"The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use - of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public. "
-Robert F. Kennedy
When the present president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria now known as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,a hitherto unpopular national politician came out to vie for the exhausted office of the president of Africa’s most populous and prosperous nation, his quiet unassuming and patient looking character easily endeared him to the frustrated Nigerian masses. Most of them thought they had finally found a God-fearing listening leader who would savage them from the social, economic and political wahala that had bedeviled this rich ill managed country. But alas – their dreams and positive expectations have been cut short less than one year into the administration of the man they thought they could rely on to take them to the promised land.
Nigerians were made to come out en masse to cast their vote during the last presidential election that ushered in the present administration, this after listening to the pathetic story of how the present president never had shoes to wear to school. The sympathetic nature of an average Nigerian saw in the poor struggle of the boy from the creek as a symbolic picture of what most of them had gone through during their youthful days back in their villages and towns. It was this same sympathy that motivated Nigerians across all the geo-political regions in the country to openly support his candidacy when a few self- imposed regional speakers came out to insist that the presidency must remain at a particular zone. The same Nigerians compassion had rallied around the president when the Yar’adua ‘cabal’ tried unsuccessfully to wrestle power from his hands, then as the vice-president on acting capacity as the president. I could still remember the protest, articles, comments and prayers by many Nigerians at home and abroad that ensured that the exulted seat never eluded him. Including the nationalist bold protests by various civil society organizations like the Save Nigeria Group, Civil Liberty Organization, the Campaign for Democracy and others too numerous to mention.
Today, this is the same president that has suddenly turned 360 degree against all those masses that sacrificed their lives, time, energy and resources to give him the number one position in the country. The same president many of them had thought would lend them his ears and listen to their worries and pains. Instead they got one of the most outlandish New Year gift ever presented to them by any leader in more than fifty years of the country’s independence; an oppressive fuel subsidy removal that stole into their lives like an unwanted thief. The president they had hoped on had bluntly refused to listen to the cries of many mothers and wives that had shouted their voices out against the idea of an oppressive fuel subsidy removal. He had refused to listen to the plights of the millions of Nigerian workers that had kicked against another form of suffering they have long been going through over the decades. That hitherto unknown creek boy who told Nigerians he never had the privilege of wearing shoes to school, but fortunate to now have some of the best shoes in the world today, surprisingly has refused to listen to the frustrated lamentations of millions of Nigerians students across the country that the removal of this unpopular subsidy will affect greatly. He has refused to see the hundreds of thousands of hungry school pupils still roaming our dilapidated public schools daily without shoes or modernized teaching tools. Yet he thought it wise to unleash a cruel gift on the first day of a new year.
To be honest, I am finding it difficult to believe that this government is really government of the people voted in by the people. Or should we force our conscience to still accept that this government is a true reflection of what governance is all about? How many Nigerians did the Jonathan’s administration listen to before dictatorially announcing its controversial subsidy removal? Or are the views of those international consultants from the West and others from abroad more important than our collective views as bona fide Nigerians who know and daily feel the pinch of the harsh economic situation in the country?
Why should Nigerians from now on not be suspicious of this present administration when it has brazenly displayed it’s not listening and is showing anti-people attitude in broad day light? Can President Jonathan come out boldly tomorrow to seek their sympathy on whatever issue from now on? Why should a president who promised heaven on earth and swore on oath to protect the social, economic and political interests of its citizens suddenly turn against them and give them an early dose of suffering in a new year, despite the insecurity and economic hardship they are facing? Or the fact that our once upon a time lecturer turned president, who providence smiled on with the highest position in the land has soon forgotten that not all family in the creek and in all other parts of the country now enjoys a free presidential goodies, which include a free house in Aso Rock, free petrol for all the presidential cars, free electricity, free security, free cooking gas, free food and other sumptuous chop-chop and mollycoddles that go with the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I thought power belongs to the people and the people are power, then should we see the present administration under the captainship and control of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as truly the universal acceptance of democracy being the government of the people by the people? And a very important question is: Will it be wise for Nigerians to see and view the government that has refused to listen to their cries really for the people?
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