February 14 is at hand, the time when all Nigerians are going to elect their president to steer the ship of the country for the next 4 years. After critical analysis, It was observed that the president lack the technical know how of how he can put things to work in Nigeria. The flag up of his campaign in Lagos was a reflection of his level of incompetence and qualities that make up his personality. Some critical look at some of his "so call" achievement are mere political talks that hold no water.
WILL YOU VOTE A LIAR AS PRESIDENT?
ANTI-CORRUPTION
This is an area where the GEJ administration has failed woefully. There
is presently no political, institutional and, perhaps, public will to
fight corruption. Under GEJ, the two (2) main anti-corruption agencies,
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have been
demystified and stripped of their independence thereby rendering them
ineffective.
This is not in any way surprising owing to the President's perspective and perception of corruption.
On May 5, 2014, while responding - on national television - to
allegations that he was not doing enough to curb corruption among his
ministers, GEJ had claimed that most of what is referred to as
corruption is not really corruption at all. According to him, “Over 70%
of what are called corruption (cases), even by EFCC and other
anti-corruption agencies, is not corruption, but common stealing”.
The President - whose wife, Dame Patience Jonathan was in September,
2006 accused of money laundering by the then vibrant EFCC - is not alone
in this ludicrous assessment.
Less than two (2) weeks after the
President's display of warped logic, Ekpo Nta, the Chairman of the ICPC,
told a delegation of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in
Nigeria (COREN) that visited the commission in Abuja that “Stealing is
erroneously reported as corruption. We must go back to what we were
taught at school to show that there are educated people in Nigeria.”
The ICPC boss also went further to liken the Nigerian penchant to
regard theft as corruption to be as erroneous as calling a roadside
mechanic an engineer.
Little wonder then that today, GEJ's most
trusted allies - Diepreye Alamiesiegha, Bode George, Buruji Kashamu, Ayo
Fayose, Mohammed Abacha, Femi Fani-Kayode, Ali Modu Sheriff - are all
men who have benefited greatly from his benevolent view of corruption.
Little wonder then that under GEJ's watch, it is now 'normal' for billions of dollars to "develop wings and disappear".
Little wonder then that despite overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence, no single Fuel Subsidy thief has been prosecuted.
Little wonder then that under GEJ, arms and ammunition are purchased
with millions of dollars of undisclosed and undeclared cash loaded in
suitcases aboard private aircraft.
Little wonder then that, few
days ago, IBB declared that compared to GEJ's administration, his
(IBB's) corruption-ridden administration was 'saintly'.
And, little wonder then that
richlifestyle.com and Forbes Magazine have ranked GEJ as one of the most stupendously rich (and corrupt?) leaders in the world.
INSECURITY
Despite having spent over $6 billion per year on the military sector
for four years, the GEJ administration has not recorded any remarkable
success in dealing with Nigeria's security challenges as posed primarily
by Boko Haram on a daily basis.
POWER SECTOR Having spent
billions of dollars on reforms in the Power Sector, the tale still
remains "Plenty motion, no movement". And in spite of government
propaganda to the contrary, most Nigerians still lack access to regular
supply of electricity.
Can Mr President tell Nigerians the amount of Power generated,
distributed and transmitted? the amount his government met before 2011
and how much Megawatt he added to it?
Can Mr President explain to
us why Petroleum products prices have not come down since He said we are
buying at international price.
ELECTORAL REFORMS This is perhaps the
only area where the GEJ administration can be permitted to beat its
chest and claim some level of success. It must however be remembered
that credit for the noticed improvements must go to the civil society
for massive voters' education.
And, quite ironically, the
electoral reforms will face the sternest test so far, on Saturday,
February 14, 2015 when GEJ and General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) go
head-to-head in the Presidential Election.
Personally, in spite
of his many inadequacies, my greatest problem with GEJ has to do with
his penchant for telling barefaced LIES.
Space constraint will
not allow me to exhaust all of GEJ's brazen mendacious statements but a
few instances will suffice to buttress my position.
1. In 2010,
while drumming up support for his bid to contest in the 2011
Presidential Election, GEJ had promised that if voted into Office, he
was not going to seek re-election. He later did a volte-face and claimed
that he never gave such a commitment - even in the face of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary. LIE!
2. On Wednesday, January 23,
2013, GEJ - while responding to a question about whether Nigerians now
had access to regular power supply - told Christiane Amanpour, CNN's
Chief International Correspondent that most Nigerians now enjoyed
regular power supply. LIE!!
3. In June 2014, while campaigning
for Ayo Fayose in Ekiti State, GEJ had told the Ekiti people that if
they voted for Fayose, immediately after Fayose's victory, he (GEJ)
would begin to pay attention to Ekiti State's development through
Federal Government projects. But few weeks ago, the Federal Executive
Council (FEC) approved Four Hundred and Thirty Billion Naira (N430
billion) to construct roads and bridges across the Federation in 2015
and Ekiti State was conspicuously missing on the list. LIE!!!
4.
About a month ago, GEJ paid a visit to IBB at his Hilltop Mansion in
Minna. After the visit, GEJ and his media team told journalists that IBB
had declared his support for GEJ's re-election bid.
However, a
couple of days later, an embarrassed IBB came out to denounce the
report, explaining that he NEVER endorsed GEJ's second term bid but only
advised him on how to tackle the insecurity challenges in the North.
LIE!!!!
5. Last week, during the flag off of his presidential
campaign in Lagos, GEJ had told his audience that the October 1, 2010
bomb blast at the Eagle Square had been orchestrated by the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which had been contracted by
"some politicians" to assassinate him. This was coming from a president
who - even after MEND claimed responsibility for the attack - had
insisted to the whole world that intelligence reports clearly indicated
that MEND was NOT responsible for the attack. Chai! LIE!!!!!
6.
During the same Lagos Rally, GEJ had equally told his audience that
during the entirety of GMB's reign as military head of state (December
31, 1983 to August 27, 1985), he (GMB) did not purchase "a single rifle"
for the Nigerian military. However, facts and figures have now emerged
that show that as the then head of state, GMB did procure sophisticated
arms and ammunition for the Nigerian military armoury. LIE!!!!!!
The Yorubas do have a saying that "Eni ba n paro maa j'ale (meaning, "a liar ultimately becomes a thief").
In essence, a vote for a liar, is a vote for a thief! And nothing can
be more perilous - and more stupid - than trusting a thief to run the
affairs of a country.
Against this backdrop, it is instructive
for the Nigerian electorate to ruminate before casting their votes on
Saturday, February 14, 2015.
Do not vote for somebody who
couldn't offer much when he had something to lose, but is now promising
you heaven and earth when he no longer has anything to lose.
As
for me and my house, come Saturday, FEBUHARI 14, 2015, we will NOT vote
for a thief ... we will cast our votes for GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI
(Rtd) - a man you can at least, hold to his word!
