Without doubt, President Goodluck Jonathan’s imprudent and petulant response to the 12 Northern governors who had accused him of escalating the Boko Haram crisis, during their visit to Washington DC, USA, impoverished the sobriety and dignity of the office of President of the Federal Republic, in a way that advertises a certain pettiness at the highest level of Nigeria’s leadership. The result is that, once again, in place of serious policy debate or contention of principles, only poverty of ideas and absence of grace in the highest realms of governance are on display. For, all things considered, neither the course of Nigeria’s international image as a country, nor that of purposeful leadership was served by both the President and the Governors, who went to the White House to wash their proverbial dirty linen in public. This is most embarrassing to the President, the governors, and the entire country and is one more disgrace that Nigeria can do without.
The White House meeting was organized by the US government, through the US Institute of Peace, with a view to exploring how America can work with state governments in the North to address the Boko Haram insurgency and the underlying socio-economic under-development in the region. The governors were Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Kashim Shetima (Borno), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Abdulfattah Ahmed (Kwara), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Idris Wada (Kogi), Usman Dakingari (Kebbi) and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Ade Adefuye. On the US side were: Johnnie Carson, Adviser (US Institute of Peace), Grant Harris, Special Adviser to President Obama on Africa, John Mohr – Senior Staff Member – National Security Council, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and US National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, who was presiding.
Available accounts said events took a dramatic turn when some of the governors, especially Adamawa Governor, Nyako, launched a frontal attack on the President, forcing Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Ade Adefuye, to join the fray, objecting to some of the comments against the President and the federal government. Although Nyako was said to be the most vocal, he was not alone in raising critical views about the president and his policies, as the Borno and Kano State Governors also knocked hard on the Jonathan presidency. The Adamawa governor, who decamped from the PDP to the APC, reportedly caused a grim silence by his allegations that federal security agencies were colluding with backers of Boko Haram to perpetuate the conflict, as a way to reduce the voting power of the North East in 2015 and subsequent polls, and keep the region perpetually underdeveloped. He also accused the Jonathan presidency of conspiracy with Boko Haram, citing particular instances where the military were withdrawn in some locations, just in time for the terrorists to attack those locations, insisting that information was being passed from the security agencies to help the terrorists.
This provoked a spirited response by Adefuye, who tongue-lashed Nyako for playing politics of 2015 at the meeting, as the Americans looked on in bewilderment. Honestly, there was no redeeming value to the disgraceful and embarrassing performance by the Nigerian officials besides the incivility and lack of decorum which were obviated by Nyako’s flippancy, making his presence at the meeting, seem like an error in the first place. Wasting taxpayers’ money to go to the White House and play to the gallery was most unconscionable and condemnable.
Responding to the governors (he didn’t have to); the President blamed them for the security challenges that have bedeviled the Northeast region since 2010. Speaking at the People Democratic Party’s (PDP) North East Zonal unity rally in Bauchi, Jonathan said the governors have failed. “I feel disappointed when a governor that spent eight years in office and the children in the state could not attend primary and secondary schools comes out publicly to blame the Federal Government on insurgency; it is not the duty of the federal government, to send children to primary and secondary schools; it is the constitutional right of the Federal Government to provide all states with tertiary education, which we have done in the last four years by establishing additional 12 Federal Universities in Nigeria. We made sure that all states in Nigeria have University; so, who is the bad leader?”
The logic here is arguable, but it suffices to say occasions like the Bauchi rally are auspicious moments for the president to reflect on the nation and his governance style and reassure Nigerians of the direction he is taking the country. Like every other Nigerian, the President is, of course, entitled to express himself on national issues, whether or not these concern him directly. But, the President should have kept quiet; after all, golden silence is one of the major responsibilities of leadership. Today, the issues in our country are very clear – they are about development and good governance. His comments seem to trivialize these matters; worse even, by reducing the insurgency to lack of primary and secondary school attendance. This may be a forthright critique of the Northern governors, but what does Jonathan intend to do about it? By not offering a clear solution, he sounded as if he was playing the blame game and merely giving excuses. This is certainly not the kind of thing to be said by a President from whom everyone expects so much.
The President might have been right but he came across as petty with the buck-passing declarations and did himself no favors when in apparent naivety he inadvertently played up primordial sentiments. But far more worrisome, however, are the implications for peace and stability of the country with the dichotomy of view bothering on ethno-geopolitical fault lines which the President’s declarations unnecessarily engendered. Nigerians expect Jonathan to show in word and action that he is president of all Nigerians; that is why they voted for him. If Jonathan had wanted to respond to the 12 Northern governors, still, a public rally in the strife-torn North was not the right place to fly such a kite.
The president seems baffled that Nigerians are befuddled about the direction of his administration. The truth is: what Nigerians want from Jonathan is purposeful leadership. The torch of our land is in his hands; he must use that torch to light the flame that will show all Nigerians the path to the future. And he must lead that march to the future, and not waver, and not be afraid of his own destiny nor of men, nor his own shadows. If Jonathan continues to dither, he would ruin the opportunity that this moment presents. God has been kind to Nigeria. He has given Nigerians a land rich in resources. God has given Nigerians the strength to remain together in spite of the anguish and the pain of bloody rivalries.
Nigerians must stand together as a people to heal the open wounds, and resolve to build a better country for future generations. The country is in dire need of upright, selfless and trustworthy men and women who are committed to seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of the people. This will not be achieved when the president spends his time quarrelling with his critics like a market woman. President Jonathan must seize the moment to enunciate a concrete vision, which must translate into a shared aspiration for all Nigerians.
