LAST NIGHT’S AMANPOUR INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT JONATHAN-THE PRESIDENT LIED

Last night, Christiane Amanpour, the prestigious Journalist and CNN Chief International Correspondent and Host of AMANPOUR, the Foreign Affairs Interview Programme on CNN International interviewed via satellite, Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan who is in Davos, Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum. She interviewed the President on a whole range of critical issues as terrorism and Boko Haram, the energy sector and corruption. The President was skirty, sketchy, evasive and at best untruthful. On issue after issue, he lied; except for one or two. He did finally admit that Boko Haram is a terrorist organisation and not a product of poverty and underdevelopment as some would have us believed, but he pathologically denied the extrajudicial tortures and murders of suspects, innocent citizens and unharmed civilians, which are patently evident, and are the hallmarks of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) modus operandi. And he further derided the United States Department of State shrewd situation report, maintaining in substance that they are works of Civil Society Organisations, Interest Groups and Individuals who have access to the State Department; as if to say that Organisations, Groups and Individuals in Nigeria are full of lies and that the US States Department no longer have the capacity to sieve information and design the true from the untrue or separate facts from fiction.

The President also staunchly defended his anti-corruption drive and efforts, using his electoral reforms policies as a justification. To that extent, he might be right, but there is still a lot more room for improvement as the 2011 general elections, which key actors and observers cite as a milestone wasn't totally free and fair; indeed, those who understands Nigeria very well and could go to the hinterlands knew that there were systematic intellectual rigging in that election. However, this is only with respect to elections and not the pervading corruption in the nation. In fact, the level of corruption has risen dramatically in this dispensation and the President appears to have lost control of the wheels in combating this monstrous octopus.

However, the most amazing and appalling of all, is the President's take on the energy issue. He said electricity generation and distribution has greatly improved; that the power sector was relatively stable and that if you ask Nigerians on the streets of Lagos and Abuja, they will testify to that. But that is totally untrue, and residents in both Lagos and Abuja, as well as elsewhere, will confirm this. In short, there has been no improvement in power supply at all; a close look at the indices will reveal that the nation is yet to exceed the 4,000megawatts (MW) it was generating three to four years ago. There has been no increase in megawatts; what we have got is simply a change in energy distribution policy. The present government has simply re-allocated distribution of more megawatts to select areas around the country; so if one is living in those choice areas, it will create the false impression that there is improvement in electricity generation and distribution. Yet, the nation is still on 4,000MW.

In the final analysis, the AMANPOUR Interview further revealed that the President is neither in charge nor on top of issues; he seems to have lost touch with reality, and he clearly have lost control, because the Nigeriahe spoke of last night certainly does not exist; it exists only perhaps in his dreams.

Eneruvie Enakoko