THE CLAMOR FOR JONATHAN'S 2011 PRESIDENCY, SHORT-SIGHTED!

Icheoku says the deafening clamor for President Goodluck Ebelechuku Jonathan to run for president in 2011 is myopic and very short-sighted, juxtaposed with the long term benefit of zoning which is meant to periodically spread Nigeria's leadership throughout the six geographical zones of the country. Put in another way, the clamor is not considerate or sincere, but is fueled by greed, avarice and a certain degree of restiveness by a South-South zone which cannot believe the holly molly luck of their zone's president-by-default son; who became president without fighting for it and now wants to stay put. Icheoku therefore calls on these incensed mob of supporters to please temper the clamor with reason and attendant long term considerations. The Igbo people of Nigeria has a saying that 'when the blind man finished licking the apple (udala) which he managed to stumble upon, let him go and get another one;' and so it is that the South-South Niger Delta must respect what is and not because of opportunism, rock the boat for other minorities of Nigeria attaining the presidency.

Good enough the north has agreed to share their long held political power stranglehold with the rest of the peoples of Nigeria and this zoning and rotation therefore be sustained by every means and sacrifice necessary, including a President Jonathan's non participation in the 2011 presidential election. This spread of power will augur well for everyone in the long run and also will make for sustainability and continuity of political power rotation throughout the six zones of Nigeria. It also will give the North no reason to permanently appropriate power back for themselves, when it eventually gets back to them and will prevent them from refusing to let it go, no matter the premise or pretense. The good enough thing is that years run by very fast and before one knows it, four years would have come and gone; but any political damage resulting from the obstinacy of President Jonathan not to relinquish power to the north for them to complete their eight years term will last forever. Who wants such a permanent political damage, not Icheoku and we beleieve not a considerate and thinking President Jonathan.

The ideal thing for President Goodluck Jonathan to do with any 2011 presidential ambition is to suck it up, discipline himself and let it go for the time being; in order to enable the north to complete and serve out their eight years zonal mandate. He can subsequently thereafter in 2015, spring back as the shoe-in candidate from the South-South and then run his full eight years term. But should he insist, prodded by the political jobbers and praise-singers alike, and go against the grain of the existing zoning system under the subterfuge of completing late President Umaru Yar'Adua's term and eventually have his way, he will have himself to blame. Not only would he stay just four years instead of eight years in office, but he would have by his action, irreparably damaged himself politically as a no respecter of gentleman's agreement. He would also create permanent enemies within the northern political bloc which will forever militate against the people of the South-South who will thence be seen as untrustworthy and usurpers of a trusted mandate. Icheoku says, but a deft and adroit political player faced with President Jonathan's near political dilemma would use his northern vice president against the north, as the PDP's Northern candidate for 2011 presidential election. Thereafter, he would have the vice president now president switch back to him in 2015, based on a serious well-constituted agreement; and Vice President Architect Sambo looks like a gentleman who will not renege on such an understanding.

But unfortunately, surrounded and prodded by the likes of Edwin Clark and other political opportunists of the Niger Delta, President Goodluck Jonathan is speeding headfirst into a political moving train to the worst political disaster any South-South politician will ever make, totally and completely alienating the entire north just because of a four year stint in Aso Rock. Olusegun Obasanjo spent complete eight years therein and motivated by greed, wanted to go for yet another four years simply because he was busy hounding his imaginary enemies and did not know when the eight years sped past. While Obasanjo was there, he ministered only to the needs of his Western region while alienating the North and East regions; but unfortunately for his bloated and sordid ego, both regions survived his umbrage but his tarnished eight year term at Aso Rock did not survive the penmanship of historians of his presidency, which adjudged his time in office as the worst Nigerians have ever seen. So President Jonathan, ask yourself, what kind of tenure do you want to have from 2011 or the type of legacy you want to leave post 2011 in Nigeria by refusing now to relinquish what you supposedly hold in trust for the North as a result of the death of their brother and mandate-holder, the late President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Icheoku is not denying the eminent position President Jonathan held when the late President Yar'Adua died, being his running mate; but wants the current president to know that his temporary unelected presidency would not have been possible but for the misfortune which frowned at Yar'Adua and so should be mindful of karma in his decisions including whether to run or not to run in 2011. Please Jonathan, ignore all those selfish advise you are getting from Ijaw and Niger Delta people alike, emergency strongmen of Nigerian politics, who did not elect your presidency or in any way facilitated it; and do what is right and beneficial to all Nigerians especially the minorities of both North and South. These minorities would not be dreaming of a day in the presidency of Nigeria if not for the zoning arrangement of the PDP, which Icheoku considers sacrosanct and sacred and therefore urge you to respect both the letters and the intent for them to realize their presidential dreams. If any person or Nigeria should fight to uphold such all peoples' zonal arrangement, it should be the minorities in Nigeria which include the Ijaw-man as represented by your very self. But should greed and avarice overrun your reason, forcing you to ignore or discard such an iron-clad all accommodating 'zoning arrangement,' you might be the first and last minority person to ever smell the Aso Rock paints again as president of Nigeria and for four short years.

Icheoku says, a four year stint at Aso Rock is not worth the trouble of mortgaging the long term beneficial guarantee of recalling stays, each time it becomes your zones turn to produce a president; and so you should please be smart in whatever decision your supposed consultations finally brings you to. In view of the long term benefit of zoning of political offices in Nigeria against the backdrop of a Jonathan's 2011 presidential ambition, Icheoku strongly kicks against the attempt by the PDP to do violence to the letters of S.7(2) (c) of their party’s constitution which stipulates that elective offices in the country would be on rotation basis. The relevant S. 7 (2)(c) of the PDP's constitution states “In pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels. Icheoku says never a time in the annals of political parties and politicking in Nigeria or elsewhere has the interest of minority ever be so protected and taken care of as in this embodiment of S.7(2)(c) of the PDP's constitution; and we expect the minorities of Nigeria, whose interest has been so protected not to fall for the pittance of a Jonathan's four year term of office in 2011 as opposed to the long vested subsisting terms of office, each time it is their zone's turn to produce a president.

Such auspicious moments will be legion instead of falling for this Jonathan's very tempting 2011 presidency. We are talking about long term benefits instead of this ad-hoc four year taste of the pudding, alongside a fractured polity including an estranged north. If President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is smart and very calculating, this is the time to show it; let him undercut the north by pulling of the rug underneath their feet with his surprise withdrawal from the 2011 presidential run. This will be the biggest political upheaval of this century and then so armed with a supposed lack of ambition, he will proceed to give Nigerians the most coveted free and fair election, with no cloud of an interested incumbent hovering the result of any election. President Jonathan will have nothing to loose, but will emerge a sterling statesman whose voice will always carry more weight as a selfless patriot, who shied away from a golden opportunity to just usurp the presidency of the country but passed it on for love of country. Icheoku says, nothing short of this is a good option; and history will come back to either validate this position or haunt Jonathan forever for being an opportunistic usurper who coveted a Northern mandate as result of death of its custodian.

Were Nigeria a nation or one country, may be this argument would have been mute; but no, Nigeria is a motley of nations, each clamoring for their time and opportunity to aggrandize and appropriate the country's wealth solely for their own region; and the North should be allowed to finish off what their late President Umaru Yar'Adua had started. No other argument holds water as majority of such thuggish apostles for 'Jonathan's 2011 presidency' are all in it for their own selfish economic, financial and political interests. But as with our positions always, Icheoku reiterates that the onus is on President Goodluck Jonathan to wise up and call home his advocacy attack-dogs and hounds, who are trying desperately to push and goad him into committing the worst and most egregious political suicide and sacrilege of all times. Jonathan should not jettison a well reasoned and thought out subsisting PDP's policy of zoning and rotation just because of a piece of porridge of a four year term. It is not worth it. It is selfish. It is self-effacing. It is greedy and it is opportunistic. An intelligent President Jonathan Ebelechuku Goodluck must and should not fall for it.

The nearness of President Jonathan to the 2011 presidential stool is very tempting but it is a trap festooned by sharp tongs which will surely pierce at the heart of Nigeria if not checkmated on time. Between 2011 and 2015 is a short 48 months period and hell will not freeze over if there is no Jonathan's presidency during this time; afterall there was no Jonathan's presidency during the last 48 months prior and Nigeria did not evaporate into thin air. The only thing a current transitional President Jonathan should ensure is that Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida do not in anyway, secure the PDP's mandate; and if he by crook purchases it and wins the election, to have it annulled in order to feed him with the same poisoned venison he force-fed Nigerians through MKO Abiola in 1993. So the strategy is simple, make Vice President Sambo the PDP candidate, get him elected and then turn around and reclaim the mandate in 2015, period. That way President Jonathan would have eaten his cake and had it back; Nigerians will sing his praises to the high heavens as the only man who declined a golden opportunity to become president, conducted a free and fair election and handed over power. So next time when he comes on stage to solicit their votes and support, he will get it one hundred percent having proved himself not to be greedy and hungry for power.

Icheoku urges President Goodluck Ebelechuku Jonathan not to be fooled or stampeded into the 2011 presidential bout by people who do not mean well for either him or Nigeria. Politicians are jobbers and as soon as Jonathan vacates the seat at Aso Rock he will find out the speed with which these current pretenders of love for his office, will readily turn their coats and start praise-singing the next man about town. Is it worth it, no; should Jonathan thwart and destroy the zoning arrangement just because of greed, Icheoku does not think so and hence craves that President Goodluck Ebelchuku Jonathan will do the right thing and let the zoning arrangement stay; and also let the north serve out their term provided it is not through the evil-one, IBB! But peradventure of the conspiracy of the universe, the skinny one, the Islamic fundamentalist Muhammadu Buhari is elected by default of the squabbles in the PDP; and his sole cardinal objective as is being speculated is to put away the quartet of criminals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku Abubakar and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, so be it. Nigerians will celebrate his resoluteness in going after and tackling these mongrels who single-handily ruined Nigeria as we know it. So in an ironical way, based on this Buhari's intent, Icheoku is secretly wishing that PDP implodes on its own with their presidential zoning squabble, just like they did with their Anambra State governorship which saw another party's candidate 'selected' in office.

Admitted that Icheoku is not a fan of Buhari for murdering Batholomew Owo and the three others based on a retroactive decree; but anybody who can determinedly go after Obasanjo, Babangida and Atiku primarily will get our support regardless of his past antecedents. Buhari together with Idiagbon also tried to instill discipline in Nigeria with their WAI except that he lost Icheoku when his ADC Jokolo smuggled 53 suitcases into the country without question. But hey, there is no angel in Nigeria without any reproach, so we shall be open to the possibility of forgiving Buhari's high-handed orthodoxy and accept his presidency once he can send these three musketeers, common criminals to prison or even execute them, the Jerry Rawlings style. Nigerians will understand meting out the Chinese treatment of corrupt officials on these three human specimens and will gladly approve of such a bloody measure taken to sanitize the polity.

Finally, President Goodluck Ebelchuku Jonathan, Icheoku implores you to do the right thing, do not run for president this 2011; let the north complete the remainder of their eight year zonal term of office, notwithstanding the temptation and the prodding by many 'funeral undertakers' masquerading as favored politicians who are supporting the move to covet north's term at the presidency. It is simply opportunistic, self-serving and does not do service to the memory of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, who were he alive, would have been the rightful person now running for a second term. In the final analysis, Icheoku concludes that the flood of "Run Jonathan Run advocacy" is an embodiment of sycophancy in over-drive and must be ignored by a rational President Jonathan. It forebodes a doomsday scenario from which no one will come out unscathed; so defeat the evil of a 2011 run by saying no to these town-criers. Resist their baiting temptation! Please in the interest of one united Nigeria, equity, fairness; and for the future protected interest of other minorities of Nigeria whose dreams of ever getting to the presidency of Nigeria will be permanently foreclosed should you, Jonathan, proceed with the 2011 'zoning-defeating' presidential run, let the 2011 presidential ambition just go. 2015 is so much around the corner and would be yours for the asking; but for Jove's sake, JONATHAN please DO NOT RUN IN 2011.