2015: Two Wicked Lies Against Jonathan

Jonathan

You may not like the fact that Goodluck Jonathan is the president of Nigeria at this time in our history. You may not like the face of Jonathan and the God he worships and the way he worships Him. You may not like the geographical location of where he was born. You may not like his wife too. It is your right to love and hate, but please stop telling wicked lies against the president just to make way for your preferred candidate. Stop telling the lie that Jonathan has not done (reads: achieved) anything in four years or that the federal government that he heads sponsors Boko Haram.

The man has done so much that only those blinded by hate cannot see his achievements. Jonathan is the only president in the history of Nigeria that built 12 federal universities in four years. Nine of the universities were built in the north where the president faces the toughest opposition since his emergence in the political firmament of Nigeria. Only three was established in the south. At least each of the new universities including the ones located at Dutse, Jigawa State, Lokoja, Kogi State and Abakaliki in Ebonyi State among others are expected to create 5,000 jobs in their locality with the attendant multiplier effects. This means that 12 federal universities have created not less than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. The administration has also built over 100 Almajiri schools all over the 19 northern states thereby empowering the vulnerable street children of the north that now have modern schools where Islamic and secular education are taught. It is obvious that the over 100 Almajiri schools have created thousands of jobs.

Any unbiased assessment of the country’s rail sector would show that a lot has been done by the Jonathan administration. Aside the traditional East-North rail lines and West-North rail lines established by the colonial masters-the British, the Jonathan’s administration is laying new rail lines in areas that were hitherto not served before. That is why any resident of Abuja and Kaduna should be excited. Any user of the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway can attest that the rail lines linking Abuja and Kaduna have reached advanced stage. Very soon indigenes or residents of Kaduna can live in their beloved city and be working in Abuja. By this development such Kaduna residents could escape the exorbitant accommodation cost in Abuja. Even before the residents of Kaduna began to enjoy the new fast train that would take only one hour from Kaduna to Abuja, already thousands of jobs are being created for Nigerians laying the rail tracks from Abuja to Kaduna. As in the case of Kaduna-Abuja rail lines, thousands of jobs are being created in other rail projects in Kogi, East-West rail lines and it has been revealed that over one million jobs have been created in the rail sector.

These days the governor of Osun State offer free train transport for its indigenes living in Lagos and other parts of the Southwest during Christmas and Sallah celebrations so that they can come home to mark the holiday seasons with their families. The governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola is being hailed for this populist gesture yet those hailing Aregbesola are blinded by hate to acknowledge the man, Jonathan, that revitalised the rail transport that was in comatose before he became president.

Any regular user of Nigerian airports that is unbiased can attest that the airports have been remodelled to international standard.

Under Jonathan’s leadership Nigeria has become the biggest economy in Africa overtaking South Africa. That was after the rebasing of Nigeria’s economy. Today even the London Economist acknowledged this fact thereby putting to shame those who said that Nigeria became the biggest economy after ‘voodoo’ rebasing of the economy.

In the agricultural sector the country has reduced food import by half and the administration has eliminated 40 years corruption in fertiliser distribution to farmers by eliminating the middlemen, a strategy that are being copied by other African countries.

Similarly in the area of roads construction the Federal Ministry of Works have been supervising the biggest road construction and rehabilitation in the history of the country. The Benin-Ore road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; Lokojo-Abuja roads which previous administrations military and civilian failed to do are being done by Jonathan. The East-West road is being built and would be commissioned next year.

The second wicked lie is that Jonathan administration is the one sponsoring Boko Haram. There is no logical reason to believe this kind of thing but since some people that one once considered knowledgeable are among those spreading this false narrative it is important that it is examined. The Boko Haram insurgents have made it clear that they want to impose Sharia in Nigeria and on all Nigerians including Jonathan who is also a Christian, so why would Jonathan support those bent on destroying his Christian way of life? It is instructive that when the insurgents seize Mubi town, they changed its name to Madinatul Islam (City of Islam). These guys like their ISIS counterparts in Iraq and Syria are Jihadists committed to elimination of other religions around the world. It was on that premise that the Chibok schoolgirls they kidnapped and who are over 90 per cent Christians were forcefully converted to Islam. How can Jonathan sponsor this kind of group? A group committed to his destruction.

Now if you check Nigeria’s security architecture in terms of personnel, you will discover that the north are in total control of the nation’s security even though Jonathan is the commander in chief. The minister of defence, Gen Aliyu Gusau is from the north, so also is National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, Inspector General of Police, Mr Sulaiman Abba, Chief of naval staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, Chief of Defence Staff Alex Bade, Comptroller General of Customs that is supposed to stop illegal arms importation is from the north, this coupled with the fact that majority of Nigerian armed forces are from the north since Independence in 1960 to date. This makes it absolutely difficult for a minority president like Jonathan to use the army inappropriately without being exposed. This is without prejudice to the Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah who is the first and only army chief from Niger Delta in the history of Nigerian army.

In Nigeria’s political structure, the vice president, Senate president, Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as key ministries are occupied by the north. Given this obvious facts there is no way that the president could sponsor Boko Haram without these people stopping such unpatriotic endeavour. Besides groups like Boko Haram does not take orders from ‘infidels’ like Jonathan.

The reason Jonathan is finding it difficult to tackle the insurgency in the northeast is because the people of the zone who live with the insurgents appear to be sympathetic to the cause of the insurgents as such have failed to provide the right information to expose them to security agents. Aside lack of cooperation from the local population, the political elite from the area are also uncooperative in a thinly disguised bid to portray Jonathan as incompetent in order to pitch him against Nigerian people and torpedo his second term aspiration in 2015.