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)
