President Goodluck Jonathan, PhD, never had any political experience in
democracy and governance before he joined politics in 1998 and became
the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State alongside his boss retired Squadron
Leader Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was sworn in as the governor of the
state on the platform of People's Democratic Party (PDP) on May 29,
1999.
Mr. Jonathan was Deputy Governor until December 2005 when
be was sworn in as Governor on December 9, 2005 after the impeachment of
Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State Assembly.
Alamieyeseigha was found guilty of money laundering in the United
Kingdom. The following year 2006, Dame Patience Jonathan was implicated
in crimes related to money laundering and investigated by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr. Jonathan was
Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007 and suddenly became
Vice-President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010 when on February 9, 2010,
the Nigerian Senate authorized him to act as President of Nigeria,
because President Yar'Adua went for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
Without waiting for the return of his boss, on his very first day as
acting President, Mr. Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle. And
following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua on May 5, 2010,
Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 6, 2010, becoming Nigeria's 14th Head
of State.
From the time that he joined the PDP in 1998 and
suddenly becoming Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state on May 29, 1999 to
becoming Governor,, Vice President and finally President of Nigeria, you
can see that he was only a victim of unforeseen circumstances of both
natural and unnatural political intrigues of the PDP and he was not
prepared for the political leadership of Nigeria and has clearly shown
that he has been overwhelmed by the challenges and trials of being the
President and Commander-in-Chief of the most populous country in Africa
at the most critical period of the history of Nigeria since the Nigerian
civil war. Therefore, instead of facing and tackling the critical
challenges of a Commander-in-Chief in a time of war against the Islamic
terrorist group of the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad
("People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and
Jihad"), popularly known as "Boko Haram", he has been more occupied by
the opportunities and spinoffs of his office by spending more money on
awarding questionable government contracts to many beneficiaries who are
mostly his sycophants, gangsters and terrorists from his native Niger
Delta and the capitalist mafia of the ruling class of oil barons and
their cartel controlling both the legal and illegal export and import of
crude oil, import of cement, rice, sugar, vehicles and other goods
running into billions of dollars.
Many of the so called
achievements his ministers and public relations agents have been
bragging about and publishing in the news media are simply things that a
state governor can do without much fanfare as demonstrated by Governor
Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio
of Akwa Ibom. The achievements that President Goodluck Jonathan could
not even achieve a fraction as Governor of Bayelsa State.
Imagine
President Barack Obama or even Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, President of
South Africa boasting about refurbishing the trains and renovating
airports or commissioning Nigerian vehicle assembly plants with imported
tyres and engines and some thousands of bags of locally produced rice
that cannot even be enough to feed a local government.
It is
embarrassing for a Commander-in-Chief of the biggest democracy in Africa
to be bragging of such normal duties of any state government in Africa
that you will not even hear or see a mayor bragging about them in the
US.
What made Nigeria the largest economy in Africa are the
socioeconomic achievements of Lagos state and not from the largely
underdeveloped states in the country. Most of the foreign investors end
up in Lagos, because they cannot invest in the restive Niger Delta and
the insecure northern states terrorized by the rampaging Boko Haram.
The
President has even failed to rescue the remaining missing Chibok school
girls since April 14, 2014, when those who escaped have given the
Nigerian Armed Forces enough information on their locations in the areas
controlled by the Boko Haram. It is really an embarrassment for a
President to see the Boko Haram guerrillas openly attacking and
slaughtering defenceless and helpless citizens in their villages and
towns and having enough time for celebrations and making speeches
without any strike from the Nigerian Air Force and he is boasting of
buying more frigates for the Nigerian Navy when the Nigerian Army is
lamenting that the soldiers don't have enough modern arsenal to confront
and defeat the ruthless insurgents.
The President has shown
that he would have been better left as a state governor to learn more
about political leadership and governance and gain more experience
before even attempting to contest for presidential election to become
the President of Nigeria.
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