By Doosuur Iwambe
I have never been a fan of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government but as the watchdog of the society according to Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, I will not shy away from my responsibility of saying it the way it is!
A little over a month ago, barely 24 hours after the Nyanyan bus station bomb blast that left scores of people dead and several others injured, President Jonathan was in Kano for a political rally to welcome the former governor of the State, Ibrahim Shekarau and other chieftains of the All Pregressive Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after their defection.
The APC, through its interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed did not mince words in condemning the actions of Mr. President saying, he was exhibiting traits of an insensitive and utterly hardhearted leader by engaging in illegal campaign for 2015 election.
Many Nigerians also condemned the action of the President. While lamenting that the president was dancing “AZONTO” on the graves of those that were killed in the blast, the party added that the message the president was sending to Nigerians was that keeping his job is more important to him than the security and welfare of those that voted him into office. Many other Nigerians including this writer also condemned the action of President Jonathan and the PDP.
But last week, the APC members and its leaders saw nothing wrong in dancing Azonto and as a matter of fact added “skelewu”, when the party and its leaders went ahead to campaign for the 2nd term bid of Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi barely 24 hours after the twin bomb blast that killed scores of people in Kano and Jos, the Plateau State capital. Some of my colleagues, especially, Kunle Olasanmi, have always been against my hard stand on President Jonathan, saying that the APC may not do anything differently, if they eventually take over power from the PDP.
For the first time, I want to agree with them because I cannot imagine that the APC that condemned president Jonathan for dancing Azonto in Kano State will also do the same and even add skelewu to its own.
Nigeria has been blessed with the greediest, selfish and self-hating leaders who make short term calculations for their own self-interest. Politicians in Nigerian under whatever platform bid for the protection of their selfish interest and to be relevant in tomorrow’s political games; nothing more, nothing less. Today’s politics seems to be about self, for the self and self alone. Democracy in Nigeria is insane as it always serves as a reliable vehicle for the transportation of
capitalism and godlessness to every clime. May God help poor Nigerians from the hands of those parading themselves as leaders. Peter Drucker, the Australian-born American Management Consultant, Education and Author for his solid grasp of management and leadership principles
must have had the Nigerian political scene in mind when he said, “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked, leadership is defined by results and not attributes.”
The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of any responsible government as stipulatedby S (14) Subsection (1b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and any government that fails to meet up with this requirement has failed woefully. More lives are lost in our country through road crashes; call it transportation insecurity, if you want; diseases, maternal and newborn mortality could have been prevented if not for lack of commitment and care by our various governments. I will call it health care insecurity.
You will not be wrong to indict successive governments for causing so many deaths of Nigerians directly or indirectly, mostly as a result of massive and unchecked corruption, greed, selfishness, lack of political will, conscience and of course lack of vision and purpose.
Governance in all tiers of government has lost its focus and the level of insecurity in the country is at its peak as the people are left bare while leaders who they ought to look up to for protection keep trading words and generating fear in the citizens. Sadly, for these two parties,
Nigerians are not deceived by their mis-represented antics. The leaders have seemingly failed because the welfare of the people who voted them into office seem insignificant to them. While no one expects any tier of government to be a miracle worker, there ought to be some minimal developmental shifts that can alleviate the sufferings of the people at all levels. The people expect that a year to the election should be a time of stock taking. The leadership of the two main political parties (APC and PDP) ought to come out with pre-election promises and statistics of how far they have worked to develop infrastructure, and how they have impacted on core sectors like agriculture, education health etc but what you have is accusation and counter-accusation.
Why will power tussle be a do or die affair
Quote:
For the first time, I want to agree with them because I cannot imagine that the APC that condemned president Jonathan for dancing Azonto in Kano State also did the same and even add skelewu to its own.
