THE POOR SHOELESS KID FROM OTUOKE, UNIMPRESSIVE FIRST TERM?

Icheoku asks now that he wears the best leather Florence or Milan could craft, has he inspired other similarly situated kids in Nigeria including Otuoke, or done enough as president generally, to merit a second shot at the presidency? Icheoku says but for the ever restive Niger Delta oil terrorists, the need to pacify them in order for them to leave Nigerians alone and in peace being paramount, Nigerians would have voted this man out and for good, all his good luck or rather bad luck notwithstanding. Therefore if President Goodluck Ebelesimei Jonathan is reelected in 2015, it would not be because he creditably performed well enough to merit a reelection; no, it will be simply because many Nigerians as well as Icheoku, want to see justice done to the minorities of Nigeria by allowing them to also have a two terms shot at the presidency. It will also be to help douse the ever threatening Niger Delta original terrorists and prevent them from holding Nigerians hostage to their oil again. But short of that, Jonathan has not done a stellar job to make him deserving of a second term, all the indicators of a performed president considered? 

Icheoku is emphatic that President Jonathan cannot sincerely beat his hand on his chest and say I came, I saw and I conquered, on anything spectacular, which he did for Nigerians. At least the despicable Baba Iyabo liberalized telecommunications in Nigeria and made it possible for an Ezzamgbo rural farmer in Ebonyi State to hook up on the Internet to order fertilizer and keep tracking the supplying truck and guiding it for direction until he takes delivery? The Ota Deity also made it possible for Nigerians to tune in their television and see what is happening in other climes. Such insightful, far reaching accomplishments, are what Icheoku considers as tangibles of performance, but not all these transformational abracadabra nonsense that never gets transformed. Nigerians cannot go on forever waiting for an unattainable transformation goals or for one stupid seven point agenda to become project accomplished and this is what the 2015 election debate should be predicated upon. Real issues and not all these emotive sentimental nonsenses Nigerians are being currently bombarded with, including that one of the candidates would Islamize Nigeria when most Nigerians know for a fact that is a complete hogwash that has no chance whatsoever of ever coming to fruition in a democracy.

On the issue of power supply, Nigerians have not seen any meaningful improvement six years after the 'shoeless' Otuoke boy climbed into power and started wearing sporty Italian designer shoes? On the issue of insecurity, there is yet no breeder for Nigerians, six years after the Otuoke shoeless school boy mounted the saddle of leadership and now wearing very good soft leather shoes. It is on record that the shoeless Otuoke boy sacked IGP Ogbonnaya Onovo because he could not stop kidnapping just six months into office. Since then, Nigerians have seen how subsequent IGPs stopped forthwith all crimes in Nigeria, yet they were neither sacked nor fired but were allowed to dutifully serve out and serving their term? He also fired a performing Chief of Army Staff who was on the threshold of defeating Boko Haram because according to him, the embarrassment of having an Airforce base in Maiduguri bombed by Boko Haram was simply too much for him to take; yet the very chief of Air staff then Badeh under whose direct supervision the bombed air force base was, he made the current Chief of Service Staff and please someone explain to Icheoku the logic behind it? 

On employment, hundreds of thousands if not millions of employable but unemployed youths are still roaming about many years after leaving their NYSC discharge camps without jobs or any hope of finding one? Also anti-corruption effort has not received any serious boost under the Otuoke shoeless kid; ditto has the looting of Nigeria continued even to the point that Nigeria's foreign exchange savings has plummeted from the high $43billion to some negatives now? Boko Haram Islamic terrorists and their counterpart Niger Delta Oil terrorists are still holding sway in the land? All under the watch of a shoeless boy who has now become so comfortable wearing well cushioned shoes to even feel or ever remember what going shoeless felt like and too relaxed to worry about the real issues haranguing Nigerians?

Icheoku maintains that any serious Nigerian, weighing the performance of President Jonathan would agree with Icheoku that he has performed below par and if judged solely based on his records, would not stand a chance at reelection in 2015. But in Nigeria, there are so many other sentimental motivations that drive the current presidential election narrative and it is only based on such that President Jonathan will probably and most likely be reelected come February 14, 2015. Moreso, the other guy the APC imposed on themselves as their ticket bearer, is not an alternative many Nigerians can live with. Icheoku thought that the APC would have given Nigerians a different candidate without the many baggage Muhammadu Buhari is carrying and in that way make it easier for Nigerians to vote and vote as if they truly mean it. But unfortunately, they blew it with their insensitive choice of Buhari and on February 14, 2015, they will see what they did to themselves by choosing Buhari. Icheoku says on February 14, 2015, many Nigerians would be voting against Muhammadu Buhari rather than voting for Jonathan, admitted he would be the ultimate beneficiary of such default votes. 

So what Icheoku is saying is that it is about time poverty becomes a bar to becoming a president  in Nigeria or any other place, including the United States where President Obama has not shown much teeth, being constrained by his life's situational upbringing. In the future of Nigeria, people without either royalty or wealth should be barred from running for the office of the president. Such psychologically, poverty traumatized, damaged and demented individuals are often held hostage to their growing experiences and usually don't have the needed assertiveness, gravitas and bold audacity necessary to do the needful to move the society forward. They so often are still riveted in awe of those individuals they never had the privilege of interacting with, hence cannot muster the courage to go up against them. But a royalty or a man of means, who has already seen it all, would not give a damn whose ox is gored while audaciously going about the business of running a government and running it well, regardless. However, in the final analysis and irrespective of what happens on the night of Valentine day 2015 or soon thereafter following, Icheoku says President Jonathan will go down in the history of Nigeria as the president who least inspired or motivated Nigerians; needless to add that he is neither loved nor respected nor feared as a leader.  Icheoku says President Jonathan is indeed timid and not bold and does not provide leadership for anyone Nigerian, especially those who know better. But for the rat-pack, he may be the best thing that happened to them since the sliced bread debuted on their breakfast tables. Salute!