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On the face of it, the title of this piece might sound presumptuous to
some readers in that the 2011 presidential election is at
least four clear months away from now, and it’s therefore
somewhat presumptuous to talk about inauguration for a yet
to be held election. However, the title goes beyond its face
value or literal meaning to encapsulate the dynamics of a
self-fulfilling prophesy about Jonathan’s candidacy in the
forthcoming presidential election, his eventual electoral
triumph thereat, and his inauguration for a four-year term
beginning May 29, 2011 down the road, by the special Grace
of the Almighty God, who is a God of infinite possibilities
and clearly at work in Nigeria at this historical moment in
the life of our nation.
As my readers would readily testify this writer has invoked the divine in
every twist and turn every step of the way in his analysis
and commentaries on the Jonathan presidential odyssey. But
even in the face of denial and resistance of the divine by
those who hypocritically wear religion on their sleeves to
advertize their false piety at the public square the divine
script continues to roll out inexorably for us mere mortals
to read and decipher with our ill-equipped, puny brains, and
ethnically and tribally contaminated mundane mindsets that
are incredibly resistant to all notions of divinity in human
affairs. It is quite remarkable indeed that this divine roll
out has maintained a steady and progressive trajectory all
along, neither detouring nor slowing down or otherwise
suffering from any latency whatsoever on its chosen
pathway.
In crafting this title therefore this writer has, as always, taken into
account this divine element at work. Therefore this title is
in recognition of the undoubted fact that what began as mere
speculation has not only acquired a life of its own, but has
turned into a monster hurricane, or to put in Nigerian
parlance, a Harmattan wild fire that’s threatening to
consume all that are stuck in its perilous path. (Please see
my previous article titled:
Permutations and Projections into Nigeria’s 2011 (HURRICANE
JONATHAN MAKES LANDFALL!)
And who are those on its perilous path? They’re the very ones whose
morbid fear of Jonathan’s potential candidacy breathed life
into his candidacy in the first place. It’s quite ironical
that no one contemplated a Jonathan candidacy until the
former PDP Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, made it an issue
even before Jonathan became acting President. The
sycophantic Ogbulafor fighting to be in the good books of a
dying president, who stubbornly refused to hand over power
to his loyal deputy, arrogantly and petulantly went on air
to summarily disqualify then Vice President Goodluck
Jonathan from gunning for the presidency under the PDP
platform, singlehandedly without recourse to the party’s NWC
or the BoT.
Power drunk and in league with Yar’Adua’s notorious Kitchen cabinet,
Ogbulafor constituted himself a law unto himself and went on
rampage against Jonathan. It was as if the powers that be at
Wadata House had an axe to grind with their number two man
his legendary loyalty to his bedridden boss notwithstanding.
If that is how to reward loyalty few would choose to be
loyal to their bosses. Atiku might have learnt that lesson a
long time ago and he put it to work under OBJ to great
effect almost upstaging his boss in 2003 PDP primaries. But
disloyalty is never a virtue but a vice no matter how much
we try to rationalize it to serve our immediate interests.
OBJ had his own faults and weaknesses but it’s no excuse to
stab him in the back as did Brutus to Caesar. That’s
unforgivable and Brutus paid dearly for his treachery
against Caesar. God does not forgive acts of betrayal and
disloyalty because he expects his children to be loyal to
him. How then would he reward acts of disloyalty and
treachery?
The man who goes by the name Alhaji Abubakar Atiku is paying the price
today for his acts of disloyalty to OBJ. In a previous write
up, I predicted that Atiku’s political sun had set and he
should go to sleep, politically that is. He’s finished
politically and the man he sought to upstage has bounced
back to national reckoning because disloyalty is a vice that
doesn’t go unpunished by the divine. You don’t get invited
for dinner by the head of a family and after helping
yourself to a sumptuous meal decide to defecate on the
dinner table of the family. Such acts do not go unpunished.
The man Atiku is finished in his own local government area,
in his own state, and in his own party, heck, in his own
country. Politically, he’s a dead fish floating with the
current. It’s little wonder then that he’s latching on to
IBB, the veritable political reject of his generation to
cling to the phantom of zoning.
Zoning, the gospel according to Apostle Vincent Ogbulafor! That was sweet
music to presidential aspirants of Northern extraction in
the PDP patiently waiting on the imminent death of late
President Musa Yar’Adua to step into his shoes. These folks
cared little about the health of President Yar’Adua while it
lasted. For all they cared he was standing in their way to
acquiring presidential power on the cheap, courtesy of PDP
zoning. Both IBB and Atiku were simply waiting on the wings
to fly when the death knell was sounded on the president.
Thus when Nigerians were busy praying night and day for the
recovery of their leader these power hungry presidential
aspirants were doing the opposite-scheming to step into his
shoes while pretending to be concerned about his ill-health.
They couldn’t even wait for the man to die before they began
their underground campaign to succeed him in the name of the
North. So much for their professed love for the late
president! If that’s the stuff love is made of give me
betrayal or treachery, please! I want no love.
However, in coming out publicly to summarily disqualify a serving deputy
president from contesting an election on some nebulous
zoning formula Ogbulafor had stirred the hornet’s nest. He
had trampled on the political sensibilities of many a
Nigerian, including yours truly. Nigerians would have none
of that impunity and injustice embedded in PDP’s garrison
politics and rose up with one voice to say “NO!” to
Ogbulafor and his clique in the PDP.
Nigerians rose in one accord to pull the brakes on the locomotive of
reactionary forces in the PDP bent on foisting an
unconstitutional and illegal contraption on the nation
through the back door with thunderous reverberations
throughout the world. Democracy was on trial in Nigeria and
an exasperated world watched with bathed breath as light
moved to confront darkness in its darkest hour. Darkness was
forced to beat a hasty retreat to fight another day, but
never conceded defeat. A state of stalemate dogged the
nation for months with no end in sight with Yar’Adua still
in a state of comma and all manners of evil machinations and
plots emanating from the bowels of Aso Rock which became the
Mecca of Nigerian’s opportunistic clergy class speaking from
both sides of their mouths in tongues. They had been
possessed by the spirits of Aso Rock.
However, the investiture of Jonathan with the imprimatur of acting
president at the behest of the National Assembly despite the
spirited opposition of Ogbulafor and his clique at Wadata
House swept away Ogbulafor and Yar’Adua’s Kitchen cabinet in
one gale. Yet the fire of zoning they had lit continued to
burn threatening to tear the nation apart on a purely intra
party matter.
While the animated debate seized the nation by the throat President
Jonathan kept mum all along leaving his detractors to dance
themselves naked in the market place before the real dance
began. He kept them all guessing until they wore themselves
out and spoke into existence their innermost fears. Yes,
their morbid fears of possible Jonathan candidacy which
drove them madly to force zoning down the throat of the
nation have materialized in the Jonathan candidacy. That’s
the reality they are facing today. They spoke their fears
into existence and thereby fulfilled their self-prophesy.
Hard to believe but the truth of the matter is that the opposition
created the Jonathan phenomenon. Jonathan is a creature of
the opposition, period. When you single out an individual
for unjust treatment you have indirectly empowered that
individual politically. That has been the lesson of history
from time immemorial. Whether true or not, that Atiku
suddenly became popular at the tail end of OBJ
administration was due to the public perception that he was
being singled out for persecution by OBJ due to his
opposition to third term. That was the line fed by Atiku to
the public which seemed to have carried some credibility at
the time due to OBJ’s own militant and vengeful style of
governance. Hitherto Atiku was as popular as Abacha. Now,
however, he has frittered all that goodwill with his
political prostitution and reactionary politics of
exclusion. Jonathan is now the new kid on the block with
Atiku now sharing the same desk with IBB in the class of
political infamy, and Jonathan basking in well deserved
political limelight.
How times change!
It all began right when Yar’Adua took ill and continued right through the
PDP NEC meeting till this moment of his declaration. By
ceaselessly harping on zoning and tearing the nation apart
his detractors had removed the fangs from the issue and
ended up reducing it to a non issue in the end.
Thus at the time the PDP NEC eventually pronounced on the issue, it had
lost its fangs like the bees—thanks to the provisions of the
Nigerian constitution which imposed their supremacy on the
PDP constitution and thereby rendered its zoning provisions
null and void and of no effects whatsoever. Although the
provisions remain in the books zoning is dead and buried.
The final proof is the fact that presidential aspirants are
coming from both north and south to slug it out on the
party’s platform.
Since that is the case today it’s certain to be the case in future as was
indeed the case in the past. Pray, what else is left of
zoning? Those who had sought to subsume the nation’s
constitution under a party constitution for their own
selfish reasons were doomed to fail ab-initio, and that’s
why they resorted to threats and intimidation and bully
tactics because they knew they had lost the argument in the
court of the constitution and the laws of the land.
All that Jonathan needed was to stand up to their bully tactics by
throwing his hat into the ring in a formal announcement,
come Saturday this week. But his Facebook declaration of
intent, which came a few hours before IBB’s declaration at
the Eagle Square, Abuja, was a master stroke that
effectively took the wind out of the sail of the evil
genius. Jonathan executed a virtual coup against the
professional coup plotter, IBB. By making that declaration
at the time and date he did as well as on the forum he did
it, Jonathan had sucked the oxygen from IBB declaration.
That’s reason why IBB declaration generated no waves at all
but went flat on its face. All of a sudden every newspaper
and news organization lapped on Jonathan’s Facebook
declaration making it the first line story before that of
IBB came in as a footnote of sorts. IBB declaration was
forced to take the back seat where it was destined to
receive grudging and perfunctory mention. It was a technical
knockout for IBB even before Jonathan entered the ring for
the fight proper. That was a double whammy for IBB’s
deserted launch. Deserted because only a few serving
dignitaries showed up there. IBB’s candidacy can be likened
to Nigeria’s elephant that refused to get off the ground and
take to the skies. Only in Nigeria would elephants attempt
to fly.
Jonathan pulled a punch that crippled the IBB launch. That is the power
of technology. He was being both media savvy and digital at
the same time. One only needs to compare Jonathan’s
memorable lines to IBB’s bland statement at his declaration.
Here are some samplers from Jonathan in that historical,
one-of-a-kind declaration:
"I know
you are tired of empty promises, so I will make only one
promise to you today. The only promise I make to you my
friends, fellow citizens and Nigeria, is to promise LESS and
deliver MORE if I am elected.”
"In
presenting myself for service, I make no pretence that I
have a magic wand that will solve all of Nigeria’s problems
or that I am the most intelligent Nigerian. Far from it.
What I do promise is this – if I am elected President in
2011, I will make a covenant with you the Nigerian people to
always do right by you, to tell you the truth at all times,
to carry you along and most importantly to listen to you,
fellow citizens in our communities and also those of you on
this page. I do not want to win your affections by giving
you promises of things I would do in the future which others
before me have given and which have largely been
unfulfilled. Rather, I would want you to judge me by my
records. Since God Almighty and yourselves permitted me to
serve you in the present capacity, I have busied myself with
setting Nigeria on the path of peace and progress. My team
and I made no promises on adequate fuel supply in Nigeria.
We simply did what was expected of those who govern, we
delivered it, and you are living witnesses to that…”
What? A
Nigerian leader entering into a covenant with the people of
Nigeria! What a refreshing departure from the old! Change
has come to Nigeria!
This is
just desserts before the main course is served hot and
sizzling on D-Day, Saturday. By the time this article hits
the press Jonathan will have served Nigerians the main
course, which is certain to be just as delicious as the
samplers above, if not more. This article is timed to
coincide or go with the Saturday declaration. However, the
precise timing of its publication is outside the powers of
the author and it may or may not come out before or after
the Saturday declaration. Regardless of the timing of its
publication, however, this author would look up to the
Facebook samplers as a harbinger of what’s to be expected on
Saturday and the days to come from the Jonathan stable. It
promises to be the dawn of a new era of Nigerian leadership,
which this writer had long foretold. For once Nigeria
appears to be on the verge of an enlightened leadership
which had eluded her since her independence. The present
generations of Nigerians therefore have every reason to be
grateful to God for turning the page on Nigerian leadership
in their lifetimes. The concept of servant leader championed
by the late President seems to have found practical
expression in Jonathan.
This is
not to say or to even suggest that all of Nigeria’s problems
will suddenly disappear overnight with Jonathan in the
presidency. Rather, it is to say that those problems that
have defied every solution due to lack of sincerity, honesty
and commitment on the part of previous leaderships, will be
chipped away one block at a time with a sense of mission and
duty to the fatherland. That’s why Jonathan’s words and more
importantly, the sincerity and honesty with which they’re
uttered give us a great cause for hope and belief in their
material transformation from promise to fulfillment in due
course. Nigerians are not looking for a magician but a
performer who will deliver on his promises on the challenges
confronting them. And the man simply said to his fellow
citizens and the nation that he’s tired of promising because
Nigerians are tired of getting promises. Therefore he’s
simply delivering…without first promising! Now, that’s a
new take that’s at once refreshing and philosophical at the
same time. And who knows, perhaps the days of the
philosopher king are here after all.
One
therefore notes with delight that Jonathan’s declarations
are laced and infused with uncommon wisdom, humility,
forthrightness, pragmatism, keen sense of urgency and, above
all, patriotism and justice. I looked for a memorable quote
from IBB declaration and I couldn’t find one. Rather, what
one got from the retired general was the same tired, worn
out clichés of an “experienced leader” bullshit that he had
been mouthing all along to no effect. Experience my foot!
Might have been referring to experience in election
annulments or missing oil windfall.
What
better indication that, God forbid, IBB leadership would be
more of the same? Ever seen a left-handed man suddenly
becoming right-handed at old age? I don’t care whether
he/she is a northerner or southerners, any Nigerian who so
hates the country so bad as to casts his/her vote for IBB
deserves a place in hell. The blood of Dele Giwa will haunt
that person. Abiola’s ghost will torment that individual.
Vasta’s blood will chase that individual. And the blood of
Nigerians mowed down by IBB Gestapo forces during the CD
campaign to drive him out of Aso Rock will visit the homes
of such individuals to exact punishment. IBB’s hands are
literarily dripping with the blood of innocent Nigerians who
met their untimely deaths during his close to nine year
despotic rule, including the 32 or so young military
officers who mysteriously died in a plane crash. His records
of financial profligacy and corruption remain unequalled
even by Abacha standards, his military successor and comrade
in tyranny.
It’s no
surprise therefore that nearly all his lieutenants are
deserting him. How many of them showed up at his miserable
launch? Just a handful! IBB will soon find out that he’s a
fish out of water, who can only thrive in military coups
where there is no accountability. Democracy demands
accountability and he is ill-prepared to offer one. Till
date he has yet to clear his name in the annulment of June
12 election and the missing $12.4bn Gulf Oil Windfall.
Perhaps part of that is what is coming back to the Nigerians
who have lured him on this ill-advised adventure where he’s
certain to face the humiliation of his life.
Who
knows, Abiola and Dele Giwa’s spirits might be doing
something to this man in the spiritual realm unknown to us
mortals. Otherwise, what business has an octogenarian who
was disgraced out of power some 20 odd years ago before the
present generation was born got to do with presidential
election in 2011 when he should be busy writing his will and
seeking reconciliation with his Lord for his sundry
atrocities committed against his fellow citizens and his
fatherland? That he’s not in jail is testament to our
political underdevelopment as a nation. Something has got to
be pursuing this man to meet his waterloo at the polls to
settle the score with him. That something has a name in the
books. It’s called the Law of Karma! It pursues its target
until it squares up with him or her. IBB will meet his
waterloo in the hands of Jonathan, his nemesis. His fate is
sealed, signed and delivered. And so is Atiku’s. Muhammadu
Buhari will fare much better than this discredited twosome
in a marriage of infamy. It’s right there in my previous
article that Buhari is in a much better position than either
Atiku or IBB in the North. And this shall come to pass at
the polls. Yet Jonathan holds all the aces. His victory has
been foretold and it’s contained in a divine decree, not to
be confused IBB or Buhari’s military decrees.
Run,
Jonathan run, for the promise of a New Nigeria lies not in
the tired, corrupt hands of retired military generals and
Customs officers, but in the fresh and nimble hands of a new
generation of leaders, who understand and can interpret the
dynamics and imperatives of modern economies and
technological advancements required to launch the nation on
the path of sustainable growth and development in tandem
with the principles of equity, justice, equal rights, and
respect for human rights and dignity of all peoples.
The
stars are in perfect alignment and the cards are snugly
falling into place. Nigeria is on the throes of making
history. Heck, it’s her second independence!
Mr.
President, see you at inauguration! Your political enemies
have spoken it into existence. And it’s your duty to
formally bring it into fulfillment with the nation solidly
behind you, ready to chart a new course in this 21st
century.
Franklin
Otorofani, Esq. Contact:
mudiagaone@yahoo.com
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Published
September 18th, 2010
