Opinion: Leave the President alone

by Abdullahi Garba

Goodluck-Jonathan looking tired

It is desperate opposition politicians who have a problem of presenting a credible track-record and an impressive score-sheet that Nigerian voters can rely on in deciding who the best candidate is.

In the typical Nigerian fashion, the political scene gets more charged with desperation and desperadoes as the election year approaches and there are all the signs that general elections fever has since gripped the nation.

It is, however, most unfortunate to observe that President Goodluck Jonathan is being literally roped into the feverish frenzy despite his best efforts to insulate himself from the plague lest he gets distracted from the onerous task of leadership and fulfilment of his all-important Transformation Agenda.

From mischievous tales about his “interest” in the 2015 elections to the fabrication of ridiculous schemes and plots to associate the President with the so-called campaigns of desperate politicians with greedy eyes on 2015 elective offices, people just won’t leave the President alone to keep his attention focused on his on-going commitment to the development and progress of Nigeria.

If the President should decide to concern himself with his future political agenda which he has every right and opportunity to do, I can bet my last naira that there will be even more hullabaloo about how he is less interested in the prevailing challenges facing the country!

The President must, however, maintain his position of placing greater priority on steering the ship of state through the turbulent seas of security challenges, political provocation and indeed attainment of the laudable objectives of his much welcomed Transformation Agenda, especially in the power and other vital infrastructural sectors.

There is justification to associate the propaganda targeting Mr President’s 2015 prospects with the desperation of the so-called opposition parties to literally jump over the Aso Villa fence and occupy the Presidency by hook, crook and subterfuge.

There is after all no denying that the political opposition in Nigeria has never been as desperate and diabolical as they have been since the breath-taking emergence of President Jonathan who they had been casually under-rating.

It must be admitted that President Jonathan delivered the dreaded uppercut of boxing champions to the seemingly towering contenders and left them rattled and dazed as he confidently and popularly consolidated his unambiguous election mandate.

He was able to successfully secure the reins of power and steady the nation on the path of positive transformation before the opposition politicians regained the capacity for mischief.

The fact that none of the existing political parties in Nigeria considered themselves capable of challenging the Goodluck Phenomenon on their own speaks volumes of the intimidating political clout that Mr President has mustered by delivering sincere, sober but sound and successful leadership acumen. The so-called APC alliance of dalliance is nothing but a rickety contraption temporarily carrying strange bedfellows to their imaginary rendezvous with political power. The same inordinate ambition that brought them together will eventually trash their agenda because none of their leaders can really afford to drop naked ambition when the chips are down.

This notwithstanding, the desperadoes of the APC continue to come up with all sorts of schemes and plots designed to create the false impression that everyone else is as desperate as they are about grabbing power and that President Jonathan cannot keep his eye on the leadership ball because he too is pre-occupied with 2015. Nothing could be further from the truth! As all patriotic Nigerians can testify, with the prevailing situation of the country and the transparent genuineness of President Goodluck Jonathan’s oft-stated determination to bring the nation out of its quandary into a new dawn of transformed progressive outlook, there is simply no time for thinking of an election that is two years away.

That apart, President Jonathan is too politically intelligent to abandon the task of superintending over the affairs of the nation, ensuring the successful attainment of the acclaimed Transformation Agenda and going the extra mile to maintain the internal security and peaceful coexistence of Nigerians.

These are the very potent ingredients of any meaningful investment in the future which no other politician in Nigeria, least of all in the rusted ranks of the opposition, can ever lay claim to without actually being in power.

In other words, it is desperate opposition politicians who have a problem of presenting a credible track-record and an impressive score-sheet that Nigerian voters can rely on in deciding who the best candidate is.

Yes, we should leave President Jonathan alone to remain focussed on his on-going national assignment for which he has a popular mandate to pursue for an initial four- year tenure that takes him triumphantly to 2015.

As he has promised, we are already witnessing remarkable progress in several moribund sectors of the economy, whether we mean the resuscitation of the railways, the revitalization of the power sector or the positive response to the nagging problems of leadership Nigeria has faced before his divine emergence.

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Read this article in the Vanguard Newspapers

 

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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