By Tochukwu
\nEzukanma<\/p>\n
With the story of his life, especially, that seemingly\u00a0miraculous rise to power, Goodluck Jonathan won the love and admiration of so\u00a0many Nigerians. Nigerians saw him as a man thrust forth by Providence to\u00a0usher in\u00a0a new era of good governance and reform Nigeria of her lawless, corrupt\u00a0and disreputably\u00a0past. With his professed firsthand experience of poverty and deprivation,
\nhe was\u00a0expected to empathize with the economic plight of the Nigerian masses and\u00a0appreciate\u00a0their hunger for a good life and longing for social justice. And thus,\u00a0will advance\u00a0policies responsive to the legitimate aspirations of the, for long,\u00a0debased and despised, but placid and endlessly patient,\u00a0Nigerian masses.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Goodluck Jonathan presidency disappointed\u00a0these expectations; he, essentially, set the country on a retrograde
\ngradation.\u00a0And the countrys manifold problems continue to worsen. In his refusal\u00a0to take\u00a0responsibilities for his ineptness and litany of political blunders, he\u00a0blames his\u00a0problems on evil forces plotting to bring down his government. No evil force,\u00a0no matter how powerful and resourceful, can successfully undermine him\u00a0without his\u00a0having first betrayed the trust reposed on him by the people. The\u00a0countrys increasing\u00a0woes stem not from any evil force scheming against the president, but from\u00a0the\u00a0presidents abdication of the moral and constitutional responsibilities\u00a0of his\u00a0office.
\nHis administration wobbles under its own weight of\u00a0corruption and ineptitude, with their inescapable consequences of deepening\u00a0poverty, increasing unemployment, dysfunctional institutions, societal\u00a0disorder\u00a0and frightening scale of insecurity. Therefore, it is most likely that\u00a0Nigerians\u00a0will vote out Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general election. But,\u00a0hell-bent on\u00a0being re-elected to a second term and restoring to his mentors do or\u00a0die\u00a0politics, he is out to decapitate the major political opposition party, All\u00a0Progressive Congress (APC), before the 2015 election. Through proxies, the\u00a0presidency\u00a0and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are spearheading the\u00a0impeachments\u00a0of APC governors for offenses that are, by Nigeria political standards,\u00a0prosaic.
\nThe Adamawa State governor, Muritala Nyako, was recently\u00a0impeached by the PDP dominated Adamawa House of Assembly for offenses that\u00a0most\u00a0other governors, members of National Executive Council, and even the\u00a0president are\u00a0all guilty of. Constitutional experts bemoaned the unconstitutionality of\u00a0aspects of the process leading up to the impeachment. There is a line up\u00a0of other\u00a0APC state governors slated for impeachment. The axe of impeachment is\u00a0poised to\u00a0strike next on Governor Tanko al Makura of Nasarawa state. The Nasarawa PDP\u00a0dominated House of Assembly has received it marching orders from Abuja and is\u00a0readying to impeach the governor. Generally,\u00a0the PDP governors, are not, by any stretch of the imagination, more law \u00a0abiding,\u00a0financially honest or responsible to their oath of office than APC\u00a0governors. So,\u00a0this impeachment galore targeting only APC governors is a gaudy partisan\u00a0gimmickry\u00a0aimed at eviscerating the opposition before the 2015 general elections. In\u00a0these\u00a0impeachment shenanigans, the presidency is trifling with a solemn and weighty\u00a0provision of the Nigerian constitution not intended for such reckless and\u00a0selfish use. \u00a0More than any other elected official in Nigeria, it\u00a0is Goodluck Jonathan that deserves to be impeached. Heis culpable of many\u00a0impeachable\u00a0offenses, especially, corruption and dereliction \u20ac\u201c failure to uphold a\u00a0fundamental
\naspect of his oath of office (secure the lives and property of Nigerians)\u00a0and disdain\u00a0for the sensibilities and lives of Nigerians. Under his presidency,\u00a0official corruption\u00a0heightened: government officials became exceedingly brazen in their\u00a0misappropriation and outright theft of public funds. This impairs the\u00a0efficiencies of Nigerians institutions, including the armed forces. Once
\nuniversally\u00a0acclaimed for that low budget but highly effective military expeditions\u00a0that restored\u00a0order and kept the peace in troubled West African countries, the Nigerian\u00a0military is now a tottering reflection of its former self. Hobbled by\u00a0corruption and lack of motivation, it attracts international ridicule for\u00a0its bungledn\u00a0and dispirited fight against Boko Haram terrorists.
\nObsessed with his personal\u00a0agendas and political ambitions, the president sees every national issue\u00a0through\u00a0the distorted prisms of partisan politics; this is also disastrously\u00a0militating\u00a0against the war on terror. As the repository of the powers of her
\ngovernment, the embodiment\u00a0of her will and personification of her hopes, it is unconscionable for him to\u00a0detach himself from the countrys collective mood and prevailing\u00a0sentiments. In\u00a0times of national tragedy and grief, he must be inextricably bound to the
\nshared\u00a0gloom. Romping around at a political rally\u00a0in Kano a day after the first terrorist bombing of Nyanya and the
\nkidnapping of\u00a0about 250 Chibok school girls, he cut the image of Nero,\u00a0who fiddled as Rome burnt. It was an egregious display of contempt for the\u00a0susceptibilities\u00a0and lives of Nigerians. It\u00a0was seen as a powerful testament to his lack of sympathy for
\nthe victims of terror and their families and utter disregard for the\u00a0feelings and lives of\u00a0Nigerians.
\nHe\u00a0continues to evince the same contemptuous indifference to the\u00a0sensibilities and\u00a0lives of Nigerians by his refusal to visit Chibok, after more than 100\u00a0days of the\u00a0abduction of the Chibok girls, and his decision to meet with some of the
\nparents of the Chibok girls at the prodding of a 17 year Pakistani girl.\u00a0Within\u00a0a few days of the Chibok abduction, the president should have visited\u00a0Chibok to\u00a0sympathize, console and encourage the affected families and the entire\u00a0community.
\nThe\u00a0Nigeria constitution states that a president can be impeached from his office\u00a0for gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his\u00a0office. President\u00a0Goodluck Jonathan is guilty of gross misconduct, especially, in his\u00a0conduct of
\nthe war against corruption and terror.
\nTochukwu\u00a0Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
\nmaciln18\u00a0@yahoo.com
\n0803\u00a0529 2908<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tochukwu Ezukanma With the story of his life, especially, that seemingly\u00a0miraculous rise to power, Goodluck Jonathan won the love and admiration of so\u00a0many Nigerians. Nigerians saw him as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n