Skip to main content

Performance is Goodluck Jonathan’s best friend and chief campaigner

March 22, 2010

It is a tough road ahead for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to do damage control on all the damages done to Nigeria under President Yar’Adua for the past two years of his failed presidency or lack of presidency. As Acting President Jonathan forges ahead to solve the numerous problems facing Nigeria he must stay focused on delivering on set goals, and not be bother about running for the presidency in 2011.

It is a tough road ahead for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to do damage control on all the damages done to Nigeria under President Yar’Adua for the past two years of his failed presidency or lack of presidency. As Acting President Jonathan forges ahead to solve the numerous problems facing Nigeria he must stay focused on delivering on set goals, and not be bother about running for the presidency in 2011.
Before ascending the throne of Nigerian leadership, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has exhibited maturity, loyalty and no sign of over zealous ambition to take over the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Even when the pro-Yar’Adua people were slighting him, ignoring his position and authority, and making all kinds of frivolous and reckless statements and claims, the Acting President remained calm.

By dissolving President Yar’Adua’s cabinet, Acting President Jonathan has shown that he has his own vision for Nigeria and as such he must hire a team that shares that vision with him, a team that will be committed to achieving that vision regardless of what sacrifices they have to make.

As Acting President Jonathan searches for candidates to form his new Federal Executive cabinet, he should make sure to filter out sycophants who will not add any value but instead will slow down or possibly kill the progress of his presidency no matter long or short he stays on the presidency. Posterity will judge the Acting President on his efforts to bring changes to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians regardless of the length of time he is at the helm of affairs.

The Acting President can start by demanding that would be candidates for the new federal executive council write a proposal of what they intend to achieve if given a certain portfolio as a minister. That way, 3 months or 6 months down the line as a minister the Acting President can review their progress or lack of, and hold them responsible and responsible.

Nigerians no longer have faith in the Nigerian government; whether it is local, state or federal government, Nigerians have lost trust and faith on the government. To restore this faith and trust, the Acting President must work tirelessly to deliver on security of lives and properties, generate enough electricity and encourage creation of jobs, etc.     

Those campaigning now for Acting President Jonathan to run for the presidency in 2011 should desist from doing so and allow him to stay focused and deliver the goods and services to the people. Such calls apart from being premature at this time, they are distractions to the Acting President. In as much as the Acting President has the right to run for the presidency in 2011, I suggest that he ignores the campaigns for now and focuses on performing like no other president in Nigeria had ever performed.

Performance is the best friend and chief campaigner of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. If Acting President Jonathan can only deliver on security of lives and properties, constant electric supply between now and 2011 he would earn an automatic call by the electorate to run for the presidency in 2011. It is the Acting President’s right to run for the office or not regardless of the illegal zoning of the presidency to a particular region. Nigerians have the right to elect or re-elect a performing president.

If Acting President Jonathan delivers and performs affecting the lives of Nigerians in a very positive way, he would have the people begging him to run for the presidency in 2011. Not even the illegal zoning of the presidency by the PDP would stop him. If the PDP refuses to field him as the presidential candidate, he can switch to one of the other parties and forms a solid coalition with some of the other parties to form a formidable opposition to battle out in the polls against the PDP.

To do this, the Acting President must do a complete electoral reform starting from the sanitization of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), and constituting Election Tribunals that will be free of corrupt or ethically compromised judges. With all these in place, a free and fair election is almost guaranteed. By guaranteeing free and fair elections only those candidates with merits would emerge victorious, especially those running for re-elections who have records to be judged on.

With all these terrible forces against his presidency, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan must seek comfort in performance. Performance should be the best friend and chief campaigner of the Acting President because it’s the only way to win over Nigerians to his side. If Nigerians are given things to feel and touch, like security of lives and properties, constant electricity, good roads and no more long lines at the petrol stations amongst others; they will jump into the Acting President’s camp and beg him to run office even if he refuses to run for office to respect the PDP zoning formula.

The Nigerian people deserve the opportunity to have their votes count. When that happens, the electorate wants the candidates with the most votes declared the winner and not the candidates that have out-rigged or have out-bribed the others. It is not how long or how short a time Acting President Jonathan stays in office that matters, but how effective he is in alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians, how well he delivers the dividends of democracy to the people.

My advice to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is for him to deliver to the people, those basic amenities that people in other countries that gained independence about the same time as Nigeria enjoy, so much that they take them for granted to the point that they cannot even imagine themselves living without those amenities, constant power supply, protection from the police, good roads, good health care services, no more long queues at the petrol pumps, etc. Posterity will judge the Acting President well in the annals of history.

Long live Acting President!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Written by: Ugochukwu Nwaokoro, [email protected], Newark, New Jersey, USA  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });