Jonathan’s visit to Maiduguri and other matters

Afara Lane
Robert Obioha
08111813041, robobioha@yahoo.com
Nigerian politics is alive once again. Its colour and vibrancy
cannot be missed. Apart from football, Nigerians eat, drink
and sleep politics. It is the noblest art in the land. That is why
Plato wants philosopher-kings to constitute the ruling elites.
That is why he banned lyrical poets from his ideal republic.
The lyrical poets may be the modern day caustic critics of
government. With the heated campaigns, the secrets of some
of the political actors are daily being unmasked. At
newsstands, Nigerians are arguing their hearts out on who
among the two main political gladiators, Jonathan and Buhari,
will carry the day come February 14, the Saint Valentine’s Day
or Lovers’ Day. Jonathan and Buhari are crowd pullers any
day and any time. They have cult followerships across the
country. Just as some Nigerians are diehard Buharists, many
Nigerians are also diehard Jonathanians. That is why the
campaigns are becoming hotter and hotter with each passing
day.
Non-violence pact or not, the campaigns have been war and
war and all is fair in war. While the main issues are glossed
over, Nigerians are daily regaled with tales of sundry
shortcomings of Jonathan and Buhari. These are however not
unexpected. Such jabs and banters at their political opponents
were common in our previous republics. It was part of the
game. Taking to a ridiculous extent, it can be irritating like the
recent death wish on a certain candidate. That jab is
indecorous and does not convey any message, at least to my
own understanding. Nigerians should be spared of such
indecorum.
After months of bashing on his inability to visit Chibok, where
over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram some
months ago, and despite his hectic campaign schedules,
President Goodluck Jonathan courageously paid a surprise
visit to Maiduguri, Borno State, the hotbed and epicenter of
the Boko Haram insurgency. GEJ took some time off after
laying the wreath for our fallen heroes on Armed Forces
Remembrance Day in Abuja and flew to Maiduguri to see
things for himself. President Jonathan visited the troops at the
Barracks and those in hospitals as well as hundreds of
internally displaced persons. The visit is very symbolic and
strategic.
I did not see politics in it. The visit is a morale booster to the
troops, especially the wounded that they are not forgotten. It
is also reassuring to the displaced persons that GEJ did not
abandon them. It is succour to the people of Borno State and
indeed the North-East that the president is with them in the
war against terrorism. With the Maiduguri visit, I think that
GEJ is in a better position to appraise the war against
terrorism and what needs to be done to restore peace to the
troubled war zone. I think that those asking him to visit
Chibok are not serious. If he visits Chibok today, they will still
ask him to visit Baga and other war theaters. The list would
be endless. I have found out in life that it is easy to destroy
than to build. It is easy to find fault than to rectify one. It is
even easier to criticize than to amend what is being criticized.
Criticism is cheap but constructive criticism is very rare to
find in our country. That is why I laugh at critics of GEJ. Put
them there and you get even worse results.
A “clueless” and “incompetent” president, indecorous epithets
used by Jonathan’s critics, who cannot do what the president
has done so far. An “incompetent” president cannot build
roads, modernize airports, revolutionize agriculture, build 12
universities and many schools for almajiri education just to
mention a few. A corruption-ridden administration cannot try
the pension fund boss and cannot deploy the use of biometric
information technology to unmask ghost workers and those
behind corruption in fertilizer distribution. Agreed that there
are other corruption loopholes to plug, our anti-graft laws
should be strengthened to make it difficult for people to be
corrupt. That is the best way to fight corruption and not
necessarily by throwing people in jail.
Another deed of the government that truly deserved
commendation over the week is the reduction in the pump
price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as
petrol from N97 to N87 due to the global fall in the price of
crude oil in international market. By doing this, the Jonathan
administration has demonstrated that it is sensitive to the
feelings of all Nigerians. He has ably shown too that his
administration is caring and has a human face, plus milk of
human kindness. Some critics of the government felt that the
price of petrol can be further reduced to reflect the sharp fall
in crude oil price. Even at that, ten naira is still something.
While some marketers have reflected the new price regime,
others are yet to do so. The authorities concerned must
ensure the compliance of all marketers to the new price with
immediate effect.
I would like the government to also reduce the pump price of
diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel to reflect the fall in global
crude oil prices. If government can do this, the Nigerian
masses will benefit. The reduction of the pump price of these
petroleum products will impact positively on other sectors like
transport and electricity, goods and services.
Despite the non-violence pact of all the presidential
candidates in respect of the 2015 polls, the campaigns so far
are nothing but edifying. The APC and PDP promoters have
engaged in verbal combat with decorum thrown to the winds.
From APC, the chants of change, clueless and incompetence
have deafened lots of Nigerians. And from the PDP, the
singsong of old age, non-provision of WASC certificate,
sickness and feared death are sickening too.
Beyond these banter throwing, I think that the political parties,
especially, the APC and PDP should start getting seriously and
dwell on issue-based campaigns rather than mudslinging and
verbal warfare. Our ears are aching over the noise from the
soapbox.
There are many things they can tell the electorate on the
economy, education, health, power and the rest. I do not think
that most of our problems centre only on corruption and
insecurity. We have more fundamental problems such as how
to restructure the country, the envisaged system of
government, devolution of power to make competition for the
central power unattractive, to stop the “civil war” that attends
ever presidential poll. Corruption and insecurity are just mere
symptoms of a deeply-rooted foundational malaise.
A national conference was conducted and none of the
presidential candidates is talking on how to implement it. Let
our politicians get seriously now and stop the motor park and
market women gossips that pass for campaign messages.