It is tempting to say “We told you so” in reaction to the deafening chorus of protestations against Jonathan and the continuing melt-down of his PDP-led regime.
It is tempting to say “We told you so” in reaction to the deafening chorus of protestations against Jonathan and the continuing melt-down of his PDP-led regime.
But the situation is so tragic and the stakes so high that being smugly castigatory should be the least of our worries at this juncture. Today, most Nigerians, irrespective of where they live, are complaining bitterly about how they are saddled with yet another visionless man and his under-achieving government. There is wailing in the land. There is weeping. And there is also gnashing of teeth, to borrow from Mr. President’s vast repertoire of biblical images. Yet, before this epiphany, well-intentioned citizens had gazed into their crystal balls, figuratively speaking, of course, and rendered the damning and incontrovertible verdict that Jonathan and his party were one and the same, meaning that they are bad news any time of the day. Ahead of last year’s general elections, Jonathan and his henchmen produced the political equivalent of a rapist’s digest detailing how to brazenly rig the polls through an elaborate scam that targeted the judiciary, the INEC, the police and other strategic sectors of the economy by enlisting them as collaborators in a diabolical scheme to wreak havoc on the society. Aptly tagged “President Jonathan’s Rigging Manual”, the chillingly subversive “petit livre noir” has as ghost writer an acolyte who is said to have held a leading position in the Planning, Research and Strategy arm of the Goodluck Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization (2011).
Nigeria would probably have been a much safer and better nation now, one that is unencumbered by the mindless shenanigans of a clueless, profligate and increasingly repressive band of “uncle tomist” tin gods, had we avoided the insouciance that greeted the revelation sometime last year regarding the existence of the sinister document. It is unnerving that Nigerians keep making the same terrible mistakes while at the same time expecting wonderful outcomes.
Like sadomasochists, they keep tolerating the pain and suffering inflicted on them by their tormentors in positions of authority. For instance, the PDP mafia whose twelve-year reign of terror and misgovernance has all but ensured the ruin of the country keeps imposing one rogue regime after another. Even when confronted with the stark evidence of the malevolent nature, not to mention the incorrigible mediocrity, of their oppressors, some prefer to stick their heads in the sand or go as far as trying to justify such failings.
For those who paid only fleeting attention to or even completely ignored the 2011 masterpiece by the current occupier of Aso Rock which bears the fit appellation of “President Jonathan’s Rigging Manual”, the post-Fuel Subsidy Revolt period of what should normally be regarded as intense national soul-searching does provide a golden opportunity for the citizenry to more closely scrutinize its message. One would be amazed as to how the grim wish list, a snapshot of the PDP’s politics of criminal impunity, is at once “prophetic” and perversely prescriptive in its morbid assumptions.
It is a settled fact that while the immediate focus of the anti-fuel subsidy removal agitation was the economy, its deeper meaning did find expression in decades of accumulated frustrations which have acquired greater fury and stridency on account of more than a decade of backward, depraved, election-rigging and reprobate PDP tyrannies. Not surprisingly, much of the clamor for greater transparency and accountability has targeted the key oil sector and government services in general. And while there is popular indignation regarding corruption, both in the public and private sectors, relatively little is being said about arguably the worst form of that social ill, namely, election rigging and its far-reaching ramifications on the society. Just consider this: Rigging deprives the people of the opportunity to freely elect those they deem fit and capable of efficiently running the affairs of their various communities and those of the nation as a whole. We are today living witnesses to that fact. That sobering reality notwithstanding, , can we now say that we are much wiser as some would have us believe in this post-fuel subsidy era and that we are henceforth determined to eschew the PDP’s trade mark whipping up of primordial emotions and other divisive antics?. Let me answer that by saying that any optimistic projections of a new dawn must be tempered by the understanding that the auguries are not particularly good at this point in time.
It is significant to note that the peculiar nature or specificity of the anti-fuel subsidy withdrawal struggle was mainly responsible for its limited success. Over the years, Labour’s advocacy, at least judging from its street manifestations, has largely been reduced to haggling over fuel prices and the salaries of civil servants. Throughout the PDP’s reign of undemocratic impositions and gross human rights abuses, the leadership of the NLC, for instance, has mainly been treacherous and pro-regime right from the days Oshiomhole led the outfit. Pro-democracy and human rights organizations have generally fared better in dealing with broader problems of leadership failure and maladministration even though many of the representatives of these groups have also tended to be hypocritical and deferent toward their friends within the PDP in particular.
More than a week after the abandonment of the fuel subsidy protests by the putative leadership of the labour movement, Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, was asked by an Abuja newspaper if he agreed with the contention that the labour bosses had demonstrated a lack of integrity by being truant, he replied that they displayed a sense of integrity in their negotiation with the federal government. Curiously though, Mr. Falana admitted implicitly that the labour leaders had succumbed to blackmail and other divisive tactics by the Jonathan regime, two of which were the big lie that some politicians sponsored the protests and that such protests were an invitation for the military to take power. Now, why would individuals or groups who have not been compromised and have no favorable disposition toward such inane and divisive ploys succumb to them in the first place? Of course, the labour leadership has been both spineless and dishonourable. But what should be more worrisome is the sad reality that over the years and especially during the reckless Obasanjo despotism (1999-2007), the easy resort to the whipping up of religious, tribal and sectional emotions for cheap political gain by successive PDP dictatorships has become standard practice, so to speak. Under the bumbling Jonathan tyranny, sowing the seeds of division and ethno-religious schisms has become an article of faith. Very scary indeed! Also very unpresidential. Although Jonathan and his errand boys have apparently failed this time in their malicious bid to either “tribalize”/”sectionalize” or make the anti-fuel subsidy removal protests a religious matter, Labour’s history of betrayal as well as the legendary duplicity of some key representatives of the organized civil society – soi-disant pro-democracy-cum human rights advocates – should serve as a cautionary note. The January protests would be considered as having truly made a long-lasting impact only if at the end of the day the masses are sufficiently sensitized as to their civic responsibility of always insisting on free, fair and transparent polls, even if that would mean heading for the barricades to ensure that justice is done. In the meantime, the challenge is for us to build on the momentum of the spontaneous rainbow coalition that formed in the various cities of the nation as well as in the Diaspora early this year and which bears the potent slogan “enough is enough”. As a people, Nigerians tend to be inflicted with a very short memory, a short attention span, if you prefer to call it so. Moreover, they have the unfortunate habit of trying to justify evil through the use of all sorts of irrational arguments or alibis. There is the joke that when an average Nigerian citizen is pushed to the wall, instead of fighting back, he tries to seek the assistance of others so as to dig a hole in that wall in order to escape. When we see evil, we often pretend that it is not there. And when we recognise that the evil is there, when it suits us, we say it’s no big deal. We may even go as far as trying to highlight its “attributes”!
In 2011, credible media organs like the indomitable Sahara Reporters exposed a gigantic scandal in the making, namely, the shameless rigging of last April’s election by the PDP as heralded by, amongst other troubling factors, the existence of the president’s Rigging Manual . The latter could very well pass for Emperor Jonathan’s treatise on political strategy and statecraft in the post-military era. It is a potpourri of diabolical delusions, simplistic but dangerous certainties, eerie obsessions and a satanic determination on the part of a parasitic and “neocolonialist” political oligarchy to perpetuate itself through means other than democratic ones. In many critical respects, the PDP’s Rigging Manual is the “philosophical” framework of the current Jonathan regime. It anticipates all that we are sadly witnessing these days – the lies and foolish government propaganda around a so-called fuel subsidy, the willful desecration of the judiciary, the skulduggery and especially the divide-and-conquer schemes through the use of hired thugs, rabid xenophobes, sectarian regimentation and the crude deployment of the army, the police and other security forces as ready instruments of repression. It is also the peddling of a hoax called a transformation agenda. It is in reality a conspiracy to rape Nigeria. The Rigging Manual provides useful insights into the mindset of the owners of the PDP. In it, you will find a detailed and despicable plot to compromise key branches of the government (the INEC, the courts, the security forces, etc. ) and the civil society in general ( the media, the organized pro-democracy advocates and their representatives, Labour, religious and traditional figures, representatives of the organized private sector, etc.) with an aim to rendering them hostile or unresponsive to the democratic needs of the people. The invasion of Bayelsa State some weeks ago by the police and the army on the orders of the Abuja-based tyrant with the sole aim of forcibly and illegally preventing the incumbent governor from participating in his party’s primaries ahead of the scheduled gubernatorial election there looks like a scenario that is derived from King Jonathan’s 2011 opus. So do the reprehensible killings of scores of unarmed and peaceful protestors in Kogi, Lagos, Kano, Niger and elsewhere by Jonathan’s murderous police. The maniacal onslaught against innocent civilians does contrast sharply with the incompetent, largely cowardly and ‘strange’ manner the Jonathan regime has so far pursued the fight against the Boko Haram terrorists. It is only an unserious and irresponsible government that will send its soldiers and policemen to slaughter, maim and intimidate citizens who are committing no crime by exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of expression and association.
If Nigerians and especially the more enlightened segments of the society had paid more attention to the Jonathan Rigging Manual and the overall conduct of the PDP and its leadership by remaining honest to themselves, we probably would have been spared some of the false dichotomies, one of which sought to establish a distinction between Jonathan and the rest of the PDP ‘family’. “I voted for Jonathan and not the PDP” ( But did the citizens’ votes really count? ), is a tiresome refrain that kept coming up until the new despot of Aso Rock singlehandedly exploded the Big Lie about himself. We are no longer living in a fool’s paradise, are we? At any rate, in the aftermath of the callous fuel subsidy removal and the violent repression that was the Jonathan regime’s mishandling of the protests by the civil society, the talk has shifted to one of regrets. The regrets should not just be limited to Jonathan and his PDP. The necessary stock-taking must include the critical component of self-criticism and in particular our inability or refusal to use the knowledge at our disposal for the benefit of the generality, which implies the rejection of parochial and destructive loyalties.
It is trite to restate here that the fundamental problem confronting us as a country is that of bad leadership. Both at the centre and at the periphery, the PDP and its owners have come to symbolise an appalling paucity of vision and good governance. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just listen to Emperor Jonathan’s law, that is to say his Rigging Manual. “Magister dixit”! In Jonathan, we have a president whose party is devoid of a viable programme or a redeeming ideology. The same individual and his PDP can, nevertheless, boast of being the proud owners of what should be considered a roadmap for the systematic destruction of Nigeria, otherwise known as Jonathan’s little black book of greed, flatulence and political waywardness. It announces the programmed rape of the nation and its people. “How to Rig Elections, Loot a Country Blind and Render the place an Unviable Banana Republic” should be an alternative title for the Jonathan/PDP chef d’oeuvre. Under Jonathan and his PDP, Nigeria‘s position in the world has been relegated to one of an inconsequential player. Mired in their inherent contradictions, the PDP-led regime and its main operators can only reproduce failure, the presence of the likes of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Reuben Abati and Okonjo-Iweala in that sinking ship notwithstanding. As a matter of fact, Madam Okonjo-Iweala in particular has become part and parcel of the leadership curse that the PDP is afflicted with. It was wrong for her to come back after a lacklustre performance as Obasanjo’s finance minister. Her economic policy under Jonathan has already caused unwarranted hardship to the nation and led to the unpardonable murder of at least twenty innocent souls by the regime she belongs to. Madam Okonjo-Iweala epitomizes a blind and unhealthy allegiance to imperialist influences. She should resign immediately if she has any sense of integrity. Her principal must be held accountable for his remorseless and senseless killings of Nigerian citizens. In a decent society, he should also have tendered his resignation a long time ago.
We have already heard from the owners of the PDP and their “do-or-die” politics of desperation and recklessness which has kept engendering electoral ‘seaslides” since 1999, “wins” that have invariably been followed by debilitating sinecures of wanton pillaging and destructive misrule, but the run-up to last April’s general elections was apparently the first time the anti-people behemoth and its owners went to work and engineered a corpus of horrors and deadly fantasies that they believed would win them once again the presidency by inflicting, by hook or crook, the collective amnesia and docility, not to mention the hypocrisy and duplicity, which, to a large extent, have so far worked in their favour. It is apparent that, like his godfather and mentor, the discredited ex-tyrant called Obasanjo, the incumbent president wants, through the travesty of an election, to either perpetuate himself, come 2015, or perform yet another PDP-style presidential cloning in the manner of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan, Jonathan/Sambo abominations. Of course, the country must make it clear, in words and in deeds, that we shall not tolerate another imposition.
Aonduna Tondu ([email protected] ).
Postscript : Some memorable quotes from The Rigging Manual.
On the INEC. “…We must meet with INEC and analyze their staffing structure to ensure friendly officials are posted to hostile areas…”
On the PDP’s relationship with the Judiciary. “…Identify key National Judicial heavyweights. Get database on all the electoral Judges and profile them. Cultivate their friendship using influential members to reach out to them. Create a social forum to network with them. Fund and sustain the relationship with the Judiciary. Develop and nurture the judicial process that will be pro-Goodluck Jonathan…We must seize back the judicial initiative…”.
On policing during the PDP presidential primaries of 2011. “…We must ensure that security operatives at the gate to the convention venue are our people. They should be identified and taken to Ghana for orientation and warehousing. Should return to Nigeria for assigned duty not later than 2 days to primaries. Should have clear instructions..”. Also, security should participate in the “supervision and intimidation of delegates at the venue”.
On the police and the elections. Use “…the Police Service Commission to reach out to commissioners. Arrange a meeting between the president and 5 members of the commission (out of 7) who are fanatical about Mr. President. Encourage and insist that members of the commission monitor elections in their zones. Between them and the state commands, success is ensured. The DIG Operations should be sent to either Works or training as the election approaches. A more friendly DIG should go to Operations. Use the Police Service Commission to achieve this. Nobody should be tired of reminding the IGP that he was appointed by Mr. President. Reassure him of his position in 2011”.
On the media. “…Identify key media personalities. Court the friendship of those of them that are most definitely friendly to our course (cause?) e.g. Ray Ekpu, Comfort obi, Reuben Abati, john Momoh…Fund and sustain the relationship. Patronize friendly newspapers and magazines. Use them to amplify opponent’s weaknesses …”
On religious groups. “…Commence sponsorship of church programmes and activities….Commence sponsorship of Juma’at services from the National Mosque. Identify the leadership of the various religious sects. Sell the message of Transformation to them. Key into the existing political plans of the religious groups especially the Pentecostal groups”.
And a dubious gem on the economy under Jonathan. “ President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration is running an excellent economy; look at the international global rating, our economy is excellent by IMF and World Bank rating. In fact we are rated the third fastest growing economy in the world today by IMF and World Bank…”. Magister dixit!
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