Like the Military, Like Jonathan?
This piece is not an attempt to compare the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to the inglorious era of the military in the driver’s seat of governance. Not that there are many points of variance between this administration and those led by the military juntas that held sway for the most part of our post-independence corporate existence.
For one, the era of the Jonathanians is as much plagued by the scourge of a near-zero accountability to the people, as the era of the military was. In the eyes of the military, the people do not matter; they didn’t count. No wonder the first action that conventionally signposted the new order after any military overthrow of a civilian administration was the suspension of the Constitution and the gagging of the press and proscription of political associations. Of course, this was a clear indication that the captains of the ship of State do not care for the pulse of the people.
The paradox, however, lies in the nature of ascendancy of the civilian administrations to power, as is reflected in the Jonathan administration, in which there is a semblance of people-power, as the government is believed to have ridden to power on the goodwill it is able to extract from the people after a period of tortuous campaigning for electoral votes, and is thereby expected to be subservient to the popular will of the people; but decides to turn around to become the lord and master of the fiefdom, callously proclaiming in the market square, that it does not give a damn what the people think regarding its policies.
Whereas there is a marked convergence of dictatorial tendencies by this government, and the ones before it; we must credit the so-called democratically elected governments, Jonathan’s inclusive; of being less hostile to dissent. At least, Nigeria has managed to outlive the era of having political prisoners forming the majority of incarcerations in our prisons. This seems to be arguably, the single most important “dividend” of the period of civilian administrations; what with the boundless reaches of the internet and social media platforms that has seen free expression of thought.
During the reign of the Babangidas and the Abachas, the Nigerian economy witnessed a huge influx of foreign exchange from the sale of oil, without any corresponding growth and development in the real economy in terms of infrastructure and socioeconomic conditions. This situation was not peculiar to the dark days of the military under the gap-toothed and dark-goggled Generals. The Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and the Jonathan administrations, share a common heritage in having excess incomes over meaningfully deployed resources for the good of the country. This is practically the same for the other indices of measurement like, rule of law, accountability, and the corruption perception of by the people of the government.
However, the present administration of Goodluck Jonathan, breaks away from the other civilian administrations and shares a particular attribute with the military, particularly in the days when it became obvious that Nigerians had had enough of the khaki boys.
We saw, at the twilight of the military era, a disposition from the politically aware, that seemed to suggest that Nigerians would accept any administration but a continuation of the military in office. I would like to think that this was the motivation of the politicians and political parties that deified the person of Sani Abacha as they churned out the infamous “who the cap fits” adverts; asking Abacha to transform himself to a civilian Head of State. I decide not to imagine that it was greed and fear of the unknown that led supposed leading lights at the time, to be singing the praise of a man that was manifestly and latently evil. The unofficial, but widely acclaimed motto of the political class was embodied in these words: anyone but the military.
The foregoing thoughts were given life by a trend which is slowly but steadily creeping into the psyche of Nigerians. As it was in the military era, in which Nigerians were ready for any other government other than the military; so it is turning out to be that Nigerians seem to be singing in unison, though in a discordant harmony of sorts, that they would accept anyone to emerge as President in 2015, but certainly, not a continuation of the directionless government of the man from Otuoke. The platform on which the President assumed power, the PDP, an amalgam of strange bedfellows in itself, is at risk of self-implosion. The opposition parties, as uninspiring as they have been, seem poised to cash-in on the travails of the PDP.
The Children of Anger appear to have reached the summit of their anger as they are steadily provoked by glaring incompetence, monumental sleaze by politically exposed persons, and unprecedented insecurity across the land. The silent understanding inthe camp of the facebooking, tweeting, and blogging community of the angry children, in the face of scandals upon scandals in and around the corridors of power; is to shake their heads, tend their wounds, and wait for 2015. Whilst the, anyone-but-Jonathan movement is gathering momentum, and the PDP is at war with itself; it becomes most apposite and imperative that the votes of the largely rural and indifferent population, be targeted. To this end, the need to trumpet the gospel of change from the confines of cyber-world and the metropolitan areas to the hinterlands cannot be over emphasized.
The soul and future of Nigeria is up for grabs by the most determined among us. There is ample evidence of the degree of desperation of status-quo politicians as reflected in massive rigging of polls, fought on a do-or-die basis by force of arms and bloodshed, power of incumbency, and downright monetary inducement to sway voters. These ones are in control of the conventional media outlets, and they are known to resort to misinformation and destructive propaganda, to keep the mass of the people in perpetual servitude. Thus, it is only natural that for positive change to happen in the land anytime soon; there must arise from among the people, a resolve to quit the siddon-look approach to governance and take meaningful action that would catalyze the emergence of a new generation of Nigerians that would have zero-tolerance for mediocrity, incompetence, and criminality.
As has been stated severally, in the task of nation building, there are no spectators. You are either among the builders, or you are in the camp of the destroyers of the nation. Indifference to governance is not synonymous with being gentlemanly, but sheer cowardice. A gentleman, or lady, properly so called, must take steps to improve the standard of living of the people. Resorting to debilitating survivalist individuality is in reality, collusion with the very enemies of the people. We must transform our agonizing to a focused organizing for change. One sure way to begin is to condemn the ills perpetrated by those who swore to serve the collective good. The next, is to align with progressive forces in building the required critical mass to cause that long awaited but yet elusive, seismic shift in our sociopolitical landscape.
I am on twitter as @efewanogho.
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