Their Excellencies versus His Excellency

Olalekan Adetayo

This is obviously not the best of times for the fourth elected President of the most populous black nation, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. That Jonathan is fighting the battle of his life is just stating the obvious. From his physical appearance­­-the grey hairs and the bags under his eyes among others-one can deduce that he is under intense pressure.

If these battles are coming from members of the opposition, it would have been understandable. But when they come in torrents, as they did during the week, from his own camp under the same umbrella (that is the logo of the ruling party), then something is amiss.

While paying tribute to the late South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela, at a memorial service held inside the Aso Villa Chapel on Sunday, Jonathan had expressed his displeasure at the way some Nigerian politicians cutting across different age grades and political parties speak as if Nigeria is their personal property.

“If you listen to those of us who are politicians in Nigeria from all political parties -from PDP, to now APC but beginning as AD and ACN, to ACP and others- the way we talk: some talk as if Nigeria is their personal bedroom that they have control over. Read the newspapers, listen to the radio and television or go to the social media and see how politicians talk. Some of us even think we are little gods. We intimidate, we threaten, we show hate in our communication. These are definitely not the virtues of great men. They are shockingly the vices of tiny men.  Sometimes when I listen to politicians, the ones older than me, my contemporaries and even the younger ones, I come to the painful conclusion that it is probably easier for a carmel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a politician to be truly great,” the President said, apparently out of frustration.

About 24 hours after expressing this frustration, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwwal, came hard on Jonathan for allegedly treating cases of corruption with kid gloves. The Nigeria’s No. 4 citizen did not mince words when he said the first citizen’s body language did not portend him as a  man enough to fight corruption. He did not speak in abstract, he cited specific examples. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although many believe that the Sokoto State-born outspoken Speaker is only waiting for the appropriate time to join his state governor, Aliyu Wamakko, who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress with four other aggrieved PDP governors, he is still a member of the ruling party. While many saw Tambuwwal’s outburst as mere playing to the gallery, others saw it as a bold statement from a leader who wants a visible positive change in the polity.

While still thinking of how best to handle Tambuwwal’s outburst, another stinker in form of a long letter came the way of the President. The 18-page essay which can be appropriately titled. “The many sins of His Excellency”, or “the lamentation of an ex-President” was written by Ebora Owu, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who occupied Jonathan’s current seat from 1999 to 2007. I will not bore you with details of the gospel according to (Saint) Matthew Okikiola which has been in the public domain since Wednesday.

Jonathan must have been taken aback that such a long name-calling letter could have originated from someone who he should have approached for advice. He probably wouldn’t have minded if such a note was sent by chieftains of the APC like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The President was, however, more disturbed by the fact that the letter which was supposed to be a private communication between the two of them found its way into public domain. Much of this was expressed when he said through his spokesman, Reuben Abati, that it was “highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative” that a letter written by a respected statesman like Obasanjo to the President could be deliberately leaked to the mass media in an effort to impugn the integrity of the President.”

I am happy that Abati said the President himself will, at the appropriate time, offer a full personal response to “the most reckless, baseless, unjustifiable and indecorous charges levied against him and his administration by the former Head of State.”

As at the time I am writing this, that response has not come. As a reporter attached to the Villa, I can’t just wait to hear Jonathan respond to Obasanjo’s allegations one-by-one. I also hope he will use the opportunity to also react personally to Tambuwwal’s outburst. In case the President decides to send a written reply to the former President, I hope he will also take the liberty to share the content with all Nigerians and friends of the nation who had read Obasanjo’s letter.

Your Excellency, we are waiting sir!

Odd prayers they pray inside President’s chapel

I have written many times here that services that are held inside the Aso Villa Chapel are more political than spiritual in nature with so-called worshippers literarily falling on one another to catch the President’s attention.

Because I do not want to be accused of making unnecessary repetition, I took a personal decision that anytime I enter the chapel, I will henceforth be facing my business. But I have no other business than to write news stories for you to read.

I was taught in journalism school that oddity is one of the factors that help to determine the news value of information. That was what informed my decision to share with you some of the prayers they pray in the chapel that I believe are strange. I however agree that what is strange to me may not be strange to another person.

Let us see (or pray) this prayer point for a start; “Pray that the crises rocking the ruling party, the PDP will not mar the party’s chances of victory in the 2015 general elections to enable the present administration to continue the transformation agenda-Zechariah 4:9.”

This is not a prayer point at a fellowship inside the PDP national secretariat. Far from it. It is inside the December 2013 edition of a prayer booklet called “Prayer Guide For Nigeria” being used for intercessory prayers inside the Villa Chapel. Although I cannot confirm if the chapel is the publisher of the booklet, I can confirm that it is being used to pray there with free copies made available to worshippers. The prayer above was one of the prayer points listed for Monday, December 2.

What about this: “Thank God for the approval of the $100million loan from the Indian Import-Export Bank for Cross River, Enugu and Kaduna states to address power infrastructure by the Federal Executive Council.” Or this: “Thank God for the $300m loan from the International Development Association to boost the country’s mortgage sector as approved by the Federal Executive Council.” It is true that the Bible says we should thank God in all situations but I wonder if we really need to be thanking Him when our country goes a borrowing. To me, it is strange. Culled from Punch Newspaper.