May 8, 2010
The death and burial of President Musa Yar Adua has imposed on the nation the obligation of picking a vice president to replace Goodluck Jonathan who has since been sworn into office as the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Nigeria. Less than 72 hours after the late president was buried news reports would want followers of political developments in the country to believe that the choice of a vice-president is approaching a crescendo, notwithstanding the absence of a clear choice.
The death and burial of President Musa Yar Adua has imposed on the nation the obligation of picking a vice president to replace Goodluck Jonathan who has since been sworn into office as the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Nigeria. Less than 72 hours after the late president was buried news reports would want followers of political developments in the country to believe that the choice of a vice-president is approaching a crescendo, notwithstanding the absence of a clear choice.
This exercise of selecting a new vice -president and the ultimate choice will hold profound implications for the country and its citizens as we approach the 2011 elections. If you are one of those who believe that Goodluck Jonathan will not run for the presidency in 2011 then you can ignore my postulations. I believe he will run and the new vice-president will be his running mate in the election.
The political atmosphere in the country is rife with the clamor for change, especially change that will ensure that voters and only voters elect political office holders from the president to the local government councilor come 2011. President Goodluck Jonathan has given Nigerians his word about his readiness to conduct free and fair elections. I am not sure many Nigerians believe him but I am sure many of them are prepared to take a chance on him. Also, the almighty rigging machine known as the PDP is all of a sudden singing the song of “one man one vote” With a decade plus record of broken promises, anyone who chooses to believe anything the PDP says can do so at his or her own peril. One thing that will undeniably be signified by the party’s choice of the new vice-president is whether the PDP is willing and prepared to rig the 2011 elections or is going to go out there and campaign for votes.
Although there appears to be no clear leader in the race for the vice-presidency at this point in time, a perusal of the possible candidates being discussed is not encouraging for those who are hoping that the voters will ultimately decide the 2011 elections. It appears the groundwork that will necessitate the rigging of the 2011 elections by the PDP is being laid, perhaps unknowingly. With one or two exceptions, it would appear that at least a billion naira fraud case can be established against each one of the candidates being considered for the position of the vice-presidency. Most of these individuals have been in government for decades and have zealously participated in the looting of the nation’s treasury. They have been active participants and supporters of the country’s worst regimes and the anti-people policies they pursued. They were there in opposition to the wishes and interests of ordinary Nigerians during the darkest days of this nation’s checkered history. Beyond the ability to prostitute themselves before any government in power, most of them have demonstrated complete ignorance of the imperatives of governance, lack any track record of having achieved anything or of putting the interest of the voters before theirs in all their donkey years in government. Yet, they want to be the new vice-president. You then wonder whether it matters what the voters think of the candidate? Should the PDP not consider the appeal the new vice-president will have with the voters?
There are no succinct answers to the above questions but the indications are that in picking the new vice-president, it is not going to matter what the voters think of the person. In all the discussions about each of the candidates and the considerations of their negatives and positives, I am yet to read any report in which the candidates’ appeal to voters was considered. It is like voter appeal is an unnecessary burden to shoulder in picking the next vice-president. The undemocratic institution called the PDP has never given a damn about what poor and hungry Nigerian voters think of its choice of candidates for elections. If you think this is wrong all you need to do is take a look at the caliber of “visionary leaders” the party has produced since 1999. Why should the PDP care when all it has to do is rig the elections and then bribe the judiciary to sanction the results like it did in 1999, 2003 and 2007?
Going by its antecedents, the PDP will likely select as the new vice-president a politician who will work to maintain the status quo. A status quo that allows the PDP machinery to continue with the looting of the nation’s resources without any qualms and fear of retribution while the other 150 million Nigerians wallow in abject poverty, hunger, ignorance, diseases, darkness, insecurity and death. A presidential ticket combining Goodluck Jonathan and this new vice-president will be too risky to allow for free and fair elections. This is the scenario that will compel the PDP to rig the 2011 elections because allowing the votes to count may mean losing the elections if one of the other parties presents a credible candidate and the election is free and fair. Of course the PDP will not have any problem rigging the elections. After all, a tiger hardly changes its stripes. But the question will be whether Nigerians will once again be cowered into accepting the results of another flawed election.
Goodluck Jonathan is not a saint. He knows that and most Nigerians do too. However, I believe Nigerians are willing to take a chance on him because he represents the emergence of a new generation of Nigerian leaders, a paradigm shift in the nation’s politics, and his relative short history in government and the consequent lighter baggage of political indebtedness that often lead to cronyism. When it comes to picking a new vice-president there are unlimited choices before the new president. There are young, vibrant and progressive Nigerians in any part of the country from which he decides to pick the new vice-president. He would not have to search for long to find that vice-president that would represent the hopes, yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians from all corners of the country. A vice-president who will embody the future of this country.
With a few exceptions, the coterie of looters currently being considered for the position cannot be the best the country has got to offer. To pick one of them will negate everything the president has been telling Nigerians from the very day he became the acting president. Such a choice will be an unforgiveable insult to Nigerians, especially the new generation of Nigerians who are fighting tooth and nail to wrestle power from the generation that ruined the country and use it for the good of the people. Finally, the decision may cost him the presidency. Like everything else in life, there is a limit to goodluck.
This exercise of selecting a new vice -president and the ultimate choice will hold profound implications for the country and its citizens as we approach the 2011 elections. If you are one of those who believe that Goodluck Jonathan will not run for the presidency in 2011 then you can ignore my postulations. I believe he will run and the new vice-president will be his running mate in the election.
The political atmosphere in the country is rife with the clamor for change, especially change that will ensure that voters and only voters elect political office holders from the president to the local government councilor come 2011. President Goodluck Jonathan has given Nigerians his word about his readiness to conduct free and fair elections. I am not sure many Nigerians believe him but I am sure many of them are prepared to take a chance on him. Also, the almighty rigging machine known as the PDP is all of a sudden singing the song of “one man one vote” With a decade plus record of broken promises, anyone who chooses to believe anything the PDP says can do so at his or her own peril. One thing that will undeniably be signified by the party’s choice of the new vice-president is whether the PDP is willing and prepared to rig the 2011 elections or is going to go out there and campaign for votes.
Although there appears to be no clear leader in the race for the vice-presidency at this point in time, a perusal of the possible candidates being discussed is not encouraging for those who are hoping that the voters will ultimately decide the 2011 elections. It appears the groundwork that will necessitate the rigging of the 2011 elections by the PDP is being laid, perhaps unknowingly. With one or two exceptions, it would appear that at least a billion naira fraud case can be established against each one of the candidates being considered for the position of the vice-presidency. Most of these individuals have been in government for decades and have zealously participated in the looting of the nation’s treasury. They have been active participants and supporters of the country’s worst regimes and the anti-people policies they pursued. They were there in opposition to the wishes and interests of ordinary Nigerians during the darkest days of this nation’s checkered history. Beyond the ability to prostitute themselves before any government in power, most of them have demonstrated complete ignorance of the imperatives of governance, lack any track record of having achieved anything or of putting the interest of the voters before theirs in all their donkey years in government. Yet, they want to be the new vice-president. You then wonder whether it matters what the voters think of the candidate? Should the PDP not consider the appeal the new vice-president will have with the voters?
There are no succinct answers to the above questions but the indications are that in picking the new vice-president, it is not going to matter what the voters think of the person. In all the discussions about each of the candidates and the considerations of their negatives and positives, I am yet to read any report in which the candidates’ appeal to voters was considered. It is like voter appeal is an unnecessary burden to shoulder in picking the next vice-president. The undemocratic institution called the PDP has never given a damn about what poor and hungry Nigerian voters think of its choice of candidates for elections. If you think this is wrong all you need to do is take a look at the caliber of “visionary leaders” the party has produced since 1999. Why should the PDP care when all it has to do is rig the elections and then bribe the judiciary to sanction the results like it did in 1999, 2003 and 2007?
Going by its antecedents, the PDP will likely select as the new vice-president a politician who will work to maintain the status quo. A status quo that allows the PDP machinery to continue with the looting of the nation’s resources without any qualms and fear of retribution while the other 150 million Nigerians wallow in abject poverty, hunger, ignorance, diseases, darkness, insecurity and death. A presidential ticket combining Goodluck Jonathan and this new vice-president will be too risky to allow for free and fair elections. This is the scenario that will compel the PDP to rig the 2011 elections because allowing the votes to count may mean losing the elections if one of the other parties presents a credible candidate and the election is free and fair. Of course the PDP will not have any problem rigging the elections. After all, a tiger hardly changes its stripes. But the question will be whether Nigerians will once again be cowered into accepting the results of another flawed election.
Goodluck Jonathan is not a saint. He knows that and most Nigerians do too. However, I believe Nigerians are willing to take a chance on him because he represents the emergence of a new generation of Nigerian leaders, a paradigm shift in the nation’s politics, and his relative short history in government and the consequent lighter baggage of political indebtedness that often lead to cronyism. When it comes to picking a new vice-president there are unlimited choices before the new president. There are young, vibrant and progressive Nigerians in any part of the country from which he decides to pick the new vice-president. He would not have to search for long to find that vice-president that would represent the hopes, yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians from all corners of the country. A vice-president who will embody the future of this country.
With a few exceptions, the coterie of looters currently being considered for the position cannot be the best the country has got to offer. To pick one of them will negate everything the president has been telling Nigerians from the very day he became the acting president. Such a choice will be an unforgiveable insult to Nigerians, especially the new generation of Nigerians who are fighting tooth and nail to wrestle power from the generation that ruined the country and use it for the good of the people. Finally, the decision may cost him the presidency. Like everything else in life, there is a limit to goodluck.
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