For those that are troubled, that are grieving, that are suffering, that are deeply concerned and that are in a state of utter despondency and despair about what is happening in our country today and what the future holds, keep hope alive and hear this loud and clear.
Many years from now history will record that it was not the tyranny and bondage of President Muhammadu Buhari, his minions and his government or the curse and affliction of Boko Haram, the Fulani militias and herdsmen or the almighty Caliphate that the oppressed people of Nigeria were up against.
These people are not the enemy. They are merely the representatives, the low-level foot soldiers and the primitive enforcers of a greater satanic power that has sought to use them to create chaos in our nation, to subjugate our people in perpetuity, to establish a sacrificial blood bank, to wipe out our faith, to rob us of our identity and to corrupt and destroy our destiny and cherished values.
What we are up against are the forces that inspire, encourage, control, nurture, fund and guide them.They include the unadulterated evil of the wahhabi and salafist doctrines and philosophies espoused and propagated by the Royal House of Saud in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Illuminati agenda of the shape-shifting reptilian forces and Luciferian entities that put President Barack Obama in power in the United States of America 8 years ago and that attempted to ensure a Hilary Clinton Presidency at the end of 2016.
The entire challenge is essentially an existential struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. The fight is raging in both the spiritual and physical realms. The currency is blood and the prizes are the precious and eternal souls of men and the control of the entire world and its enormous resources.
The good news is that our adversaries never saw President-elect Donald J. Trump coming. They wrote him off right from the start and dismissed his aspiration with scorn and contempt. Little did they know that he was God’s ace in the spades, or to put it in an even more appropriate manner, God’s “trump” card.
And it worked beautifully. The whole world and the forces from hell that control it were shell-shocked. They still are. Yet thankfully there is nothing they can do about it. They forgot that He uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise.
With Trump in the White House, guided, protected, led, fortified and driven by the love, power, mercy and grace of the Living God that put him there, the world will be a better and safer place after his swearing in on January 20th 2016. It may take some time but after that day the dark and lonely winter ice of wickedness and witchcraft will begin to melt and the summer sun of blessings, prosperity, joy and peace will begin to rise.
After that day the oppressed people of the southern and Middle Belt zones of Nigeria will have a friend in the White House. And as time goes by they will be given the opportunity to tell their story to the world, to break their chains of servitude, to shatter their yoke of slavery and to free themselves from the hideous mental prison of fear, tyranny and bondage that they have been subjected to over the last 56 years by their internal colonial masters.
After that day their mortal bodies and sacred flesh will no longer be cut to pieces and carved up like Peking diced duck or barbecued spare ribs in state-sponsored pogroms and acts of merciless genocide without any consequences.
Their precious blood will no longer be used as a free-flowing blood bank for the devil and his monstrous demons to drink from and quench their frenzied thirst.
After that day they will no longer buy and eat the charmed and jinxed cow meat that they have been sold and fed by the apprentices and sorcerers of their secret adversaries for the last 56 years.
After that day they will no longer feed on the Caliphs sweet cow meat which, over the years, has enchanted their spirits, locked up their souls, incapacitated their thinking faculties, broken their will, taken away their courage, destroyed their manhood, bound up their ability to reason, turned them into zombies and reduced them to a pitiful and shameful degree of impotence, cowardice, stoicism and docility.
Finally, after that date, their women and children will no longer be regarded as nothing but fair game, easy sport, expendable chattel and the spoils of war to be enslaved, shared, violated, raped and enjoyed by their collective oppressors and conquerors. All this will come to pass sooner than later because freedom beckons and its trumpet call is loud and clear. Sooner than later Pharaoh shall die and we shall leave Egypt, enter Goshen, part the Red sea and cross over to the Promise Land.
It is just a matter of time. In the next few years our country will either be peacefully and equitably restructured according to the will of the people and the counsel of God or she will be violently broken into two or more pieces.
The mass murder and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle Belt and the core north over the last 56 years cannot stop it.
The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Igbos and the barbaric acts of genocide perpetuated against millions of Biafrans over the last 56 years cannot stop it.
The subjugation, dehumanization, humiliation and outright robbing and pillaging of the people of the Niger Delta area and the southern minorities over the last 56 years cannot stop it.
The castration, demystification, pacification, infiltration and indoctrination of the people of the south-west over the last 56 years cannot stop it.
The consistent and relentless persecution, incarceration, torture and extra-judicial murder of key opposition figures and those that are perceived as being the enemies of our President and his government cannot stop it.
The cowardly disposition, shameful collaboration, willful collusion and resounding silence of our nations ruling elite, political leaders, academics, intellectuals, traditional rulers, human rights activists, businessmen, industrialists, artists, writers, poets, actors, entertainers, entrepreneurs, cultural custodians and political commentators cannot stop it.
Nothing can stand in the way of this new wave and no mortal can successfully resist it.
It cannot be stopped, delayed, intercepted or aborted because it has been decreed and ordained by the Ancient of Days and the Lord of Hosts.
Locking up Colonel Sambo Dasuki, Sheik Ibrahim El Zak Zaky, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or any of the other thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war in underground dungeons and dingy dark cells for months and years on end cannot stop it. Bringing them up before the courts on trumped-up, contrived, malicious, spurious and baseless charges cannot stop it. Telling the nations young that they dare not aspire and the political opposition that they dare not dissent cannot stop it.
Nothing can stop it because it is written in the wind and it has been pronounced and spoken into existence by the oracles of the Living God. The unleashing of fear and terror and the inflicting of violence, carnage, brutality and barbarity on innocent and defenseless men, women and children by the Armed Forces and security agencies cannot stop it. The conspiratorial silence, submissive acquiescence and covert collusion of our nations media cannot stop it. As a matter of fact nothing, no force on earth or in hell, can stop it.
For the voiceless, oppressed, cheated, marginalized and afflicted people of Nigeria the bells of freedom are ringing and it is either liberty or death. And today I speak for those millions as I dare to proclaim, just like the great American patriot Patrick Henry once dared to proclaim in his famous speech to the Virginia Convention 291 years ago whilst calling for armed resistance against the British colonialists:
How To Make 2017 Your Most Productive Year Ever| By: Tony Ogunlowo
The disastrous leap year of 2016, with all its surprises and disappointments, has finally come to an end.
The New Year means a new beginning; a fresh start. Many will have New Year resolutions to fulfil while others might just be content with plodding along.
But for many it will mean a continuum to the hardship in their lives brought on by the economic uncertainty in the country or personal problems. For them there is no way out; come rain or shine, new government or not, their predicament will remain the same.
Should it?
You are a lot more powerful, intelligent and resilient than you give yourself credit for. The human being is an incredible being with unlimited abilities but unfortunately life and worldly problems tend to rob us of a lot of energy. Our lives are limited by what life throws at us. We worry too much. We suffer from lack of resources, such as money, to propel us in the direction we intend to go.
We may lag behind in life, mostly due to circumstances beyond our control, while others, seemingly born with a silver spoon in their mouths, advance forward. Don’t worry; there’ll be time to catch up with them, perhaps even surpassing them, later on. As the Yorubas say,” it’s not the one who starts a job who is a winner but the one who finishes it”.
Insecurity plays a large part in people not being able to achieve their full potential: they believe they can’t do it. Why not? Does Aliko Dangote have a bigger brain than you or two heads? Of course not! But yet again people will quote every excuse known to man for not trying or why they’re unable to achieve what he’s achieved; he had the right start in life, he had the right connections…blah,blah,blah… excuses,excuses,excuses!
If you feel secure about yourself – and your abilities- nothing can stop you achieving your goals in life. Just like in a race there are meant to be obstacles thrown your way so as to not to make winning easy. Even the rich and famous had multiple obstacles in their paths when they first started out. It’s how you deal with these problems that matters. There’s always a way around most things. Say you’re a bus driver who wants to become a lawyer but due to a lack of funds you’re unable to do so. Why not set yourself a target; you’ll work harder for say three years saving every spare penny, not going to beer parlours and mama puts after work, and use your accumulated savings to realise your dream. Or try and talk a lawyers chambers into sponsoring you (- you’ll have to prove to them that you’re competent and honest!) in return for you coming back to work for them. Don’t make excuses for your inability, find a way around it!
Another thing that holds people back is peer pressure; must you always follow somebody, or a group blindly ( – and stupidly most of the time) like a goat? If you believe in yourself and what you’re doing then go it alone! Don’t let people talk you down or follow their ways blindly. Where would the world be today if people like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg bowed to peer pressure and didn’t strike it out on their own? You’ve got a good brain in your head you know what you’re doing is right, even though it’ll take time to achieve your objective, what are you waiting for? Carry on!
We also complain about the lack of skills to achieve our full potentials. If you can’t drive, learn! If you can’t use a computer, learn! If you can’t speak Latin, learn! Thanks to the internet learning anything is easier than at any time in Man’s history. Online there are more than enough resources – tutorials, videos, free ebooks – to learn anything. You may not get a certificate at the end but you’ll at least gain a working knowledge of what you’re interested in.
Now to address the biggest problem of all – finance.
The one big thing that holds the most people back in life from achieving their full potential is money. And the unfortunate thing is in trying to raise money is where a lot of people go bad – stealing, kidnapping etc.
Trying to raise money in a recession, without collateral, can be very difficult. Crowdfunding hasn’t yet taken off in Nigeria in the same way it has around the world. But if you have a genuine proposition (- not 419) and its put to the right people some sort of funding should emerge. Try asking family members, friends etc – every penny counts! Couple this up with your belief in yourself and what you’re doing, throw in some hard work( – and some prayers for good measure!), don’t allow yourself to be frustrated, be prepared to surmount whatever problems arise along the way and you can turn 2017 into a very productive year.
Photo Credit: http://www.thebachelorguide.com/
Tony Ogunlowo blogs at http://www.archangel641. blogspot.com
Opinion: The Limitations of Black Magic | By: Tony Ogunlowo
Nowadays a lot of people are turning to black magic in order to achieve all kinds of evil and selfish purposes – controlling or doing harm to people, accumulating wealth, and promotion at work or to become famous – and this invariably involves spell casting, sacrifices and the consultation of entities and deities of questionable nature.
No good comes out of the usage of black magic as it upsets the natural balance of things; it’s cheating nature, the universe, and people’s destiny and even, perhaps, the destiny of a locality such as a country. Any individual using black magic can be assured that whatever evil they do or send out will make them subject to the Rule of Three law which is to say whatever evil you do will come back to you three-fold.
For those who mess around with black magic and are probably unaware of what they are doing let them me illustrate with the pyramid of universal power below:
All power comes from God (this can also translate to mean God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost) and he’s at the peak of the pyramid. Following closely on the next rung are the Archangels, Angels, Holy Men, Prophets (- not self-proclaimed prophets!) and Saints.
At the base of the pyramid comes Lucifer and his legion of fallen angels, base spirits, non-embodied entities and demons – the lowest of the universal power structure – which, unfortunately, are what humans contact when using black magic.
Now because all these evil base spirits in the lower section don’t have ultimate power like God they tend to trick people into achieving their own diabolical desires. They always demand something in return for giving people ‘power’ they request. They don’t do anything for free! They’ll always want something in return which can involve anything from paying homage to them, wearing of clothes of a certain colour, periodic ritual offerings and so on. Failure to follow their instructions to the letter and the individual will incur their wrath – how many people have died or gone mad because they disobeyed instructions given to them?
And talking of sacrifices – and I’m not talking about sacrificing a goat or a chicken here – a human sacrifice! People who seek high office or wealth are known to use human sacrifices to achieve their aims. A human soul is created by God, something Lucifer and all the base spirits or any Man can re-create. In doing so one incurs the direct wrath of God (- thou shalt not kill!) and the repercussions are severe. The punishment for the individual can range from incurring a generational curse on his family from God to the banishment of their own soul when they die. In most cases such people begin to pay for their crimes before they even die, for instance how many rich people (of questionable wealth) or politicians suddenly lose ( to death) the one thing – wife, son, daughter, etc – he or she loves the most? When using evil spirits or black magic you never know what’s in the small print – what you tend to lose to obtain what you want- and you’ll never be told!
Now to use black magic people need to go to somebody who practises it – babalawo, witchdoctor, a witch or somebody who is knowledgeable about it – and they go to them under the pretence they are very ‘powerful’. The truth is no babalawo knows how powerful he is. He will claim he is but he doesn’t know. In the absence of a universal system that will denote whether he has a ‘diploma’, ‘BSc’, ‘MSc’ or ‘PhD’ in witchcraft and black magic you can only take his word for how powerful he claims to be; he’ll be knowledgeable in some areas but not all and hence the reason why people go from one place to another seeking a more powerful practitioner. So if you do juju with one babalawo there’s the possibility a more powerful babalawo up the road can unravel it. So you’ll forever be going from one babalawo to another seeking the more powerful one. Unfortunately there aren’t any as all witches and witchdoctors, themselves, will admit that all power comes from God.
Nigeria’s Nuclear Power Plant Option ~ By: Tony Ogunlowo
Just like with most things in Nigeria, today, energy requirements far exceeds the current production levels – and will do so for many years to come. Existing power generating plants are old, underutilized, with most falling into disrepair and unable to cope with the present demands.
Looking to fill the gaps in energy production the government is firmly looking towards nuclear energy as a long term solution. Recently a memorandum of understanding was signed with Russia to design, construct and run four nuclear power plants by 2035. There is even hope the first generator, generating 1,200 MW of electricity, will be up and running by 2025.
The President pushed for Nigeria’s nuclear energy development for her energy needs at the recently concluded Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC and the Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has said that ‘if all things go well, by the quarter four of next year (2017) – that is the schedule that I have met – we should have started construction’.
Currently the only country in Africa using nuclear energy for electricity production is South Africa. The Koeberg nuclear power station has two plants producing 1,830 MW – more than all of Nigeria’s hydroelectric plants put together.
A nuclear power plant is not cheap. The cheapest that would meet Nigeria’s energy requirements would cost anything in the region of 10 to 15 billion dollars and would take up to 8 years to build. This is to say that if one government commissions it subsequent governments must agree to continue with it instead of letting it rot like many other capital projects.
Nuclear science is the Holy Grail of engineering – a very pampered science. In erecting a nuclear power plant no corners can be cut and no expense can be spared.(-so no kickbacks from using inferior materials!) Failure to maintain, to very high standards, the maintenance of a nuclear plant can result in catastrophic disasters as we’ve seen in the American Three Mile Island, Fukushima in Japan and Russian Chernobyl disasters. Radiation from a damaged nuclear reactor can linger on for very many years killing thousands of people over a large scale area.
To run a nuclear power station you need an elite team of nuclear engineers, highly educated with years of experience, of which Nigeria currently has none. The current number of Nigerian nuclear engineers stands at less than five hundred with most of them in academic positions.
Under the auspices of the Ahmadu Bello University a Chinese-made nuclear reactor has been operating since 2004 giving Nigerian scientists a glimpse into the workings of nuclear energy production. A number of Nigerian universities offer courses in nuclear physics but there is still not enough qualified man power – even though the government has awarded scholarships for the course to be studied abroad. You need professionals with years of experience to run a nuclear power station not just some kid who has had just a few years of study in a university.
There will be pros and cons for using nuclear energy to generate electricity.
Nuclear energy is clean and cheap. One nuclear power station can produce more power than all of Nigeria’s current twenty-four hydroelectric plants. But at the same time it comes with its own inherent dangers – radiation leakage can kill thousands. Also there can be the problem of decommissioning after the plants’ useful working life with all the radioactive and hazardous materials involved.
Fossil fuel and hydro-electric plants have their limitations.
Gas or fuel power plants aren’t good for the environment and contribute largely to carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere, leading to further global warming. They are also not cost-effective.
Hydro- powered plants, which has been Nigeria’s primary power production source for over 50 years has its limitations – it’s dependent on nature – you need it to rain to fill the rivers, to fill the dams. In periods of adverse weather conditions, such as droughts, this can be detrimental to energy production.
Exotic renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy are still too expensive to roll out on a national scale.
So if the future of energy production in Nigeria is to be nuclear all the necessary stringent procedures need to be put in place – adequate funding and commitment, the necessary infrastructure, a high level of maintenance and security – you can’t have a bunch of militants tampering or blowing up installations- and firm government commitment.
Tony Ogunlowo blogs at www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
The Tyranny Of The Young On Nigerian Twitter | By: Kadaria Ahmed
I am in my late forties so I cannot be considered young by any stretch of the imagination. I am satisfied with my journey through life thus far and comfortable in my skin. However, some people believe I should actually be ashamed of my age.
Not once, not twice on Twitter, I have witnessed ‘young’ people employing the word ‘old’ when attempting to insult or shame people who are older than them, when an older person has dared express a view they find disagreeable.
They wear their ‘youth’ like a badge of honour. They strut and preen almost as if being young is an achievement like bagging a degree, setting up a successful business or having a positive impact on the lives of people.
The attacks that I speak of mostly occur when they can not engage with the subject under discussion because it is intellectually challenging. They are victims of our fault lines and are therefore incapable of cold, objective engagement with any issue. Their immediate solution is to obfuscate and muddy the waters but when that doesn’t work, they resort to abuse. It doesn’t matter what the subject is – music, the Arts, culture – but nothing riles them up more than an opposing political view! They pounce and before long, the word ‘old’ makes its debut. It’s the ultimate slap-down!
Given the many challenges we face in Nigeria, from our non-existent healthcare, to bad roads and the stress of earning a living in a difficult economic terrain, all of which have lead to a declining life expectancy; growing old is actually a feat that should be commended. It is a badge of honour that says look at me, I have survived, against all the odds. Instead, age has become a twitter weapon used to terrorize the not so ‘young’.
Maybe it is frustration with a generation that they believe has failed this country and therefore hasn’t earned the right to have an opinion. While this point might be pertinent, it is important to note that although I have witnessed a few men being ‘insulted’ by the tag of ‘old’, the most vitriolic instances are reserved for women.
If one is female, one faces a more virulent attack if one even ventures to express an opinion that may be controversial in any way, shape or form. Age, gender, and marital status ‘shaming’ by an army of young trolls is now the order of the day on Nigerian twitter, actively and tacitly encouraged by a wider Nigeria society which remains mostly patriarchal, parochial and in some cases even misogynistic.
While the focus on marital status is clearly a result of patriarchy, which promotes the idea that women have no worth unless they are tied to a man, why would a woman’s years determine whether or not she should have an opinion? One explanation is that because we are ‘old’ we are seen to be somewhat ‘deficient’. Which leads to the question: What is the main difference between young and ‘old’ women? Well the most obvious and visible differences are tied to reproduction, in short sex.
As women approach fifty, they stop producing certain hormones, as result of this, most of us stop being able to conceive and begin to see changes in our body. The general belief is that we stop becoming desirable. So again, it comes back to our worth to men. While this is actually not true, the fact that female aging is seen as a ‘deficiency’ speaks to a system organised again to measure women through the eyes of patriarchy.
I remember a certain Senator saying if he were to rape a woman it wouldn’t be one who is past her menopause. Where does one begin to even engage with this sort of statement? Is it to talk about the seeming normalisation of a hideous crime or the attempt to imply that women who are past menopause are unworthy of even having something so base and atrocious as rape committed against them?
On Nigerian Twitter today, it is not unusual for an argument on politics with older women to end with suggestions that they need to find a man to have sex with, to rid them of their ‘bitterness’. This is how smart, articulate women are reduced to nothing more than sex objects.
In this society today, there is no attempt at subtlety by men who have no respect for women. They are all too aware that their actions have no consequences and life goes on as normal, regardless of how egregious the remarks.
What is surprising is the number of young women who take part in this taunting. It amuses me no end and then it saddens me because at best they are unwittingly building and nurturing a process that systematically reduces them and which eventually, is likely to be used against them. They are active connivers because they have bought into the cultural ‘values’ that underpin and promote gender discrimination and misogyny. This is tragic.
Trust me, this isn’t an attempt to stifle debate. With any conversation, it is important to have multiple viewpoints. These are particularly critical as we seek to address significant problems ranging from violent religious and ethic clashes that have lead to thousands of deaths in a country which seems to simply refuse to grow and develop.
Inter-generational dialogue is also key as we have a large youth population (18 to 35) more than half of whom are disenfranchised and without hope. They need to take their destiny into their hands and force a change in an establishment that has let them down.
However, trolling ‘old’ people on Twitter, and targeting single women will not solve our problems. Despite our shortcomings and failures, and they are significant, most of us believe that we have to contribute to nation-building.
The censorship and gagging, the attempt at cyber-bullying is unacceptable because it narrows the conversation. The good thing is that many of us simply refuse to be quiet. We won’t be cowed by the tyranny of government and politicians and we certainly won’t be cowered by the tyranny of often nameless, faceless ‘young’ trolls on twitter.
Kadaria Ahmed writes from Abuja.
Opinion: Governors and the politics of succession~ By Reuben Abati
The recent Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states threw up a number of issues about the politics of succession in Nigeria. In Edo state, you would think it was the then incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole seeking re-election. He campaigned more than the candidate. He danced, waved the broom, his party’s symbol, far more enthusiastically than the man who wanted the office..
He even did more to put down the opposition and any likely threat to Godwin Obaseki’s ambition. His pretty wife was always in tow during the campaigns, and did she dance? Oh yes, she did too. Godwin Obaseki’s emergence as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in that election caused much disaffection within the party. He was said to be Oshiomhole’s anointed candidate with the allegation that everything was being done to ensure his victory at the polls. Oshiomhole had his way. Obaseki is now Governor of Edo State.
The incumbent Governor in Ondo State also did as much if not more to manage the politics of succession in the just concluded Governorship election in that state. He anointed the candidate of his party, followed him everywhere, and “fought” for him, even in the courts and on the streets of Akure. The election was more about Dr Olusegun Mimiko and what he wanted. The situation was not helped by the fact that Mimiko’s choice, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN hails from the same Senatorial district with him, but by far the biggest problem was the division within the PDP, which produced two candidates on the same platform for the same election, with the courts having to decide mid-way and at the late hour, with a superior court overruling the lower court. This confusion created a scenario whereby Jimoh Ibrahim emerged for a while as the party’s candidate, only to be dismissed through a court order two days to the election.
This did not bother the businessman-lawyer-politician, though. Giving the impression that he was not so desperate to be Governor, he declared that his mission was to make it impossible for Mimiko to achieve his goal of installing an anointed successor. On the eve of the election, he urged his supporters and the people of the state to vote for the candidate of the APC. Under normal circumstances this would be considered an anti-party activity but the PDP is right now in such a confused state as a political party – its ranks are filled with disloyal, one-leg-in-one-leg-out members. For this reason, in Ondo state, the PDP defeated itself from within even before the election. Mimiko can also be held responsible for his chosen candidate’s defeat. He overplayed his hands in the febrile politics of succession in the state.
There is perhaps nothing new about incumbents, at state, local and national levels, showing interest in who succeeds them. Being politicians, they could plead that they are duty bound to support their party’s candidate, but where the problem lies is the desperation that attends the choice of such candidates, beginning with the party primary. In the United States, which is an example that can be readily cited, President Barrack Obama openly supported the candidacy of the Democratic Party standard bearer, Hillary Clinton, but he did so only after she had won the nomination. If Bernie Sanders had been the party’s choice, he would still have received President Obama’s support out of loyalty to the party. In other words, it would be difficult to speak of an incumbent American President or Governor anointing a successor and imposing that successor on the party and the electorate.
This unacceptable abbreviation of democratic choice and of democracy itself occurs routinely in Nigeria. Once upon a time in this country, an incumbent President boasted that he did not know who his successor would be, which was fine, but what was not fine was his simultaneous declaration that he was very certain about those who would not be allowed to succeed him. The same President eventually chose his own successor. In Ekiti state, following the election in Ondo state, Governor Ayo Fayose has been quoted saying what has happened to Mimiko cannot happen to him in 2018: he is so sure he would determine his own succession fortunes. And if he could be so confident, where does that leave the democratic process? Truth is: the average Nigerian politician’s faith in democracy is dishonest. He believes the people can be bought. The people themselves are very good at complaining but they seem more committed to election-day monetary inducement than their own rights. Whatever gains may have been recorded in terms of electoral integrity and civic power is sadly being eroded by poverty.
When incumbent executive political office holders insist on anointing their own successors in Nigeria, they can hide under three justifications. The first is that they have a legacy to protect, and that they have an idea who the right person is to protect that legacy. But this is absolutely wrong. It is not the duty of the incumbent to protect his or her own legacy, except through literature. If the legacy is strong enough, it should endure within the system. The end-and-start-again profile of Nigeria’s succession politics owes in part to the weakness of institutions. Our civil bureaucracy is one of the worst in the world. It is driven not by memory or best practices but eye service. Legacies also do not seem to endure because of the endurance of the politics of hate. When a new Governor assumes office, his first priority is to make his predecessor look bad. That is standard Nigerian practice. But the incumbent trying to prevent this possibility by anointing a successor has not helped either. In Lagos, Anambra, Cross River, Akwa Ibom Adamawa, Zamfara and Kano, we have seen how anointed successors eventually turned against their Godfathers. The best answer to the legacy issue is for every incumbent to perform so well while in office that certain things would be so obvious that they cannot be erased.
The second justification is that as the leader of the ruling party in the state, or in the country, the incumbent must protect his political relevance by having a say over what happens when he leaves office. The interpretation is that the Nigerian politician is very egoistic. Give him Executive powers and he begins to appropriate the kind of divine powers with which kings used to oppress the people. He is surrounded by sycophants who disorient him daily, with long lists of enemies from whom he needs to protect himself, in and out of office. He gets lured into a trap, he is overtaken by paranoia, and he makes mistakes thinking he can exercise proprietorial rights over the democratic process. Many have been disappointed. There is no point mentioning names from 1999 to date.
The third justification is that everything must be done to prevent the opposition from seizing power. Opposition politics in Nigeria is hoisted on a platform of enmity, including the fear of probes, even if no former Governor or President has been successfully probed or jailed by any successor since 1999. When our politicians are in the same party, they relate as friends, when they are in opposite parties, they relate as enemies, particularly if the parties involved are influential and capable of winning. Most of the people in the APC today who are branding the PDP as evil made their name as politicians inside the PDP. Jumping from one party to the other and switching colour and emotions like the chameleon means absolutely nothing to the Nigerian politician; their morality is majorly that of a professional prostitute. It is never about what the people want. And so, preventing the opposition is an empty excuse because the same Godfather who is imposing an anointed candidate today could join another party tomorrow, and the anointed could also head in another direction or adopt another Godfather. This is a perfect illustration of how devoid of character and principles Nigerian politics is.
What is left then? What is left is the more compelling argument that the reason Nigerian political incumbents are so desperate to anoint successors is because they are afraid of their own shadows. They want to cover their misdeeds, so they struggle to rule by proxy. They want to remain relevant, and continue to have access to state resources, patronage and privileges. They want to play God. They have secrets they want to hide. The politics of succession in Nigerian politics thus constructed has never worked. Its architects and promoters have been disappointed in many cases more than once. The landscape is littered with tales of treachery. Some Godfathers were so badly treated by their anointed successors they could no longer visit their states for four years at least. There are some ex-Governors who thought they got the best man to succeed them whose only reward has been abuse and neglect.
The lesson not learnt is that being a Godfather has at most, short-term benefits. Incumbents often underrate one thing: that the successor will also acquire his own ego. New influencers are bound to surround the new incumbent and they will advise him to assert his independence and not to be anybody’s “boy-boy”. Even when the anointed successor swears to an oath, as often happens, it doesn’t take long before one of these Pastors goes to him, offers to cancel the oath and anoint him as the new Spiritual Leader of the state! Have you ever heard of any politician who died because he swore to an oath with a Godfather?
The way we recruit Governors these days is bad. The lesson for every incumbent is to get things right. Nigerian democracy is still at the level of the visual and the personal. It is trapped at the level of needs. The people appreciate and remember what they see and what touches them directly. That is why on election day, or the night before, when they are given the “Naira sandwich”, their political mind immediately focuses on how at that particular moment a particular party or candidate has met their needs. The challenge of Nigerian democracy remains how to free the people from this base level, and confront them with more significant and indelible achievements that they can see, feel and touch, and which the politics of succession or hate can neither destroy nor traduce. If anyone understood this very well, Awolowo did, Ahmadu Bello did, Michael Opara did, Sam Mbakwe did, Obasanjo did, Jakande did, Onabanjo did, Ajasin did…we’d talk about more contemporary examples some other day.
Churches, Religiosity and Godliness ~ By: Isaac Aluko Ademoroti
In our land these days, can we truthfully say that it is solely the love of God that motivates those who start or run churches and ministries or could there be other motivating factors that we do not know of? Is God Himself benefitting in any way from the increase in the number of these churches and ministries?
There are those who remain puzzled that despite the number of churches, Nigerians are not necessarily becoming more godly. In our country, religiousity has simply not translated into godliness. What then is the positive impact of the increasing number of churches and ministries? What can we, as a society, show for this vast increase? From this increase, can we seriously begin to enumerate the benefits that have accrued to the various institutions that define our nation?
Ordinarily, no sane, church-attending, bible-believing, Spirit-filled, hymn-singing, hand-clapping, heaven-bound, Rapture-expecting Christian would object at the thought of more churches and ministries being established. What draws the ire of decent people is the realisation that churches and ministries are being established for the wrong reasons.
Now, let us look at the usually acceptable or right reasons why churches and ministries should proliferate. One is to ensure that people do not have to travel far before they can find a place of worship. This will ensure that people do not give excuses for not practically belonging to the family of God. Another reason is the need to bring the church to the people thereby spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. One other reason is the need to provide succour for weary souls that are in need of spiritual help.
In most cases, however, it seems many of those who start churches and ministries have reasons different from the ones stated above. It is hardly surprising then that despite the high number of churches and ministries, any positive impact on the society is almost zero. For example, despite the rise in the number of churches and ministries, the level of violence in the society has increased, kidnapping of humans for ransom has become a thriving business and our leaders have become more daring. Children are being burnt alive. It is also a known fact that many church leaders are hands-in-glove with the looting politicians. Is it any wonder that fear, apprehension and uncertainty rule the land? Many of the pastors themselves no longer feel safe as they go about with security men who carry guns and knives.
The chances are that churches and ministries will fail to positively impact the society until they wake up to their God-given responsibility of making the Word of God the focus, the hub, the fulcrum and the Final Court of Appeal in anything they do.
Under normal circumstances, it is the duty of the Christian church to ensure that the new Christian believer is properly discipled in the things of God. This is supposed to continue until that new believer truly internalises and practises Christian teachings of true repentance from dead works, new birth, cleansing in the blood of the Lamb, true worship, holiness, stewardship in the power of the Holy Spirit, soul winning, the oneness of the body of Christ, the necessity of being ready for the Rapture and several other things. Sadly, these things are no longer on the agenda of many church leaders and pastors.
Nowadays, someone would most likely want to start a church because he or she wants to be independent and thus be the overall boss. To such a person, other considerations are secondary. Usually, his or her real reason for wanting to start a church remains unstated. Others go into the ministry or start a church for economic reasons. Such people believe that there is nothing wrong in using God to feather their own nests. Also, there are those who, after a disagreement, would conclude that the next best thing to do is to start their own church. It is sad that these people refuse to recognise the fact that the afore-stated reasons are not the right reasons for giving birth to a church which is essentially an organism and much more than a mere organisation. The truth is that their churches can only be fashioned in their own image. Only life can give birth to life. The Lord Himself says in John 3 verse 6, ‘‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’’
Therefore, it would not be out of place to summarise that the main motives these days for wanting to start churches include the following: Self-aggrandizement or self-promotion, determination to prove a point, deliberately going out on the orders of the devil to pollute the body of Christ, influence seeking and finally financial gain. Most churches have become family business empires. None of the motives stated above can stand up to examination before God.
The all-important question is: Is it right to start a church without being led of God? Even after one has convinced himself or herself that there is a need for establishing a church, shouldn’t one clear it with God before going ahead to start one? The dangers of starting a church without being led of the Holy Spirit are as follows: The Almighty would probably not back actively a venture He did not initiate. Secondly, the founder is not unaware that he or she is not responsible to anyone, not even to the Lord. Thirdly, the challenges that would arise may lead the founder to seek power outside God. Fourthly, the one that will be celebrated in such a church will be the leader or founder and not Jesus Christ. Finally, the founder may be leading people to hell but still be deluding himself/herself that he/she is working for God.
A church that is established and run according to the will of God will have the following characteristics: Jesus Christ is the centre of attraction and not the leader or founder. The Holy Spirit is in control and leads the church. The church accepts the leadership of the Holy Spirit and follows keenly such leadership. The Word of God, that is, the holy bible is the Final Court of Appeal on any issue in such a church. Lastly, members of the church are being prepared for the Rapture.
Unfortunately, most people do not bother to ask the right questions before becoming members of a church because they do not realise that their lives and eternity may be at stake. The relevant questions that people should ask are: Is this church established according to the will of God? Is Jesus the centre of attraction in the church? What does the church stand for? What are the beliefs of the church? Does the church accept the finality of the bible? Does the church believe that her members’ lives must be transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Isaac blogs at www.beulalandblog.blogspot.com
The threat of a new political party| By: Reuben Abati
When aggrieved politicians within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) decided to join forces with members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the All Progressives Peoples Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, they had well-defined, if not so clearly stated, even if poorly conceived objectives: to send President Goodluck Jonathan out of power, displace the PDP which had clearly become a dominating hegemonic party, exert vengeance and offer the people an alternative.
The triumph of the APC in the 2015 elections resulting in victory at the Presidential level, in 23 states out of 36, and also in the legislature, state and federal, was propelled on the wings of the people’s embrace of this slogan of change. Change became the aphrodisiac of Nigeria’s search for democratic progress. The new party’s promises were delivered with so much certainty and cock-suredness. Those who were promised free meals were already salivating before casting the first vote.
The permanently opportunistic players in Nigeria’s private sector could be seen trading across the lines as they have always done. Everyone knew the PDP had too much internal baggage to deal with. The opposition exploited this to the fullest and they were helped in no small measure, not just by the party’s implosion, but also the offensiveness of the claims by certain elements within the PDP that their party will rule Nigeria forever. This arrogance had gone down the rank and file resulting in bitter conflicts among the various big men who dominated the party. The party failed from within, and even after losing the 2015 elections, it has further failed to recover from the effects of the factionalism that demystified it and drove it out of its hegemonic comfort zone. It took the PDP 16 years to get that hubristic moment. It is taking the APC a much shorter time to get to that same moment.
The displacement of the PDP gave the impression that Nigeria’s political space, hitherto dominated by one party, and a half, out of over 30 political parties with fears of a possible authoritarian one-party system, had become competitive. But the victory of a new party over a dominant political party in power such as occurred in 2015, has not delivered the much-expected positives: instead, questions have been raised about the depth of democratic change and the quality of Nigeria’s political development. The disappointment on both scores has been telling.
The ruling APC has not been able to live up to expectations. In less than two years in power, it has been behaving not like the PDP, but worse. Not a day passes without a pundit or a party member or a civil society activist suggesting that the only way forward is the formation of a new political party. There are over 30 registered political parties in Nigeria; no one is saying that these political parties should be reorganized and made more functional; the received opinion is that a new political party would have to replace the APC.
The implied message is the subject of political science. Many political parties in Africa, not just in Nigeria, lack substance. They reflect the problematic nature of party politics in the continent, even after the third wave of the continent’s democratic experience. Party organizations are weak, their organs are inchoate, their fortunes are mercurial. In Nigeria, this seems to be more of a post-military rule reality, for in the First and Second Republics, some of Nigeria’s political parties appeared to be more relatively people-based and socially-rooted. The military left behind an authoritarian streak at the heart of Nigeria’s party politics, producing political parties since 1999 that do not fully reflect or assimilate the people’s yearnings.
There isn’t therefore yet in place a mass-based, people-driven political party to replace the elite-based hegemonic parties we have, despite early efforts in the past in this direction by the likes of Aminu Kano and his People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Movement of the People (MOP), Tunji Braithwaite’s Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience Party (NCP) and Wole Soyinka’s Democratic Front for the People’s Federation. There was also the Labour Party, mentioned separately here, advisedly, because it ended up abandoning its social democratic base, and became like the regular parties, an elite cabal, with the initial progressives who championed it on the platform of the Nigeria Labour Congress, moving ideologically to the right in an attempt to align with the Nigerian mainstream and its ready benefits. A profile of this political party and its initial principal promoters would reveal just how alimentary Nigerian politics is.
Our immediate concern, however, is to argue that those who are raising the flag of a new political party as the answer to the emerging failure of the APC and the growth of factions among its members, and by extension, the spreading despair in the land, are missing the point. They are not promising any revolutionary change nor are they interested in deepening Nigeria’s democratic change. Permit me to quote Danjuma Gambo, of the Enugu Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) who reportedly said: “A new political party is what we need. A new party with new plan, (and an) ideology that will bring succor to the sufferings of Nigerians is the answer.”
Gambo deserves some credit: he phrases the matter delicately as a commentary on the incumbent dominating political party and government. His “what we need”, “new plan” “ideology” means change, another form of change to end, he tells us, “the sufferings (sic) of Nigerians”. We ask him, although he seems to have answered the question already: what happened to the change that happened in 2015? So we ask another question: if the formation of a new political party did not solve Nigeria’s problems since 2015, what is the guarantee that a new party would gain power and perform better than the ruling APC? Professional politicians don’t comment on the matter as carefully as Gambo attempted. They are brazen about it and they have been loud too. They make it sound like a threat and a given solution. When you hear them boasting that a new political party is on the way, you are left in no doubt that they are issuing a threat. But is a new political party the solution to Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis or the people’s angst?
The conundrum is easy to resolve. It is easy for the political elite in Nigeria to change their garments, sans remorse, ideology or sentiment and that is how some of the most prominent political figures in Nigeria today have changed party membership cards more than five times in the last 17 years. The politics of elitism in Nigeria is simply about access to power, position and privileges. It has nothing to do with the people’s interests. The APC is in crisis for this reason, very much like the PDP, and even the smaller parties, because these are political parties of big men of influence. Conflict results when they are not allowed to exercise that influence by other competing big men, who are similarly if not equally driven by ego, religion and superior ethnic considerations.
The exercise of influence as a party big man follows a known pattern: after electoral victory, the big man wants the spoils of victory; he wants positions for his followers, contracts for wives and children and the freedom to have a say in the new government. Any attempt to shut him down, oppose him, or sideline him or her, immediately creates a crisis within the party. The greater the number of such big persons who feel short-changed and marginalized, the greater the chances of such factionalism that would trigger threats of a new political party. New groups can create new tendencies in society, but in Nigerian politics, new groups don’t really emerge, it is the same recycled set moving from one political party to a new or another one, looking for benefits.
Poverty, low literacy and the weakness of public institutions make the people vulnerable. The people embrace slogans and the dividends of what is now known in Nigeria as “stomach infrastructure.” They are deceived by the politicians’ display of affection and empathy. Because they are hungry, they accept money to attend rallies to help create an illusion of populism and acceptability. On election day, they sell their votes and sign off their freedom. After the election, they are too ashamed to speak up or they compensate for their psychological distress by subscribing to the politics of vengeance. A patrimonial and neo-patrimonial political system such as we run in Nigeria promotes nothing but difference, disappointment and distrust. Those who are plotting to create a new political party should be told that the harvest is predictable: more intense leadership competition, high level conflict among big men, greater deception, increased difference and tension within the polity. Political parties are governed by rules: the Nigerian political system operates above rules. It is possibly one of the most Machiavellian in Africa.
What do we need? Not recycled politicians posing as new party men and women. But this: effective party organizations, like the NCNC, the NEPU, the NPC, the AG, APGA, UPN, UMBC of old which belonged to the people and reflected their aspirations. The only difference should be a necessary disconnect with the politics of ethnicity at the heart of the party formation process in Africa which, as seen, defeats the objectives of true democracy and modernization. Institutionalization of the political party system will also ensure stability within the democratic order: after a bitter political contest in the United States in 2016, the two dominant political parties – The Republican and the Democratic have remained stable, and the country is being projected as supreme.
We should end this then where we started: leadership is the principal challenge. Until we sort that out, Nigeria’s politics will remain trapped in the throes of ethnicity, patrimonialism, authoritarian dominance, the threat of system volatility and fragmentation and the politics of revenge.
It’s Time To Outlaw ‘Jungle Justice’ In Nigeria | By: Tony Ogunlowo
For as long as one can remember there has always been ‘jungle justice’ in Nigeria. All it takes is for somebody to shout ‘ole’ (thief) and anybody seen running away – the suspect or not – is apprehended, subject to a kangaroo court before being beaten mercilessly to a pulp – or even killed in the most gruesome fashion imaginable.
It is wrong.
Yes ,the suspect might have committed a serious crime – murder, kidnapping etc – but it’s not up to the members of the public to take justice into their own hands. The police and courts, however inept they are, are there to deal with these kinds of things.
In the eyes of the law everybody is innocent until proven guilty. A man about to be lynched will not have a fair trial at the hands of a baying mob. And most important of all tragic mistakes can be made. How many times have some unfortunate ones happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Take the case of the ALUU 4; four Uniport students who were murdered by a lynch mob in Aluu , a town in Port Harcourt, in 2012 for a crime they were totally innocent of. How many more innocent people have been killed by lynch mobs who think they have the moral right to play judge, jury and executioner? Countless and unless something is done there will be more. And to the lynch mob how does it feel to have blood on your hands? Anybody participating in a lynch mob is guilty of MURDER and they are no different to the person they’ve just killed. It becomes a simple story of the kettle calling the pot black; one murderer killing another because they have no legal right to kill anybody.
In the past few days a video, that has gone viral online, has emerged of what appears to be a young boy being lynched and set ablaze by a mob for stealing. What could he possibly have stolen that could warrant him being beaten to death and then set ablaze? And the adults meting out ‘jungle justice’, don’t they have brothers, sisters or offspring the boys’ age that they can’t show mercy? If you want to punish him ,beat him(reasonably) and hand him over to the police. The sad thing is that most Nigerians are hypocrites; when you see a real thief, like a politician who has stolen billions of naira from the public coffers, you bow down and prostrate in front of them. You show reverence to a big thief and lynch a small insignificant thief – double standards especially when a thief is a thief!
It’s high time our lawmakers who like to busy themselves passing tolotolo laws pass a law that outlaws ‘jungle justice’! Nobody has the right to play judge, jury and executioner taking the life of a criminal suspect however heinous their crimes might be . The courts are there to pass judgement and not the people – the rule of law is what prevents anarchy and what makes us different from animals that kill each other at random. And in the words of the Bible, ‘let he who has no sin cast the first stone!’
The Second Coming Of Goodluck Jonathan |By Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, before I get into my main gist of today, let me quickly apologise for my inability to write this column last week. Truth is I had a mental block, pure and simple. Contrary to speculations that I couldn’t write because my great heroine, Hillary Clinton, lost her election, I was just so physically and mentally fatigued because this is one year that I’ve worked so hard on every project at hand. There was no doubt that I was solely disappointed that Donald Trump won the American presidential election but I was able to adjust quickly. My darling mum had taught me about the wisdom of the ancient. You can put your all into any project but the results ultimately remain the exclusive preserve of God. Only God determines the winner or the outcome.
GEJ Turns 59 Today There is so much to learn from the political trajectory of Nigeria. What happened in America had happened repeatedly in our dear beloved country. I will explain in a jiffy. Who would have expected Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari to defeat a political colossus like Chief Obafemi Awolowo? Who would have expected a Shagari to beat a political philosopher like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe so black and blue? Who would have expected a stupendously wealthy man like Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, without any political experience to take on the likes of Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and come out victorious? What Abiola did in Jos at the National Convention of the Social Democratic Party in 1993, when he mesmerised and hypnotised the party chieftains was what Donald Trump did recently in the United States of America when he razzle-dazzled the Republicans and virtually hijacked their party. Trump was lucky that he and Abiola belonged in different realms and climes. Abiola was not able to realise his dreams of running government like a business but Trump is set to take power and display the wizardry he flaunted endlessly before the elections. The world is waiting to see if Trump would plunge America into the abyss or perform the miracle of turning water into wine.
The main reason many of us non-Americans opposed Trump so vehemently was because of his supposed bigotry and divisive rhetoric on all fronts. But on a personal note, I’m not too bothered. I have learnt my lessons. Politicians can tell any ignominious lie just to grab power. Voters can believe obvious scams and vote for artful pretenders out of foolish emotions and live to regret it. There is nothing we have not seen before. It is very obvious even this early that the millions of Americans who voted for Trump may never get a quarter of what he promised. Every man has the right to change his mind or beliefs and no one can hang him for it. Trump obviously knew what the Americans wanted to hear and knew how to sell a dead horse at a premium. That is politics. His message resonated with his core base no matter how retrogressive it sounded.
As a matter of fact, it became even more attractive the crazier it sounded. Politics and religion are quite similar in that they thrive on pure faith. The same Trump that appeared a rabid hater of President Barack Obama has since visited his “sworn enemy” in the White House. You would have expected both former warriors to exchange some terrible blows but far from it; they came out behaving like two newly joined love birds. Trump now says Obama is actually a nice guy. Obama also reassures a jittery nation and a confused global community that Trump would actually behave decently and that their allies have nothing to fear. The two opponents must have known that it was all a game all along while their followers actually believed and embraced the charade. One of the things I love about America is the ability of its leaders to rise above pettiness. Every leader comes in after a bitterest electioneering campaign to embrace the one who lost. I do not hear sing-songs of wasting too much energy on the past. Who would have thought Obama and Bush would become as close as they are now? American leaders are wise enough to know that we are all actors and must quit the stage after playing our assigned roles. \
We may have sharp differences but we must be able to calculate the cost of war-war against the price of jaw-jaw. When tomorrow comes, I’m sure Donald Trump would have calmed down and welcome everyone in the true tradition and character of America. No American leader can ever be allowed to transfigure into an Adolf Hitler or a Benito Mussolini. Americans collectively are stronger than their leaders. This is one of the major reasons I’m not worried about Donald Trump and his tantrums. If he returns to the giddiness of his pre-election period, Americans across party lines would know what to do. That is the power of their democracy. This now brings me back home. I have been reading about the rising profile of our former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and wish to state without equivocation that no one should rule him out of the 2019 presidential race. I first hinted this possibility about two months ago and wish to reiterate that Nigerians should prepare for the shock that awaits us.
The story of Donald Trump should bring us back to our senses. Nothing is impossible. The second coming of Goodluck Jonathan may be so far-fetched or even belong in those categories of impossibilities but I wish to plead with our government and my fellow citizens not to rule it out. As one of those who made our modest and humble contributions to the coming of this Buhari government, I’m pleading with trepidation. Jonathan’s popularity is rising not because of anything he has done to atone the sins that must have led to his waterloo but as a result of what our change government has failed or refused to do.
The obsession of our government with going all out after Jonathan is the main reason the Otuoke man is beginning to smell like roses after the odoriferous position he landed himself last week. Only if our government had succeeded in maintaining the economy it met, Nigerians would have been ready to enter fire with Buhari. But there are just too many unresolved problems and challenges. The excuses that Jonathan and company left this peculiar mess behind has refused to fly. The groans might not be loud enough to reverberate all the way to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, as of now, but trust me it may become deafening, sooner than later. I do not care if men and women of power dismiss my submission with a wave of the hand but they should mark my word, there is a thickening conspiracy in the clouds.
It would be a shame if we inadvertently play into the hands of those hovering and ready to pounce on Buhari. I read about “persecution complex” long ago and I understand how it works. If you beat your own child so ruthlessly as if you want to kill him, the tilt of public opinion would always go against you. Many would wonder why you want to kill your own child. In our anger, let us pick our fights. There is too much tension in the land. I would be delighted if anyone could educate and convince me that Nigeria has gained much more than we’ve lost to this war of attrition. If we haven’t, we may need to retrace our steps urgently. The BBC reported on Friday how Jonathan caused a stir in Sokoto State during his visit to the state to pay his respects to Ibrahim Dasuki, the late former Sultan of Sokoto. According to the report, Jonathan was received by a large crowd of admirers, some holding banners bearing the words “Come Back Baba Jonathan”.
The same voices that chanted “Sai Baba” and “Jonathan Must Go” are now fiddling with the tunes of the possibility of a Jonathan to stage a comeback. Here lies the irony of political triumph and the paradox of high expectations. The euphoria and momentum that saw the exit of Jonathan and the emergence of the Buhari change administration has since begun to wane following the inability of the new government to hit the ground running with the tenacity of a government in a hurry! There are many who believe that the poor management of the ensuing economic recession didn’t help matters. Suddenly, Nigerians who had high hopes and voted massively for change are now caught in a limbo between confusion and uncertainty.
As it stands today, the average Nigerian is confronted with the reality of an economic recession they never planned for; a situation they did not experience under the Jonathan administration and under previous governments. Many of President Buhari’s supporters are worried that the humongous goodwill that engineered the Buhari change mantra is now being frittered away at the speed of light. The unfolding plot has now thrown up former President Jonathan as a new protagonist in Nigeria’s theatre of the absurd. For many of us who are ardent students of history, we have since learnt that nothing is impossible in the game called politics. Will history repeat itself again? Time is pregnant with answers!