President Jonathan’s Idiosyncrasy

The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has not ceased to amaze me with his ideals, mannerism, policies and style of leading a country as big and diversified as Nigeria.

This man from my view point wanted Nigeria to work, but he clearly lacked the bite required to drive the change and these shortfalls have long been detected by his detractors and are using these against him with full force. President Jonathan comes across as someone who has sincerity in his towel, but no purpose to achieve, a toothless dog, trying to bite.

I have taken time to look at his drive and management strategies as a president; I cannot but add him to the long list of Nigeria’s failed leaders. I won’t be doing any form of injustice to his person, if I rank him a failure as all indices from every parts of the economy shows he does not seem to have a clue how to sort Nigeria out. Nigerians will agree with me that there is no noticeable difference to the economy he inherited, if anything has changed, it is for the worse. Nigeria deserves international award for country with the most failed leaders.

I particularly pity this shoeless man from Otukpo, whose fate or luck has pushed to a position that is bigger than him. President Jonathan by my conviction would have done better as a university professor, teaching psychology and physiology, perhaps doing a bit more as the dean of a faculty. I recon it is not his fault to have reached this position in any effect, perhaps we should blame fate, luck and all the rest of us, who have pushed him and Nigerians into this colossal disaster, we cannot but blame each one of us for the situation we find ourselves. President Jonathan is a product of our failed society and I do not expect too much from him.

I sometimes have pity for the president, but my pity or that of anyone else or his crying in a crash site is not what we need. If pity or crying is the solution to any problem, perhaps the world would have been a house of weeping and every problem resolved instantly. I believe that this man clearly lacks any measure of guts required at the level he found himself. He has also been unlucky to be a product of a corrupt driven gang, who have manipulated the economy of Nigeria for decades, these gangs are still not ready to let go and have inducted him into their cabal of economic manipulators, reducing him to a puppet in their hands.  

President Jonathan is obviously confused, another accidental leader and not prepared for the job like his predecessors. Nigeria’s job should not be left for luck or superstition. It is a job that requires preparation, good foresight, the drive to achieve in the midst of oppositions and a relentless drive. Looking back at the history of Nigeria and its various leaders across all sectors, not many really understood and grasped the concept of leadership and what leading a developing nation like Nigeria entails. They see their position as an act of luck or a present from their god, which is why they simply use the proceeds to their advantage at the detriment of the whole nation. They make a lot of noise; feed their insatiable greed and bigmanism, with no discipline to back up their promises. They are easily subverted by wealth and material things. These attributes have continued down the lane of Nigeria’s leadership, every elected or nominated leaders believe they are more important than every other citizen, so can get away with anything they do.

I enjoin President Jonathan to re-appraise his administration’s performance and ignore the advice of his corrupt driven god-fathers and rich friends whose interest is only in their pocket.  President Jonathan is already tolling the path of Nigeria's failed leaders, with no apparent solution in place to fix the mess everywhere.

Every Nigerian deserves quality standard of living and a future they can look forward to. They deserve to have good roads to reduce daily deaths through accident, constant electricity, clean water, affordable transportation, education, reliable health system and other basic amenities required to maintain a normal life.

Nigerians also need to come together and do their best to move their nation forward. Let’s do away with tribal/ religious reasons for choosing a leader and avoid bloodshed among ourselves. Nigeria has already seen leaders from every part of the country, and from different religious units, but this has not changed the condition of the country. In conclusion, what we require is not someone from our clan or religious group, but a leader who can cause the change we desire.

Abiola Olaifa Writes ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , www.abiolla.com)