2015 Presidential Series: Jonathan’s works and yesterday’s pains we’ve forgotten

By Johnson Adeyemi

Not so long ago in Nigeria, a personal car was not only the prized asset of many years of savings and austere sacrifices; it had also become the source of a constant battle. To drive a personal car around town, required having  a very vibrant network of friends who could quickly inform you about what part of town you could source  black-market fuel for almost twice, if not thrice the official pump price. On very good days, fuel may be available at the official pump price, but to buy a reasonable quantity, you may have to spend half a day,  if not all day in a fuel queue that may extend several blocks within a metropolis.

There were days when people had to park their cars all night or slept in them in such queues, to buy such precious fuel. For those who used public transportation on intercity routes, it was not uncommon to sit in such queues for hours before finally setting out on their destination, or stopping on the way to join such queues before proceeding to their final destinations. Sometimes, the drivers of such commercial vehicles were compelled to carry an extra barrel of such fuel in a vehicle on such journeys to guarantee his return trip, in doing so; the passengers were vulnerable to the risk of being roasted at every point in the journey. This writer lost an aunt who was a family bread-winner when one of such vehicles got burnt from its incendiary 50 litres plastic petrol can, in the trunk of the passenger vehicle, on her way from Lagos to lbadan. Today, some Nigerians who came out of such experiences alive are being nudged by power seeking ‘’born to rule’’ politicians who are now recruiting some politicians of the South West region, to describe the end of such pains as the work of a clueless president.

Not very long ago in Nigeria, to contest an election was the cause of much consternation for family and friends, especially if you were in a party other than the Peoples’ Democratic Party. Before elections, it took much bravery to conduct political campaigns. On Election Day, you will be lucky to get accredited by election managers, and you will be luckier still to be given a ballot paper to vote. If you were diligent enough to mobilize your supporters to go to the polling units to vote and they were lucky to cast such votes. It would still make very little difference. The results that will be announced would have been written in the living room of your opponent, if he was anointed by the ruling party, sometimes you may callously be told that the election was conducted the day before.

Even more astonishing, there were occasions when the elections were conducted with voting done normally to present a farcical reality, and at the end, while voters were waiting for the results to be collated, an announcement will be made in the electronic media, presenting results in which the number of voters will appears as numerous as the number of bacteria in contaminated culture, without reference to any existing voter register.

Today, when even opposition party officials strut around election venues and national party officials are able to visit polling units as election observers instead of being represented by party agents, power seeking politicians, who have won landslide local government elections without releasing the voting figures, want us to believe that president Jonathan is dictatorial.

President Goodluck Jonathan displaying Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms at the People’s Democratic Party’s Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday (30/10/14).

Specifically for the South West, the difference between elections under diktat and democratically conducted elections under the Jonathan administration are remarkable, dictatorship was visited on the South West when the people of Ondo burnt properties of election usurpers, when leaders were given to the people by  the Obasanjo regime in 2003 and 2007, this contrast markedly with the processes and outcome of elections in Lagos, Ogun,Oyo in 2011  and recently Ondo, Ekiti and Osun where the declared winners of the elections were well received by the voting public under the Jonathan era, unlike the “takeover” of the South West by our own  Obasanjo in 2003 and 2007. Its therefore surprising how the so-called new breed of leaders are now leading the South West to slaughter under those who have persistently stood against her interest and who have historically repressed the will of the South West people in many previous elections since 1964/65 and imprisoned Awo, denied him victory in 1979, 1983 and also brutally did worse to another illustrious son of south west, Chief Abiola whose  pan Nigeria mandate  was annulled, himself imprisoned and eventually killed in detention.

Not quite long ago in Nigeria, to travel through a local airport was an ordeal and it was easier to wait to board a flight before relieving oneself in-flight, because of the poor state of the facilities. Today local airports are comfortable ambiances even though it can still be better.

Also, it was not unusual to borrow money to send children out of the country, to even French-speaking African countries because of limited university spaces.

But today 12 additional universities have rapidly expanded not only the university spaces available within Nigeria for tertiary study, but have also increased the job opportunities for academics and the job and business creating capacities of 12 previously quiet towns in Nigeria, like the previously quiet towns of Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti State, Kashere in Gombe state, Dutsin-Ma in Katsina state and many others.

Additionally, roads that have been abandoned for decades are receiving the first major federal attention. Still, we are being nudged by power seeking politicians, who can only point to the efforts of far-away governments who built bridges for constituents, and then compelled them to pay 130,000 Naira yearly at 250 Naira per crossing per day, for using such bridges daily as their proof that the Jonathan government is not progressive and has done nothing but inflict pains on Nigerians. We do accept that Nigerians still have much to gain from democratic governance; that there are many roads that have not been attended to; that the railway couches and rail station termini can be more modern, that election outcomes can still improve; that the new investors of the power companies can make power supply more predictable by targeting the most critical hours of the day before progressing to full power supply; that corruption can and should be fought more forcefully, but looking at our past and what efforts president Jonathan has put in to bring  about transformation, there are many pains he has helped us to put behind us and deserves our commendation.

*Adeyemi  is a Lagos based development analyst

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Frank Adeh

Hi. I’m a Web Developer and Graphics Designer, I enjoy blogging as part-time and I draw a lot when I’m free. Thanks for visiting my blog today and I hope you come back next time.

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