let’s pause there. I’m an amateur script writer and I don’t
know how to complete the remaining three minutes of the
movie. But let us leave the world of make-believe and
come back to reality. And the reality is that this is not the
best of times to be Jonathan. With a swelling crowd of
opponents hitting at him, the room for maneuver is getting
smaller. Now, if Buhari criticises him, you could say: What
do you expect? If it is APC, you would say it is predictable.
Even Soyinka, you might conclude that he’s been vocal all
his life. And Obasanjo? Well, he tackles even the dead.
But Kolade? Now this is a different proposition. There are a
few Nigerians I adore with every bit of my soul and pray to
be like them in my old age. Kolade is one of them. He is a
man of integrity, a role model, a patriot and a non-partisan.
I admire him to no end. So when someone like that
becomes your critic, then there is trouble. The biggest
mistake you will make is to lump him along with your
natural or regular critics. However, you can choose to lock
yourself up, read his statement word-for-word, get pricked
in your heart, and say: Dear God, what may I do to be
saved?
I have said this before and I would like to repeat myself: it
is not in the interest of President Jonathan to lump all his
critics together. As a leader, he has to sit down, analyse
his critics and their criticisms, arrange them in groups,
classify the key issues and work out his actions and
reactions appropriately. He sure has millions of critics, like
any other leader. People criticise with different motives.
People have different agenda even when they are saying the
same thing. Unfortunately, you will miss the message when
you lump everyone together and respond to every critic and
criticism with cynicism and antagonism.
I once identified at least four different categories of
Jonathan’s critics. In Group A, I placed opposition figures
and other political opponents. There is no way APC would
come out and praise Jonathan; that is political suicide.
They want power. They want his job. Theirs is to say
Jonathan or PDP has not done well and that if Nigerians
give them a chance, they would do much better. This is a
universal characteristic of opposition politics. You can
argue that they do not always work with the facts, but what
is politicking? PDP would do the same if APC were in
power.
In Group B, you have those who lost out in the political
game. Many politicians who supported Jonathan in 2010
and 2011 feel abandoned. They feel like a deflated orange:
squeezed, sucked and dumped. They feel Jonathan treated
them to a one-night stand, whereas they wanted an affair.
Some wanted appointments; others simply desired respect
and recognition. But they are bitter that Jonathan jilted
them after getting what he wanted. In no time, they became
his sworn enemies. I would locate Obasanjo within this
group.
In Group C, you have those northerners who are still bitter
that Jonathan “hijacked” power after the death of President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010. The north had conceded
power to the south in 1999, with the understanding that
Obasanjo would do only one term. But Aso Rock was too
sweet for him. So PDP agreed to a north/south power
rotation every eight years. Unfortunately, Yar’Adau died
prematurely. Jonathan took over and refused to let go. To
some northerners, there is nothing Jonathan can do to
make them happy. Even if he turns northern Nigeria to
Dubai, their message is clear: Thank you and just get out of
here.
In Group D are those who have neither partisan nor
sectional sentiments against Jonathan ─ they are sincerely
critical of certain aspects of his stewardship. Jonathan was
marketed as a breath of fresh air in 2011. But these critics
have been genuinely disturbed at his handling of critical
issues such as corruption and Boko Haram. In truth,
Jonathan lost a lot of sympathisers with the Chibok
schoolgirls saga which was turned into the “Na Only You
Waka Come” tragicomedy in the corridors of power. Now,
you cannot group these genuine critics with his political
enemies. You cannot put Kolade and APC or Obasanjo in
the same category. You will miss the point completely.
Let’s now unpause the movie. Jonathan is holed up in his
fortress with only one grenade left. The blitzkrieg outside
is intimidating. Some in the cinema hall are already
tweeting that Jonathan is down and out and Buhari is only
two minutes away from taking over. The social media
community is awash with “Sai Buhari” victory chants.
But,wait, Jonathan is still the president. He still has
enormous political and economic powers. He still has a few
more minutes to decide what to do with the grenade in his
hand. And he still has troops from 36 states trying to come
to his rescue.
Will he survive? Will he detonate the bomb? Let’s just
relax, with popcorn and Pepsi, and soak in the closing
scenes. There could still be a twist, who knows. It’s an
exhilarating political thriller.
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
OBASANJO’S WATCH
I find the circumstances surrounding Obasanjo’s latest
memoirs quite revealing. First, he defied a court order.
Typical Obasanjo: lawless. Second, he titled the book “My
Watch”. Wow. In 2004, Chinua Achebe rejected a national
honour, writing to Obasanjo: “I write this letter with a very
heavy heart… I have watched particularly the chaos in my
own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades,
openly boasting its connections in high places, seems
determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and
lawless fiefdom… Nigeria’s condition today under YOUR
WATCH (my emphasis) is too dangerous for silence.”
Memories.
AU REVOIR, ATIKU
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has wanted to be president of Nigeria
since 1993 and it would seem the dream is finally over after
the APC primary. If you had asked me in 2001 or
thereabouts, I would have said Atiku was the most powerful
politician in Nigeria and it was just a matter of time for him
to succeed Obasanjo. In his latest book, Obasanjo recalled
how an Atiku associate came to “gist” him on the VP’s
comprehensive plan to become president anytime he
wanted. Obasanjo said he thereafter told his ADC: “Why do
people plan and leave God out of their plan?” Deep!
WHO’S LAUGHING NOW
This is not funny, although there is a bit of fun in it. In
September, Malam Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Kano governor
and former APC presidential aspirant, described Malam
Nuhu Ribadu as a “laughing stock” for defecting from APC
to PDP and then failing to get the Adamawa governorship
ticket. But now Ribadu has the PDP governorship ticket,
while Kwankwaso has failed in his own bid, despite
reluctantly appointing Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano under
pressure from other APC governors who reportedly
promised him the party’s presidential ticket in return.
Ribadu would be saying: who’s the laughing stock now?
Irony.
JONATHAN VS BUHARI
And finally, we’re going to have a rematch between
Jonathan and Buhari in the presidential bout. To the
partisans, this is going to be a Rumble in the Jungle. To
the spectators, it is a Thriller in the Villa. But to the
security agencies, this could turn out to be a nightmare.
One thing we should all plead for is that the contest
should, for God’s sake, be conducted in good spirits. In
2011, it was too bloody. Violence erupted even before the
election. The combatants should stick to the issues and
undertake to control their supporters in the national
interest. Sportsmanship.

Ofcourse

I think it would very close

I dnt giv a F abou politics tho

Hmmm

But d core question is can 9ja survive Jonathan for d next 4years?

D remaining month self we done tire

If Jonathan escapes, he will be given the Umaru Dikko treatment.

Buhari lost in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
Buhari is accustomed to losing . . .and will lose in 2015

Jonathan has lost all his credibility and political credit; this time around is Buhari all the way.

Mario1983:
I think it would very close

for where?
GEJ will increase his victory margins!

OrlandoOwoh:
If Jonathan escapes, he will be given the Umaru Dikko treatment.

Thank you for reminding us of the inherent LAWLESS nature of the clueless old soldier who PRETENDS to be disciplined when clearly he is NOT!

golor:
But d core question is can 9ja survive Jonathan for d next 4years?

i don't think so , it a personal thing

anonimi:


Thank you for reminding us of the inherent LAWLESS nature of the clueless old soldier who PRETENDS to be disciplined when clearly he is NOT!

Just take the message to the man whose name is synonymous with cluelessness.

OrlandoOwoh:

Just take the message to the man whose name is synonymous with cluelessness.

Very true. Buhari is clueless

quid:
Buhari lost in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
Buhari is accustomed to losing . . .and will lose in 2015

mr saTAN in 2003, 2007 he was rigged out by obj and pdp with IWU the worth inec head in nigeria history. A truth that yardua the great acknowledge and said 'the process and election that brought him to power was FALUTY. in 2011 Nigerians thought they had seen the breadth of fresh air, and the 'i had no shoes theory' worked. But now enough of cluelessness, nigerians knw better this is the first real election gmb would contest with the unbiasesness of Nigerians. Change is here

amakaeugene:
mr saTAN in 2003, 2007 he was rigged out by obj and pdp with IWU the worth inec head in nigeria history. A truth that yardua the great acknowledge and said 'the process and election that brought him to power was FALUTY. in 2011 Nigerians thought they had seen the breadth of fresh air, and the 'i had no shoes theory' worked. But now enough of cluelessness, nigerians knw better this is the first real election gmb would contest with the unbiasesness of Nigerians. Change is here

Yes. . .the change is that Buharis 2015 loss will be of a bigger scale.

there is confusion in the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party over the list of the
winners of the party’s recently conducted primaries across the
country. While the outcome of the primaries have seen different aspirants
claiming victory in the same election, others said there were no such
exercises in their states
For example, a former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze
Nwodo, is claiming victory over the outcome of the primary in the
Enugu North Senatorial District.
His claim was however contrary to the results submitted by the
electoral panel led by Senator Anthony Manzo, which declared
Chukwuka Utazi as the candidate.
At the Manzo- supervised election, which was held at the Government
Field, Nsukka, Utazi polled 324 votes, to beat Nwodo who scored four
votes. Dr. Martin Oke scored three votes.
But at another primary, Nwodo was pronounced the winner of the
primary.
The situation is even more worrisome in Anambra State, where in
Anambra South, Senator Andy Ubah and his brother, Chief Chris Ubah,
are claiming victory in their respective primaries.
Also in Anambra North, a former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella
Oduah, and a former Minister of Water and Transport, John Emeka, said
they won the primaries.
In Anambra Central, a member of the House of Representatives, Mrs.
Uche Ekwunife, claimed victory while in the same zone, Senator Annie
Okonkwo, said he had been declared winner in another primary .
Other aspirants such as Senator Margery Okadigbo, who is
representing Anambra North in the Senate at present; Dr. Obiora
Okonkwo and Joy Emodi are alleged to be laying claims to victory .
Also in Enugu State, Senator Ayogu Eze has insisted that he remains
the only governorship candidate of the party validly elected during last Monday’s primary in Enugu State.
But Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was announced as the winner at a parallel
primary in the state.
Eze dismissed claims that two parallel primaries were held, saying
‘’there was only one primary at which the genuine delegates, elected
on November 1, 2014, voted for me out of their free will.’’
The confusion over the directive from the members of the PDP National
Working Committee that its Ogun State chapter must not conduct last
Monday’s governorship primary is still vibrating. all this boils down to oga jona inability to lead Nigeria when
the head can not hold firm things fall apart

is a shame indeed. If this is what has become of president party, then its clear this is not the party to lead this country
come 2015. There has never been such a chaos and conundrum in any party. If there is really order in PDP which I
sincerely doubt, then why all these infractions? what can explain this disorder from people who are grossly
incompetent, clueless and inept? We are yet to see the worst in the upcoming days. Disgusting,….. to say the
least.