Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Blognote:
BACKGROUND TO THIS ARTICLE
The Nigerian general elections of February 14 and 28, 2015 are only (in the case of the former, the presidential) about 17 days away. In the past few days, one of Nigeria's few television stations with nationwide reach (and global reach via satellite), the Africa Independent Television, has devoted an hour of prime time each day to airing a sponsored documentary about the atrocities allegedly committed during the "watch" of Retired General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's military head of state in the early 1980s. General Buhari is a frontrunner in the upcoming (2015) presidential elections. The documentary in question, which his supporters have dismissed as a smear campaign against him, is believed to be sponsored by friends of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan who is in the running for a second term in office as Nigeria's president.
In what follows, the writer (in a post originally made on Facebook, and reproduced hereunder with minor edits) wonders why supporters of incumbent president Jonathan expect General Buhari to abandon his campaign and address the issues raised in the documentary, whereas they are yet to hold the president accountable for the many administrative gaffes that seem to have become not just the hallmark but the very staple of his six-year (so far) presidency.
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As I responded to another individual pestering the Opposition to reply to the documentary on "historical Buhari", allow me hold the same position here.
Which accusations of outright corrupt practices tied round his neck has Jonathan responded to? Where is the fulfillment of the promise of getting the Chibok girls back? Where is the apology and retribution for fooling us all with a bogus, harebrained ceasefire? Who has been punished for those hullabaloo? A president who was given a full country is now campaigning for reelection, having ceded portions to a ragtag motley of miscreants (in comparison with the might of what used to be the Nigerian army). Where is his defense for that?
Hasn't he failed in his singular constitutionally-bequeathed task of the welfare and security of the lives of Nigerians? Has he answered to that? Why was it that the only minister ever relieved of his duties and to have had his travel documents seized was the only one who dared call to question the sharp practices of a government parastatal? Does he care to respond and counter this fact?
What do you defend of a President who says one thing today as it suits him and when it no longer matters he says another? He has every right to change his mind, as has any individual, but why lie about it? He promised to be a single term president - that was called "statesmanly". It's OK he decided not to be a statesman anymore. But don't lie that you didn't make such promise when there's video evidence to the fact. Has the DSS (the Department of State Services) called him to question on the prevarication about MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) and the attempt on the life of the president? Should that not be accorded the highest levels of seriousness that we should have a right to know for sure threats to the highest office in the land that today is treated with disdain (it was not MEND in 2011, became MEND in 2015 because they switched loyalties to the opposition)? Who's defending that?
What has been done to those responsible for the lives of Nigerian graduates who died in a badly organised, money gathering job search for positions in the Immigration Service? Innocent people who only wanted an opportunity to serve and to live by earning their keep and who were ready to pay for what shouldn't attract payments? Is no one is documenting that? Or you think that ISN'T mass murder? If Abba Moro, Jonathan's lackey can today be gloating about Jonathan's approval for upping prison amenities instead of being an inmate himself, Jonathan has blood on his hands.
Any excuse here is just bloody sentimental, and that isn't acceptable. At all. You're allowing sentiment becloud your judgement, maybe because none of your family members or friends died since y'all have good jobs under the best President since the presidential system began on earth. If that isn't childish, I don't want to know what childish is.
Now, let's not digress too far. All these occurred under a democratically run government where there's a constitutionally backed legal standard.
Yet, nothing, NOTHING, N. O. T. H. I. N. G. has happened to Jonathan oo. Nor his army of murderers. He's having his field day going around with a rallying cry to do more of what he's been doing. Do more of call corruption mere stealing while it causes hunger, starvation, death and more stealing across board. Do more of ceding areas of the country to a group while arguing about if only three people died or 300, like life is animal dung. Do more of spending trillions obtained from a period of the highest oil price ever with little or nothing to show for it, except old school locomotive contraptions they call AC trains that no one else uses again but the most backward countries, and sharing dumb phones and fertilizer to farmers who could do with government subsidies for mechanized agriculture. Do more of making claims of achieving victories that had nothing to do with him, claiming the Nations Cup victory after 19 years then refusing to claim the disgrace of a defending champion not even qualifying, claiming to have made Nollywood great and also the success of telecommunication, claiming the best economy in Nigeria for what was simply a statistical calculation with no real difference in anyone's life. Doing more of barefaced lies and outright thefts, from rebasing to transformation.
Where's the outrage? Because there's no tape or documentary to show the impact of these maladministration here, we turn the other way, bury our necks in the sand and pretend all is well. Because there's no time to begin to dig into how to sort all these out and make serious commitments to bringing things to a point where the average man on the streets can begin to enjoy the dividends of democratic society, abi?
But they have the time to gather old documents and produce a documentary of similar issues of a period in our history when the Constitution was suspended and the state was run by military fiat? Because they know some like you people here will ask Buhari to answer these allegations while no such demands are made of they themselves. You play too easily into their hands, as you do that. They wish to continue campaigning while you do their dirty job for them forcing the other party to leave the campaign and fill your biased thirst for answers.
It's foolish to imagine it will work. But as some of you here prove, common sense is not too common after all. There's goose. And then, there's gander.
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This post was originally made by Moore Numental on Facebook on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, under the title All Goose and Gander are Created Equal But....
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