By Enenim Ubon
“I am always content with what happens; for I know that what God chooses is better than what I choose”
– Epictetus
The above quotation is a summary of the life of Dr Jonathan. A man
who in 16 years of Nigeria’s (return to) democracy has risen from deputy
governor to president; a position many Nigerians would give ANYTHING to
attain. As the saying goes “who God has blessed, no man can curse”, Dr
Jonathan is a man ordained from birth for great exploits. From the back
waters of a polluted Ijaw community, ‘Jona’ has become a global citizen.
As you leave office today, people will remember you for different
things, depending on which side of the divide they belong to. Some for
your ‘cluelessness’, others for your ‘inability to be decisive’, another
group as an ‘infidel’ who tried to take what belongs to them, another
group for your transformation agenda/visible accomplishments in several
sectors of the Nigerian state and yet another group for your rare action
of conceding defeat even before final election results were announced –
something still alien to the African continent.
You once said “Nigerians will appreciate me when I leave office”, you
were wrong sir. Even while you were still in power, the discerning
minds had already started realizing that some of the actions you took
that earned you various names from clueless to weak, were the best
actions under the circumstances at the time.
Sir you did not have to leave office for those who allowed themselves
to be used to #OccupyNigeria to realize that you did the proper thing
by trying to totally stop the fraud associated with the subsidy on
petroleum products. Today even those who called you insensitive for that
heroic action(which also contributed to a large extent in deciding your
electoral fate) sing a different tune. I do not know how many have now
realized they were being used by the same people you wanted to protect
them from.
We are told your successor will allow the rule of law reign supreme –
in simple English this means the various arms of government (judiciary
inclusive) will be allowed to function independently. The very persons
who are trying to sell this message mocked you for not influencing the
EFCC to arrest and publicly disgrace those they already condemned in
their bedrooms. For allowing the law take its course, you were said to
be silent on the anti corruption war. They hailed the actions of the Ota
General and despised you for allowing the anti graft agencies and
judiciary perform their duties independently and yet tell us that the
same respect for rule of law you adhered to will also the hallmark of
your successor.
Sir, you did not need to leave office for your efforts in the
agricultural sector to be applauded. For your successor to openly
canvass for your minister of agriculture to be elected AFDB president is
a clear acceptance of the fact that under your leadership, the
agricultural sector in Nigeria fared well.
You did not have to leave office for Nigerians to realize that the
story of your administration being the most corrupt in Nigeria’s history
were all lies. As a matter of fact under you watch Nigeria’s corruption
rating (as released by Transparency International) dropped to its
lowest level ever.
As clueless as they say you are, you are intelligent enough to know
that a nation cannot tackle insurgency with obsolete weapons and have
significantly equipped our armed forces; something even Generals could
not do. If this is an act of cluelessness, many people need to buy
dictionaries.
It took your coming for people to know that the almajiri’s should be
treated as humans. You proved to them, that having sympathy for the
under privileged is not an act of weakness.
You did not need to leave office for us to know that our power
generating capacity has improved significantly. We are very far from
where our contemporaries are but we have moved on from where our ex
president who also doubled as petroleum minister left us, after spending
billions of dollars for 8 years on so called power reforms.
For reviving our rail system, you were mocked for not giving us all
high speed trains – forgetting that if administrations as recent as the
one from 1999 – 2007 had revived the railway, maybe by now we would be
traveling to other african countries by rail. Your Abuja lite rail
project was ridiculed at conception; with what has become of the multi
billion naira Rivers state monorail, it is now obvious why they thought
you would fail.
While you still were in office it became obvious that for two
straight years Nigeria maintained a single digit inflation rate, with an
economy growing at a faster pace than envisaged; all these right before
the eyes of them that accused you of destroying our economy resulting
in the inability of governors to pay salaries. Under your leadership the
sovereign wealth fund(SWF) was established to ensure some money is
saved for times like this but our self-centered governors did not allow
you be. You went further to reduce expenditure by initiating the
Integrated Personnel and Payroll system which helped eliminate ghost
workers thus saving 118 billion naira for the country.
As you step aside a lot more of your actions will be clearer and the
reasons they were opposed even more clearer. As every human being you
had your flaws(in governance), some of which I criticized but then who
can lead a 170 million people and meet all their individual
expectations, acting in a way that will please everyone – even Moses
with all the anointing could not. What matters most is that you have
contributed your significant quota to a nation you have proven(in
action) that you love.
“Who saves his country, saves himself, saves all things and all
things saved do bless him. Who let’s his country die, let’s all things
die, dies himself ignorably and all things dying curse him.” – Benjamin
H. Hill
You have served and saved your nation. As you hand over today, I wish
you the very best and also hope I will have as much ‘good luck’ as you
do.
Credit: thescoopng
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