Enenim Ubon, What Has Jonathan Really Done Since 2010?

 

A Nigerian writer and social commentator, Enenim Ubong recently wrote a piece to exonerate Mr President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, listing his “many” achievement in four years of administration. I believed he must have conducted a rigorous research to have come out with a 10-point achievement his one and half term in power in his attempt to ‘inform’ Nigerians on what according to Ubon, “do not know”.

As much as I do not want to add issues with any of the parties, I must state categorically here that Ubong’s defensive piece can only score one for an industrial and waste. His analysis portrays an emotionally delusional junkie, who though, is a victim of the monumental crash of Nigerian economy, is afraid of a “what happened next” kind of change. He represents a cross section of Nigerian youth who chose to remain in the biblical “Kadesh Barnea” safehouse to endure the scarcely-green piece of land.

Ubon got so emotionally displaced that he like his mentor, condemned other contradictory analyst as a “group of blind talkers, who hate for no just cause other than personal gains, whose god is their stomach”, quite a cheap and shameful statement carelessly goofed in desperate times.

First, He got his piece so muddled up in confusion that stated more of Mr President’s failures than achievement, and termed them as his “wishes” (that’s quite shameful).

How would you score a President who:

1). Neglects his own immediate people (The Niger Delta) in the transformation course he champions.

2). In his four years of presidency, failed to construct a bridge linking the Yenagoa jetty to Asaka in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State – one of the areas that contributes to the nation’s wealth(As Ubon evidently admitted).

3). Failed to implement the UNEC report on the Ogoni oil spill, and effect the full take off of both the Brass and Bonny LNG projects.

4). Failed to reconstruct the mutilated Calabar section of the Calabar-Itu highway in four years.

5) Failed to complete of all sections of the east-west road in four years.

6) Failed to complete of the 2nd Niger Bridge in four years.

 He displayed his conscious ignorance by suffixing “amongst other wishes” in his cart of failed project of His Excellency in his six years of governance, a more reason why he would not qualify to be in the “Presidential Media Team”as he had confessed.

Permit me to outline some of his premised list of President Jonathan’s list of achievement from 2010 to 2014

a)      The significant improvement in our electoral process:

 

Ubon stated that our electoral process has improved. I do not know to how he defines a free and fair election and which of the electoral process he was using as a yard stick. Is he saying that the 2011 electoral process was absolutely free and fair? I guess not. How much election has been held since 2010 without the opposition going to court? Has he any idea how much “solidarity stipends” were given to NYSC Corps member by these political parties during the 2011 general election? It takes more than the incumbent party to commend an election as free and fair. Even intra-party primaries are characterized with a measure of unfair electoral conduct. It is neither Jonathan’s fault nor glory if electoral process is free. It is supposed to be free by convention.

b)      Independent Judiciary;

 

I am sure the Emir of kano has not read Ubon’s defensive piece(s) as he is also a victim of an unfair judicial conduct in Nigeria. I am not mentioning a name but I will mention a case; a bank chairman who should be in jail for misappropriating N142billion customers’ money for acquisition of private properties got his case treated in Nigeria for three years. Two weeks before the closing statements were made, the judge was miraculously promoted to the federal court of appeal, and the system that is supposed to punish criminals was used and manipulated to promote a judge so that he would not convict a thief. Is that the independent judiciary he is talking about? Whatever has been done to OBJ who discarded court injunction and chose to launch his paper earlier than planned?

c)      YOUWIN:

 

I don’t believe that anyone will score the presidency for this glorified lotto. What is the statistics of those who are selected amidst the numbers of applicants? How many stages of screening is usually done before not less more than 20 is finally picked across the geopolitical zone? Who really wins? The government or the teeming unemployed population?

d)      Global business community;

 

I do not know how he got his figures and where the investors actually came from. How many investors have consciously scarified their capital to invest in a Boko Haram plagued nation? How many investors will establish any outfit in a country where the United Nations’ building can be blown up? How many investors will leave his peaceful country to establish in a country where even the citizens are not safe? How have your stated figures relate to the market women? To the labourers in Arepo and Ayobo? The carpenters and minimum wage earners? Think again sir.

After his analysis as stated above with other achievements such as ;Agricultural reformation; Train from Lagos to kano; Automotive industry; The Almajiri school and Omotosho Generating Plants, he went ahead to condemn the opposition representative as “bad product”, and at the same time suggested that “making a mockery of oneself for any reason is unacceptable even in politics”.

Mr Ubon, No one on earth would be a country’s president and do nothing; even a nonentity will do something however small.

A man does not fail because he did nothing; a man fails because didn’t do enough. Academic failure is a score between 0 and 39%, they are all scores, but not enough.

Now, if I have to answer the concluding question to determine who to vote for, here is the drop

1)     Am I making my choice because he has done nothing at all? No, I am making my decision because he did below what is expected of him.

2)     Is it because power must return to where it all should reside? No, but because I chose to try a new hand..(it couldn’t get any worse than it is)

3)     Is it because of his religion? No, as a matter of fact, I am a Christian too.

4)     Is it because I do not like his face? This doesn’t even qualify as a logical question as a determinant to a secured future.

See, I believe in change.. I believe in calculative change. Even mortal enemies can have a common ground where there exist a shared purpose..Lets define our purpose; what do we want? Do we want an air-conditioned train? Do we want mega stations that produce “God knows”? Do we want an education that secures no career? Do we want a government that puts food on every table (at least a large cross section of tables)? Do we want a change? Do we want reformation? Or do we want revolution? Lets prioritize our purpose and sample a new faction that shares common purpose. Even Moses knows we have dwelt long enough on this mount (Deuteronomy 1:6).

It is time take our journey to a new direction..with whatever it holds.