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The fireworks by key political actors gathering momentum ahead of the 2015 presidential race took a notorious dimension last week, with President Goodluck Jonathan vowing to cut some politicians to size before the time. GEORGE AGBA examines issues raised so far as to who is really overheating the polity against the backdrop of the semantic implication of the president’s pronouncement.
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President Goodluck Jonathan’s threat last Thursday to curb some political excesses ahead of the 2015 polls was a pronouncement, which like improvised explosive device, came loaded with meaning. Fervidly, the president declared that as leader of both the country and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he was ready to put some unrestrained behaviors of certain politicians that were currently overheating the polity under check. For some Nigerians, this was the standard routine, run of the meal utterance from a president who is noted for his all barking and no biting approach to sensitive national issues. But to others who seem to be wary of every little detail in the political arena, especially from the camp of a perceived political foe, it wasn’t a statement to discount.
“The political tension in the country is mainly built around the 2015 elections which should not be the case. It is quite disturbing. The year 2015 is still far off. I expect politicians to focus on the business of governance now. We must do what we were elected to do first. We will do our best to curb the overheating of the polity”, Jonathan told a delegation of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) led by its president, Mr. Okey Wali who paid him a visit at the presidential villa. The body of lawyers had complained to him that they were not finding funny the political crisis in Rivers State, as well as some other challenges the country was facing at the moment. In sounding his warning, Jonathan agreed with the delegation that the mounting political strain in the country was uncalled for.
Proof that Jonathan’s proclamation was not taken lightly is not farfetched. The meetings reportedly held in Aso Rock presidential villa at the weekend attest strongly to the notion that some governors and politicians who of recent had come out openly to oppose the president may have become jittery. First, it was Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi who reportedly met with the president last Friday night, probably in a move to preempt what the Otuoke born University don was up to when he spoke of curbing political excesses. He was said to have asked the president to reschedule the meeting to be held in the presence of some Northern Governors who are his die hard supporters.
The next day, Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa State), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), and Rabiu Kwankwaso ( Kano ) were are the presidential villa where they met the president and Amaechi, according to reports. For some weeks now, these governors had been going about holding meetings with eminent past leaders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo. This was after Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Nyako and Lamido had paid a solidarity visit to Amaechi in the troubled state of Rivers.
But some other keen observers argue that the president’s threat to curb political excesses may not have informed the weekend meeting. They recall that President Jonathan had equally told the NBA delegation that, while he had asked for a detailed brief on the security situation in Rivers State, all necessary action will be taken by him to ensure adherence to the rule of law in the state and the maintenance of law and order. To these set of close watchers, the meeting may have been convened at the instance of Mr. President in his bid to keep to his promise.
But why he had to wait this long before coming out to say that he was ready to bare his fangs against politicians who are heating up the polity is another food for thought. But Special Adviser to the President on Media and Pulicity, Dr. Reuben Abati contended that it was because Jonathan’s patience was already at an end. He said severally, the president had warned that he should be left out of the 2015 presidential race for now so that he could serve the people very well, but this imploration had fallen on deaf ears. Abati argued that, while the president was trying to be focused on issues of governance to ensure he completes the assignment given to him by Nigerians, some political element were distracting him with the noise about 2015.
Governor Aliyu of Niger State had stared the hornet nest when in February he declared that President Jonathan would be breaching an earlier agreement with governors to run for only one term if he decides to contest again in 2015. Since that time, the political arena had been bobbling with fumes of anger trailing suspicion that Jonathan may be eying a second term. Only last week, former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar asked his brothers from the North to stop labouring under a delusion and forget the much celebrated single term pact signed by the president. “If the so-called northern elders had a pact with President Jonathan in which he promised not to contest the 2015 election and which he now denies, then it means that the pact is dead, null and void. Since it (agreement) could not be part of our constitution nor any other law, it is not justifiable”, Umar stated.
To this effect, the presidential spokesman argued further that, contrary to claims that the president’s ambition for 2015 was heating up the polity and that he has a hand in the crisis rocking Rivers State, it was exactly what the president meant when he vowed to curb political excesses in the country that were becoming inimical to his administration’s effort at good governance. Abati added that the president cannot fold his arms and watch politicians who are obsessed with 2015 polls to overheat the polity in 2013.
He said, “Well, to the best of my knowledge, the President has never at any time discussed 2015. He has never at any time say this is his position on 2015. His position has been consistent and straight forward and that has been the president saying look let’s focus on governance. If the Nigerian people have given you an assignment, it is your assignment to deliver and move the country forward. That is what we want to focus on. And that was the statement about the mid-term report that was publicly presented. Two years down the line, the President presented to the Nigerian people scorecard of what they have been able to do.
“He (Jonathan) said I took over and now two years down the line I have moved the country forward; this is the evidence. Nobody has been able to dispute the evidence. So we must be able to make a distinction between politicking, the fact and reality. The President stands on the side of truthfulness, of fact and of reality. So he wants to be engaged at the level of his performance.
“And I will continue to tell Nigerians that this presidency will remain focus. He is doing the job that Nigerians have given him and he is making progress and has provided evidence that he is making progress. People who concentrate on politics want to distract Mr. President. Well, Mr. President meets with people on a daily basis - people from different constituencies and different groups. When the NBA visited, they brought up the issue about the political process and the President said look, what is overheating the policy is because people are obsessed with 2015 and that he as a person believes that we are in 2013 and we should continue to focus on good governance at all levels”.
Abati further contended that, while the time the president chooses to take reasonable action does not matter, what is of utmost importance is that it is his responsibility as commander in chief to curb any misbehavior that poses a threat to the country. His words: “Well the first thing that Nigerians must know is that President Jonathan is not just president and commander in chief of the armed forces. He is also the premier political leader in the country. What that means, of course, is that he has the responsibility to ensure security and the well being of all Nigerians. And in that case, he as the number one person in the country will not and will never at any time standby while there are issues within the polity that could over heat the polity.
“And it was within that context that he made the point when he met with the NBA leadership that he has the primary responsibility to put to an end the political excesses that seem to be overheating the polity. And I think the President should be commended for his being sensitive and being fully aware of the primary responsibility not just as head of state but also as head of government and as head of the political process and as a citizen and as a patriot”.
Abati went on to dispel claim that it was the visit of the NBA leadership that prompted the President to react that way. “And it didn’t take the visit of the NBA for the president to make that statement; that is the statement the president has always made. He had directed me to issue statements more than four times on this particularly issue to say look, if as the political leader, as the head of state he is not talking about election, he is talking about how to provide leadership and transform the lives of Nigerians, that should be the focus at all levels. At that meeting with NBA, he alluded to the fact that some people are just desperate for power and he made the point that the issue is not about desperation, the issue is not about power; it is about governance”, he added.
