THE STEADY FREE FALL.

This is a puzzle to me but might be an ‘easy peasy’ for someone else. I am not a complicated person you see, so I like the easy side of life. I love any kitchen gadget that would help enhance my culinary skills especially those kitchen gadgets that make life easier in the kitchen like the onion chopper, apple corer, egg and tomato slicers etc. I couldn’t manage without my food processor too. Some of you would be thinking, “At last, she is showing that she is a woman, she’s going to talk about food”, Far from it. Its about my favourite topic at the moment; Its about President Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan is believed to have been voted for by majority of registered Nigerian voters to emerge the president of Nigeria in the last presidential election, against my advice; fair enough. Nigerians, especially those who felt he was not fairly treated on his journey from vice presidency to the presidency, after the death of his predecessor and those who thought he represented the Nigerian dream of rising from obscurity to prominence all queued behind him. Their hopes were high as they felt he was the Barack Obama of Nigeria, the long awaited messiah, the hope of Nigeria. Nigerians have since withdrawn that support as he failed them systematically at every point. He has left them literally living from hand to mouth. Nigerians have known more poverty under Jonathan than under any other ruler; Nigerians have never lived under such threat to lives and properties as they do now. The level at which we have all become governments unto ourselves, providing our own basic amenities is unprecedented. Those who are close to Abuja declare that the looting in Abuja is unequalled anywhere in the world. Those who speak against the ineptitude, careless and irresponsible utterances of Mr President and his cronies are labelled anti-South. According to this myopic school of thought, the only reason Jonathan was being criticised was because he was a Southerner thus, reducing Jonathan to a Southern leader.

What we now have is a Southern president who shamelessly tells Nigerians that his government has been hijacked by the cabal on one hand and by Boko Haram on the other. This president has allowed his appointed co-travellers to run the nation as their private estates, not only making profit at the expense of Nigerians, but running away with the capital too. He has no control or say, whatsoever as to the conduct of his public officers who have been left to their corrupt and thieving devices. This situation culminated into a nationwide protest by the #occupyNigeria Movement against the administration of Jonathan for the constant disrespect and insensitivity it accorded Nigerians, including Southerners. At this point President Jonathan, who was already being portrayed as a Southern leader fell further as some people in the Niger Delta came out fiercely in defence of their leader. At no point did Jonathan remind these misguided people that he was a national figure and not just for them. This was appalling as these individuals thought they were doing him a favour when in the real sense of it, all they were doing was further reducing the sectional status of the president of the Federal republic of Nigeria to that of a regional leader, the Niger Delta leader!

Think back a little bit and you’ll remember that Jonathan had taken another tumble even as he openly meddled in the politics of his homestead of Bayelsa State. He stirred up the waters of Bayelsa state and left in tartars the fragile peace that existed in the already troubled state. His people frowned and that frown left deep furrows on their foreheads. Even former President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, advised President Jonathan to act like a statesman and desist from his overbearing manipulation of the internal politics of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his home state. These elder statesmen did not remember that Jonathan was now a Bayelsan leader, not a statesman. So when the people of Bayelsa were called upon to vote in the beneficiary of Jonathan’s war with Bayelsans, even Jonathan confessed that few people bordered to turn up. The election which was marred by apathy, nonetheless, enthroned a stooge of Jonathan’s. Many Bayelsans said Jonathan acted in the interest of Jonathan.

One would now reason that since Jonathan has now fallen further to become an Ijaw leader that he would now act in the interest of Ijaw people. Recently, many of us were ranting on Twitter about a fire that killed two workers and destroyed a Chevron gas exploration rig. Friends of the Earth, an international environment appreciation group said the fire outbreak was the world's worst of such accident in recent years. According to Chineme Okafor, the flames had burned as high as five metres (16ft 4in) in a 40 metre-wide area on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Villagers around Koluama complained about rashes, breathing difficulties and gastro-intestinal problems since the fire began. Chevron said its own tests have found no air pollution from the blaze, though it acknowledges some fish have been killed from the fire. Fishing remains how many in the surrounding communities earn a living. Many concerned Nigerians, including yours sincerely had complained bitterly for weeks about the fate of these Ijaw people before the Ijaw leader said anything to that effect. This fire raged on for forty-six days. Forty-six days of hell for Jonathan’s Ijaw kith and kin!

Now whose president is Jonathan? He has failed Nigerians, shamed the southerners, disgraced the South-southerners, disappointed the Niger Deltans, frustrated the Bayelsans and sold out the Ijaws to Chevron and the oil companies because as far as Mr. President was concerned, the Ijaw families affected by this disaster should put up with it and they did till a public outrage forced Chevron to act. 

Going by the unchecked activities of Jonathan's missus, who has been left entirely to her own devices, and has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that she is a core member of the cabal that has "hijacked" her husbands administration, it is evidently clear that Jonathan has since lost the power to be her president. Or how else can one explain the sheer number of assistants she travels overseas with at a time Nigerians are being duped and forced to pay more than necessary for lives essentials such as food and fuel? How is the president not able to call his reckless madam to order in light of the obscene amount she spent furnishing her charity's office building at Abuja or her name cropping up every now and then as receiving largesse from monies meant for the development of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Whose president is Jonathan? I think and sincerely too, that Jonathan is not even on the side of Jonathan as everything he says or does proves he does not understand the role he is expected to play. His words and threats have no weight to them. When he does speak and most times belatedly, the western press supported by African commentators turn their noses at him and say, "Empty words, empty threats". We do not expect the best from a clueless man who surrounds himself with people who ordinarily would be classed as intelligent and sensible but through association with Jonathan have become clueless themselves. These people, some of them internationally acclaimed professionals know that their boss does not know the difference between here and there so they go to sleep too, leaving Nigerians to grapple with the fallout from an administration of clueless, inept, uncaring, insensitive and corrupt men and women. Consequently, the losers are Nigerians who have been left without a president and commander in chief of the armed forces. 

Its a shame how fast and heavily a man could fall. Indeed, President Jonathan's journey with Nigerians has been that of a steady free fall.

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