OBJ, APC and Goodluck Jonathan

I

APC should focus on selling to us ordinary voters how differently they would do things if elected into power. The amount of energy this party is spending on Goodluck Jonathan shows their ultimate goal is the mere grab of power and not a change in the well being of Nigerians. Now they are calling on the National Assembly to impeach the president, as if the National Assembly is an organ of the APC!!! A sincere opposition party would call on the National Assembly and other institutions of governance with the mandate, to investigate the presidency with the aim of establishing if there any grounds for an impeachment in the first place. I am beginning to feel that this tension in the polity is a stage-managed fight between past and current looters of our commonwealth to distract us from something more sinister. God Help My Country.

II 

When we ask why the National Assembly has not impeached Goodluck Jonathan or at least commenced impeachment proceedings against him if all the allegations contained in the now famous OBJ letter are true, some call us sentimentalist and blind supporters of GEJ. That's okay since each and every one of us is entitled to their opinions. But the truth is that no matter how noble Nelson Mandela's intentions were, he inherited strong institutions- Parliament, Judiciary, Electoral and Law Enforcement. Similar institutions in Nigeria have been eroded through respective administrations- Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yaradua and now Goodluck Jonathan. Those who say we should focus only on the content of OBJ's letter and forget the writer of that letter are the ones missing the point. Firstly because that letter wouldn't have been written if GEJ continued to allow OBJ run the country from his Otta Farms. Secondly because most of the issues raised in that letter are the cumulative effect of mis-governance by respective administrations including those of OBJ. OBJ has the right as a citizen to write the President. Perhaps he should have extracted the part of the letter that borders on criminal allegations against GEJ and sent that as a petition to the EFCC, Nigerian Police and the National Assembly, to enable them take the necessary constitutional action. Or does Obasanjo not have faith in Nigeria's institutions of governance? Stop telling me I am being sentimental when I state my case and opinion, because you are going to be sentimental when you respond to this. Politics is a very sentimental game.

III

Truly disturbing times for Nigeria. A threatening letter from Retired General Olusegun Obasenjo to sitting President Goodluck Jonathan, copied in the first instance to Retired Generals Babangida and Abdulsalam!!! What worries me is that all three retired Generals have ruled Nigeria, and Obasenjo twice. They had the opportunity to fix Nigeria, but they instead entrenched the mediocre and corrupt system that threw up Goodluck Jonathan. Now they are tired of Jonathan (He got there by mistake), and it seems the battle lines are drawn. In all these, I ask: where does the average Nigerian stand? Shouldn't these retired generals who have become rich by ruling Nigeria let us be? Should we sit down and let them continue with the destruction of this country? If Jonathan is inept and inefficient as they want us to belief, isn't the ballot box the means to remove him? What are these men afraid of? Instead of heating up the polity and deepening the fault lines that have kept Nigeria down through this anti-Jonathan posturing, these men should concentrate on building a strong opposition that can challenge and remove Jonathan from power in 2015. To say he shouldn't contest is unfair and unconstitutional.

IV

Nigerians who cannot wait for Goodluck Jonathan to die before they bury him have since yesterday had a field day trying to convince us that the President went to South Africa uninvited, was not allowed to give a speech and that South Africa is ungrateful for Nigeria's support during the anti-apartheid struggle. Here is my take.

Goodluck Jonathan's presence at that ceremony (invited or uninvited) is a necessary foreign policy action. On the one hand, for those who feel the people of South Africa are decidedly anti-Nigeria, despite Nigeria's role in the liberation struggle, our President's presence there reflects forgiveness and reconciliation- the same ideals for which the whole world is celebrating Nelson Mandela. On the other hand, South Africa is of strategic interest to Nigeria and we should engage South Africa as much as is possible. Out of over 90 heads of government at that ceremony only 5 where given a chance to speak. That Jonathan was not given a chance to speak is not an issue. As for the issue of Xenophobia against Nigerians by South Africans, I have learnt in my travels that the Nigerian passport attracts a lot of attention and even suspicion wherever you go. This is because our fellow Nigerians abuse whatever privileges they are offered in other people's countries through advance fee fraud, credit card scams, armed robbery, drug trafficking and all sorts of crimes. To be respected by others, we need to respect ourselves first. Let us stop referring to how Nigeria helped South Africa during the apartheid era and focus on how to earn the respect of all other nations including South Africa.

We are a great nation and if we put our acts together, Nigeria can become a proud home for all Africans and non-Africans.