Democracy

Faleke’s Trauma: APC’s Dictatorial Tendencies Unfold

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The lack of common sense within the APC is tragic. Where is the change? Where do we go from here?

Faleke’s Trauma: APC’s Dictatorial Tendencies Unfold

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Sometimes when you hear about certain things happening in Nigeria and especially those things that emanate from the political circles, you get so shocked that you begin to wonder if these people running Nigeria have any brain cells at all.

I have seen many comical pictures on the social media where different Nigerian rulers or presidents have had their heads replaced with coconuts.

On a closely look, those comical images are near to reality for Nigeria’s political class.

So Audu Abubakar died. Some have called for autopsy reports to ascertain if he was murdered or if he died of natural causes. I think his family has more say on what path they choose.

Ordinarily one would have thought that succeeding or replacing Audu Abubakar ought to be common sense. Mathematicians will call it logic.

Late Audu’s deputy Mr.  Faleke should step into his shoes and finish the race for the his late boss and definitely for his party-the APC.

As I understand it now, there are about 49 000 votes up for grab.

Bu what has the APC mandate under Mr. Buhari done?

They have brought out a man from the PDP to be the replacement for APC’s Audu Abubakar. Yahaya Bello campaigned for Idris Wada after he lost the APC governorship ticket. They have now brought him back to the APC and chose him ahead of James Faleke.

Let those who have ears hear now, the trouble in Kogi will most definitely add to the already brewed troubles in Eastern Nigeria and the war in Northern Nigeria which will make Nigeria one of the most unstable and most unpredicatable places on earth.

James Faleke has gone to court. The cases may draw for a long time and they may stall the proposed conclusion to the elections.

The constitution of Nigeria is already messed up on this matter. There are as many opinions as contributors.

I learnt INEC which was supposed to be an independent body even ran to the Attorney General for suggestions. That way it became easy to finger the presidency in the dilemma.

I am not the one to bring out the ethnicity and religion of James Faleke. His names will do. I wish he could called on Ifa though.

If APC needs help in flaming their politics of tribe and religion, they will get as many help as they want with this nonsense and ingredients that they have started.

For, the death of Audu was already a matter that created problems for the interpretations of Nigerian electoral law.

The problems would have been mild and probably manageable by sticking to Faleke and hoping that he will gather the necessary votes from the disputed ones.

Who will tell the dunces and mumus in APC that Yahaya Bello can never win the governorship election with 49 00 votes even if he claims all the votes?

When late Audu Abubakar contested with Faleke as his deputy, they had votes that counted for both of them. Is APC interpreting these votes as votes for the party and not the candidates?

Then, they should also be preparing their lawayers for the suits that will come from the PDP.

As it looks now, PDP is contesting both with Idris Wada in their official party and with Yahaya Bello on the platform of the APC. Head or tail, PDP will win the elections if they are conducted on Saturday but Bello will not be the winner.

He cannot possibly be allowed by Wada or the PDP to assume the position of the governor with less than 50 000 votes.

APC is not even gradually showing its true colours, it is doing it with speed. As soon as the party took over from Jonathan and PDP at the center, it was quick to show in the morning what Nigerians should expect for the rest of the day.

Not least is the rise of dictatorial tendencies and one-sided prosecution of persons perceived to be political enemies and adversaries.

The side-tracking of Faleke (if APC succeeds) will be a new chapter in the books of dictatorship. It is too easy for the presidency to lie and change a lot of stories in the media. This is because they have not allowed Buhari to speak to Nigeria in Nigerians.

Unless someone can prove otherwise, l have read many statements credited to Mr. Buhari when he is outside Nigerian than when he is in Abuja.

It is time to hear him speak. His opinions count. During the elections’ campaign, he hardly spoke. When does he intend to start talking and giving his opinions directly to the people and the media?

Is the APC not tired of having to change every single opinion that is credited to it or Mr. Buhari?

Some of those opinions and issues will continue to trail this administration for as long as it exists at the center.

The APC as it seems is always changing and does not seems to stand for anything. That is why it is falling apart and falling for everything.

For sure, a lot of people will want to bring party ideology which is of course nonsensical and other lines of legal implications into what is transpiring in Kogi State.

My take is that it is simply wrong and actually stupid to replace Faleke. If Audu was alive he would have re-contested with Faleke. If Audu had won, he would have been governor and Faleke is deputy. If Audu had died one week after he became governor, Faleke would have been the governor.

What we know now is that the last sentence does not hold water with APC mandate and Buhari’s rulership. Faleke could have been booted out of office, and Yahaya Bello imported from PDP to the governor’s house.

These are all hypotheses. But again, the last option is very possible with APC dictatorial tendencies as we now know.

Have we forgotten too easily how we all rallied round Goodluck Jonathan during those trying months? I do not intend to elaborate further. A word is always enough for the wise.

APC must not forget that what goes round, comes round. It is Faleke today, you will not hear it from me where this is going to come up next. But it will happen and some people will run from Cape Town to Cairo asking for sympathy and placement.

Meanwhile all these nonsense and ingredients from APC are perfect distractions from other dangerous situations in Nigeria.

The petrol scarcity is back and the eastern part of Nigeria is gradually locking up or is it down. Unemployment is on record high, crime rate hitting the roof and the standard of living digging deeper.

Where is the change?

Where do we go from here?

aderounmu@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. Buhari this, Buhari that. What about the ordinary citizens?

Buhari, Still A Scalar Quantity

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

By Adeola Aderounmu

With respect to the non-appointment of federal ministers and with the promise that the exercise will now take place in September 2015, Buhari without any doubt has shown his unpreparedness for the position that he now occupies.

Buhari is still a scalar quantity on the APC mandate-having magnitude but not yet direction.

Nigeria has been through this sad avenue too often, projecting accidental rulers to the apex of affairs. This one was preventable but when the politics of religion and ethnicity got amplified under the last administration, the recycling of old hands such as Buhari was what the APC came up with.

The beauty or significance of democracy is lost on Nigerians failing to bring fresh and dynamic minds into the front.

In any case at it is now, it seems that Mr. Buhari is enjoying the limelight. For all the days of the APC mandate (now 2 months) everything has been about him. No one else matters!

What l’d seen since early June 2015 is Buhari this and Buhari that. That is pure political egocentrism.

The headlines continue to flourish and center only on what Buhari as a person will do or not.

Buhari stop rice importation

Buhari must prosecute IBB

Buhari probes Jonathan

Buhari to prosecute Iweala

Buhari reverse privatisation of NEPA

Buhari won’t interfere with Senate Forgery

Buhari This, Buhari That..!

Invariably, Buhari as an individual has constituted himself into government so far. As at the end of July 2015, Buhari is government and government is Buhari. A tragic start/occurence if you ask me.

For 60 days, a time long enough to start and finish certain university courses, the government is all about Buhari. He is so enjoying the entire attention he probably thinks by now that he is running a military government.

The leadership of APC needs to pinch their man, wake him up to smell the coffee and probably remind him that the days of tropical gangsterism are over.

I don’t think Buhari gets it yet and please we are tired of that phrase of giving time to those who we thought have the experience of what leadership is all about.

It was bad enough to seek a mandate without a team in place. It gets worse when in 2 months, governance stood still at the federal level under a democratic government allowing only one man to call all the shots.

Buhari praise singers are part of the problems. It was the same way Jonathanians ruined their man. Here we go again..!

The acceptance of mediocrity drained Nigeria of her will and strength as a country and the damage done to the cognitive mentality of the average Nigerian as a result of more than 50 years of maladministration appears to be irreversible. Little wonder people seek miracle everyday.

Generally the people are lost for the meaning and purpose of life because government broke them down and handed them over to religious rites. It is an extremely sad situation.

More than 50 years have been wasted because every time some people complain, someone is asking for more time to destroy what is left of the ruins.

Buhari is running the APC mandate, not a personal mandate. He did not win this as a lone ranger having failed several times doing so. To set September for the appointment of ministers is extreme recklessness and an irresponsible act.

In Nigeria in the absence of ministers and head for public parastatals, almost everything is paralyzed. In several federal agencies and offices across the land, things have stood still and the days ahead look bleak.

In a country where the economy is in ruins and the naira keeps tumbling, it is an act of wickedness to leave the ministries in limbo. I had discussions with some people about this matter and I could not quantify their frustrations. To live in uncertainties at a crucial time like this is totally heartbreaking. It adds to the already devastating health statuses of folks down there.

Again, APC need to pinch their man, Mr. Buhari and tell him that Nigeria is suffering from partial paralysis since the day he was sworn in.

He cannot continue to run a one man show until September. That is absolute nonsense and ingredients! It’s pure rubbish. There are 31 days in August. The economic lose will be huge. Life will remain uncertain for several millions. He will keep gallivanting from pole to pole whilst the citizens are waiting for clues on the way forward.

Buhari need some schooling in economics. As the naira tumbles, the people suffer. Nigerians get poorer. The suffering spreads like a mad fire.

Indeed, many of those that would have been nominated to form the executive cabinet are coming from the expired generation and probably a bunch from the corruption conglomerate.

Buhari needs to sit down and set 1-2 days aside as soon as possible to look into this matter. He cannot continue to rule as a dictator for 3 months! He needs to cure his own headache rather than pass it on the citizens. He must send the names of men and women who will work with him to the appropriate quarters for verification and confirmation.

If he cannot do a common selection of credible people from a pool of more than 150m people, please let him step aside immediately. No one has the luxury of time in Nigeria.

Nigeria is running a sick democracy but until that ultimate political change is instituted or when Nigeria returns to regional government, let Buhari stick to the constitution and stop running a one-man show.

It is time to remove his name tag from all the headlines and set in the appropriate ministries and agencies. What is his business with probe if he or the APC mandate sets the anti-corruption agencies free? Buhari’s name is tagged in almost all headlines because he thinks this is a military government. He needs help!

I hope this change we asked for will not be a one chance change o!

This government is turning out to be a joke so far. The hope that it will improve will be sustained and accessed week in, week out. Real change or fake change, some of us promised to remain on the same side as the ordinary citizens, we will not be tired. Some senses need to emerge from this government.

So far, it is a government that has about 2-3 or even 4 press releases about a single incident. Now, one has to wait for the 3rd version to know exactly what they are trying to say. The fourth one nails it after that.

Buhari’s government and the APC mandate are also acting as if they are still in the opposition seat. They need to move away from speculations and plans to execution of plans and doing things instead of talking like parrots. Together, they were on the side for 16 years. Did they not plan?

Before I end this essay, I need someone in the APC mandate forum to tell Adams Oshiomole to stop acting as the minister of information.

If he has any information he can pass them to the EFCC with ease and he does not have to shout about it. He should also note that we the people expect him to also face the law when his immunity days are over.

We don’t need new sensations or sensational headlines.

Looting did not start and end under Jonathan. Babangida and Obasanjo are also there to give accounts of what they stole and what was stolen under them.

Rather than selective persecution EFCC and the other appropriate agencies-the police, the judiciary should be given the freehand to perform. We have waited for several years for justice. Why make it selective? We expect a justice system that will serve without fear or favour and without limitation of time and space.

What Nigerians want to know, see or hear is the money returned to the treasury, the criminals behind bar and perfect processes where justice actually reigns and yields results.

Buhari and his sensational crew, especially Oshiomole, should spare Nigerians the trauma of revelation of sums of monies or barrels of crude oil stolen. Let the law acts instead but take the money back and show the people what you are doing with it.

Mr. Buhari, in Africa the morning shows the day (The Yorubas actually says Owuro l’ojo-morning is the day). So far, the morning of this administration, now 2 months has not been impressive. The people are not in a hurry. They have waited so long for this change and things must happen quickly.

When they were quiet, they were called resilient. Some irrelevant surveys even called them the happiest people on earth because they suffer and smile.

This resiliency and misinformation about the Nigerian state of mind were all the politicians and military men like you needed to destroy the giant of Africa. You (Mr. Buhari) and this old wasted generation made Nigeria the dwarf and laughing stock of Africa. You ruined it together!

Just like Obasanjo, you also have a rare second and last chance but it’s so far, not good.

The Glory of Nigeria must return and for sure, a lasting political solution will be an integral part of the solution that the upcoming generation will be looking into, should in case you fail again as the representative of the fading wasteful generation.

aderounmu@gmail.com

A Political Stillbirth

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

Didn’t we warn about the roles of political prostitutes in Nigeria?  The generational bastards-who are carbon copies of their criminal fathers-are now gradually taking control of the change machinery.

A Political Stillbirth

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Though many will continue to argue that APC or the new government headed by Buhari should be given time to adjust and get to work, still the situation at the end of June 2015, one month after the new government was inaugurated, is simply unacceptable.

One of the consistent arguments in recent essays l’d written is the suggestion that Nigeria needs a political solution to most of the problems that plague her.

Political solutions can be taken from different perspectives. For example, the biggest transformation will be to overhaul the system and bring governance to the grassroots so that the people can closely monitor their politicians, scrutinize them and boot them out of office for corruption, non-performance and inefficiency.

An argument for regional government has been rife for many years because of the failure of the pseudo-federal system that is practised in Nigeria. The Senate and the House of Representatives in Nigeria still represent a watse of money and something many regard as senseless organs of govenrment.

The likely stillbirth of the APC government has also now brought into focus another missing link in the physiology of the various political parties in Nigeria.

This missing link is so bad, and in fact so sad it is hard to deny that Nigeria is in the hands of a bunch of opportunists and dunces. I mean that after one month, it is still impossible to consitute a functional government. How else can one qualify those on whose shoulders or laps the mantle of rulership just fell?

This also reminds me of a few lines in some previous essays where l dismissed the campaigns of both the APC and PDP as mere charades.

In the course of building a political party, the starters need to find intellectuals who will drive every relevant question relating to politics, the economy and of course social issues among several others that (should) usually steer the outcome of elections.

In all political parties, there should be departments that represent every facet of governance. The implication is that every political party owes itself a shadow government.

The electorate or a voter should be able to make phone calls to the APC headquarter and request to speak with the department of power and steel, or the department of youth and development or the department of economy and social welfare.

Invariably there should be an expert or a group of experts within the party who manage all the issues and questions affecting the party and the citizens as a whole.

The importance of the hierarchy among these experts cannot be overemphasized.

It should be based on merit, experience, loyalty and service to the people and the community. It is such structures that make the emergence of a new government stress-free in what we called the advanced countries or countries with functional democracy. Such is the reason why the opposition party/government is ever ready to take control of governance when the ruling party collapse.

When Buhari emerged as the APC presidential candidate, why did the officers or experts in the various areas (economy, power supply, transport, youth affairs, justice, and so on) not emerge parallel at the same time based on merit, knowledge, experience, loyalty and political pedigree?

Why is the emergence of this think-tank taking more than one month to be constituted? No one should blame it on restructuring or resizing. Those are useless excuses.

Some of the real answers are not far-fetched.

Buhari was definitely not prepared for office. The hallmark of his campaign was silence but the APC social media prowess propelled him to fame and eventual victory. We have been cornered into forgoing the rigging that went with the elections.

Apart from Buhari’s lack of preparedness for office, there are other factors, some of them as old as the Nigeria that emerged in october 1960. There is always a constant force (many call it the cabal) that usually derail Nigeria just when you think there is a new hope.

Then on her own part, the APC will provide a lot of explanations and reasons why Buhari’s ministers may not emerge until a certain date. They will not tell the world how many variations of ministerial lists that are being submitted by various interest groups, persons and organisations whose sole interests is to continue to profit from Nigeria as the people continue to suffer and wait in vain for the dividends of democracy.

Nigeria is at a standstill. She has been at this point several times before. The present disgusting political scenario is an avoidable stillbirth.

Between 1999 and 2015, 16 years was wasted as corruption occupied Nigeria and PDP sent Nigeria and Nigerians down the drain.

The opportunity to compare what the APC government has to offer between now and 2019 is already been wasted. The PDP infiltrated the change movement through the fake latter days converts like Saraki and co..and it appears that the APC is now in disarray because of the ambitions of some fools in power and the continuous adoption of political criminals and political criminals.

Didn’t we warn about the roles of political prostitutes in Nigeria?

The APC change partially appears genuine but it was not going to be perfect because of the criminality of the politicians. However it is now too easy to condemn the APC altogether already just one month after they emerged. The fears that politicians do not change or that they are the same is being tested.

In any case, if the nonsense that has happened in the last one month remain the characteristics of the APC, if the APC does not find a way to uproot all the vagabonds and traitors in her midst, it means that they have already failed in advance before the examination day.

For the future, even as a lasting political solution is being pursued, the political parties need to put their houses in order, properly.

As they set to campaign, they need to have their officers and ministers in place. It is these officers or ministers (to be) who should be campaigning and answering all the political and economic questions at rallies. Just as VP Osiyemi was known during the campaign, all the other likely emerging people should have been visible and presented.

They are the ones who should be facing the multitude and telling about why they should be voted for and what their political parties have to offer.

In that way, the people already have an idea of who and who that are coming on board. It also provides a way to look at the characters and nature of a government that is emerging or the one that intends to continue in office.

I do not want to agree that Buhari was a bait provided by Tinubu/APC to continue the business of looting at the Federal level. Rather what l see now is a group of people denying Nigerians the completion of a process that would have been easily evaluated for continuity say in 2017 or 2018.

Many people condemned the PDP for 16 years for the ways they ruined Nigeria and Nigerians. Why is it too hard to try a complete turnaround process of 4 years? How can we access the APC government when it has already been hijacked at this stage?

I think Nigerians need a series of massive demonstrations/rallies that will force the resignations of all those who have forced themselves into offices through crooked means. Transparancy and fairness should be encouraged.

The people who are obstacles to the change Nigerians are waiting for need to be confronted head-on right away. The bastard politicians, some with the carbon copy traits of their fathers are becoming generational obstacles.

Some people stood up for 16 years and masterminded the change of 2015. Why should they suddenly be pushed under? If Nigerians allow the generational bastards to take control of the change machinery, then the pages of change as a process should be closed forever.

By 2017 or 2018, if the real APC government must be accessed for performance as a party that is actually ruling, Nigerians must help them bring down all those who are already strangulating the baby before the naming ceremony. This perpetual political stillbirth is dangerous. For the good of all, the political stillbirth must be aborted once and for all.

aderounmu@gmail.com

2014-2019: The Last Show Of The Wasted Generation?

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

Those whose fathers have ruined Nigeria and the contemporaries of their fathers are what we have left on the stage. Criminal politicians and soldiers who have been recycled and overused now have the last chance to redeem their useless pasts.

2014-2019: The Last Show Of The Wasted Generation?

By Adeola Aderounmu

wasted generation

Some of the early indicators from the Buhari-led APC administration are negative. Many supporters of the administration have been responding to the criticisms against the APC government by asking for time.

It is a genuine request to ask for time because time is the indicator and revealer of all things.

But the argument for more time in the Nigerian context needs to be understood and well-defined.

The endless resiliency of the ordinary Nigerians have made nonsense of the principle of time and performance as well as accountability and probity in Nigeria.

By sleeping away mentally while living in a country devoid completely of social justice and equity, the ordinary Nigerians have been as guilty as the marauders who raped the land and cart away the treasuries for themselves and their children.

Passive citizenry contributed largely to the wasteful years that befell Nigeria from 1960 to 1999.

In that time frame of more almost 40 years, the value, meaning and the quality of life in Nigeria degenerated to one of the lowest in the world.

To make matters worse the PDP-led government unleashed another complete 15-years of waste on Nigerians. The Obasanjo-Yar’Adua-Jonathan administrations of 1999-2015 impoverished the lans and left majority of Nigerians poorer than before.

These rulers and their precedessors bled Nigeria to the point of an almost irreversible damage.

The recent climax was when a country that is almost devoid of electricity claimed to be the largest economy in Africa.

It is still so bad that the suffering in Nigeria (for the ordinary, struggling masses) is comparable to the situations faced by people living under war situations or the threats of it.

The wait for change has been an endless one.

Hence, the category of people who are in a haste to see the Buhari-led government properly hit the ground and running after barely one month have genuine concerns.

They are the people who know that time is now a luxury that Nigeria can no longer afford. They are the ones who abides by the principle of ”the morning shows the day”.

However the proper function of time in the entire scenario needs to be highlighted.

Change is a process and not a single event or an isolated occurence. Therefore there will be a need to re-educate the rest of us who think that a Buhari presidency under APC is the antidote to all of Nigeria’s woes.

Indeed the gradual change in government and governance are parts and parcel of the processes that will bring about the conditions that are needed to bring back living in Nigeria to what it was in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In modern times, those years before l was born were the paradise years of the Nigerian life.

There was an early warning that Nigerians ignored during the run up to the recent elections of 2015. It wasn’t new but it was phenomenal and rampant.  Some people continue to dignify political prostitution by calling it carpet-crossing. This permissive madness in the Nigerian political arena made popular by this wasted generation is about to ruin the traces of hope.

It has a lot of implications too. The most revealing is that irrespective of their political parties, Nigerian politicians are always after their own selfish interests. To a very large extent, it shows that politicians do not believe in the change that the ordinary citizens are clamouring for.

For them, politics is business as usual. Politics remain the easiest way to stolen wealth because the winners take it all!

Some brilliant minds continue to emphasized that until the political parties are separated ideologically, there will be no difference in what they bring to the table. Moreso tragic is the situation where the institutions that should check accountability and probity have been put in a state of permanent coma.

The sad situations from the past and present dispensations means that the strengthening of the institutions and their independence can no longer wait.

Changes may fail to happen as expected if the status quo of the various institutions remain the same. It means that the politicians will continue to steal, loot and propagate inpunity as if these ills are their birthrights.

In the same vein, there won’t be visible changes in Nigeria if the people do not understand that their own attitudes, their behaviours at their offices and in the society at large are also ingredients of the changes that everybody is talking about.

It is so disheartening to see that everybody is talking about change whilst nobody is changing the ways they have been doing things.

There is a lot of work to be done Nigerians!

The people must do what is needed of them as citizens and they must embrace patriotism.

The government must meet the people halfway to make the change cycle complete and running.

Buhari must appoint his Ministers before the end of June 2015 to redeem what is left of an already faulty start.

At this moment in Nigeria’s history-with APC-led central government-is what appears to be the last chance for the wasteful/wasted generation of Nigerians to redeem its name.

Politically conscious Nigerias and the people who will live in Nigeria by 2019 would be lost forever if they ever use the change slogan again.

In today’s Nigeria those whose fathers have ruined Nigeria and the contemporaries of their fathers are what we have left on the stage. Criminal politicians and soldiers who have been recycled and overused now have the last chance to redeem their useless pasts.

This type of nonsense must not happen again.

By 2019 one expects that the citizens must have played their parts. One expects that the government would have played her parts through exemplary leadership, total war on corruption, economic programs design to lift human dignity and political reforms to correct the sources of instability and mediocrity.

There are many more ways to know and measure performances. By 2019 the people must know if a new drastic measure will be needed and the awareness for that must begin in earnest.

If the tool of (last chance) change fails, the upcoming generation of Nigerians must begin to organise to weigh their chances of living a fulfilled life.

There is a tool that remained unused and that is a riddle that need to be solved. It is a two-edged tool. The more potent edge leads to a total generational shift and it will be wonderful to rid Nigeria of the wasted generation and their offspring that still loom large.

No matter what happens, Nigeria needs a functional political structure and system. Things cannot continue the way they are now.

Regional government and devolution of power are remedies to both the federal character system and the impotent geo-political zonings that have drained Nigeria of creativity and development possibilities.

A lasting change that will favour the people from the top to the grassroots will be very useful in evaluating the PDP- infected, power-hustlers APC government of Buhari.

The APC government has less than 4 years to rescue and redeem Nigeria’s wasted generation in what may be the final chance or opportunity.

aderounmu@gmail.com

6 Jonathanic Years Of Waste

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

At this time in Nigeria’s history no change or transformation will be complete without a lasting political solution. I hope to continue to write again about Nigeria but only under a new dispensation, otherwise it will not be worth it.

Six Jonathanic Years Of Waste

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

As l write this article, the main opposition party in Nigeria the APC seems poised to win the 2015 presidential election. Everyone is waiting for the official results to be announced by the electoral commission-INEC.

In 2010 when Umaru Yar Adua died l wrote an article on my blog lambasting all his supporters who were creating obstacles that could disrupt the smooth emergence of the vice president Mr. Goodluck Jonathan as the next president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

At that time l was enraged that democractic principles could be thrown away if Mr. Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed to continue as the president of Nigeria as stipulated by the constitution.

My support at that time was for the continuation of an imperfect mandate.

During his short reign as the president of Nigeria Umaru acknowledged that he became the president of Nigeria through a fraudulent process. He was probably swept off his feet by the PDP rigging machinery courtesy of Obasanjo and Ibori.

The PDP which emerged as Nigeria’s ruling party under Mr. Obasanjo in 1999 until the time of Yar Adua’s death was already a great disappointment.

To the chagrin surprise of ordinary Nigerians, after the military left in 1999, corruption was re-entrenched in Nigeria’s civilian reign just the way it has always been since independence in 1960. Nepotism became rife and the dividends of democracy stayed mostly with the politicians, their families, their friends and acquaintances.

Mostly too, the business of governance was neglected as the presidency, the executive members of government, the ministers, the governors and even local government chairmen raked in monies into their personal accounts in Nigeria and abroad.

Crude oil production and marketing became complete mafia affairs. Subsidy scam, pension scam and employment scam escalated with time. The diversification of the economy was put into coma.

There were occasional pockets of good news but overall the expectations of more than 90 m Nigerians who live below the poverty level and unsure of the next meal remain largely unmet. They continue to suffer and continue to live hopelessly even to this day.

It was against this backdrop of disappointments that Nigerians gave a popular support to the candidacy of Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. They thought he was a new kid on the block.

But they got it wrong. If the track records of political office holders are relevant in Nigeria and the laws correctly enforced, Goodluck Jonathan would have been a prisoner at the time he was contesting for the office of the presidency.

This is because he had used his wife as a front in looting the funds that belong to the people of Bayelsa State when he was deputy governor and later governor.

Goodluck Jonathan was not fit for any political office. This is actually true for more than 90% of Nigeria’s politicians. Many of them are criminals waiting to plunge the state and national treasuries. So it is not as if Gooldluck Jonathan is an isolated case.

When Goodluck Jonathan started his own mandate in 2011, it suddenly became clear that the largest black nation in the world had been handed over to a clown. Goodluck Jonathan is not only clueless, he is also grossly incompetent and lazy.

The ridiculous nature of politics in Nigeria in the hands of fraudsters cannot be overemphasized.

The fact that the Nigerian National Assembly could allow such a disaster on Nigeria reveals that national assembly is also full of individuals who are after their own selfish interests. To call them criminals too is fair enough considering that their inactions have continue to send children, unprotected people, the elderly and the several other categories of Nigerians to their early graves.

Where lies the hope of the common man and the ordinary people in Nigeria?

Since 1999 the return of civilian rule in Nigeria has revealed the criminalities of civil administrators and their actions and inactions together have contributed enormously to crimes against humanity.

Since 2011 Mr. Jonathan did absolutely nothing to curb corruption.

His antecedents provide a useful base for comparison. He was corrupt as a deputy governor and later governor. He allowed all the corrupt people under him to flourish. He released murderers from prisons, he pardoned convicted persons and he embraced them publicly. Jonathan promoted drug dealers and put them in position of authority.

Jonathan’s affinity for criminals and crimes has no bound.

The latest were the re-enthronement of a thug one Mr. Fayose as the governor of Ekiti and a known criminal Mr. Obanikoro as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Mr. Goodluck Jonathan up till now is the worst president Nigeria has ever had. The previous political and military rulers are all crooks and corrupt people. But Goodluck Jonathan took corruption to a new dimension. His simply laid it like a spreadsheet program.

They should all been prosecuted and it is never too late to recover Nigeria’s stolen wealth.

A president who does not understand that stealing is corruption is a source of international embarrassment to Nigeria and Africa.

Goodluck Jonathan does not also understand the importance of courtesy and decorum. The way his wife have been screaming, crying and lately campaigning across Nigeria adds to the embarrassment that his family brought to Nigeria.

Mrs. Jonathan graduated from the looter of Bayelsa to the looter of Aso rock and she runs her mouth faster than her brain cells.

The Jonathans have not represented Nigeria in good light.

Nigeria is blessed with courageous people and some of the most brilliant and sound minds in the world, yet the country always manage to bring insane people to serve in public offices as politicians.

The process that produces the likes of Jonathan and his lousy wife has also over the years produced thousands of similarly unfit people in various public and political offices.

This is one of the sources of the challenges that Nigeria faces. Wrong people who should be receiving counselling and psychological supports have been elevated to run politics and policies.

The lack of electricity, the lack of functional public schools, the lack of good roads and the absence of social justice did not start with Mr. Jonathan. Under him things that did not start with him just went down the spiral curve.

He is always emphatic about these issues and he is always repeating the obvious- that Nigeria’s problems did not start during his administration. He is so clueless not to even take one issue head on and solve it as an evidence that he can perform.

It is not only the oil sector that is in tha hands of mafia, even Nigeria’s electric power sector has been sold to the mafia. Billions of dollars were spent by the wasteful PDP government since 1999 when Obasanjo came to power but the power generation became worse. It can only be criminals who stole the money and left the work undone.

The population of criminals in government increased in the last 6 years because Jonathan had no plan and no clue about what governance is all about. It may also be that he got too drunk often like he did in Addis Ababa and forgot the task before him at the AU meeting.

I long for a country where social justice will reign.

One day l hope the judiciary arm of government will ressurect and that the police will become the institution it should be. My hope for Nigeria is that no matter the political party that any politician belongs to, that they will never be protected from the law by any form of immunity.

My hope is that Nigerian politicians, the mafia in the oil sector and in other sectors hindering the progress of the country through corruption will all be brought to their knees at the court of law, to face justice and to return looted monies.

My hope for Nigeria is that a day will come when crazy people will be bundled out of political and public offices so that normal, unright people with sense of responsibility and accountability will start to run things.

In many countries around the world, it is those few sane people in government that have kept the system working. Unfit people are never elected and they are bundled out through due process when they have been errorneously put in public office.

Nigeria can become that country where the best brains, the trusted hands and the brilliant public administrators can be saddled with nation building. The judiciary must work so that when brilliant minds become criminal minds, they can be quickly shown their room numbers at kirikiri.

At this time in Nigeria’s history no change or transformation will be complete without a lasting political solution. Nigeria must return to true federalism or regional government. The power at the center even if the judiciary is working must be removed and made unattractive.

Politics cannot be a business adventure for lazy or criminal minds and the task before a government and the people as well is to make politics unattractive for those who think that it is a means to acquire wealth for themselves and their unborn generations.

The emergence and the reign of Goodluck Jonathan were an insult to the intelligence of the Nigerian people and to Africa in particular. He and his wife brought Nigeria to ridicule and together with the loads of corrupt people in the government they made Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

Under Jonathan Nigeria remains as one of the most corrupt country in the world.

I will hope that the 2015 elections bring a new government. It will be interesting to see the other side of the coin.

Without a change of government through another political party we will not be able to know if the 1999 to 2015 pdp years was an avoidable waste.

In subsequent essays l want to evaluate a new government at the national level because the PDP is a known disaster.

I hope to continue to write again about Nigeria but only under a new dispensation, otherwise it will not be worth it.

aderounmu@gmail.com