Goodluck Jonathan, Destroyer-in-Chief By Toyin Dawodu
Nigeria has been in a continual state of decline for the last 50
years. We could beat around the bush and sugar-coat it, but the cold,
hard truth is Nigeria is being destroyed. We have leaders who don’t care
about the future of a country overflowing with talent. I suspect under
better leadership, Nigeria would emerge as a First World powerhouse, the
seat of the entire continent. But our current leaders don’t have the
heart to step up and deliver that level of leadership.
Nigeria
has been in a continual state of decline for the last 50 years. We
could beat around the bush and sugar-coat it, but the cold, hard truth
is Nigeria is being destroyed. We have leaders who don’t care about the
future of a country overflowing with talent. I suspect under better
leadership, Nigeria would emerge as a First World powerhouse, the seat
of the entire continent. But our current leaders don’t have the heart to
step up and deliver that level of leadership. Our leaders would rather
let the hell of the last seven years continue because most Nigerians are
living in hellish conditions. Of course, I am not including the elite
and the corrupt in this number.
How else can one explain the kind of boldness to dispatch his security henchmen to the National Assembly to prevent lawfully elected law makers from doing the job for which they were elected?
Where else in the world will a government duly elected prevent the other independent arm of the government from discharging its lawful duties? Only in Nigeria.
Just for the record, I am not necessarily sympathizing with the plight of the members of the National assembly either. Most of these members have been described as looters by someone who knows them best. Former President Obasanjo refers to the Nigerian National assembly as an “assemblage of looters” and a “den of thieves, who steal the nation blind with impunity.
According to the former President, this assemblage of open looters is aided and abetted by none other than the current President Jonathan, who can only be described best as the “commander in thief” Not only do these so called legislators rob the country, they do it in cohorts with and under the watchful eyes of our pretend commander in chief, the chief law enforcement officer, and the very person elected to safeguard our laws. Whenever it suits Mr. President, he uses his bully pulpit to further erode our democracy by resorting to force instead of the courts. As succinctly put by former president Obasanjo, “the greatest indictment against any administration is to be seen trying to destroy opposition of all sorts which invariably mean destroying democracy.”
In a country currently being ravaged by wars, poverty, disease and lack, we should expect our pretend “commander-in-chief,” to have his hands full fixing the economy and worrying about the downward spiral in which we find the value of the Nigerian currency. Instead, Jonathan is fixated on the next election so he can hang on to his career and sit at the helm of the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria.
I have used the term “pretend commander-in-chief” a few times. Please permit me the liberty. Let me explain why.
President Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of the greatest armed forces in the world. Yet, in his six year rule so far, I have never seen President Obama dressed in a military uniform either in public or privately. He demonstrates a certain amount of respect for the men and women who wear the uniform as proof of their pledge to protect the U.S. These soldiers have been specially and specifically trained to protect their country. Still, the fact that President Obama never wears the uniform does not compromise his position as the head of the nation’s armies. The people who wear the uniform, from privates to generals, must defer to him by law. President Obama has nothing to prove. He doesn’t walk around sporting fatigues to prove he’s the Commander-in-Chief. He just is. He doesn’t have to wear army fatigues and pretend to be a soldier when he’s not a soldier.
In most democracies, the armed forces must defer to the elected civilian government. But only in a nation like Nigeria where the pretend commander-in-chief underperforms on a consistent basis must the president walk around in military clothes, despite the fact that he’s never had any military training. I suppose he is thinking what we all are: “Respect you? What have you done to earn my respect?”
Jonathan has never seen the barrel of a gun. He has never commanded a ship. He has never piloted a plane. He has never even been enrolled in the defense academy or a boot camp. Yet time and again, we see those pictures of him sporting the military garbs. Charlie Boy Jonathan, the pretender-in-chief. With all his pretenses, one would expect the President to at least live up to the uniform he is now wearing. After all, he pretends to be a “general” in the armed forces. But instead of fighting battles and winning wars, his main focus is destroying our democracy by locking out the very men and women elected to protect our nascent democracy.
I say, come off it, Mr. President. These are your last few months in office. At least go out in peace. Start creating solutions to the problems that have plagued Nigerians for years. Give your people electricity. Chase down the terrorists instead of lawmakers. Bring back our girls instead of plotting to impeach or arrest the speaker of the assembly.
Your days are numbered and soon we won’t tolerate the sight of you (of all people) wearing the military uniforms in our presence. In these final few weeks and months of your term, do something positive for Nigeria. Don’t go down in history as the man who destroyed our democracy or years from now, when our children are old and gray, they will still refer to you as President Goodluck Jonathan, Destroyer-in-Chief
It's Amazing Toyin again, let's continue this discussion on Twitter @1amazingtoyin or Facebook.
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