2nd Phase: The Best and Worst of President Goodluck Jonathan (10th May 2010 - 28th May 2015).

by Eze Eluchie

SMARTEST INFRASTRUCTURAL THRUST

Globally, for any country with leaders’ desirous for real development of their territories, peoples and economies, the rail transport system is the preferred mode of mass transportation. The wicked neglect visited to the rail sector, which has left the sector comatose for several decades in Nigeria, merely reflects the true vicious intents of characters who had ruled over the Nigerian polity.

The spirited efforts the Goodluck Jonathan administration infused into developing the rail sector, which resulted in the reactivation of train routes which had been moribund for decades and the commencement of scheduled train journeys across the country is truly remarkable.

Other forays of the Jonathan administration in the areas of infrastructural development, such as the power sector, road networks and air transportation pale in comparison to what was achieved in the rail sector.

Considering the nature of the Train Coaches been deployed, could we have had a better deal? Certainly! But at least the tracks are coming back to life and the next administration can build up from where the present one stopped.


WORST INFRASTRUCTURAL FAILURE

In this era when Chinese companies are building 57-storey buildings in 19 days, one really wonders how long it would have taken the Goodluck Jonathan administration to have built a deep sea port in Nigeria to serve as alternates and decongest the overstretched sea ports in Lagos? 2-weeks? 6 months? One year? Yet nothing was done in this regards.

Alternate sea ports cited in other coastal states of Nigeria, particularly in states comprised in the South-South geopolitical zones would have served to ease the strain on the two functional sea ports in Nigeria (Apapa and Tin Can), both located in Lagos. The location of the two ports in Lagos creates human, vehicular, shipping and whatsoever gridlock imaginable, all serving to dampen whatever efforts at development of the maritime and commercial sectors (amongst several other sectors) in Nigeria.

The failure of the Goodluck administration to build alternative seaports, will serve to perpetually haunt the regime and those who served under it..



BOLDEST POLITICAL MOVE - CONVOKING THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

The fundamental problem with the Nigerian state which serves to found the various vices which pins down the Nigerian contraption and its peoples is the warped, unjust and unworkable structure and constitution.

Efforts at restructuring and renegotiating the Nigerian State via the National Conference convoked by the Goodluck Jonathan administration remains, by a wide margin, the boldest political move of the administration.

The outcome of the Conference was not perfect and did not meet with the aspirations of many constituent elements of the Nigerian contraption - but it was all the same a starting point on the need of restructuring and renegotiating the State.

The failure of the administration to act on the said outcomes is another matter entirely...



WEAKEST POLITICAL MOVE - NOT SACKING 'THE SAINT', JEGA

By a wide margin, the dumbest political move of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency was its failure to relieve the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a man I have dubbed ‘the saint’ for his pious mien despite a very determined and stealthy persona, Attahiru Jega.

The saints sins and actions which should have necessitated his sack were numerous – amongst these were: Awarding the contract for the supply of vital election materials to known chieftains of one of the political parties (this ensured delayed delivery and delivery of defective card readers to zones on partisan basis); very biased and partisan allocation of ‘extra polling booths’ which saw the Northern region gain an incredulous 21,000 extra booths to 7,000 booths allocated to the south; and displaying a hatchet man’s determination to hold Presidential elections on the 14th of February when all evidence clearly indicated that INEC was not prepared to undertake any such venture as at the date in question.

One thought President Jonathan had forgotten he had the power to sack appointees of his government until he began his belated sacks after conceding defeat. ‘The saint’ was not sacked when he should have been sacked, and as the saying goes, the rest is history….




THE WORST PHOTO OPPORTUNITY - US-AFRICA LEADERS SUMMIT

As the countdown to the exit of the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan commences in earnest, this page, in the remaining 10 days left for the regime will highlight the best and the worst of the regime.

Goodluck Jonathan, with his weak understanding of the human nature, surrounded himself with 5th columnists and the few around him who had an inkling as to the booby traps being laid, choose to line their pockets with lucre and wallow in the trappings of their transient offices.

The Worst Photo Opportunity of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency was when he attended the so-called ‘US – Africa Leaders Summit’, hosted by US President Barrack Obama. Placed at the most obscure position at extreme left end of the rear line, President Jonathan would have been better off feigning an urgent need to visit the loo than to stay and pose for this inglorious picture.

This photo-line up should have given President Jonathan and his team an idea of what the Barrack Obama administration thought about our President!

They did not learn!
They have paid dearly for their lack of knowledge!



Picture: President Goodluck Jonathan (10th May 2010 - 28th May 2015).

1st Phase: The Best and Worst of President Goodluck Jonathan (10th May 2010 - 28th May 2015)

by Eze Eluchie

BEST PATRIOTIC ACT

Ironically, the culmination of the actions determined as 'His Weakest Political Move' - not sacking the Chairman of Nigeria Independent National Electoral Commission, 'saint Jega', also gives rise to his best act as a patriot.

Without doubt, going by amongst other factors: the desperate manner of their election campaigns, the violent attacks on President Jonathan's and his political party's campaigns in the extreme northern fringes of Nigeria; the increasing tenor of attacks by Boko Haram, efforts at ridiculing the Nigerian State, its military and Presidency domestically and before the international community; and increasing brazen display and resort to high calibre weapons by political thugs; if the outcome of the 2015 Presidential Elections had been contested by any of the two main contenders, an orgy of violence, perhaps unprecedented in the annals of our history, would have been unleashed on the Nigerian polity.

Whether he acted in bondage and under pressure, or acted of own volition, the early concession of defeat by President Goodluck Jonathan, despite the glaring evidence of electoral fraud, manipulation and compromise by INEC officials which could have all served to provide sufficient reason to, midway, obviate the outcomes of the said elections, saved Nigeria from a seemingly inevitable crisis.

Globally applauded for the feat (though much derided by those who had supported him locally), in defeat, President Goodluck Jonathan became a winner.


WORST ‘UNPATRIOTIC ACT

President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure to exhaust all possible legal remedies to challenge the shamefully horrendous ceding of an integral part of Nigeria, the Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroun, will forever haunt him as the worst unpatriotic act of his Presidency.

Rightly, efforts to cede the people and land of Bakassi had been virtually concluded under the despotic regime dubbed Nigeria’s ‘Reign of Evil’ under the rulership of ex-dictator, Olusegun Obasanjo, President Jonathan’s failure to explore all legal options available under international law (obviously under the advice of his worst political appointee, Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke) was not only unpatriotic, but in all senses of the word, treasonable.



BEST POLITICAL APPOINTMENT

Loyalty to the State and the Presidency; Positive impact on the polity; and strict adherence to the Constitution and the Rule of Law; these are the core qualities that will aide in ascertaining who amongst the political appointees of President Goodluck Jonathan deserves the accolade of being the best among his peers.

Clearly, arising from set goals of making Nigeria ungovernable for the Jonathan administration, any appointee who tried to attain appreciable success in his/her portfolio would be frustrated out of office by the lethal cabal which had attained a strangle hold on the Nigerian State. In that line of thinking, the ex-Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji stood out as an appointee who had to be snuffed out of office.

However, in keeping with the criteria above stated, the best political appointee of the Jonathan Presidency, who was loyal to the State and the Presidency, had a positive impact on the polity in the sphere of influence covered by his office and who sought to enforce the dictates of the Constitution and the rule of law to the letter despite spirited opposition from myriad quarters intent on destabilizing the State was none other than the former Inspector General of the Nigeria Police, Mr Suleiman Abba.

Ex-IGP Abba’s role in seeking to enforce the Constitutional provision which requires that elected political office holders vacate their office upon defection from the political platform through which they were elected, stood him out, among his peers as one who understood where the pendulum was swinging, which required drastic actions to instill discipline in the polity and avoid an impending catastrophe. Alas, ex-IGP Abba’s efforts were not understood for what they stood for, and as the saying goes, the rest is now history.

With the capitulation of the President even before the presidential election results were announced, loyalty had to understandably shift. Ironically, the Jonathan Presidency’s penchant to not recognize good qualities in its appointees led to a hasty and unfortunate removal of the Best Political Appointee of the regime, Mr. Abba, from office, soon after the 2015 general elections.


WORST POLITICAL APPOINTMENT

The President of the Federal Republic is just one person on whose shoulders rests the desires and aspirations of the country. His ability to govern effectively is thus to a great extent defined by the quality of persons he appoints as advisers, Ministers and to several sensitive political offices.

Without doubt, President Jonathan, going by his antecedents and work history, had not developed sufficient knowledge of the human nature as to enable him select loyal and effective political lieutenants - this led to Goodluck Jonathan surrounding himself with characters that were minuses.

By a wide margin, the most ineffective of these political appointees, whose 'wise counsel' could have served to avoid the bulk of the pitfalls which served to truncate the administration, whose lack of proactive counsel served to create the impression of a rudderless contraption and whose ignorance in the field of knowledge he was touted as expert served to mislead the government is non other than the character holding the office of Attorney general and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic, Mr. Mohammad Adoke.

Mr. Mohammad Adoke, who I have severally mentioned in Blogposts as being a 'public officer missing in action', whose office oversees the agencies charged with tackling corruption and crime prevention (areas where the administration failed woefully), failed to speak up on several topical issues, in my estimation wins the dubious distinction as the worst of the political appointees of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.



Picture: President Goodluck Jonathan (10th May 2010 - 28th May 2015)

Goodluck Jonathan: Far Better Than His Peers.

by Eze Eluchie

In assessing all past and serving heads of the Nigerian State with a view to determining who is the best among the lot, it is clear to state from the onset that only Heads of Government who emerged from democratic processes will be considered – those who emerged from coup plots will not be considered as they are actually treasonable felons and ought to be prosecuted at anytime when we begin to get our efforts at self-governance aright.

The contenders to the position of Best Nigerian Ruler are thus restricted to Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Yar’Adua and the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan.

Qualities to consider in arriving at an objective decision will include:
1.      Development of National Infrastructure
2.      State of National Security
3.      Expansion of the democratic space and adherence to rule of law
4.      Efforts at ensuring human capacity development
5.      Level of fundamental freedoms enjoyed by the general population
6.      Engendering conducive environment for investment

A scrutiny of the factors enumerated, the state of national affairs at the inception of the administrations of the four Presidents stated above and at the time when the said Presidents departed office will reveal that by a wide margin, the incumbent, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stands heads and shoulders above his peers.

President Jonathan’s regime, unlike non other before him, was dogged from its inception by spirited efforts at scuttling the administration including the unleashing of a most vicious political insurgency masqueraded as Islamist terrorists; vested interests invested heavily in sabotaging State infrastructure and agencies, infiltrating the regime with stooges whose actions and comments brought ridicule and odium to not only the State and its peoples but also the Presidency; Yet, appreciable progress was attained in diverse fields of national development and innovations in governance served to bring some succor to significant proportions of the population long sidelined by the oddities of the Nigerian state.

In the area of expansion of the political space and freedoms enjoyed by Nigerians, the Jonathan presidency raised the bar to new and far higher levels that will make populations in established democracies cringe in envy. The incumbent Nigerian President was once dubbed the ‘most insulted President in the world’, yet the previously notorious State security agencies were not unleashed on anyone.

The fact that a coalition of foreign powers had massed to ensure his departure from office coupled with palpable threats to unleash unparalleled violence on the polity in the event of an electoral impasse and his often expressed mantra that his political aspirations was not worth shedding the blood of any Nigerian, served to engender an unprecedented concession of defeat even before the final results of the Presidential elections had been released – despite undisputed widespread acts of systemic electoral malpractice and evidence of compromise amongst officials of the National Electoral Commission. Nigerians will forever remain grateful for this singular act of statesmanship.

Ineffectiveness in addressing large-scale high profile corruption which was wiping the very soul of the Nigerian contraption and hesitancy in frontally confronting terror and some other faults of the regime only underline the fact that all positive attributes can never be found in the same person individual.

Being human, perfection was certainly not possible; however his pluses far outweighed his minuses. The array of choices Nigeria has had in it’s over 50 years of flag-independence from the United Kingdom explains to a great deal why we are where we are whilst the rest of the world keeps on forging ahead.

As he departs office later today, President Jonathan will go in peace resting in the assurance that within his capabilities he had tried his best and that his countrymen genuinely appreciate that amongst his peers, he has been the best thus far. Fare thee well.

Tomorrow, a new chapter begins with the Muhammadu Buhari presidency.



Picture: President Goodluck Jonathan