Jonathan’s Apologists And Their Gutless Smear Campaign

Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

In the art of writing, when a subject struggles with a rejoinder, two things could have inspired him. It is either that he/she has fresh facts to put on the table or he/she is visibly hurt by the truth and potency of the article.

Since Mr. Kingsley Kuku, Jonathan's adviser on amnesty spoke about how the re-election of his boss can only be a guarantee for peace in the Niger Delta in 2015, many Nigerians have reacted. At the last count, I read more than ten of such reactions before I wrote mine.

I thought that I wrote a harmless and ordinary piece, offering suggestions on how President Jonathan and his associates can make progress and reduce their blunders as 2015 election approaches. I was therefore extremely surprised that someone can adopt a pseudonym Sele Moses to write a rebuttal to my piece last week titled Kuku and his co-apostles of anarchy.

I read a version on the web earlier today. It is amusing that the author of the article does not have the courage to unmask himself. That is the first place where he got it wrong. How can someone who wants to be taken seriously hide his identity? If you are really a supporter of President Jonathan, then you must step forward with your real identity and associate with him openly.

Anyway, I reckon that you are not even proud of your hatchet mission and I can understand your dilemma. I feel you. First let me thank the writer for admitting my God given quotient in writing. Now if a writer and analyst can be described as not having a means of livelihood, then who has? A thug?

A politician or a government apologist with sticky fingers? Now does Mr. Sele Moses(or whatever you call yourself) mean that John Pepper Clark, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie etc., do not have means of livelihood? How come you found time to respond to a piece written by a jobless man? That means you are either more jobless or confused or both.

On the reference to Brick House, the masked author did not come clear enough for readers to know what he or she meant. May be the intention was to mischievously refer to my visits to Rivers State government house. I forgive he or she for descending so low to use such dastardly concoction and name calling in order to tarnish my image. However I will take strong exception about two things. First is the author's uncharitable reference to blackmail.

For this I challenge him or her to produce evidence to substantiate such a claim. Instead I think the author was the one trying to blackmail me by alleging that I disrespect Pa Edwin Clark. I affirm my respect for elderly men of wisdom in the confidence that readers will not be diverted from the issues I raised. Sele Moses' desperate but unsuccessful efforts to whip up tribal sentiments are clear and despicable. I earned my reputation through hard work and consistency.

My records across three continents are verifiable. Unlike the veiled person, I am also proud and unapologetic about those I associate with both in Rivers State and elsewhere. As I am sure the person may know, I worked in the Presidency for five years before I voluntarily resigned because I could neither continue to genuflect before the mediocrity that invaded the Nigerian seat of power nor continue to explain the inexplicable incompetence exuding there from.

I leave the author to find out what I have been doing since then. The person can stop by at Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC where Mr. Kuku visited recently. If the author encounters any difficulty, then Google can come to the rescue. It is laughable that someone can dismiss my article as disinformation yet will not go ahead to address most of the issues I raised.

I am sure that the author believes that I needed to be a militant before I can qualify as a 'key player' in the Niger Delta. Now can we begin to unbundle the struggle and distinguish it from opportunism and criminality? That is the point that exposed his or her superlative parochialism and myopia about the issues.

I admit that the author may know so much about Nigerian politics. However I am shocked that he or she needs to conduct a Gallop Poll to discern that the Northern Nigerians do not want Jonathan again as President? Habba! Hold it there. There is a limit to pretence and there is a level of sycophancy and ignorance that is simply unacceptable. I can see that both the author and Kingsley Kuku (that is if they are not one and the same) think that Nigerians can be blackmailed by threats of violence. You can go ahead but be rest assured that you both have missed the point.

What GEJ needs is to deliver developmental programs to the people of Nigeria - no short cuts to re-lection. I passed through the East-West road last week and it still remains a sore on the conscience of this administration. Between Mbiama junction and Ugheli , I counted about eight fatal accidents yet someone has the courage to mention the word transformation in an article instead of covering his or her face in shame.

The second Niger Bridge is still in the pipeline. The whole of the north has gone into flames already. Someone conversant with the power sector told me that with the pace of work at the moment, nothing significant can happen till 2017, then what is Jonathan preparing to tell Nigerians if he decides to run again? Let me make it categorically clear that Nigerians do not need a humble, humane, and unassuming leader; we need a performer, someone who has a clear vision and the courage to take decisive actions and achieve results.

Those who have chosen to make hate speeches or inflammatory statements must be condemned themselves to the wrong side of history whether they are coming from the North or South. For an aide to a sitting President to join the fray is both tactless and reprehensible. Is Kuku therefore telling Nigerians that he is speaking the mind of his principal? Very sad, indeed.

How come the author did not read where I stated that the Niger Delta struggle and the Boko Haram insurgency are quite different? Kuku's commentary and yours suggest that they are one and the same. Really? Now I know.

On another note, I challenge the author to show me 100 out of more than 15,000 ex-militants who can be said to be fully reintegrated into civil life. Please be fair to share their places of work and locations to our readers so that they can find out for themselves. Now the author stated that the third phase of amnesty was initiated as a result of protests in the President's home state. Was that meant to be a compliment?

The world knows the reasons behind many of the protests in the Niger Delta Region. The sponsors of such protests are well known conflict entrepreneurs whose motive is solely to profit from blood money. Now they must be smiling to the banks and preparing to trigger protests for the fourth and fifth phases of amnesty until the region goes into flames again. Is that what you mean by struggle?

Today in the Niger Delta what can you point to as a practical benefit from your so called struggle?

Those of you, who think that the best way to develop the young people is to give them hand-outs every month, should better get ready for the consequences of your actions. History will be the ultimate judge. Even if President Jonathan is re-elected, crude oil is a non-renewable resource that will one day dry up. What will now happen at the time when the oil wells dry up is better imagined.

Finally, there is nothing wrong in admitting that Mr. Kuku made a tactical blunder in Washington DC and that he is preparing to borrow from the suggestions I freely offered him. I am not a politician have nothing personal against him. The fact remains that blackmail will not work in 2015. Nigerians can see through these confidence tricks. Time is running out for GEJ to speed up his developmental programs all over the country and regain credibility.

If the Nigerian electorate get into elections, in their current angry mood then, your guess will be the same as mine. The other option is to continue to intimidate and ambush every real and imaginary enemy, using infantile tactics and through proxies. In 2015, Nigerians will speak.

Many people now feel strongly that if he continues this way, President Jonathan will make history as the first President of our country who will lose election as an incumbent. Mine is to continue to offer constructive suggestions from the side lines. If that is what you describe as joblessness and blackmail then so be it!