Africa We Care

It is unconscionable, hypocritical, self-serving, and bold-faced shamelessness of the ex-president to assert that President Jonathan is destroying Nigeria when he is following in the footsteps of myriads successions of his predecessors. The only thing different is that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan is of the Ijaw extraction of the so-called South-South region of Nigeria. And the corrupt and oligarchic power brokers cannot stand it that the true son of the land replete with the wealth of Nigeria finally wields power in Nigeria.

If “Nigeria is bleeding”, perhaps it is too late to stop “the hemorrhage”, because the bleeding has gone on for too long: ever since the British handed the reigns of power over to the Hausa / Fulani oligarchy in 1960.

It’s not that I am enamored of the rudderless trajectory Nigeria is on, or has been led by its leaders; nor by any means do I condone the corruption, peculation, fraud, embezzlement, the fleecing of the people, and sheer naked banditry in high places that is the order of the day in Nigeria. Nevertheless, I am sure that most Nigerians will agree that the bandit-in-chief is Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo. Under his stewardship saw the unprecedented whole scale and summary sell off of Nigeria’s assets and parastatals: not to the highest bidders, but to family members, friends, and cronies. By the same token, how can this man accuse Mr. Jonathan of “pursuing selfish personal and political interests? Perhaps, he takes Nigerians for amnesiac fawning fools.

So much has been made in the Nigerian press and media about the “promise” Mr. Jonathan may or may not have made about “seek(ing) a second term” in 2015. A lot of people, albeit, of the northern elements extraction have even threatened fire and brimstone over Nigeria; the disintegration of that artificial contraption called Nigeria, should GEJ contest the presidential election in 2015. By gully, is this not much ado about nothing?

If Nigeria were a true democracy where  the people could have their say, it would not be the prerogative of anyone to tell GEJ not to stand for a 2nd term; after all it is his democratic right as a Nigerian under a duly constituted constitution, no matter how flawed. But democracy in Nigeria is a sham, and its constitution is a fake. By the way, did Mr. Obasanjo not attempt to thwart the constitution to go for a 3^rd term, but for the fact that the Congress of Nigeria stood him down, thank God?

Once upon a time in the United States, a certain Mr. Garry Hart, embroiled in sex scandal while running for the Presidency was impressed upon to stand down. He did not budge, but rather said: “Let the people decide”. And of course, the people did decide. And he lost.

For goodness sake, made democracy workable in Nigeria! Forge and constitute Political Parties with Ideologies and Platforms! Leave Mr. Goodluck Jonathan alone to run on his records. And let the people of Nigeria render their verdict on his stewardship. Former Presidents of America, Jimmy Carter, and George HW Bush were all one term presidents. They did run for second terms, and lost.

Of all his ineptitudes in governance, I would not drape GEJ in the garb of “polarizing the country along regional and religious lines”. That is the stock-in-trade of others; and Nigerians know who they are, and where they are from. There is a saying that you give a dog a bad name to hang it. Some time ago in the United States, Mrs. Hilary Rodham Clinton was dubbed “a polarizing figure” by the Conservatives, and then pronounced “unelectable” by her Democratic Party. What happened? She got elected a Senator from the Great State of New York to the Senate of the United States.

Obasanjo’s letter to Jonathan accusing him of destroying Nigeri

Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:47 am (PST) . Posted by:

“Elombah Elsdan” elsdaniel

READ Obasanjo’ s letter to Jonathan accusing him of destroying
Nigeria<http://elombah. com/index. php/special- reports/19487- read-obasanjo- s-letter- to-jonathan- accusing- him-of-destroyin g-nigeria>
Written by Elombah.com

Read here the full text of the 18-page letter written by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo who has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of ineptitude
and of taking actions calculated at destroying the country. In the letter
to President Jonathan, obtained by Premium Times, Obasanjo said, �igeria
is bleeding and the hemorrhage must be stopped.�br>
Read more…<http://elombah. com/index. php/special- reports/19487- read-obasanjo- s-letter- to-jonathan- accusing- him-of-destroyin g-nigeria>

http://elombah. com/index. php/special- reports/19487- read-obasanjo- s-letter- to-jonathan- accusing- him-of-destroyin g-nigeria

Mr. President (Jonathan), don’t just declare “three days of national mourning for” Nelson Mandela. You thus dishonor the greatest hero the world has ever seen since Jesus Christ trod this earth. In fact, the highest honour you, and for that matter, all the vampire leaders and elites of Africa, can bestow on this icon is to emulate him.

He was incorruptible. Try to be incorruptible.

He gave his all, in his life-long struggle for “the ideal of a democratic and free society”. Give something of yourself for an ideal of fraud, embezzlement, and peculation free Nigeria.

He liberated his people from white oppression and domination. Liberate Nigerians from economic oligarchy; the abyss of unemployment, abject poverty, penury, helplessness and hopelessness in the land full of so much promise.

Eschew in yourself, and esponge from the body politic all manner of malfeasance.

Do these, in the very least, and the great Madiba Mandela will be much honoured as he looks down on you from Heaven; for, emulation is the greatest form of adulation. And your people will love you for it.

President Jonathan Declares Three Days of National Mourning for Mand

Fri Dec 6, 2013 4:37 am (PST) . Posted by:

“Elombah Elsdan” elsdaniel

President Jonathan Declares Three Days of National Mourning for
Mandela<http://www.elombah. com/index. php/reports/ 19387-president- jonathan- declares- three-days- of-national- mourning- for-mandela>
Written by Elombah.com

Read more…<http://www.elombah. com/index. php/reports/ 19387-president- jonathan- declares- three-days- of-national- mourning- for-mandela>

“Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-

Unquestionably, Nelson Mandela was a great man; perhaps the greatest man of the 20^th and 21^st century, who today, at passing on to the great beyond, at a ripe old age of 95, has left very large footprints on the sands of time.

In his own words:

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the (South) African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, my lord, if needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Here was a Nelson Mandela! When, comes such another? Perhaps never in our life time!

A regal man of incorruptible character, and indomitable will; possessing of the finest of belief systems: persistent, resilient, and perseverant in all his endeavours, in spite of all the odds; deserving to be reckoned amongst the greatest men of our time and history (Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King).

“All the world’s a stage.”  And these great men have played their parts, leaving the world a better place than they found it. “Let us, then be up and doing” … and “make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time”, as well.

“Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-