I am constrained to write this open letter to you before this
season of letters comes to a close.
I will go straight to the issues at stake. Let's start with the
level of toxic-ness in the air, sustained to a large extent by the
attitude of your array of spokespersons, who today do little
more than insult and dismiss everyone deemed to be an
"enemy" of the President. Just as you have a point when you
said that the easiest way to be deemed "progressive" is to
abuse Jonathan, it has also become that criticising the
President quickly earns one all sorts of unprintable labels
from the your camp.
Everyone in your camp seems obsessed with the fact that the
world is against you. One adviser recently accused everyone
criticising you of lacking home training. Another, who made
his name writing brilliant articles that skewered the
governments of the day, recently lamented — without any
sense of irony — that all Nigerian media is in the hands of the
opposition.
There's a siege mentality at work, us versus them. I can
assure you that that is not at all a helpful attitude to adopt.
Let's get one thing clear – if the Nigerian media seems to be
against you, it is because it has always been that way; always
tending to be deeply critical of the abuse and misuse of
power. At the next Council of State meeting, you might want
to ask your predecessors about their experiences with the
media and the "opposition".
If the media was unusually "nice" to or tolerant of the self-
styled Evil Genius, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, why did he
spend so much time proscribing media houses? If it was nice
to Gen. Sani Abacha, why was his government obsessed with
hounding journalists? If it was nice to President Olusegun
Obasanjo, why did he once boast that he never read
newspapers? The late President Umaru Yar'Adua earned
himself a reputation as "Baba Go-Slow". Remember the joke
that circulated widely a few years ago, about going into a
restaurant to order amala, shaki and 'Yar'Adua' (where
Yar'Adua stood for 'snail').
My point is: I doubt that Nigerians and their news media are
singling you out for ill-treatment. It's not about you being a
Southern President, or a Christian, or an Ijaw man, it's far
more likely to be about the action and inaction of your
government.
Mr. President, step out of the trenches. Your battle is not
against the media, or ordinary Nigerians wont to express their
frustrations and disappointments. I suspect that your battle is
instead with many of those characters who surround you,
claiming to be friends and loyalists, but who imprison you
within a dangerous Bubble and delight in misleading you for
their own selfish ends.
I have slowly come to realise how the condition of power
easily sets up the wielders of that power for incarceration
within a Bubble. It's prison without the uniform and without
the realisation that you're in prison.
In that Bubble, you're cut off from reality, and people come
up to you and say all sorts of things. They give you lists of
your "friends" and "enemies", they concoct allegations, they
worship you, they call you their Alpha and Omega, the best
thing to happen to Nigeria since 1914; they endlessly whisper
rumours and rumours of rumours. They will tell you that
everyone hates you because you're from a minority ethnic
group. They will tell you to ignore what "all those yeye
newspapers and critics" are saying.
It's time, perhaps, for you to fight to step out of that Bubble.
Your own long walk to freedom ought to commence now,
considering that it's almost too late.
We all know that governance is largely a series of perception
games. Thus far, your government has, like many of the
governments that preceded you, has played those games
badly. When people perceive your government as corrupt, it is
because they see no evidence otherwise. We all saw fuel
subsidy payments rise four-fold during your first year in
power. No one took responsibility, no one was punished.
When the Ikeja Police College incident happened, it was an
angry you who said the revelations were the work of your
enemies. It was, and is still, puzzling – did the opposition
somehow corner all the funds allocated to the College(s),
making it impossible for the police bosses to spend their funds
responsibly? Then, there was the aviation industry scandal –
and I've reliably heard that it is only a tip of the iceberg. The
"Oga At The Top" is still sitting pretty, invoking the "Law of
No-Shaking".
Meanwhile, that same government wastes no time pushing
Prof. Bart Nnaji out for "conflict of interest'; and hounding
the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido, on the
unproven ground that he "leaked" a letter to the President.
Perhaps, you will be able to explain to us how a Sanusi has
managed to embarrass your government to a greater extent
than a Stella Oduah.
With scenarios like this, you shouldn't be surprised that
Nigerians are angry and confused.
If you stood where Nigerians stand, and gave the affairs of
your government a proper consideration, you'd probably –
hopefully – come to the same conclusion. That something is
just not right somewhere.
The tragedy is that someday, maybe in 2015, or 2019, you
will step down from the Bubble. Your eyes will "clear", and
like Obasanjo, you will become an advocate of good
governance. Perhaps, you will even write longwinded letters
(or emails) to your successor complaining about corruption
and about how the international community is deeply worried
about Nigeria.
And we will be forced to remind you of your own time in
office, and wonder aloud what it is about the water in Aso
Rock that turns occupants into this strange species of Homo
Sapiens.
Perhaps, you would like to backtrack a little, to the
beginnings of your Presidency. To the circumstances in which
you, an underdog of underdogs, came to power. When you
were at the mercy of the "cabal" that ran Nigeria in the
absence of a then ailing President Yar'Adua.
I, like millions of other Nigerians, was angered by the antics
of that cabal, at how you, the sitting Vice-President, was
treated. You were kept out of the loop, humiliated. I recall
joining protest marches in Lagos and Abuja, calling for an
end to the shameful state of affairs that kept you away from
taking charge of Nigeria. We didn't do it because you were an
Ijaw man, or because your loyalists "mobilised" us to march
for you. We did it because it was the right, sensible and
decent thing to do.
Recall the promise and potential with which you came to
power. A Nigerian President who came from outside the
hegemonic contraptions that have run Nigeria since
independence. No one doubts that your victory in 2011 was
legitimate; those elections, while not perfect, were the most
credible we had seen in almost two decades. I recall
describing your appearance on the social media in 2010 as a
"breath of fresh air" – a mantra that eventually became one of
your campaign themes.
The question to ask yourself is: What happened? How did we
get here, where the name "Jonathan" has become a byword
for goofs and gaffes, for complete helplessness in the face of
oil theft and corruption?
In trying to answer that question (and maybe, there are some
answers above), the least we expect is that you will try to
make amends. Because that is all that will really matter, in the
long run. You will probably need to sacrifice some of those
Untouchables in your cabinet. There's news of an impending
cabinet reshuffle. Go ahead and do it. Surprise us.
You will also need to do something about your communications set-up. Your achievements – and they do
exist (these might form the basis of another letter) – deserve
to do better than get lost amidst the din of mindless
propaganda and abusive language flowing from your
spokespersons and aides.
You would need to come and meet Nigerians where they are –
sadly trapped beneath layers angry cynicism – to directly tell
them what you've been doing, what you're currently doing,
and what you plan to do in 2014. A handful of Presidential
Media Chats per year will no longer cut it; not in these dire
times.
You will have to face up to the difficult questions that
Nigerians are asking, and answer them yourself. Go on TV,
get on radio, get out there on the social media. You can no
longer continue to depend solely on a battery of
spokespersons speaking dangerously off-the-cuff, hyper-
excited by the sounds of their own intemperate voices.
The siege mentality has to go. You're not the first, and will
not be the last, Nigerian President to feel beleaguered. It is the
nature of the task. And, considering what they receive in
compensation and benefits for the job of ruling or misruling
Nigeria, our politicians should generally learn to take all the
heat, or leave the kitchen.
I have written this letter in genuine concern. I am not
currently a member of any political party, and I do not have
anything personal at stake in this brouhaha – no bids for a
marginal field or NIPP power plant or import licence that
might possibly be affected by the way things play out. I do
not hate you.
I am simply an ordinary Nigerian, concerned about the
direction in which our country is headed; concerned about
seeing that Nigeria gets the highest quality of governance that
is reasonably possible, considering our very complicated
circumstances.
Thank You.
By Tolu Ogunlesi
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