President Goodluck Jonathan stunned the audience at the commencement of his presidential campaign in Lagos when he said his generation has failed the nation. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN who was at the venue revisits the rally and its implication for his second term bid. 

President Goodluck Jonathan started his re-election campaign in Lagos recently on a shaky note. The event was witnessed by prominent leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark, National Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, governors and governorship flag bearers.

Chieftains of the party took turns to address the crowd. They include the Co-ordinator of the President’s campaign in the Southwest and Ondo State governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; Chairman of the National Campaign Committee Col. Ahmadu Ali; Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State; the PDP leader in Lagos State, Chief Olabode George, and Ekiti State Governor Mr Ayo Fayose.

They did their best to extol the virtues and achievements of President Jonathan and urged Nigerians to endorse his re-election in February. Mimiko, for instance, described President Jonathan as the most criticised, abused and insulted leader in this country. He said given his performance, Nigerians across the country can feel the impact of his administration in agriculture, power supply, education and resuscitation of rail system.

But, the campaign experienced some awkward moments, when Ali mounted the podium. It did not quite jell with the audience when the National Campaign Committee chairman uttered the following statement: “The PDP is the agent of change. We fought for democracy when others fled the country. We have remained in power for 16 consecutive years.” He added that Nigerians should vote for the party, for the above reasons. The message was lost on the audience because neither Ali, nor his other colleagues were known to be associated with the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and other civil rights organisations that fought military for the return of democracy.

As if Ali’s goof was not enough, President Jonathan also stunned the audience when he said that his address would be directed at young people, especially those aged between 18 and 23, who will be voting for the first time this year. More than 80 per cent of people present were 30 years and above. Invariably, President Jonathan considered this category of voters inconsequential to his re-election bid.

The audience had expected the President to explain what he has been doing in the past six years and what he intends to, if re-elected. Instead, he spent more time talking about those criticising his government. Some observers expressed dismay and disappointment at the inability of the President to utilise the opportunity offered by his campaign outing to tell Nigerians what he has done for them since his assumption of office. The same President Jonathan had earlier admonished parties and candidates to dwell on issues agitating the minds of Nigerians and how these can be solved.

Jonathan also shocked the audience when he said his generation has failed and urged the youth to vote for young people. He said: “I do not want to address old people like me because we have failed completely. We are spent already. This election is about young people. It is either you vote for the young people to be relevant in this country or your vote will be irrelevant. We have just introduced our governorship candidates and you can see that many of them are within your age bracket.”

Despite saying his generation had failed the nation Jonathan still went ahead to urge the youths to take their destiny in their hands by voting for the PDP.  He did not explain how or why a vote for a failed and finished generation within the PDP would be more beneficial to the country’s youth than a vote for the same category of persons within the APC.

The President vehemently condemned and rejected the allegation by his opponents and critics that his administration was soft on corruption. Attributing his success in fighting corruption to the innovation introduced into fertiliser distribution, Jonathan said the emphasis of his administration was in preventing corruption from taking place, rather than jailing those who loot the treasury. To him, that is more effective way of fighting corruption.

On security, Jonathan said the blame for the poor combat readiness of the Armed Forces should not be heaped on him because he inherited a weak army, navy and air force that had not been properly funded and equipped over the years by his predecessors. According to him, these people did not buy anything for the Nigerian soldiers. “Ask them what they did with the defence budget throughout the whole time they were in government, no equipment was bought for the armed forces,” he added. He was, however, not specific on which of the successive administrations.

To the criticism that a poorly equipped army was deployed to fight Boko Haram insurgents, Jonathan said: “Nobody equips the Armed Forces overnight. They are built over the years. Even if we spend $10 billion today, it cannot immediately equip the Army, Navy and Air Force because their capacities are built over the years. It takes a period of time”.

Public affairs analyst, Dr. Friday Ibok was disappointed that President Jonathan turned his maiden campaign into a forum of attacking personalities, rather than address the issues that are critical to the welfare of Nigerians. He said as a presidential candidate what the audience and those watching him live on television wanted to hear from him was what he had done in the past six years as President of Nigeria and what he would do in the next four years if he was re-elected.

Ibok said: “For almost 30 minutes that he spoke, President Jonathan never promised Nigerians anything, but used the whole time attacking past leaders. I am worried because as a President he should know better. Members of his campaign team should have prepared for such a critical public function.

“He admitted failure when he said his generation has failed the country and urged the youth to vote for the young ones if they want to be relevant in the country. What Mr. President was saying is that the salvation of this country lay in the hands of those within the age bracket of 18 and 23. So, the elders who travelled from different parts of the country to witness his campaign inauguration at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos are inconsequential and risked their lives for nothing. The irony of it is that Jonathan is still canvassing for their votes to win. It is unfortunate.”

In his response to President Jonathan’s utterances, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said Jonathan’s problems are personal, not generational. The former Lagos State Governor asked him to consider his deficiencies as his personal failure and that of his party, the PDP.

“It amounts to an error for the President to generalise the shortcomings as generational failure. If the President doesn’t know the history and responsibilities of his office, he should quit the office and go back home,” he said.

Convener, Nigeria Voters Assembly (NVA), Comrade Mashood Erubami carpets the President for failing to run an issue-based campaign. According to him, it is very disheartening that President Jonathan has continued to chase shadow leaving the substance out of his campaign in all the states he has visited.

Erubami argued that “he has at his own instance widened the gap of disconnect in the heart of those who have decided to use the 2015 election to change their lives by removing their destinies from the hands of Jonathan and likes of Femi Fani-Kayode, so that a new order could emerge from the hands of new leaders who abound in the APC which today represent the greatness that Nigerians are seeking.”

He said buying equipment for the army, navy, air force and police is not an end in itself, but a means of achieving the end of peace and security in the land. “Those who failed to equip the security agencies did not do much because the nation was not under the current siege under which Jonathan has put the country and his people. During the Buhari era, even under the Ibrahim Babangida’s administration, our children were not stolen, no group of political thugs gang up against the people nor steal their commonwealth unabashed as under the Jonathan.  Security agencies were not as partisan and irresponsible like we found in the Department of State Security (DSS) and the police misbehaving today under the clueless, unimpressive and un-rehearsed administration of Dr. Jonathan.”

Student activist Jerry Agbeyegbe, who watched the inauguration of the President’s campaign on television, was shocked to hear the President saying his generation has failed the nation. He believes President Jonathan came to such conclusion out of sheer frustration and disappointment.

“I think the President is overwhelmed with the problems of insecurity, corruption and mismanagement of the economy which his administration has failed to tackle head on. It is wrong to his own ineptitude to conclude that his generation has failed the nation. The problem is leadership deficiency which is peculiar to the people at the helm of affairs. The buck stops on Mr. President’s table and he must accept responsibility that his government has failed.

Erubami was not impressed with President Jonathan’s handling of the abducted Chibok girls who have spent close to 280 days in captivity, reported scams in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), police pension fund, missing $20 billion oil money, $9 million arms deal, oil theft and power outage. The human right activist said what Nigerians are expecting to hear are the reasons for monumental failure of President Jonathan on these issues, despite the power he wields under the constitution and the resource available to the country which can be used to fix the country.

            Source: The Nation