he meeting was star-studded by local Nigerian standard. These were few elite sons-not a single lady in the meeting-of Ogbia people in Bayelsa State holding in Yenagoa in Bayelsa State. It was presided over by the late Chief Emmanuel Igoniwari in his capacity as the Asiwaju of Ogbia Land. The local muckety- mucks were deliberating on who to choose among them to pair with then governorship candidate of the PDP, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyesiegha for Nigeria's first post-military democracy after the death of Luciferous Sani Abacah in 1999. DSP wanted a running mate from Ogbia land, because of the block voting of the Ogbia people.
As Benson Sunday Agadaga, an Ogbia elite and classmate of Goodluck Jonathan, who was present at the meeting on that day told this writer, DSP sent words to the Ogbia local power brokers that they should give him an Ogbia man as his running mate, because, DSP as someone from Amassoma in Ogboin LGA would not be able to win the 1999 governorship election in Bayelsa without a running mate from Ogbia LGA. DSP wasn't looking for a performer, but anyone to balance the delicate ethnic politics of the Ijaw nation in the 3-year old state in 1999. "The position of deputy governorship was already zoned to us by DSP and we met to present a candidate," volunteered Agadaga who later became the first commissioner for information and culture in the state in 1999. It was someone at the meeting that mentioned the name of Goodluck Jonathan who was not present at the meeting in Yenagoa and as Agadaga disclosed in my co-authored book; "Jonathan; the Squandering of Goodluck," during an interview in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State: "When the name of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was mentioned, there was pin drop silence in the meeting, because no one spoke." The silence became prophetic. When eventually Chief Igoniwari met Mr. Jonathan later, Jonathan declined to accept the offer. " I don't want anything to do with Nigerian politics," Jonathan, who was a working at OMPADEC told the Asiwaju of Ogbia people, because, according to Mr. Diekive Ikiogha, another good friend of Mr. Jonathan, while talking to the writer in Yenagoa, "Jonathan didn't want to have anything to do with politics. He is too decent for the rough and tumble of Nigerian politics and besides, he didn't have the money and also the fear of the unstable Nigerian political terrain."
Any objective analysis of the current disaster known as the outgoing Jonathan Administration in Nigeria must begin from the political beginning of Nigeria's accidental president. The late Chief MKO Abiola once said that, if you want to know whether a fish is good or bad, smell the head. But that is only half-truth; to know whether the head of a fish is good or not, go back to the water it was fished from. How did a man who garner an unprecedented support and overwhelming goodwill of Nigerians five years ago suddenly become so politically radioactive today that even his own party and people do not want anything to do with him? How could a popular president that all of us labored and rooted for barely five years ago suddenly become an anathema and a goner before our very eyes? Where did Mr. Goodluck Jonathan get it wrong and turn into bad luck? Someone once said that leadership gravitates to anyone who craves and earnestly desires and fights for it, but the reverse is the case in the Nigerian context. Leadership of any type is a burden, and especially, political leadership is a great responsibility which should not be given to anyone who doesn't fight and earnestly desires it. Nigeria has been haplessly presided over by prodded men; fortuitous leaders who had other things in mind but were woken up to take up political leadership. Because Nigeria's somnambulistic leaders hardly rise beyond their dreams and are bereft of ideas and ideals greater than selves, the nation's fortunes have been shambolic and retarded. It is against this tragic backdrop that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan's leadership style should be understood. Mr. Jonathan didn't become a disastrous and non-performing leader overnight, just as the rotten fish didn't show us ahead from its head. Mr. Jonathan didn't deceive Nigerians about his lackluster and dour personality; rather, Nigerians deceived themselves on Mr. Jonathan five years ago with the blinkers of ethnicity, tribalism and religious bigotry. If President Barack Obama were a Nigerian seeking to be Nigeria's president in 2008 as a black man, he would not win. This is why Nigeria can never become the United States and a Jonathan armed with large dose of goodluck can never become, even a mayor of a city in the United States. Look at some of the great indices Nigerians use in choosing their leaders and compare such indices with the Nigerian environment. Does it matter where a citizen of a nation come from in aspiring to the highest position in the land as long as he/she is a bonafide citizen? Why all of a sudden now in 2015 after five agonizing years under the train wreck known as Goodluck Jonathan did Nigerians realize that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is far better than this PhD (?) holder as president?
Mr. Goodluck Jonathan didn't plan to be a public office holder in his adult life. As we scrutinized his record from his primary, secondary to university days in my co-authored biography of him, every responsibility he had ever assumed were thrust on him from the shoulders of otherness. He had never aspired to any responsibility on his own volition, rather had always been prodded. As Winston Churchill once said about public leadership, a society should not entrust political leadership to someone who has to be prodded, and only the one who is the prodder rather than being prodded values the sacred trust of public leadership. From Mate Dei High School in Imiringi, Ogbia Kingdom in present-day Bayelsa State where he was prodded to be a head boy; appealed to by his local compradors to be a deputy governor, to being drafted to become a vice president and accidentally planted to become president, Mr. Jonathan has always been prodded rather than being the prodder. This is why he has disgraced the exalted office of the Nigerian presidency and made a disaster of public leadership. It takes more than goodluck to run a functioning and well-organized administration; it requires adroit and astute leadership to govern a nation rather than waiting and relying on goodluck, because in these Age and Days, goodluck is in short supply. Because Nigerians are still not sure if they have a nation or a country, men like Goodluck Jonathan will always appear on the national scene. Because majority of Nigerians have that mental retardation toward public office, including the presidency as a big enchilada for all to butcher and divide at will, Jonathan's psyche is a mirror of the generality of Nigerians. The Asari-Dokubos, Edwin Clarke Tompolo and their bedfellows are threatening brimstone and Armageddon in 2015, if Goodluck Jonathan loses not because they are concerned about Jonathan's performance. It is because of the fear of losing access to public funds and oil wealth being presided over by Mr. Goodluck Jonathan. Their fear is that another Ijaw man may never become the president of Nigeria again in their lifetimes and so the rest of us must be held hostage by a non-performing president. Consequently, the two choices before Nigerians in this year's presidential election are the future of all of us or few of us; the interests of Nigerians or the narrow interests of Ijaw Nigerians. The power to make that choice is Saturday February 15, 2015 and the choice is markedly clear.
LETTERS OF THE WEEK
Dear Dr. Moshood Fayemiwo, greetings. I read your article, "The Mohammadu Buhari Regime" on Nigerianworld website and I am impressed with your eloquence and narration. I am thinking about inviting you to speak at an event we are hosting. "Nigerian in Diaspora Alliance for Good Governance - (NIDAGG). I will like to talk to you further. I'd appreciate it if you can send your number along. Alternatively, my number is� Thank you sir and looking forward to hearing from you soon. �Mr. Yahaya Omanoba, Chicago Illinois, USA
Dear Mr. Omanoba, it will be a honor to speak to your organization on the Nigerian political development, especially the forthcoming presidential election. We cannot afford to sit on the fence as Diaspora Nigerians.
------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Hi Dr. Fayemiwo. May the good Lord continue to prosper you and increase you in knowledge and understanding in Jesus Name, Amen I am a regular visitor to Nigeriaworld, and each time, I always visit your column and your write ups. They are good, genuine, educating, spirit filled and help many Nigerians to wake up and understand that action need to be taken to stop all the so called armed robbers that we called leaders in our home country Nigeria. I am so happy for your last write ups to Mrs. Soboyejo and her likes, I believed if she has conscience by now which I believed she doesn't have, she will surely bury her head in shame. In all honesty, my prayer is that Buhari will win the presidential election come February 14, 2015 and with the support of God Almighty he will carry out God's plan for Nigeria so that the coming generation unborn and the corrupt youth of Nigeria will come back to their senses and do the right things to make our nation great again. I love you Dr., God will continue to uphold and bless you and your family in Jesus Name �.Mr. Adedamola Ojutalayo, Toronto, Canada.
Dear Mr. Ojutalayo, thanks for your kind words. Please, do not let us beat down on Mrs. Soboyejo for her views which she is eminently and rightly entitled to as a Nigerian and writer. I disagreed with her on her views as I stated in my rejoinder. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------.
My dear Dr Fayemiwo, your comparative analysis of the competing presidential candidates was brilliant. I really had a good introspective look at the mien and persona of both Mr. Jonathan and Gen. Buhari. There is no doubt that Mr. Jonathan has failed to understand the use and application of his presidential powers. As you stated in your piece last week, this can be traced to his pacifistic demeanor and penchant for not taking a strong stand on any issue. However, one may ask why did Babaginda successfully overthrow Buhari? Most writers, especially military historians generally cite the absence of late General Idiagbon in Nigeria during the coup. According to them and which you bought into is that if Idiagbon was around, the coup would have been foiled. I sincerely beg to disagree. The former military governor of the old western state, General Adebayo once stated that once a military officer is assigned a political position, his military prowess is diminished and he will lose the confidence and camaraderie of his fellow officers. Idiagbon was the Chief of Staff and was not commanding any division, brigade of battalion. Can you tell us how he could have rallied soldiers to stop the coup plot? On the other hand, Babaginda used his position as Chief of Army Staff to place his loyalists in sensitive positions. The commanding division officers around Lagos and neighboring areas were all Babangida boys.
Another aspect that is worth to note is that the coup that toppled Shagari was the primary handiwork of Babangida and not Buhari. The latter was in Jos to be involved in the logistics, planning and execution. Moreover, it is believed that the coup was also financed by late Abiola through Babangida. Sorry for diverging but the point is, Babaginda was militarily stronger than the duo of Buhari and Idiagbon. However, Karma has a way of acting. The same thing happened to Babangida when he was not able to remove Abacha because the latter had cultivated strong support from military officers and resisted the handover of the government to civilians. Babangida was more of a military politician because of his office while Abacha built his loyalists within the armed forces.
But the crux of the matter here is the same factors that propelled the toppling of Buhari are present today. Who are financing Buhari's campaign? Will these people allow him to initiate positive changes in our polity? If the governors are using government money to finance his campaign, on what moral grounds can he go after corrupt politicians? Will he go after Tinubu whose wealth is questionable? Will he go after bank executives who he claimed he borrowed money from without collateral? These are vexing problems in our polity. Everyone's hands are soiled. Hypocrisy is the order of the day. To be honest, I am not impressed by these frontline candidates. ---Mr. Chuma Oguejiofor, Ypsilanti, MI, USA.
Dear Mr. Oguejiofor, as I stated in my first write-up in this column few weeks ago, elections are mostly about the future and not about the past. The major character in your letter is dead and so we will do a disservice to him by postulating his likely reactions to the coup. You should know that Gen. Idiagbon himself didn't know it was Gen Babangida that staged the coup you referred to when he was performing Umrah or Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. He was praying when the Saudi authorities came in to inform his entourage that a military coup d'etat had occurred in Nigeria on Saturday August 27, 1986. When the Saudis came in, they could not talk to Idiagbon, but told the late Gen Mamman Vatsa who was part of the delegation that the BBC had just reported that a military coup d'etat had just taken place in Nigeria. Vasta later informed Idiagbon after he finished is Ishai prayer and the first remark of Idiagbon was; "I hope Gen Babangida was safe?" Vasta then broke the news: "He's not only safe; he's the new head of state." Both Idiagbon and Vasta looked at themselves speechless. Earlier in the day, Gen Idiagbon had bought a wrist watch as a gift to Babangida which of course, he kept to himself till he died. The Saudi Arabian authorities offered Idiagbon an asylum but he said; "Our friend is the new head of state, lets return home." Yes, my former boss and employer, the late Chief MKO Abiola bankrolled the coup and I disclosed these and many more in my biography of Chief MKO Abiola. But like I explained, elections are about the future. In spite of MKO Abiola's stand, Nigerians still voted for him overwhelmingly on June 12, 1993 during the annulled presidential election. It's time to move forward. Thanks for your letter.
----------------------------------------.
Dear Dr Fayemiwo, Thanks for the brilliant article you wrote on the above subject. To have information and communicate it to the outside world is a sort of wealth you decided to share with the rest of us. For me I will say God will surely bless you for it.
This information no doubt will empower Nigerians especially the youths at this crucial time the country is at a crossroad but still deciding which direction to turn to. The information you have laid bare will rubbish the likes of Chief FaniKayode's claim on General Buhari. Your analysis so far on the two personalities of GEJ and GMD should be studied by all meaning Nigerians in deciding who they should vote for to occupy Aso Rock come May 2015. In those good old times when the education sector was properly manned by competent and dedicated personnel, School heads report or comments were vital in getting to position of authority or leadership as in most cases they were authentic. Today we have all sorts of people ranging from Agberos, political thugs, incompetent persons, but willing to be used by the selfish cabal to accomplish their selfish desires in position of authority. I strongly recommend your write up as a reference point. I also believe that you have a role to play in the nearest future in our native country Nigeria. Stay Well & God bless ----Chief Abu Yesufu-Eke London, UK.
Thanks for your commendation and comments. It shall be well for our fatherland in Jesus Mighty Name, Amen.
--------------------------------------------.
Re-Nigeria Decides 2015 article
Dear Dr. Moshood Fayemiwo, Good Job! I look forward to reading the continuation of the article. Thanks! ---- Dr. Ndubuisi Chimara, JD Associate Governmental Program Analyst, Legislative Analysis, Registrations; and Inquiry Response Unit Medical Policy and Benefits Branch, California Department of Health Care Services, CA, USA.
