The Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Bayelsa State that was President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria looked very different from the Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan that we see today going about the world rallying support for his upcoming projects. I see him fatter, much more confident and a lot happier than he ever looked when he was President. My memories bring back to life the passionate campaign of Jonathan in 2011 that got all of us emotional and sympathetic to his agenda. His story of poverty gave us hope that even in our darkest hour, there might just be glory around the corner. We voted for him because we saw a man who had paid his dues and should have been able to lead us right. How wrong do we say we were?
We saw his peacefulness, his sincerity of purpose, his rise from nothingness to glory…yes we saw his ambition for Nigeria, his love and desire to see a greater Nigeria and his passion to see the poor live better lives. What we failed to see, was his timidity…that his weaker tendency, that inability he possessed to cage the cabal that is holding our Nation to ransom. He was peaceful but weak; sincere but not bold; ambitious but not courageous. His government made some of the best pro-people policies that the Nation ever witnessed. Agricultural Aids were delivered to the real farmers…mosquito nets got to the grassroots…Health Insurance got to the real poor and the aged…we even bullied him into reducing pump prices when economic realities dictated otherwise! But then, was he not brought to his knees by some cabals? Pity!
He could not discipline his party men because they seemed too strong for him; could not caution some of his Ministers because they were his superiors before luck shined on him; could not give the Nation a proper direction because we already lacked discipline to a point where timidity and passion could no longer rule us. He did not fail; his walk in glory today testifies so afterall; but he did not achieve his desires, because Nigeria is too dead for a gentleman to wake!
Muhammadu Buhari!!!! The same Muhammadu Buhari that campaigned before the 2015 elections is now looking different from the one we are seeing today. I saw during the campaigns, a man who seemed to have control of all the dynamics that our Nation required to move forward. He seemed to know everything about how to end insecurity; he had solutions to our suffering; he had solutions to virtually every problem we had at the time…and he sure did a good job boasting about his abilities to us. He was called the’no-nonsense General’; the Messiah sent to set us free; the experienced hand that would solve all of our problems. Our people voted for this man because they saw in him, a man who would take charge and lead us out of what people perceived as the wretchedness of the Jonathan era.
We saw a man who could bring back the Chibok girls in 2015…today we see a man whom Shekau is fooling around with.
We saw a man who would not take nonsense from anybody and will send any bad person straight to jail…today we see a man who would allow the FG under his watch rise in support of a criminal offence of budget padding by publicly declaring that our 2016 budget was not padded, when all evidences say otherwise! We saw a man whom Utomi believed in…today we see a man whom Utomi doubts his capacity to lead Nigeria through. We saw a man whom Falana expressly endorsed…today we see a man whom Falana believes is now condoning corruption cover-ups like the PDP. We saw a man who would make our lives easier in a short time…today we see a man who seem to be lost as to how best he should lead us!
What we saw in Muhammadu Buhari was a capable General who would mouth it into everyone’s ears that he had all the antidotes to the Nation’s problems. What we failed to see was that he was just a vain talker, who made so much noise but was capable of little! We failed to see that he was just a talker who knew but little about the situation of the Nation he was aiming to lead. We see confusion and helplessness in his style today because he sold us vanity; and that is just a pity!
He has not yet failed, at least until the end of this his first tenure. But then…will he not grossly under-perform if he continues with his vanity (more talk and less action)? We only can prayerfully expect!
My Nigerian people, una wado oh! We saw hope in Jonathan and failed to see his timidity! We again saw capacity in Buhari and failed to see his vanity! How come we are so good at making mistakes? Is something wrong with our perception or our reasoning? Are we too politically immature or ignorant? Oh no…what we have is not perceptive defects; what we do have is persistent gullibility when politics is the topic. How can we then vote for a man who would give us solutions when we cannot sensibly determine whose timidity will combine well with vanity to give us positivity?
UNFORTUNATELY FOR US, WE ARE SEEKING SOLUTIONS MOST IMPORTANTLY, WITHOUT FIRST TAKING CARE OF OUR S.TUPIDITY AND GULLIBILITY!
God help Nigeria and Nigerians!
