Date Published: 04/24/09
PITY THE SAD PRESIDENT
By Fr. Emmanuel Ogundele
Only recently, during his latest voyage or should I say misadventure to Ekiti State, we were privileged to know something more about the president: namely that he could be sad or that he is indeed a sad man. Of course, we have always known we have a sick president and so what again has compounded his already worrisome condition? It was the fact that the 20 developed economies of the world meet in London, and Nigeria, the erstwhile giant of Africa was not invited while South Africa was. The obvious reaction is that it serves him right. His insincerity and that of the political class to which he belongs has brought the masses of this country untold misery and at last sadness to him if he is really not feigning it. The very occasion he went for in Ekiti to campaign for the gubernatorial re-run elections in that unfortunate state is one of the reasons why his sadness may just be beginning. If a president and his vice could become so petty, so unsophisticated, so jobless to be pursuing party agenda to the point of not realizing that they are now state figures and not officials of a party, then we may not have seen the end to the politics of underdevelopment that has brought us where we are today. A leader for whom party interest overrides that of the state cannot be a good leader. This is my greatest problem with the PDP which for me is an anti-people party just like the ZANU-PF of Zimbabwe. The evil that PDP portends for our democracy is yet to be seen. A lot of people have said that the president must have been pressurized by his party to attend the campaign rally. My answer to this is No. It is difficult to drive an unwilling horse to the stream to drink water. Of course, he is always an unwilling to do anything. He was unwilling to become president and to allow the presidential election to be rigged for him yet he is enjoying the fruits of the most fraudulent election in the history of Africa if not in the whole world. At every turn, Yar’Adua is real bad news for this country. If he were a good leader, he should have told the party that former Governor Oni should let his achievements campaign for him instead of bringing the full machinery of the Federal government to Ekiti State thus killing a fly with a sledge hammer. It should be clear to the PDP that the people of Ekiti State with a cherished history behind it are not ready to play ball with the PDP and are tired of their deceit and treachery. They are ready to defend their votes even if they bring truck loads of army from hell. This why in terms of playing petty politics Yar’Adua is not any better than that dictator who is his political god-father and benefactor, General Olusegun Obasanjo. The yardstick by which any governor or president should be judged will be his social contract with the people in terms of infrastructures and service delivery. Key areas such as water, economy, transportation, electricity, education, health, security, roads, environment and so on are very important in assessing how effective a government has been. Of course, the president has done nothing remarkable in these areas in the last two years because he is not bothered about performance yet he is thinking of a second term. His show of shame at the campaign especially regarding his utterances is clearly indicative of the fact that the man is not a democrat at all. He is a disgrace to our commonwealth and our democracy.
Now, why did the president think Nigeria must be invited for the G-20 meeting? May be the man was more interested in parading himself before the television with other world leaders? But if he was, what has he done domestically to earn such an invite? What has he done nay his predecessors in office to merit invitation to such a serious-minded meeting? Yar’Adua should know that we now have a global village. Only recently, a friend of mine in the United States, and a white man for that matter sent me the price of a ‘Kongo’ of rice and beans. Let President Yar’Adua not fool anyone at all by trying to play the Ostrich. The world is aware of the kind of government he is running, a lack-lustre, low-energy, do-nothing government with no vision and no mission. People outside our shores are watching the present administration keenly. They know that the little gains the Obasanjo regime made not minding his brutish nature have been lost under the present administration. A man whose characteristic trait is flip-flop and who is not taken seriously by his own people cannot gain the attention or respect of the industrialized world. Known or unknown to us, the world knows that Nigerians and their impostor president are a huge joke.
Until we take ourselves seriously, the world will not take us as such. But why the citizenry are drenched in shame, our bad leaders have no idea of how much harm their greed and irresponsible attitude is doing to our collective image. With corruption gaining a new vigour, an unwillingness on the part of Yar’Adua to allow for free and fair elections, a dead power sector, bad roads, an ailing transportation system, a decimated health sector, a comatose education sector and the story is the same for every major aspect our lives, Nigeria has no future. Our leaders should know that we are going full speed in the wrong direction and that the present free-fall will not be in their own interest long-term. Their refusal now to listen to the voice of reason will not only cost them their jobs if not something more. What else can you tell a crop of leaders who are busy beating political war-chests when their people are dying of hunger, poverty and disease? We know our president is sick and he is taking care of his health but if he is truly sad about why we have not been invited for the G-20 summit, he must do something about it. As a country, we are in need dialysis. The serious economic powers of the world are only sending us a warning signal. They are saying we are not serious about Vision 20-20-20. Could anybody tell President Yar’Adua this much?
Fr. Emmanuel Ogundele is with the Department of Philosophy, Ss. Peter and Paul Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan.
