Thursday, 17 May 2012
Is Goodluck Jonathan Plain Stupid? By E. C. Ejiogu
When you think you have seen it all—including the most bizarre—in the caricature land, which Nigeria is, something silly and bizarre quickly crops up in or about the place or its conscience-deficient minders. At the time when Olusegun Obasanjo actively foisted the walking corpse, Musa Yar’Adua as president of the place, some people who have refused to write the Nigeria project off as a lost cause, still let their hopes linger on the belief that the place might be turned around someday. Even as they hoped, it didn’t take long before it became self evident that Yar’Adua was truly dead, in fact, too dead to function credibly as the president of anywhere except Nigeria.
He remained there all the same—shuttling regularly to Germany for what was called medical attention as his handlers indulged themselves looting and stealing public funds. It got to the point when the Germans refused to admit him any longer in their hospital. But the bizarre absurdity continued as the Saudis took over. Even when the Saudis washed their hands off him, and he was parceled back on life support and left outside the seat of power in Abuja in an ambulance where he decomposed away, he was kept on as president.
As all that went on, there was Goodluck Jonathan, rolling over silently in the full view of the world, contented with being the vice president to a president who was as far as anyone knew, dead! When they eventually knocked something together for him and called it acting presidency, he concurred, literally flashing his signature sheepish grins.
One of Jonathan’s first acts after Yar’Adua’s decomposing corpse was finally wheeled out of the seat of power, and way was paved for him to assume de facto control, of state power in the project, was to bother the autocrats in Saudi Arabia to let him come over and thank them for ‘taking care of’ Yar’Adua. Again, he simply grinned some more after they turned him down.
In the last several months, every reasonable person watching as things continued to unfold spiral down in Nigeria has been rankled by the ease with which the Boko Haram Islamist terrorists sustain their blood-letting all the way from Abuja to several parts of the Sokoto Caliphate areas. They have done that in a manner that fits what obtains in climes that are devoid of governance. It got to the point where the US intelligence establishment stepped in to furnish what became the only credible security warning over the menace. Directed at American citizens who were cautioned to stay away from two luxury hotels in Abuja, the alert came handy also for everyone else, including Jonathan and elements of his hapless make-believe government, who free-loaded on the alert that their own outfit is incapable of generating credibly, and deserted the two locations fingered in the alert.
As that raged, from nowhere, the same Jonathan broke out in a speech that he made somewhere, boasting that the Boko Haram menace will fade away in less than no time. Note his language: fade away in less than no time! Even if his confidence was spiked by the recent disclosure by SaharaReporters.com that the US Pentagon had infiltrated special forces through Niger and Chad to stalk and combat the Boko Haram Islamist terrorists, no reasonable president would go as far as declaring victory a-priori that way. But he wasn’t done yet. Jonathan’s response to the humiliation that Chinua Achebe rightly smeared him with when he tried to bribe him with the hollow ‘national honor’ was an expression of ‘surprise’ that Achebe is unaware of the ‘progress’ that his transformation agenda has already splashed all over the land. This pattern of response that fits a fantasy gambit that he brandishes each time whenever he senses that his ineptitude is being rightly ridiculed is a worrisome indicator of a problematic persona especially about someone who is president. The other time, he loudly grumbled that US president, Barack Obama appreciates his string of lofty achievements while people at home prefer to disparage him.
All of these canalize into a sad reality: Goodluck Jonathan, his sterile-brained butterfly of a wife, their unfortunate exploits in public life, indeed, everything about them constitute yet additional indicators that the Nigeria project is, in Graham Green’s description, a burnt out, in fact, a basket case.
I don’t know about you, regardless of the façade of being president—to that I say, president gbakwaa oku!—as much as I have seen of this Jonathan, there is simply nothing extra that I need to see in or hear from him to sufficiently de-convince me that the man is not plain stupid, I mean silly! It’s only a stupid person that will buy into the absurdity, which is being whispered into his ears by the likes of the flotsam-jetsam character like Ruben Abati who presume that paid cheap public relations blitzes in esoteric magazines—some are currently running in the November issue of South Africa Airways in-flight magazine, Sawubona—constitutes their so-called transformation, which clearly translates to deceit.
Worrisome as this reality is, it is not a surprise though. A social ecology in which—as the late Obafemi Awolowo once said during his lifetime—dogs devour lions, is an aberration. It is only a plain stupid man like Jonathan who would delude himself daily that he is waxing successful as president even when it is plain clear that the land is falling into pieces literally.
•E. C. Ejiogu, PhD, is a political sociologist, and the author of The Roots of Political Instability in Nigeria published in March by Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
hehehe....
im a stalker to everybody in this world...
isn't goodluck jonathan strange??
it's just like the tv show Goodluck Charlie..
have you seen it idiots??
ur face is b****
Nigerians there is hope for the nation
Quite alright Nigeria is passing through trouble waters but we must excise retrain not to wash our dirty cloths in the public.Nigeria must remain as united federation and republic state.Although there are some ugly unthinkable social,political and economic problems we are passing through .We will certainly overcome these perilous times. Our Leaders might have appeared to have failed us but still there is hope for Nigeria the most populous and largest democracy in black Africa.
@Hamilton Re: Igbo Presidency
@Hamilton,
In as much as I would agree with your submission, I thought you should have ended it with an apology for contributing for the mess Nigeria is in now.
Based on what did you vote and campaign for Jonathan if not ethnic and religious sentiment? Jonathan had been deputy gov, gov, vice-president and acting president for a period spanning about 6 years before the April 2011 election .... so what were his achievement/records in those periods that made you and others vote for him. How do you expect a man who spectacularly failed in a small state like Bayelsa to sudddenly develop the required intellect to govern Nigeria ? How do you expect a man who couldn't stand up to a woman (Turai) to suddenly develop the courage to stand up to the PDP nest of killers? You guys are unfair to Jonathan expecting so much from him.
IT IS UNFORTUNATE YOU GUYS GAVE THE JOB MEANT FOR MEN TO A (WO)MAN BECAUSE OF ETHNICITY AND RELIGION !!!
Ejiogu is as moronic and
Ejiogu is as moronic and stupid as anybody that support his unethical wordings, and effontery to Mr President. There r a million and one way of criticism... I wonder if realy you merited the qualification you said to be having. Bastard!!
I do not care what you call
I do not care what you call yourself but you do not use stupid to describe or qualify anyone and how much more a president like Jonathan. You must have been in another world when other presidents or heads of state have the driver seat in Nigeria. Please tell me what they did better than Jonathan. Yes, we can agree that Jonathan is far better than all of them put together. With a PhD tagged to your name it means you are a professional of some sort, try not to sound unprofessional and if you cannot help yourself stop writing.
bcoz non of your family
bcoz non of your family members has been killed by the boko haram......
Pereyi Namabiri is plain stupid
pereyi namaberi you are a product of broken education.ogogoro intoxication has blinded your cognitive. Mr Ejiogu did not insult your president an Ijaw failed product.He only posed question.If you continue to insult the Igbos, we will send you deep into the Atlantic ocean and your snake infested creek to devour you.
Pereyi Namabiri is plain stupid
pereyi namaberi you are a product of broken education.ogogoro intoxication has blinded your cognitive. Mr Ejiogu did not insult your president an Ijaw failed product.He only posed question.If you continue to insult the Igbos, we will send you deep into the Atlantic ocean and your snake infested creek to devour you.
Pereyi Namabiri is plain stupid
pereyi namaberi you are a product of broken education.ogogoro intoxication has blinded your cognitive. Mr Ejiogu did not insult your president an Ijaw failed product.He only posed question.If you continue to insult the Igbos, we will send you deep into the Atlantic ocean and your snake infested creek to devour you.
Call GEJ Whatever
Call Mr President whatever name that suits you, he matters more than you and he's doing well in the present circumstances. You cannot win even a councillorship election in Nigeria yet you are insulting our President. "The Power that be are ordained of God"
Indeed the language of the
Indeed the language of the author is too harsh. We need to criticise positively. I may not agree with what the president is doing, but it is not helpful to insult him online. And for those that first see the tribe of an author before the content of his write up, note that Jonathan has people that are more critical in Bayelsa. Go ask Sylva. It has nothing to do with Dr Ejiogu's tribe.
Otile is an idiot
Otile is a very stupid, indeed an idiot contributor to this social medium. He always attached religious and ethnic sentiments to his comments. Are Joshua Dariye, Alemesigya DSP, Peter Odili, Sunday Afolabi, Bode George, who made away with trillions of nairas from government coffers Muslims? Are OBJ, GEJ, David Mark, Sylva, Uduaghan etc, who are Christians that milking public treasury different from Bankole and Nafada or doing it in the interest of all Nigerian Christians? Are Lucky Igbinedion, Orji Uzor Kalu and co, who are institutional kleptomanias Muslims? Even, Yakubu Gowon, a Christian defrauded Nigeria for 9-year. Recently, Gowon's NGO is enaged in international misappropriation of fund given by Global Health. Yet, no any inqury is conducted for deal with him.
@ Ifeanyi-Democracy 4ever Re: get over the DEFEAT!
U claim "Some of GEJ campaign messages still reverberates till tomorrow,including the famous 'i had no shoes'."
Has events thereafter not proven that statement to be fraudulent now ? Are the other "no shoes" people in Otuoke, Jonathan left there, better off today? Are his policies not threatening to even take off their clothes ?
Only a fool would not agree with this article. Any true son of South-South should be ashamed at the level of idiocy exhibited by Jonathan every now and then.
Ifeanyi-Democracy 4ever , sincerely in your mind, why would Jonathan award the judge who committed Saro Wiawa to death in that kangaroo court, a National Honour? National Honour for what ? Does that do justice to Saro Wiwa's memory and what he fought for ? Jonathan is so clueless, he keeps scoring own goals !!!
Igbo Presidency
I would rather that an Igbo is never president, than to have an Igbo president acting like GEJ. I am already feeling so ashamed of GEJ simply because Igbos adopted him during the election and I also voted and campaigned for him. It would have been worse for me if the man was Igbo. So if Ijaws think that just having a president from ones tribe is what it's all about, let them go ahead and be proud of Johnathan. Like someone mentioned earlier, Ijaw land is even worse under GEJ. Yaradua was much better for them and the Igbos will continue to progress no matter who the president is or where he comes from.
Preye is neither Deri-nor the jews of Africa
(It is only a plain stupid man like Jonathan who would delude himself daily that he is waxing successful as president even when it is plain clear that the land is falling into pieces literally)Ejiogu.
Is this statement a question or what? The man cannot deceive us with his myopic philosophy of everything Igbo is good. Anything Niger Delta is bad. Yet his tribes men have refused to leave us alone in the south south. Are we not supposed to make progress at our own pace! Did the Ejiogus not make the same remarks about Abiola? Even swore they will secede if Abiola is sworn in as president. Now they are on GEJ. Our woes are over 51 yrs old. They did not start with the less than a year administration of GEJ.
TIMELY QUESTION!
My man,that was a good question. Does anyone have any apt answer to this open-ended question? Another thing...it comes early enough.
@pereyi namabiri
@pereyi namabiri Thunder Fire you there stupid bastard! If i hear you insult Igbos again then you will meet your untimely death you Satan! Also these goes to all Igbo haters; death will be all your portion!!!!!!!!!!!
Nigerians lack reading skills cos of broken education
I am baffled to see some educated Nigerians not been able to digest the authors article.This is an opinionated article,please stop making fool of yourselves. We have foreigners reading SR don't show the world that you are a product of broken educational system. When matured minds are having intelligent conversation, don't just interrupt with your nursery school drop out opinion. Deri and co stop embarrassing great men like J.P Clarke and Prof Tam David west, they are educated Ijaw men too.
StupiD
Una president Badluck Jonathan is Plain Stupid and so are all Ijaw people.
Give him more time
I personally will not concur with some of the issues raised by the Writer that led to the Stupidity question. However, I can only agree with the writer if after the next one year i did not see a significant improvement on the avowed transformation agenda of Mr.President. Particularly the promised second Niger bridge, it is there and then I will join those critics of Mr.President. For now, I say it is still early to call the President names. Not even the Boko haram menace or other issues affecting the country should warrant such name calling at this time. we should give him more time and see where his administration is headed.
He asked a legitimate question shogwo, inu go, chikina.
If your President is stupid,someone should be able to say it.I do not see anything wrong in the question asked.
Yes Jonathan is plain Stupid!
Yes Jonathan is plain Stupid!
@Joe Z..,get over the DEFEAT!
One would have expected the BRUTAL INJURIES you and your principals sustained from the defeat of the last presidential elections to have healed by now. For God sake,its over 6months past April! When will your wound heal? The truth is that while GEJ and his team ran a COLOURFUL and CREATIVE political campaign,your principal's campaign was disastrous. Some of GEJ campaign messages still reverberates till tomorrow,including the famous 'i had no shoes'. Unfortunately nothing of such could be remembered about your principal besides the shedding of crocodile tears and him calling on his supporters to kill INEC officials/youth corpers. Please my friend go and nurse you injuries in secret and stop posting frustrated comments on this site
Yes, He's Plain Stupid
When it comes to Jonathan, STUPID is an understatement. It's only ignorance or stupidity that'll make anyone think otherwise. Someone said if Jonathan was in the US, he'd be a cab driver. I couldn't agree more. If he was in London, he'd be cleaning the underground at night.
Let me quote someone else: "Only a foolish president will give national honours to all his security chiefs in the midst of internal and external attacks that are killing Nigerians on a daily basis."
Doesn't that say it all about this drunken fisherman?
pereyi namabiri, Who is this
pereyi namabiri,
Who is this slave boy of the Hausa called nama-biri? The name befits your father well. As a Hausa slave they named him (Nama, you know what nama stands for; biri, which in Hausa language means monkey). Your father must have been a sheepish bushman while serving his masters, and you are still carrying his stupid given name.
Any of you idiots who dares to insult the Igbo race will get it back instantly, unless I do not see your stupid comment. Lazy parasite.
The world knows better, they
The world knows better, they know the true inferior tribes or sub-humans in Nigeria, for the fact that an Igboman has not ruled Nigeria since the end of the war till now does not make them inferior, the word inferior only exist in the warped mind of those Igbo haters, Igbos are doing better for themselves outside of Nigeria Presidency, coming out of the war with nothing and rose to the level the are today, they deserved respect. it is our success story that is attracting envy and jealousy to us which we dont give a damn, you Igbo haters can go and hang, the exploits of Igbos are beyond the shores of Nigeria, you local ethnic jingoists can commit suicide for all I care. If the time for an Igbo to assume presidency of Nigeria comes, none of you idiots can stop it
Yes it is a question
It is obvious Ejiogu is asking a question, but it is an unnecessary question because Jonathan is not only stupid, he is also a foolish idiot, simple!
@pereyi namabiri, Are you
@pereyi namabiri, Are you living in fools paradise or what? which tribe of Nigeria are you from? I suppose your Ijaw, Igbos do not need to smell the Presidency, Igbos will assume control of the Presidency when the time comes. For your information, your kinsman Jonathan became the President on platter of overwhelming Igbo support. I can not for an ignorant fool like you call the President names, atleast, it is evident in the composition of his government Igbos are strongly involved in his administration. It is only a bush man like you will want to stir up Igbos hatred against the President. The President himself acknowledged the support given to him by the Igbos which contributed to his victory at the polls. You should do more to educate yourself on current happenings rather than living in the past.
@ PEREYI NAMABIRI
my brother your rage is extra ordinary and exposes the very reproach the less fortunate nigerians harbour against the igbos..what makes you think that producing the president guarantees you better life?..look at the north and get a clearer grasp of my drift..i am more comfortable with our present situation because i understand that the president never works for his constituency,but his friends and cohorts..consider that while you delude yourself about the dumbo`s presidency,you may never in your life have access to him while he dines with igbos,hausas and yorubas within his circle...your condition is so pitiable and your delusions many...i know you are waiting for a time of crisis ,so you can survive from abandoned property..it may never happen again NAMA......BIRI...find something to do and stop blaming those who work hard.
Ejiougu is asking a question
Ejiougu is asking a question and if anyone think he (the president) is STUPID, considering the trends in Nigeria, for God sake, so be it. This is an opinion and we should not cry about it. When you see the way these corrupt politicians act, you can't help but think they are stupid, if not really stupid and this is for lack of words.

