When I see “amend the constitution” this and that, I can only wonder if General Buhari remembers that NASS is not the equivalent of the Supreme Military Council, and that our democracy is a game of two-thirds, even as his proponents are eager to establish.
I look forward to the fight against corruption with our NASS as it is. I look forward to cutting the bogus allowances of NASS. I look forward to ending BH without sacrificing our Freedom of Religion, arguably the only freedom we yet enjoy. Truth be told, so long as we look up to someone other than ourselves to end our problems, we’re done for right from the start. Because the truth is, the problem with Nigeria is Nigerians; we are our own problem: we are are hypocrites, liars, thieves. We’re corrupt at heart, corrupt even to the soul. Our problem is not Jonathan, is not the Presidency, and has never been. Our problem is our allergy to truth, sympathy for soothsayers, and apathy for truth-sayers. Oh, we so love to be lied to; to make OBJ the villain, and Jonathan, the hero; to make Jonathan the villain, and Buhari the hero; to make Awolowo the hero when we accepted Shagari. And now, we are basing our votes on a reputation of thirty years ago. We are so pro-change that we are quick to forget that a lot changes in thirty years, that a lot of fear-inspiring comments have been made in thirty years: Decrees 2 and 4, retroactive Decree 20, extra judicial murders and selective detentions, leaky borders, Sambo vs Buhari’s-cases, shunning of the Oputa Panel, pro-Sharia, pro-BH, unforgiveness of Abiola even in death, glaring dearth of anti post-election violence stance, parallel government in the event of loss at the polls. Here’s a man who sent Shagari packing to un-corrupt Nigerians, yet thirty years later, we are even more corrupt. Let’s forget the allegations of ethnocentric detentions of non-office holding non-Hausas such as Obafemi Awolowo, Tai Solarin, Alex Ekwueme, and assume that corruption persisted because he was ousted by Maradona. The questions then become: Will he rule forever this time? What happens when he leaves, won’t we become corrupt again, and worse?
Remember OBJ’s clamour for third term was predicated on a premonition much like this – the fear that all he’d worked for would crumble as he left office, the fear that whoever came after him would not maintain his policies, and continue his projects. We are so eager to blame Jonathan that we forget why Keshi flopped: we are our own judge and jury, and there’s always someone to benefit from anarchy. And what is worse? We only know what we see in the media. A lot passes by unannounced, unacknowledged, unknown. Yes, Jonathan is not the best, but is he entirely useless? Can you as a person outperform him? How easy is it to govern 180 million Nigerians? As bad as Abacha was, he did some good: he sent some Nigerians abroad for training, e.g. in acupuncture! Maybe it’s because I play Devil’s Advocate so often, and get criticized much more. But, what would you do as President if some influential Northern elders resist your efforts to nip BH in the bud, because militants from your part of the country were granted amnesty, and it’s merely the turn of the North? What would you do if they told you it was their people, their land, their business? What would you do if BH ended up a thorn in the flesh, particularly when intelligence reports suggest those who promised you a turbulent tenure are the sponsors? What would you do when Nigerians, having been under military dictatorship for so long, expect you to swoop in and sanction genocide, even against the stance of a corrupt, pro-corrupt, and pro-BH NASS? Let’s say the Cabal has infiltrated your cabinet so much that you don’t know whom to trust; what would you do? Everywhere is corrupt, but can the President be everywhere? If the Minister for Health, and the Consultants’ Guild, recommend the sacking of their fellow doctors, what can the President do? If NASS decides to share in the loot rather than prosecute Oduah, Allison, who else? What really can the President do? We have a weak Constitution, is that Jonathan’s fault as well? I agree Jonathan has personal flaws; who doesn’t? Yet the same people that do not want (questionable) Men of God criticized openly criticize him; is he not an undisputed Man of God? Has God not put him there? Of course, the wants of man are insatiable.