The cancelled February elections are not only about Jonathan. They are also about failed dividends of democracy under PDP since 1999. It will be one of the biggest mistakes in history if Nigerians sit back and allow the Jonathan game plan to unfold. It’s a destructive process

Jonathan’s Destructive Distillation Of Nigeria: Why Nigerians Must Rise Up And Reject The Feb.7 Coup

By Adeola Aderounmu

When I wrote the article “Threshold” in November 2014, one of the things that l highlighted was the plan by the PDP-led government to postpone or cancel the February 2015 general elections.

In subsequent articles l continued to make reference to the scenario where the security situation in North East Nigeria (NE Nigeria) will be used as a clog in the wheel of the 2015 elections. If I remember well too, the feasibility of the 2015 elections has been a theme in many of my previous articles.

But in 2014 my conviction was based on a material published by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. At that point it was obvious that the government of Nigeria has directly or indirectly hinted the foreign missions in Nigeria about the plan to postpone or cancel the elections.

It could also be that the Swedish government got hold of a secret document that led to the publication. One reporter on radio was very sure penultimate week when she said that there will be no elections in Nigeria this February.

Since some foreign observers have arrived in Nigeria for the February elections, the suggestion that the lazy and corrupt Jonathan government actually informed the international community can also be debatable.

So we now got to this point when a very corrupt government that failed to end insurgency in NE Nigeria in 6 years will now do the miracle in 5-6 weeks. It is only a matter of time for the lies of lazy Jonathan to be exposed again.

There is no country in the world that has succeeded in ending insurgency or sectarian violence of Boko Haram’s magnitude in 6 weeks. Rather there are so many examples around the world of countries at war that succeeded in conducting successful elections.

It appears now that Jonathan deliberately allowed the insurgency to grow because he saw it as a means to extend his hold to power. If Jonathan wanted the elections to hold on February 14, he would have dedicated a lot of attention and commitment to the war on Boko Haram so that by now, it would be possible to hold elections in NE Nigeria.

Jonathan was the man who went to parties and even organised several family parties when Boko Haram struck at different times. He was dancing on podium celebrating or he was in Aso Rock drinking several times when Boko Haram was decimating Nigeria.

Today, 15% of Nigeria’s landscape is under the control of Boko Haram. Under lazy and corrupt Jonathan, the Nigerian military that ended wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other countries could not raise her arms and hands against Boko Haram until it became a full grown monster.

The war against terror in Nigeria has been fought half-heartedly and amidst several controversies concerning the loyalty of several members of the Nigerian army-both at the commanding and the follower-ship levels.

What became certain on the 7th of February 2015 was that the Nigerian Army can be effective when it wants to. Nigerians woke up to the heavy presence of soldiers in strategic places and cities across the country.

The Jega marathon-meetings were all fuse and rubbish. The decision to postpone the election was long made, probably before 2014! APC’s only previous response to this appears to be the threat to form a parallel government. It should have been taken further to the public space and ironed out.

The Nigerian military have become specialists in intimidating civilians. In the face of Boko Haram, Jonathan has refused to equip them to win the war or the equipments were transferred to Boko Haram as in the saga of Baga.

Invariably, an evil government led by Jonathan has turned the Nigerian military into a complete set of fat zombie creatures. The zombies took a strangulating hold of INEC and subverted the ongoing democratic process in Nigeria.

History will now record the 7th of February 2015 as the day that the Nigerian military staged a bloodless coup in honour of a sitting civilian dictator called Jonathan.

It was a coup because majority of Nigerians were ready for the elections. The reasons given for the postponement are unacceptable by majority of Nigerians. The lack of attention given to the security situation in NE Nigeria for the past 4-6 years was a deliberate ploy.

The issue of voters’ cards could have been resolved by 1-2 days of public holiday if necessary. The election was still at least 7 days away and 1-2 days would have suffix to attain the maximum reach. Not everybody will collect their voter’s card and not everyone who collected will vote. In life, perfection is an ideal that is rarely achieved.

Now Nigerians must know that Goodluck Jonathan is not ready to relinquish power. The main reason for the postponement of the election was the certainty that APC was poised for a victory on February 14. All indications from around the world have pointed to an APC victory. It would have been impossible to rig the elections the way those morons-Obanikoro and Fayose did in Ekiti.

What Jonathan is doing now is reassessing his strategies. He is looking for the mechanisms that will tilt the public opinion in his favour. He hopes to achieve that in 6 weeks and so Nigerians should be ready for the mother of all propaganda and political assaults from the PDP and those who have their reasoning clouded by deformed emotions and anticipated glory in the hands of a failed government.

If any gullible mind or fool is expecting the Nigerian army to conquer Boko Haram in 5-6 weeks, that person needs a brain surgery in India.

Jonathan also plans to destabilise INEC. It may mean that Jega’s tenure runs out and a vacuum is created. You cannot conduct elections with an INEC boss whose tenure is expired. If you do, you create a new room for new controversies and confusion.

To replace Jega when his tenure runs out may also take 6 months with the Nigerian factor and lazy government that we know.

Jonathan is trying to hang on to power for as long as possible whether his present mandate is renewed or not. He is not sure of victory at the polls and he is not going to hand over to APC’s Buhari if the opposition wins.

This is a substantive statement because Jonathan’s most voracious bulldog one Doyin Okupe has vowed that the Jonathan government will never hand over to General Buhari. This statement is heavy.

It means that Jonathan already knew that an election conducted in Nigeria on February 14 will most likely produce a new ruler or president.

The statement by Okupe recorded during a failed press conference is a preview of what has been decided back door by Jonathan and his criminal crew members a long time ago.

Jonathan would rather hand over to an interim military government rather than to a former dictator even if he wins through the ballot boxes. Is this the apex of an evil mind?

What the PDP-led government did on February 7 2015 can be a rehearsal for the handover when the situation gets out of hand. With all the warships in the delta, it may.

Sadly too, Jonathan is using the old tricks from the old books. Nigerians are resilient, they will relax, forget and go about their normal activities. The day after the cancellation of the February elections, it appears that Nigeria is calm and Jonathan is right about the tricks.

It will be one of the biggest mistakes in history if Nigerians sit back and allow the Jonathan game plan to unfold. It’s a destructive process.

Here is a man who has stolen more money than any ruler or president in the history of Nigeria. When Babangida stole 12 billion dollars, the world thought it has seen it all. With an expert in looting called Mrs. Ngozi Iweala, Jonathan and his crew (since 2011) have rewritten the book of looting.

Jonathan is leading a criminal government and the most loot-cracious government in the world today. He has an assembly of unrepentant looters and criminals pretending to be serving Nigeria for the past 6 years.

Here they are in February 2015 taking Nigeria and Nigerians further on their useless, clueless rides. They called it postponing the February elections. It is not. It was a cancellation of an anticipated victory by the opposition party.

Nigerians need to stand up, wake up and act for once in their life time. They need to send a clear signal.

I have not seen a right thinking Nigeria who actually thinks the opposition party will bring a miracle through its anticipated victory at the polls. No.

People just what a change from this relentless rogues who are looting trillions of dollars in multiple digits. These amounts of looting and missing monies are unprecedented.

People want to see what life would be like when an opposition party takes on power. Since 1999 Nigerians have been stuck with different types of monsters under a PDP-led presidency.

The cancelled February elections are not only about Jonathan. They are also about failed dividends of democracy under PDP.

What will life be like under the opposition irrespective of who the opposition presents? This is the biggest question that Nigerians are ready to experiment with. They want to take a new risk.

Nigerians know about Buhari, they know about Tinubu, they know about Fashola and so on. They know they are not saints. But it appears the majority want a shift. Nobody knows where it will lead.

The PDP is trying to sell a slogan that the people already knew.  It is called bad market and it has failed. This is one of the primary reasons why the PDP is cancelling the election. The Boko Haram war provided PDP with the excuse to avoid a disgraceful poll.

The PDP and Jonathan must know that when people want change, they should get it and be allowed to live with the consequences.

Jonathan cannot claim to love Nigeria more than Nigerians. Okupe, the silly attack dog cannot love Nigeria more than Nigerians. Who is he to say that Jonathan will not hand over to Buhari? What if Buhari wins? What if the APC wins with or without Buhari?

I hope that Nigerians can make Jonathan a good example of how not to be a dictator. If there is one thing worth fighting for, it is a complete rejection of the postponement or cancellation of the February elections.

February 2015 is Nigeria’s month with destiny, to continue with a failed government or to start with a new government.

If by his pronouncement under the guns of the army Jega has destabilised the February 14 election date, fair enough. With a bit of patience, Jonathan can have his last valentine in the rock.

If INEC does not reinstate the election on February 21, Jonathan will be remembered as the crook who destroyed or almost destroyed Nigeria.

By employing the services of the military in a civilian sponsored bloodless coup, he started a process that could snowball into the predicted destructive distillation of Nigeria.

The reactions of the oppositions and Nigerians in general to this insult and assault will be significantly followed.

Obviously Nigeria is in dire need for a political solution. But a new coup like the one of February 7 2015 is not it!

In the absence of a political solution that should include true federalism orchestrated by a functional National Assembly, this anomaly introduced by a clueless government may mark the eventual necrosis of Nigeria.

Nigerians ought to resist Jonathan and insist on the elections in this month of February 2015.

aderounmu@gmail.com