Metamorphosis of Jonathan

[SunNews]

By Olakunle Olafioye

The late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, once took a cursory look at President Goodluck Jonathan, then an acting President and confessed that he had never seen a man so humble as Jonathan yet occupying such exalted office as the presidency. His opinion about the President aligns with the view of many Nigerians who see the President's electrifying simplicity and his disarming humility as a major reason for the nationwide goodwill he enjoyed prior to his election in 2011. But this view about him was not entirely overwhelming. His critics hold a contrary view of him. His unassuming mien, in the reckoning of his opponents, was an indication of weakness, perhaps until recently. Their view is sometimes supported with claims of what they perceive as the president's failings.

Almost two years at the saddle, many of the President's opponents who hitherto considered him a weak person now appear to have a change of opinion. Of late, opposition parties have been accusing Jonathan of riding roughshod over his perceived political enemies, not with shoes but with jackboots. The new perception about the president has all sorts of roots. The president's ongoing war of attrition with the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, his opponents claim, is a signpost that the Jonathan Administration is steadily descending into despotism. The president and the Rivers State governor are currently locked in a cold but tense war over what many interpreted to be their individual ambition for the 2015 elections. The development has continued to give rise to suspicion over some of the actions taken by the government in the recent weeks.

Recently, an aircraft conveying Governor Amaechi was delayed by the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in Akure, the Ondo State capital over a claim of non- submission of the manifest by the pilot. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA would later ground it over what it claimed to be the expiration of the aircraft papers since April 2, 2013.  The NCAA's action was followed by a new aviation policy, which the government claims is meant to further sanitize the nation's aviation business. But the president's opponents were quick to label the move as political vendetta. "The Jonathan Administration is anchored on a transformation agenda," said Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in a statement recently. "But the only transformation that we can see is the one from a democratically elected President to an Emperor, a despot."

A counter statement from the Presidency put a lie to the party's alarm about the President. The statement signed by Dr. Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, described ACN's claim as an attempt by the opposition to stand the truth on its head and indulge in politics of abuse. "The ACN's allegation that there is a disagreement between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi is also wrong-headed and mischievous.  Governor Amaechi has publicly stated that this particular allegation is a piece of fiction created by certain persons and the media. We insist that President Jonathan is not engaged in any quarrel or dispute with Governor Amaechi. And it is wrong to use the matter of the aircraft that was grounded by the aviation authorities to concoct stories of persecution."

But the President's Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has a different explanation for what transpires between Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor. "It is politics," he said. "The answer is politics. I can tell you politics is at play." Many have interpreted the President's action as indication of his fear that Amaechi constitutes a major threat to his yet-to-be-declared intention for the 2015 election. But Okupe was quick to dismiss such notion. "Governor Amaechi cannot be a stumbling block to Mr. President's aspiration," he said adding that neither was the president moving against him. "There are two things," he continued. "If I want to achieve an objective and in achieving that objective, it will affect you, my primary purpose is not that it will affect you, my primary purpose is to achieve the set goal that is before me. So, if there is collateral damage, there is collateral damage."

Annkio Briggs, a Niger-Delta activist in an interview with ICON, questioned the rationale behind ACN's interest in what she described as PDP's affair in Rivers State. "ACN is a political party in Nigeria and PDP is another party," she opined. "The problem in Rivers is a PDP issue and I don't see how that concerns ACN. ACN's interference is not helping Rivers." She also disagreed with the ACN's claim that President Jonathan is gradually transforming into a despot. "Basically what does Tinubu want? Does he want Jonathan to hand over to him? Jonathan will not resign, he is not a despot," she declared.

The allegation that the President plays foul politics ahead of the 2015 election is not limited to his fight with the River State governor. ACN seems to have a bigger grouse against the Jonathan Administration in this context. For a long time, the party has been relentless in its claim that the Presidency is surreptitiously working against the party. And only recently, it accused the President of having found a willing tool in the founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Fredrick Fasheun. A proposal of N2.4 billion anti-oil pipeline vandalism in the southwest by the group is currently receiving the attention of the federal government. And feelers from the government indicate that President Goodluck Jonathan may endorse the proposal for few reasons. The massive oil theft and vandalism of oil pipelines and installations across the country in recent times have heightened the pressure on the government to work out a new approach to further secure the nation's oil and oil facilities.

But ACN would only see the President playing politics with the proposal. Recently, Fasheun, in an interview with ICON said the proposed anti-pipeline vandalism project would provide close to 40,000 jobs for the youths in the South West zone. However, the prospect of creating such massive jobs in the zone failed to fascinate the ruling political party in the zone, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, which accused the presidency of using the contract to destabilize the zone.

At a press conference in Lagos few weeks ago, the ACN, through Lai Mohammed, its spokesman, accused the Federal Government of plotting to instigate political crises in the region and cited the proposed contract for the protection of oil pipelines in the southwest. "Is it true, as it is being alleged in certain quarters, that the essence of the contract is to recruit 30,000 youths who will ostensibly protect the pipelines, but in the real sense are ready hands to foment violence on demand in the southwest?" The ACN spokesperson had alleged at the press conference.

ACN has another reason to drive home its argument that the President is to unleash chaos in the southwest zone for selfish reasons in the build-up to the 2015 election. Fasheun's ongoing move to revive the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, has equally been interpreted by the party as another plank of the President's attack against the party. "Is it a mere coincidence that the main beneficiary of the multi-billion naira oil pipelines protection contract (Fasheun) is also the same fellow who is promoting the revival of the UPN? Could the huge contract have been meant to provide the money for the promoters of this party?" ACN asked rather rhetorically. ACN's contention against the planned resuscitation of the UPN, as some pundits observed, stems from the fear that the move will affect the existing cohesion in the southwest as the resuscitation of the party has the potential to provide a veritable alternative for both politicians and electorate who nurse discontentment against ACN.

The proponent of the resuscitation of UPN says he has an entirely different motivation from what the ACN alleges. "The idea behind the resuscitation of UPN is to sustain peace in the southwest, especially," Fasheun pointed out amid an assertion that no particular political platform has the monopoly of the zone. The presidency has equally denied involvement in the planned resuscitation of UPN. Reacting to the report linking the president to the UPN project, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak said the President remained committed to the country's unity and therefore could not be spearheading a destabilization plot. He also disclosed that President had no plan to stop anybody from exercising his or her constitutional rights. "The President is for the unity of this country. He is for the rule of law; he will not stop anybody from exercising his or her constitutional rights.

Abiodun Adeoye, a political analyst, attributes the political undercurrents of some of the developments to the ingenuity of the team of advisers that surrounds the President. Adeoye singles out Ahmed Gulak, Special Adviser on Political Matter, whom he described as the President's "political arsenal". "Everything we see is down to the political ingenuity of the President Jonathan's group of political advisers," Adeoye said. "He (President Jonathan) is very fortunate to have somebody like Gulak around."

If there is any of the President's action which took many Nigerians by surprise in the recent weeks, it is the penultimate week's state of emergency slammed on the three hotbeds of militant insurgency in the north. President Jonathan, in exercising the powers conferred on him by section 305 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, had on Tuesday, May 14, announced the much dreaded emergency rule in the three northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. "Following recent developments in the affected states, it has become necessary for government to take extraordinary measures to restore normalcy. After wide consultations, and in exercise of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of Section 305, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I hereby declare a State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States."

Many argued that the move was long overdue. The nation has, in the last two years, witnessed an upsurge in terrorist activities in some northern states, with the killing of security operatives by a cult group in Nassarawa State being a major confirmation that the perpetrators were in no way pacified by the ongoing amnesty effort proposed by the government. The declaration of the emergency rule is widely interpreted as a demonstration of a much more forceful resolve by the president to restore security in the country. But not many had expected the action at the time in spite of the deadly assaults insurgent groups had visited on the nation.

In the light of the foregoing, Antonia Okafor, an educationist, is of the opinion that President Goodluck has, indeed, shocked many Nigerians, particularly his critics who hitherto thought of him as a week leader with some of his actions. "I think the declaration of state of emergency in the three northern states is one action many did not imagine at the time the president announced it. Although it came a bit late, I will not ascribe that to weakness on his part; rather I want to believe the President was only being meticulous, which I consider very essential in every situation," Okafor observes.

Okafor's position aligns with Dr. Fasheun's view. The OPC leader, in a recent interview, described the President as a person who considers advices thoroughly before taken decisions. "He listen," Okafor insists. "Even when you advise him, you allow him to analyze the advice, and take a position because if you misadvise him and he falls in line with you, and it results in national calamity, he carries the blame."

But the national chairman of Arewa United Consultative Forum, Alhaji Ado Shuaibu Dansudu holds a critical view of the President in the light of some of his recent actions. Dansudu, in an interview with ICON, said the President is an entirely different man from the Jonathan that Nigerians knew before 2011. "The Jonathan we knew yesterday is not the Jonathan we know today. I think there is 100 percent change from what he used to be before he became president," Dansudu said. The AUCF leader wondered why the President has failed to declare his assets, an action he took voluntarily while he was the vice president.

Speaking further, Dansudu queried the President's decision to sack his erstwhile National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, if the President was not a changed person from what he used to be. President Jonathan had predicated the decision to fire the former NSA on the need for the government to conform to the changing tactics of the Boko Haram insurgency. But Dansudu thinks there was more to the issue. He blamed Azazi's sack on a comment credited to the former NSA where he reportedly accused the PDP of being responsible for the insecurity in the country. "Why did the President sack him? Why not ask him to come with his evidence? There are serious contradictions about many of his actions; he has really changed," he concluded.

Via: Sun News Online