Saturday, January 17, 2015
I like President Goodluck Jonathan. I have never met him in person, but from public appearances he strikes me as a well-mannered and reasonable man, with the kind of humility and decency not often seen in Nigerian politicians.
However there are many people that I like but whom I will agree are not suited for public office. President Jonathan is not suited for the difficult job of governing Nigeria. A PhD in zoology does not prepare one to deal with human animals like Boko Haram. A life in academia is very different from the horse trading of dealing with rapacious senators and governors. As far as I know, President Jonathan never intended to be Nigeria’s president. He was a deputy governor when the governor was impeached without his knowledge. He was picked to be Vice President precisely because he offered no threat to the President as he had no ambition, it was unfortunate the President died and he got a job he never prepared for.
On February 14, my valentine present would be to send President Jonathan to a well-deserved retirement. Nigeria takes good care of its former leaders with emoluments amounting to more than a million dollars annually until they die. We still have need for him to help us open schools and give motivational speeches to our children about how high anyone can rise.
Boko Haram killed more people last year than ISIS. Boko Haram now controls as much territory as ISIS. In the next 4 years, unless checked, Boko Haram would control much of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. We cannot afford that. Boko Haram must be fought vigorously by someone who understands the complexity of the task and has the strength of character to fire the generals who have done an abysmally poor task so far.
President Jonathan, it is not about you, it is about the survival of Nigeria.
Oyewole Akande made this post on Facebook on January 16, 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment