Goodluck Jonathan

Goodbye and Goodluck Jonathan

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In the pursuit of happiness in the Niger Area, a functional geopolitical solution will not be the least needed ingredient

Goodbye and Goodluck Jonathan

Which Way Nigeria?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Some of us grew up with the awareness that our parents and grandparents told us to be careful about the things we say with our mouths and the things that we wished for.

Though he has denied it on several occasions and it bears no relevance any longer l can repeat that one of my keen observations the last time l visited Nigeria in 2010 was the campaigns of both Jonathan and Atiku.

I was actually stunned by the promise of Goodluck Jonathan as he begged to do only one term. Yes, I call it begging based on his body language and the way he expressed himself. It sounds like just let me do one term and Nigeria will be paradise again (but not in those words).

Nigeria political landscape has mostly been devoid of men of integrity. A few good men who may have some elements of integrity usually get choked out. They don’t last the campaign or they don’t get the vote because Nigerians are predictable voters.

They don’t even support the people with integrity to the extent where their votes may (now) not be counted. National and state elections are usually scandalous, rigged and manipulated. The 2015 election is reportedly full of malpractices.

In 2010/2011 Jonathan was a clear choice because at that time Atiku’s corruption files were already in the public domain thanks to his corrupt boss Olusegun Obasanjo whose corrupt files were also in the open as they fight for third term-to be or not to be.

That Jonathan was a clear choice at that time arose from many other factors. His criminal tendencies were watered down as he became Obasanjo’s choice after the demise of Yar Adua.

In addition the opposition parties at that time were not formidable.

I have written under several headlines about the laziness of Goodluck Jonathan and his extreme weaknesses as a person both as the deputy governor and then governor of Bayelsa State.

But at the national level, most of these deficiencies were not widely known. Even then Nigerians are gullible when one considers how criminals have emerged as selected or elected politicians over the years.

So this issue with Jonathan’s previous criminal records was not special.

If the anticorruption agencies in Nigeria were firm, committed and credible, Mrs. Jonathan would have at least being arrested because of her roles in fraud and money laundering. There is no way she would have had access to large sums of money or these types of crimes without the help of her husband Mr. Jonathan.

But when they arrived at the national scene after scaling all these hurdles, one would have expected the Jonathans to live a life of repented souls.

They did not.

They threw caution to the wind. They built houses made of gold in Bayelsa. They had probably the largest number of parties and ceremonies since Aso Rock was built. They did what they like and how they like acting like the presidential palace is part of their inheritance.

Jonathan made more than 200 electoral promises and achieved almost nothing. Instead he turned to propaganda and employed professional liars as PR machines.

For some reasons that will become clearer for sure in the days and years ahead security reached an all time low as terrorists took over more than 15% of Nigeria carving for themselves a region in the North East of Nigeria.

One could go on with all that went wrong under Jonathan which his sympathisers will not like to read or hear about. They will fight back.

For them and the Jonathans Nigeria remains a geographical expression and the purpose of winning political offices is for personal enrichment. .

Mostly true, but sad anyway. The question is: should it or does it have to go on like that?

Apart from security, there is hardly any problem in Nigeria today that started with Goodluck Jonathan.

He stated this fact so much it not only became a reference point but also his exclusive reason for non-performance.

I think as soon as Jonathan became the ruler of Nigeria he forgot that the reason why he was the clear choice over Atiku and Buhari was because people wanted a break; l mean people wanted a change from the category of people that have been destroying Nigeria at the center.

Until he became VP to Yar Adua, a relatively unknown Jonathan has only been destructive at the local and state level.

Led by Obasanjo, a man who thinks he knows everything, Nigerians even invaded the social media to ensure that the man who lied that he didn’t have any shoes an a boy became the ruler  of Nigeria.

Jonathan-if the results of the last election are credible and anything to go by-is still a popular figure in Nigerian politics. I mean he almost won a re-election. Since the elections were not completely fair, he could actually claim (as he tried to do lately) that the presidential election was rigged!

He said he wanted one term, that’s what he got.

In my personal opinion, the machinery that installed Goodluck Jonathan was the same machinery that uninstalled him.

It was with great confidence that a few politicians have stated before the elections that Buhari will win. Let those who understand the abracadabra of Nigerian politics go figure that out.

One of my friends who visited Nigeria and left just before the 2015 elections told me that he was sure Buhari would win by a landslide victory. His explanations and reasons were no longer stark as we look together at the figures of the elections.

It is either Buhari was over estimated or Goodluck Jonathan slept for too long.

There could have been a remedy for Jonathan’s curse (the one term curse)

The easiest way and the only remedy perhaps for his one term curse on self could have been a performance-based cure.

Rather than perform Jonathan was romancing criminals of all types. Drug barons, ex-convicts and murderers found favour in Jonathan’s eyes. He played their God.

He continued the trend that Nigerians had known for years. He fell people’s hands.

Jonathan did not fight corruption one bit. He promoted and thrived on it.

He appears not to be in control of the situation. He is misinformed and ill-informed. He is not proactive.

When he departs at the end of the month Nigeria will be in her worst economy shape ever! Nigerian workers are not getting paid, fuel scarcity is back, tears and sorrows fill the land.

No one knows what the APC mandate will be like, only time can tell. But may the likes of Jonathan never see the apex of power again.

Sometimes though l wonder in whose hands the hope of rejuvenation of a country lies. Isn’t it logical that in a country where workers don’t get paid and the unemployed have no hopes of fulfilment-that the way forward lies with the people and what they decide to do or not?

I also wonder if the future really lies in the hands of a new government with old known faces of failure or a revolution by the people.

The people should be demanding for justice from those who ruined their lives and a return of every naira or kobo in the hands of the criminal politicians, at national and foreign banks.

Jonathan and his destructive team are leaving. They could be free or the law could take its toll on them.

Jonathan, goodbye and good luck!

But Nigeria is going no where! Dumb politicians don’t know that.

The people of Nigeria need to throw sentiments away. They need instead the armour of discernment. Nigeria belongs to them and their unborn generations.

Our lives will pass away. Power is transient.

What is more profitable and sensible than barbaric looting and senseless accumulation of wealth is to build a society and a country where peace and social justice reign.

For Nigeria the destruction of lives and institutions have been massive.

The road to freedom is going to be rough, long and unwinding. Along the way the people must pick up constructive education, natural intelligence and wholesome patriotism that will place value and merit above mediocrity.

In the pursuit of happiness in the Niger Area, a functional geopolitical solution will not be the least needed ingredient.

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Unveiling Of Africa’s Latest Tyrant?

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In 6 weeks Nigerians will know if a tyrant is born or not. They will know if the military will be in charge to complete the February 7 coup

The Unveiling Of Africa’s Latest Tyrant?

Is Jonathan Africa's latest tyrant?

Is Jonathan Africa’s latest tyrant?

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigeria in 2015 probably has a new dictator in the making. His name is Goodluck Jonathan. The man is a famous drunkard who rode on luck to become the ruler of Africa’s most populous country.

In a sane society a man so incompetent, clueless and thoughtless would not near the seat of governance. The way he and his wife have been running Nigeria is a complete disgrace to the intellectual capacity of the African minds. Mr. and Mrs Jonathan stain and embarrass Africa, greatly.

The rise of Jonathan to power will remain one of the darkest episodes in Africa’s modern history.

Trillions of dollars that could have brought prosperity to every Nigerian family are now missing and shared with a group of corrupt people who are already members of the influential 1% that owns 80% of the country’s wealth and who together continue to enslave the majority of the population.

The present ruling government, like all the previous ones before it, contains people who should be tried for crimes against humanity for rapidly spreading and escalating poverty among the majority of the population.

The problems Nigeria face today did not start with the criminal minded Jonathan and his wife but under them the situation reached a new dimension with alarming consequences.

The coming days and months will reveal the willingness of Nigerians to liberate themselves or to remain in bondage for a much longer time.

On February 14 presidential elections are supposed to hold in Nigeria. The chairman of the electoral committee stated the readiness and commitment of the electoral institution (INEC) to conduct the elections like it did 4 years ago.

Mr. Jonathan boycotted the National Assembly which has the mandate to set and adjust election dates. The National Assembly did not see the need for the delay of the polls and would have disagreed with Mr. Jonathan.

Mr. Jonathan turned to the military and staged a coup on the 7th of February 2015. The army told the world that it cannot secure 14 local governments for 2 days of election!

So the electoral committee was left with no choice but to postpone the elections.

If the army cannot protect 14 local government for 2 days, that army must be the MOST USELESS army in the history of mankind. We know what ordinary vigilante groups can do within a locality.

But that was not the truth. Mr. Jonathan was afraid of defeat at the polls. The opposition headed by a former dictator Gen. Buhari was poised for victory at the polls.

Postponing or cancelling the February polls was a décor to halt the certainty that the opposition will displace the corrupt, lazy and incompetent administration of Jonathan that continues to loot and rape the country blind.

The military taking on the function of the National Assembly in postponing the elections has invariably committed treason and carried out a coup. The coup was sponsored by Jonathan and this may mark the beginning of his reign of tyranny if Nigerians do not disengage him as soon as possible.

Six weeks from now, Boko Haram will still be in existence. There is no way Jonathan and his coup plotters can rid North Eastern Nigeria of Boko Haram in 6 weeks. Why have they not done in 6 years what they now what to do in 6 weeks? Only fools will believe the lies of the Nigerian army and Jonathan.

The most efficient way to fight terrorism or insurgency is never to give the impression of weakness. It must have taken a fool and a clueless mind to act otherwise. Cancelling the February elections is the hallmark of cowardice and lameness.

The saving grace for the February 7 coup is that the constitution was buoyant enough to absorb the adjustment. If the elections are postponed again, the constitutions will not be able to accommodate the changes and the rule of Jonathan will therefore become illegal.

If this happens, the opposition will be right to fulfil its threat of floating a parallel government. Jonathan is ready for war and that is why he has depleted the Nigerian army and equipped his militia group in the Niger Delta.

He has secretly and openly unleashed the Nigerian army on the opposition. Soldiers who should be fighting to keep the 6 weeks target intact are watching over the opposition in compliance with the orders from Africa’s latest dictator.

All the characteristics of a tyrant and a dictator are emerging from this criminal called Jonathan. He is afraid of going to jail one would think and therefore not ready to lose or hand over government to the opposition.

His loudest bulldog one Mr. Okupe said that Jonathan would rather hand over to an interim government or to the military rather than to the opposition.

In making such a statement, the camp of Jonathan already conceded defeat even before the elections. The morning shows the day.

The lazy army generals who could not protect 14 local governments for 2 days are waiting in line if all the plans of Jonathan fail.

They have already staged a coup on February 7 2015, one can assume that they are just waiting to announce a new military government in 6 weeks.

Mr. Jonathan is following a script no one has seen or heard of. He is taking his cluelessness to a new height because of the urge to remain in power at all cost. It is easy to predict that he will be put to shame soon. He is the proverbial Yoruba dog that wants to get lost totally.

I hope all the pastors who prayed for his victory at the botched February 14 2015 elections can now see that they are also fools. They were taken for a jolly ride by the clueless crook from the creek.

Nigerians are patient people. Late Fela Anikulapo was their greatest prophet ever. What did he say about suffering and smiling? What did he say about army arrangement? What did he say about missing oil money? What did he say about the pastor and his wife? What did he say about the Imam?

Mr. Jonathan is testing the waters. By now he ought to have been drowned in the test. Historically he is stretching the limits of the people’s resilience when he cancelled an election that took the electoral commission 4 years to prepare for.

What Mr. Jonathan must know is that Nigerians are not expecting a miracle from anyone who takes over the mantle of rulership from him. What is certain is that irrespective of the nature and consequences of the change, the people are poised to try it out and see where it takes them.

People are sick of his cluelessness and dumb brain.

The common voice of the majority will remain the voice of the gods. It shall prevail. If Nigeria exists after Abacha, then no one can hold the country down on his or her own terms. Never!

In 6 weeks Nigerians will know if a tyrant is born. They will know if the military will be in charge to complete the February 7 coup.

The roles of the civil society as well as the formidability of the opposition parties may determine the fate of a tyrant in the making.

If caution is thrown to the winds, all the predictions about the disintegration of Nigeria in 2015 may come to pass and history may record Jonathan as the last ruler of a unitary Nigeria. Time will tell..!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Jonathan’s Destructive Distillation Of Nigeria.

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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

Adeola_2013

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

A Season Of Uncertainties

/ Adeola / 3 Comments

Is this the Nigerian future: to create a country determined by interplay of terrorists, dictators and authoritarians?

A Season of Uncertainties

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola_2013

Nigerian politicians and rulers are out doing what they know how to do best. They are now telling lies in accordance to their ritualistic electoral campaigns largely without manifestos, without ideologies.

In a 2-part essay The Kings Are Mad, l highlighted some of the problems facing the Nigerian people whilst the rulers continue to lie, make empty promises and merry.

Mr. Buhari has now promised to send corrupt politicians to jail. Well, we don’t know how the February elections will turn out and many people are still afraid of the destructive roles that Boko Haram can play.

Apart from the obvious threats that Boko Haram poses, the entire polity is over heated.

But Buhari must be promptly reminded that his era as a dictator and tyrant are over. If people are corrupt they must first pass through a process of lawful prosecutions. It would be very, very interesting to see a bold system in Nigeria where all the political criminals in APC, PDP and other small parties can be put to trial.

A legal war on corruption and political criminals that may even consume the originator is long desired in Nigeria’s rotten political sphere. First, let them remove the stupid and useless immunity clause.

On his part Mr. Jonathan has been going about in Nigeria exposing his ineptitude, more or less disgracing himself and his political party, the PDP. Never in the history of Nigeria has anyone seen such an incoherent, unstable man at the helm of affairs.

It probably sounds wiser for Jonathan to call off his campaign until he can gather his thoughts and speak sanely.

Up till now, he has not been thinking before speaking. It appears there is no reservoir of intelligence left to tap from. On several occasions he has given opposite views on the same discussions.

After reviewing his contradictions in the press, how does it feel to look in the mirror and see the face of an unrepentant, lazy liar? How does it feel to be a commander-in-chief of a weak and defeated armed force on home soil?

In 2011 Jonathan made more than 200 promises on his campaign trails. He was going to be a magician l thought. He told Nigerians to discard him into the dustbin if electricity is not stable after 4 years of his reign. That is one major reason he should have passed the mantle to another candidate in his party. Perhaps someone else in PDP got some brains that work!

Jonathan exhibited the cruelest attribute of a dictator in recent memory when he ensured that only one nomination form was printed for the PDP primaries. He killed the idea of intra-party democracy under his watch! Greed is an incurable disease.

On his campaign trail this week, Jonathan has avoided issues and concentrated mainly on responding to whatever Buhari or APC have done or said. He puts himself and his party in a defensive role. As l write l don’t know my home telephone number by heart and l have no plan to memorize such. What is wrong with Mr. Jonathan?

Nigerians must blame themselves for the choice that lies ahead of them. They created or allowed a system that permits evil to prevail over good. Now they will choose between 2 undesirable elements whereas there are political solutions that could bring out the best men and women locked up (in their safe havens) by a cruel political system.

Now, on one hand is this liar, a sinking man in a PDP boat. Jonathan has no vision beyond his Bayelsa enclave where he has now armed the Southern terrorists with state of the art weapons. He handed over the security of Nigerian waterways to Niger Delta terrorists and continues to stock their pile with all kinds of arms and ammunition from around the world.

On the other hand is a former dictator with earlier indications of sympathy to Boko Haram and a man who will probably still not hesitate to create retroactive decrees to satisfy his thirst for brutality and injustice. Buhari is pretending to be a latter day repentant democrat.

A real political solution will bring about the emergence of true federalism or regional autonomy pre-January 1966 Nigeria. This is one way to rid Nigeria of authoritarians like Jonathan and dictators like Buhari who are both sadly products of a failed unitary system of government.

A real political solution will rid Nigeria of these national nonentities. A real political solution will bring out the intelligence that will rescue the nations locked up in non-functional Nigeria.

The persistent political nonsenses are thriving amidst very serious uncertainties. I have previously highlighted some of these uncertainties in recent essays: Daybreak 2015 and A Waiting Mayhem. The mayhems are here already.

The lazy government of Jonathan is on a campaign trail. It appears all the security apparatuses in the country have been totally deplored on this selfish campaign trail.

Since the emergence of Mr. Jonathan, Boko Haram has shown superiority of warfare combat than the Nigerian military. This is both disgraceful and embarrassing to a country that prides herself, falsely that is, as the giant of Africa.

There has been a form of de-classified information in the international community stating that the Nigerian government is contemplating postponing the 2015 elections. Against the backdrop of preparedness of INEC and the threats of insecurity across Nigeria, the truth will soon emerge.

Furthermore the escalation of massacres in North Eastern Nigerian coincided with the assertion by the governors from this region insisting that elections must hold in their states. Therefore it seems that the terrorists are hell bent on thwarting any plan towards conducting elections in Yobe, Adamawa and Maiduguri.

There are several problems in Nigeria. The most pressing since the emergence of the lazy Jonathan government is lack of security. It appears that Jonathan and his cohorts are prepared for the self-destructive process that could accompany forthcoming elections.

For, it must be stated clearly that it is uncommon and actually unthinkable that a country that wants peace for the people would go to an election year or period with as many problems.

What are the plans made to retake the terrorist-occupied states before the February elections? How can a presidential election be valid if elections do not take place across the country?

Nigeria herself is being held hostage presently. There are some hypotheses indicating that this may be true.

Firstly, it will be very sad if the APC adoption and support for Buhari were built on the fear created by Boko Haram. Many people are anticipating that Boko Haram will close shop if Buhari is elected. But that hypothesis was put to test in week 2 of 2015.

Boko Haram was reported to have massacred more than 2000 people in the town of Baga effectively closing down the town. Rather than slowing down, Boko Haram is decimating Nigerians and taking more land space.

There is unrest in Jos this weekend. Jos remains a boiling point of ethnic and religious problems. It is a permanent volatile city that swells for revenge and counter attacks dating back many years, precipitated by the British rule. The torching of the Jonathan PDP buses will definitely be a tip of the iceberg, if history is anything to go by.

Secondly Jimi Agbaje attested to the second hostage situation when he stated that the Nigerian economy will be crippled by the Niger Delta militants if Jonathan is not re-elected. Is that what Jonathan went to tell his “fada”-Babangida in Minna?

Was the meeting a sponsors’ meeting? Was a battle line drawn between what Boko Haram wanted and what the Niger Delta militants wanted? Is this the Nigerian future: to create a state determined by interplay of terrorists, dictators and authoritarians?

Few people were reported killed in Rivers State when Buhari flagged off his campaign. In the South, this is a preamble to the waiting mayhem come February 2015. There are weapons and small arms everywhere in Nigeria.

This will be a remarkable year of uncertainties.

The price of crude oil continues to drop in the international market.  Nigeria is officially broke after all the lies told by Mrs. Iweala under whose watch billions of dollars continue to disappear.

In any case massive retrenchment looms in the air; unemployment is set to reach a new record high in 2015. Austerity measures will be re-introduced; realities of life will bite harder in Nigeria.

Unfortunately the costs of running the government will likely go up and politicians will continue to loot the treasuries across the country.

What will Nigerians do regarding all these uncertainties and realities? Will they reach a new level of threshold of human resilience?

Change is the most common expression in the air.

People need to be informed that change is beyond replacing one man with another man.  A cosmetic change is too superficial. At this point there should be a simultaneous, energized clamor for a long term political solution for Nigeria. The most important change will be to eradicate the power at the center that makes demons out of men and Jezebels out of women.

For growth and development, Nigeria needs to reinvest in public education at all levels making them free and compulsory. Nigeria needs to pay more attention to health, science, medicine, family planning, technology and attainment of the millennium development goals.

For the economy diversification cannot wait because crude oil will either suffer extinction or its use will continue to diminish. Today, crude oil no longer has the relevance it has in the last couple of decennial. Alternatives are emerging every day and the global pursuit is to limit the use of petroleum products to products that are not obtainable from other processes. Running cars is not one of them!

Every part of Nigeria needs repositioning for increased and improved agricultural productivity. Oil Palm, cocoa, groundnut, yam, cashew and all the other agricultural products must receive renew attention and implementation of development policies.

The natural resources need to be retaken from fake expatriates and corrupt, foolish, illiterate ministers who keep selling them abroad cheap! More investments in this area under the control of the regional governments will be desirable in a reformed political system.

In all other areas, there should be strict regulations on areas where Nigerian and Nigerians are being robbed every day. The communication industry, power generation and distribution are examples of where better control will bring genuine revenues that can be used for development and remove the exploitations that Nigerians face ignorantly!

At all cost, power supply must improve and be stable.

Production and manufacturing in Nigeria can be developed without denying Nigerians the right to import desired goods and services. Long term development goals and programs to improve the standard of living without unnecessarily increasing the cost are very much desirable.

Change can come to Nigeria but the people must be wary. They have already tarried.

They need commitment, patriotism, trust and rededication to humanity and country.

By supporting the calls for regional autonomy or true federalism, Nigerians can remove the cankerworm sucking them at the center and reposition the country where it belongs-a global giant-say in 50 years if they start now.

How Much Money Does A Man Need?

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

In 1996 before the end of my service year I met an elderly man in a village near Moniya, on the outskirts of Ibadan. I think the village is called Idi Ose or something like that. Some of my colleagues at that time had been going to that village before I arrived in Oyo State for my service year.

The village provided solitude, a sort of respite from the stress of the work we do as Nigerians at IITA. I think my colleagues really wanted to have a place where they can have peace from work and sip original palm wine or just relax in the shade when they have long breaks or at the close of work before heading home. There is always peace when you are close to nature.

The elderly man, a very good reason to follow on the short trips to the other side of the road, was a very good listener and he chose his words with wisdom when he spoke. On one particular day he revealed his vexations, his bitterness about the criminals and greedy people called politicians who loot or steal from the treasuries across Nigeria. His greatest disappointment was that the crazy politicians do not need so much money for a single, short life time. For most of us we will not live up to 36 500 days!

He must be in his 70’s then and he told us that he had counted the probable days left of his life. He made an example and said if he had just N1m, that it would be more than enough for him to live a good life for the rest of his days. So, he questioned the excessive looting by Nigerian politicians and public office holders. He could neither comprehend, nor understand the rational behind looting of several billions of naira or dollars by individuals.

It was from this elderly man that I first heard that having cars do not depict prosperity. It’s hard to admit such a line of reasoning in Nigeria and I understood it more in Europe where people leave their cars at home and enjoy bicycle rides to work and parks.

How much money does a man need actually?

The answers cannot be that easy and the question cannot be treated in isolation. It can also not be generalised.

The amount of money a man needs today will depend greatly on the country that he lives in. Even within a single country the amount will also vary locally or regionally.

But what a non-greedy “universal” man needs can be used a yardstick, sort of standard.

At every point in time, a man needs access to shelter. He needs food, water and above all a good state of health to enjoy the previously stated necessities of life.

But how does one define a universal man? Is he/she single, married or divorce? Does he or she have children? What kind of roles does the society play in the care of the underprivileged, the unemployed, the old, the ill and other categories of the people who one can classify as either dependents or weak?

In what ways can one connect the universal man to the others in the same society? This question is very relevant for countries like Nigeria because of the overwhelming abnormalities that obtain in how the society runs. It’s a totally dysfunctional society where bad politics and stupid policies have ruined the essential foundations of family, society and country.

A universal man who has come of age wants to have a job or do something in order to earn a dignified living or existence. At every point in time, he can live in one house or in an apartment. At every point in time, he can drive one car or ride a bicycle. He can only sleep on a bed. These things and all the other things that a man desires can be naturally influenced by taste and normal affluence.

However those who loot Nigeria’s treasuries do not understand that happiness comes from the perfect integration of work and play. They do not comprehend that happiness is also based on sound health, contentment with family, mutual coexistence with other people and peace with nature and environment.

[Abdulsalami, Shonekan, Babangida, Obasanjo, Jonathan, Gowon, Shagari and Buhari. Under these men, their executive councils, their ministers, several state governors and other accomplices that sometimes include their wives, Nigeria has lost over 600 billion dollars. They should be made accountable. Nigeria needs to make examples of the rule of law for real, and the "heads" are usually where to start so that other parts can straighten out. Never is it too late!]

[Abdulsalami, Shonekan, Babangida, Obasanjo, Jonathan, Gowon, Shagari and Buhari. Under these men, their executive councils, their ministers, several state governors and other accomplices that sometimes include their wives, Nigeria has lost over 600 billion dollars. They should be made accountable. Nigeria needs to make examples of the rule of law for real, and the “heads” are usually where to start so that other parts can straighten out. Never is it too late!]

Greed is the creator of insatiateness. When people working in public positions, Nigerian politicians in this case, start to think that they can build a perfect life based on the amount of money they steal or accumulate, then there is a tendency to open up a bogus life instead, that which is based on falsehood, criminalities and perpetual illusions that money is the sole basis of happiness or solution to life’s puzzle.

This is where Nigerian politicians are today. They found an evil haven in the nature of the crazy politics and ways of life that emerged in post-independence Nigeria. They created a buffer called the immunity clause that allows them to live as criminals in government and eventually they remain free criminals shielded from prosecution even after days of political plundering.

They found morally bad refuge in the useless law system that they helped to manipulate and rendered ineffective. Nigerian politicians who are well known criminals have rarely ended up in jails. Nigerians as a people are totally disorganised and weakened by ethnicity and religiosity amongst other factors that promote mental slavery. They back their own “local political criminals” or they simply adopt the “siddon look” approach. What a tragic sequence!

Does a man need up to 12 billion dollars in his life time? Why would a man steal so much money under the pretence of political service? Such crimes are previously thoughts to be reserved for the social misfits, career smugglers and armed bandits until it became the official pastime of public office holders in Nigeria.

Treasury Looters

Treasury Looters

What kind of satisfaction comes from buying properties that belong to the government and the people under the pretence of governance? Why do Nigerian politicians engage in looting competitions to acquire massive wealth that they cannot exhaust if they were to live their lives 100 times over?

Are these acquisitions growing signs of undetected mental ailments among Nigerian politicians? How much money does a man need? Leo Tolstoy made us understand how much land a man need. It’s just 6 feet.

The minimum federal wage in Nigeria is N18 000 per month. This poverty wage is so low and shameful it can only buy 3 standard meals at an average modern eatery in Nigeria. How does a man who earn N18 000 per month survives from one month to the next? Understanding this type of a question can help us arrive at what an average man needs to survive in Nigeria. It will illuminate the things Nigerians do in order to survive.

It will also in no small extent expand the scope of the mental ailments of the Nigerian politicians who earn more than any other group of politicians globally but still needing to steal or loot so much. Nigerian politicians will rub shoulders with the most corrupt categories of people in the world.

How much money does a man need? Is family a reason to become a thief in politics? How did Nigerians end up employing or selecting criminals as politicians all round and then end up doing nothing to rectify the anomaly?

When a man starts his own family, how much money does he need? How does he plan his household so that his usual income can cater for the need of his wife and children? What are the modern roles of women in Nigerian homes so that a family is able to maintain an economic stability that will keep them away from crime or criminal tendencies? I know that women are breadwinners in many homes anyway.

Irrespective of the amount of money that a man needs as an individual or as a breadwinner, the amount of money that Nigerian politicians earn and then loot will not be justifiable. It has been crime against humanity all the way.

Nigeria is paying her legislators the highest salaries in the world. Yet they receive unlimited bonuses, have access to contracts, and enjoy lazy times at the sittings.

Treasury Looters

Treasury Looters

In general Nigerian politicians earn a lot and steal a lot. A whooping 600 billion dollars may have been stolen from the Nigerian treasury in the past 50 years. About 200 billion dollars of these wasted monies have allegedly disappeared since the return of civilian rule in 1999.

What these looted or wasted monies could have translated into is immeasurable. But with simple logic, it is easy to assume that Nigeria is supposed to be the best country to live on earth. I mean who throws away 600 billion dollars? It’s insane!

The consequences include but are not limited to making Nigeria probably the most corrupt country in the world, one of the worst places to live on planet earth and a place where life expectancy is declining fast.

Nigerian politicians and former military dictators should be made to undergo extensive psychological evaluations so Nigerians can know what is going on in their heads. Answers may be needed for the sake of posterity. Nigeria may take the help of renowned anthropologists to do extensive studies on the mindsets of her politicians.

I’m serious to repeat that this is very important and necessary because Nigerian politicians are definitely not normal people. Their abnormalities are promoted by the absence of functional legal systems that ought to put away political criminals in prisons. It is also promoted by the absence of virtues that define sane societies for example Nigerians do not question the sources of wealth, they simply worship it. In the presence of money, majority of Nigerians simply lose their moral consciousness.

What is a politician or a group of politicians doing with stolen or missing 20 billion dollars or 12 billion dollars or even 1 billion dollars? Why would someone loot 300 million pounds in Nigeria and stash away in a foreign bank? Is the money his father’s savings or his family earnings? These types of politicians ought to have been rounded up and bundled behind bars.

It’s amazing how Nigerians have been enveloped by both the Stockholm and the Nigerian syndromes. These untoward attributes make up (the) almost irreversible tragedies that plague Nigeria as it is today.

How much money does a man need for a life span that is less than 100 years (36 500 days)? I don’t think these retards count their life span in days just to see how short life is!

All the atrocities committed by civilian rulers/looters and military gangsters have already taken their tolls and it is getting worse. Life expectancy in Nigeria is moving below the 40 year mark. Unpublished data in the hands of a medical doctor friend and classmate of mine puts life expectancy in Nigeria between 37-39 years old.

How long are Nigerians going to look on or away before they realise that their future had been stolen and that recovery lies entirely in their hands. The system of government is rubbish. We are just reading about a probable scenario where Goodluck Jonathan may have kept several millions of naira in Aso rock. Is Aso rock a bank or bureau de change? This type of trend is common in Nigeria but it is totally abnormal and crazy.

In every part of Nigeria, people need to organize sensible resistance and find ways to end the reign of the bad rulers and corrupt politicians. The people need to regain their consciousness and take back their regions in (to) normalcy. It’s going to be a very long walk to freedom.

It is known that all days can be for the thief. But no matter how long it takes one day must definitely be for the owner. With the nonsense immunity clause in Nigeria that protect criminals in government and the invalid status of the rule of law that fails to catch up with them, one day it will be time for the people to round up all the corrupt politicians and military dictators and tell them that enough is enough!

That’s part of the hope and probably one of the ways forward as well.

#prosecuteallpoliticallootersnow

#bringbacknigeriasmoney

#bringbackregionalgovernmentthatworksbeforethecoups

aderounmu@gmail.com