Opinion: What Jonathan’s new year slogan should be

by Olalekan Adetayo

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Even after he had responded to Obasanjo’s letter, Jonathan seems not through yet with the Ota farmer as he chose the Christmas service held at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Gwarimpa, Abuja on Wednesday to lash out at the former President.

Who says President Goodluck Jonathan is not a listening leader? In this column on December 14, I pleaded with the President to try and make his response to the 18-page letter written to him by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo open just like the former President’s.

“I hope he (Jonathan) will also take the liberty to share the content (of his response) with all Nigerians and friends of the nation who had read Obasanjo’s letter,” I had written in that edition.

Jonathan made my day on Sunday when his spokesman, Reuben Abati, made his response public through all the channels available to him; I guess based on the order of his boss.

He did not only make it available to journalists through electronic mail, Abati also made sure the response was available on his Twitter handle, his Facebook page and his personal website. He also forwarded the link to people through Whatsapp.

Within a few minutes after he sent out the response, the mass and social media feasted on it and it quickly became a topic of household talks and beer parlour gossip (apology to the President).

Before the release, many had thought that Jonathan would not reply the man who he referred to many times as “Baba” in his response. But this newspaper had reported exclusively in its December 14 edition that in spite of the breakfast meeting between the President and the ex-President in Nairobi, Kenya, the President would issue a written response to the former President’s letter last week. Confirming that report, the response was dated last Friday (December 20) only that it was made public on Sunday.

I will not bore you with the fact that Jonathan did not spare any word in his attempt to cut the Ebora Owu to size in his response in which he described the former President’s letter titled “Before it is too late” as full of lies.

After all, copies of the response are not only online and in national newspapers, smart businessmen in Abuja have since published it and copies are being sold in traffic just as they did and are still doing with Obasanjo’s letter and that of his daughter, Iyabo.

One thing that is however clear is that Jonathan is embittered not only by Obasanjo’s letter but also by the way the correspondence was leaked to the press. Much of this was displayed in his response.

But to show that he is not happy, he has not restricted his annoyance to the written response. He has been using public events to deal the former President further blow albeit without specifically mentioning his name.

For instance, on December 18, Jonathan, while receiving the 4,000-page report of the Senator Femi Okurounmu-led Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Dialogue saddled with the responsibility of designing a framework for the conference, had made reference to the letter when he said that  at the end of the conference which was meant to build a better cohesive society for the present and future generations of Nigerians, there would be less open letters for Nigerians.

“I believe that by the time we conclude this conference, there will be fewer open letters that Nigerians will read,” he had said.

Even after he had responded to Obasanjo’s letter, Jonathan seems not through yet with the Ota farmer as he chose the Christmas service held at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Gwarimpa, Abuja on Wednesday to lash out at the former President.

“For us at this time, especially we the politicians that we think we own this country and begin to think about next election and doing what we ought not to do, making statement we ought not to make, writing letters we are suppose not to write. I call on clergymen and statesmen who really own this country because this country belongs to our statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our men, our women, our youth.  Nigeria does not belong to any politician or group of politicians. So we continue to urge you to pray for this country,” he said.

Although he did not specifically mention Obasanjo’s name, it is obvious who wrote a letter to the President recently.

2014: Jonathan’s year of decision

In less than one week, we will all be bidding the outgoing year farewell and will be ushering in the new year. Churches will again come up with slogans that will fire up the confidence of their faithful that things will get better for them in the new year.

For President Jonathan, his slogan for the year is not farfetched. He may not go to any church to get one because I am ready to offer one free of charge without dropping a fat offering as a pastor would have forced him to do before getting one.

General elections will hold in the country in 2015. While there were so many political manoeuvres in the outgoing year on who will and who will not contest the next presidential election, the President has kept his calm.

Not even the claims by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Jonathan promised in the build-up to the 2011 presidential election not to seek re-election were capable of forcing the President to make a declaration. Even the call by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, for the President to declare his interest did not move him. His position has remained that he will only make his position on re-election known in 2014.

Therefore, the slogan I propose for the President for the new year is “2014, my year of decisive political decision.” Barring any change of mind, Jonathan will tell Nigerians if he is interested in occupying the Presidential Villa, Abuja beyond 2015 or not. We are waiting sir.

Wishing you a prosperous new year

Since this column made its debut in May, many of you have turned it to your Saturday Saturday tonic that you cannot do without. Much of this has been expressed in many of the feedbacks I get regularly from you, our esteemed readers.

This is therefore wishing you the best of the new year and all the good things you wish yourselves. It is my hope that the coming year will bring good tidings not only to Nigerians but the nation itself. May our governments at all levels learn to do the needful at all time (apology to the Minister of Aviation who is lucky enough that the report of a panel set up to investigate her is gathering dust inside the President’s drawer). May peace reign in troubled parts of the country.  All these and more we wish for in the new year. But beyond prayers, the underlying factor is that all of us, leaders and followers, must learn to do only that which is right at all times.

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This post is published wit permission from Abusidiqu.com

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

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