As always, it is usually better to have a raving lunatic in power than a cowardly, docile, indecisive, uninspiring and timid fellow in power or rather having the appearance of being in power. Jonathan was so unimpressive and so weak that even his wife Dame Patience rode him freely like a donkey and got away with the impression of wielding the actual power in Aso Rock. But where is Aisha Buhari today? In a forced self exile in Dubai as all her efforts at asserting herself in Aso Rock was firmly, resolutely rebuffed. Where is Olusegun Obasanjo today, exercising pseudo presidential authority in a quasi presidential office of his own inside Abeokuta Rock? An act which he perfected so well when the Otuoke man was in Aso Rock that so many governors were paying homage and making pilgrimages to Ota to get their marching orders.
Where is any Northerner now playing the role of Edwin Clarke, asserting authority and ordering what must be done inside Aso Rock and frequently countermanding Buhari's wishes like Edwin Clark did on numerous occasions during Jonathan's presidency. But no, everyone is now cowering in one corner, having realized and afraid of the awesome powers of the Federal government of Nigeria as wielded in Aso Rock. Where are the "party in power" governors ganging up against the man in Aso Rock or any group of Northern governors criticizing or insulting or challenging Buhari's wishes. But the then governor of neighboring Rivers State to Jonathan's home State of Bayelsa, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, became famous for being the foremost attacker of President Goodluck Jonathan and successfully coopted another South-south Edo State's Governor Adams Oshiomhole to join the anti Jonathan resistance group.
But the same Rotimi Amaechi who is now the current Transportation Minister, who said then that the reason he fell out with Jonathan was because of Jonathan's failure to develop the South-south, is busy building railway lines to Niger Republic but has not built one rail line in his own Rivers State and/or the South-south region. How does he plan to explain this paradox long after he is no longer a minister? The same Adams Oshiomhole who helped bring down the Jonathan's presidency later bitterly found out that he was just used and dumped; out of power and consigned to such a heap of political irrelevance that they took his chairmanship of the APC and also Edo State away from him. Where is the Atiku's gang of of seven including Bukola Saraki, Babangida Aliyu, Rotimi Amaechi and other party officials and serving governors who were a menace to Jonathan's presidency?
Do we have their equivalents today from either the North or the APC? Where are the frequent defections from the ruling party government in power to the opposition party that were rampant then? Instead, many politicians including governors, senators, members of House of Representatives and others are now queuing up, begging to be allowed to defect into the ruling APC government at the center. Even the Abdulsalam Abubakar's peace committee which consulted Jonathan out of Aso Rock has been made so redundant that they hardly now have any access to Aso Rock, not any more. Their leader Abdulsalam has equally gone eerie quiet and cannot dare speak against the man on top, afraid that the government might decide to call up investigation into the N16 billion power supply contract which he got during Obasanjo administration but failed to execute.
Where are the pretend men of "God" and GOs today going to Aso Rock to register their dissatisfaction and grievances against the president, marching on the streets in protests and unceasingly attacking Jonathan when he was in Aso Rock? What happened to these "holier than thou MOGs with direct telephone lines to heaven where "God" regularly speaks to them? All of them have gone radio silent, afraid of the awesome powers of the Federal Government of Nigeria, aware that the current lord of manor does not shy away from deploying it. Practically every Nigerian public figure has enriched themselves from the coffers of the Nigerian State and they are deathly afraid of being investigated. They know that the present occupant of Aso Rock is ruthlessly very mean and will not hesitate to send his hound dogs after them; and he dishes his vengeance in large doses. They are all guilty and the guilty is always afraid of retribution.
Even the Niger Delta activists and militants who were a thorn in Jonathan's flesh throughout his days in Aso Rock have all turned into humbled pipeline maiguards, intimidated into guarding their own natural resources for the benefit of their Fulani overlords/owners. Where is the Asari Dokubo, Tomopolo, General Boyloaf and other laughable and scornful wanna-bee militant "generals' now that their militancy is needed most. But they know that present day Aso Rock is ruthless and shows no mercy, and does not suffer fools lightly. They are aware that a man who kills bandits in his own Katsina State will not hesitate to wipe out bandits from other States, regardless of the color of the name under which they operate. They know and they are afraid to die and have made a calculated decision to live to fight another day, some day when Buhari is no longer in Aso Rock.
Jonathan was a very weak leader and he was had by almost everyone, including ambassadors from some useless countries who had unlimited and unrestricted access to him. Imagine allowing even a Togolese ambassador frequent and direct access to Aso Rock then that the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs became nearly redundant. Today, Jonathan has been turned into an errand boy for Aso Rock and it is apparent that he prefers to be going as dispatched "envoy" of President Muhammadu Buhari rather than be the president himself. It is a minds game, the pauper mentality, where a servant believes that his only rightful place in the house is in the kitchen but not on the dinning table. He could have similarly used Olusegun Obasanjo and retained his political protection, but Edwin Clark insisted that the government was an Ijaw government and should be left for Ijaws.
Now, you can never hear Jonathan raise his voice to condemn Aso Rock's atrocities or ever attack the man on top; unlike when he called the man who made him president a motor park tout. Jonathan is afraid of Buhari because Jonathan stole money from Nigeria treasury; he was corrupt as president, the reason he did not win the $5 million Mo Ibrahim Foundation leadership award for former African leaders. Jonathan is aware that his corruption file is fully compiled and ready to go for his prosecution, and that Buhari is using it as a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, to ensure his good behavior and disposition towards his presidency by preventing him from ever raising his voice or opening his mouth against him and his government.
It is called the art of really being in power as so many Nigerians have sinned and fallen short of glory, mired in neck-deep corruption, and can easily be indicted whenever Buhari decides. They are at the mercy of Aso Rock and this have purchased President Muhammadu Buhari all the peace and quiet he needs from the Nigerian elites. As for the bottom dwellers, they don't matter as his agents of the State can take care of business for him, including a police and DSS and NDSC that are not accountable to Nigerians but takes their orders directly from Aso Rock.
Today the military can freely discharge their duty without being hamstrung or being required to first seek clearance and approval from Aso Rock before descending on troubled spots. Unlike when COAS Ihejirika had to literary beg Jonathan to allow the army to storm Katsina Emirate to recover caches of imported weapons and ammunitions stored there, but which Jonathan turned down and denied him permission to proceed. Today's Aso Rock is also unlike the days of DSS Director Ekpenyong begging Jonathan to permit his department to storm Nasarawa State to avenge the killing of 150 officers of the directorate in Egon.
It is also unlike when NSA director Patrick Aziza had to beg Jonathan for permission to arrest then perennial presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari for inciting violence and insurrection in Nigeria but which Jonathan also turned down, afraid of the reaction from the North. It is also unlike when Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa was murdered alongside the same Patrick Aziza in a Navy plane in Bayelsa due to a very incompetent fella in Aso Rock, who was deathly afraid of every ant in Nigeria that he wears bullet proof vests everywhere he goes outside his bedroom in Aso Rock. The same forces turned around and killed his NSA and the governor just because they could. Which top government official have been assassinated under Buhari and which officers deaths have not been avenged?
Governance requires maximum fearlessness and not being timid. As a leader, one has to be either feared or respected, but Jonathan had none of that and it led to his pitiful ouster from Aso Rock. It makes ICHEOKU sad each time he remembers what was lost as a result of Jonathan's wishy washy period in Aso Rock which led to Buhari's emergence. Jonathan had said that no Nigerian blood is worth his presidency, yet today more than 100,000 Nigerians have lost their blood as a result of Jonathan's weakness and timidity which made it possible for Buhari to come to power. Those murdered Nigerians, both those killed by the agents of the State and those killed by Fulani herdsmen will find it very difficult to forgive Jonathan and not blame him for their deaths, because it would have cost less blood to retain him in Aso Rock than has been spilled so far, since he left.
Those who made his presidency laughable have since understood that the offices of DSS and EFCC can bite. They also now know that the military can come down heavily upon them. They are also finding out that police can fire live bullets. Above all, the media, including television and social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, now know that they can no longer report whatever they like. Nigerians also have realized that Barack Obama could not have possibly pulled off the stunt of 2015 which helped take Jonathan out of Aso Rock, were it in today's Aso Rock. It is good to have a man with real balls of steel in Aso Rock and despite all his shortcomings, Buhari is more presidential than the Otuoke man. Hopefully in 2023 a person in his mold, but with a better capacity and some degree of human kindness, will be elected to succeed him. But another Jonathan should never be contemplated nor ever allowed a berth in Aso Rock. A reformed Buhari, yes; but an improved Jonathan, no.
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