A SICK GOVERNMENT THAT REFUSES TO TAKE MEDICINE

I am not sure what informed my decision to watch President Goodluck Jonathan’s arranged third media chat. I guess it was because I had no confidence in the ability of the England football squad to nail the Italians and clinch the opportunity to face the Germans in a semi-final of the on-going Euro 2012 tournament. It was one bad decision that has haunted me since that night. I had also given the lack-lustre president too much credit by assuming that his ignoring Nigerians for many months meant he was learning the art of being a charismatic president; so I wanted to be one of the people to witness the unveiling of a new and improved charismatic and sensitive leader of our nation.

His hands flew around freely like those of an angry man who was tipsy at a beer parlour. His nervous smile did him no good. If it was meant to portray him as a man at ease, it did the opposite, it showed a man who is confused and lacks confidence in himself. He latched on words and phrases such as “Body-language” which he clearly had no understanding of and used them out of context a couple of times. His demeanour betrayed a man who did not know whether he was coming or going, and only spelt disaster and a long nightmare for Nigerians who are now more alert than ever and can see through the facade and the charade that was the media chat.

President Jonathan floundered from point to point, speaking like one who had taken one, too many shots of the native gin, in an effort to steady his nerves. I was angry at first, especially when he disrespected the lady amongst the journalists for asking a question he did not like. He did not even let her complete the question before he rudely interrupted, turned his back to her while waving her away. President Jonathan is an absolute non-starter; it’s totally out of order and disrespectful for him to treat anyone, and particularly a lady, in such a manner.

It was obvious that he had no answers to any of the questions he was asked and in order to cover his deficiencies, he resorted to clowning, thereby reducing the whole thing to a moon-light play. I could not fathom, for the life of me, why President Jonathan was nervous. He was surrounded by friendly journalists and an inept team put together by Reuben Abati and in a familiar environment. As I struggled to stay tuned, I wondered why our globe-trotting president (who reminded the nation, a few days ago, of the Roman Emperor who played the harp while Rome was on fire), ran away to Brazil to attend a conference that was bound to have terminologies he would need interpretations for.


It was also distressing to know that our president did not know the difference between INTERNET, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) AND ONLINE as he referred to all three as IT! One of the reasons I am not his friend on Facebook is that I do not believe that he has the skills to run a page on Facebook and he confirmed that yesterday. Again, he is not my friend! It was clear too that President Jonathan has a hatred for those he referred to as IT people. I think he meant those of us who use the social media network to make our voices heard. Again there was confusion on his part regarding the huge bill he has to pay to those they employed to ask silly questions on Twitter and attack people like me on Facebook. He alluded to the fact that criticising the government is big business. Someone needs to educate him on the facts here. What we do is holding an irresponsible and an arrogant, yet inefficient, government to account, peradventure, it might listen and do right for the people of Nigeria. We all work hard to pay our monthly internet bills to be able to stay online. We do what we do because we love our nation. It is in the interest of Nigerians we make sacrifices to sustain the work we do online.

I held on to the end, clutching at straw, as it were, in hope that this head of a sick government would wake up to reality at some point and take the pill or medicine prescribed for it. The arrogance President Jonathan exuded was so thick it would require a chainsaw to cut it asunder. To my horror, he said he did not understand why Nigerians were clamouring for him to declare his asset, preferring to go with his personal conviction rather than the people of Nigeria and their constitution.

“Clamouring” means a strong expressed protest or demand, typically from a large number of people. How can this president ignore the popular call and demand of a people he claimed voted him into power? Should he not be acting in the best interest of the people of Nigeria and did he not swear to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

It’s so obvious and all can see that the government of President Jonathan is a very sick one. One of the world’s foremost economists, Professor George Ayittey, has lashed out at the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, describing him as “a joke” and a mediocre President after his (Jonathan’s) encounter with the media last night.


According to Professor Ayittey, Nigeria “deserves a better leader”, Judging by Jonathan’s poor, almost unfortunate responses to some of the questions posed to him by the Nigerian media that night.
The Professor indicated that Jonathan’s refusal to declare his assets and his failure to tackle the Boko Haram crisis suggest that he is of an “unsound mind”.

A very sick person needs the attention of a doctor to get better. In this case, we can all agree on one point that this government has refused to take medicine and it won’t be long before it dies. There is no hope and no joy from this obstinate president who sees nothing wrong in swearing on national television at a time Nigerian children were still awake. I am not sure what goes on in his mind. One thing is certain, this sick government that refuses to take medicine, will surely die and soon too.
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