Nigeria: President Yar’adua’s Return Good For The Nation
8 March 2010By Aonduna Tondu
Contrary to the shrill and knee-jerk remonstrations on
the part of misguided elements, the return to the
country by President Yar’Adua in the early hours of
February 24, 2010 must be considered as a welcome
development. Yar’Adua’s presence on Nigerian soil
should re-assure an anxious citizenry that has been
subjected to a largely contrived kind of hysteria by
those with an axe to grind.
The decision to let Vice-President Jonathan continue
to act on behalf of the president while the latter
recuperates is a wise one. More than ever before, the
loyalty and dedication of Goodluck Jonathan will be
called upon to help offer the kind of leadership that
is needed in addressing the myriad challenges facing
the nation.
It goes without saying that stability is a critical
ingredient in our collective quest for development.
The ultimate symbol of Nigeria’s sovereignty and
unity, the president should exude an aura of
inclusiveness. Yar’Adua’s support for his junior
partner will go a long way in instilling confidence in
his administration while at the same time calming a
polity that stood the risk of further polarization,
what with the desperation on the part of key elements
of the previous Obasanjo tyranny, including their
principal, who had begun to mistake the acting
presidency of Goodluck Jonathan for an opportunity to
once again indulge their delusions of power.
The kind of divisive triumphalism that one witnessed
amongst irredentists and revanchists alike in the
immediate post-February 9, 2010 National Assembly
resolutions declaring Jonathan acting president should
have no place in our polity. President Yar’Adua and
his grey eminence ought to emphasize this point if
only to make sure that some of the gains of his
government’s reforms in strategic areas like the
banking sector are not sacrificed at the altar of
expediency and questionable allegiances.
Beyond our national borders, Yar’Adua and his
administration will continue to ensure that Nigeria’s
national interests are defended even as our
international obligations are discharged to the best
of our ability. Irrespective of who occupies the
highest office in the land and notwithstanding the
state of the nation, both that office and its holder
must be treated with utmost dignity, especially by
foreign entities and their representatives. That is
why Nigerian citizens view with disgust the
undignified and insolent statement attributed to the
Obama administration in its reaction to President
Yar’Adua’s return home.
“Nigeria needs a strong, healthy, and effective
leader..". "Recent reports, however, continue to
suggest that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's health
remains fragile and that he may still be unable to
fulfill the demands of his office"., barked an adjunct
of the Obama government. He went on: "We hope that
President Yar'Adua's return to Nigeria is not an
effort by his senior advisors to upset Nigeria's
stability and create renewed uncertainty in the
democratic process. Nigeria is an extraordinarily
important country to its friends and partners, and all
of those in positions of responsibility should put the
health of the president and the best interests of the
country and people of Nigeria above personal ambition
or gain”. What effrontery!
While claiming to show concern for the stability of
the country, the deeply offensive outburst by an
obviously badly mannered and uncouth subaltern known
as John Carson does come across as a grotesque and
undiplomatic intrusion in our national affairs - a
vile assault on our collective sensibilities whose
aim, it appears, is to sow disharmony within the
Nigerian presidency, if not in the country as a whole.
The Nigerian government, on behalf of the people,
should call the Americans to order.
The problem with characters in the John Carson hue is
that their unhealthy investment in certain individuals
in locations like Africa tends to go beyond the call
of duty and when they feel that the partisan interests
of their local allies or proxies are threatened, they
hide behind a sanctimonious, if hypocritical
preachment. All the same, in this grave matter, the
buck stops at Obama’s desk.
It is unconscionable that President Obama behaves in a
polite, almost obsequious manner toward foreign
dignitaries of European, Asian and Middle-East
countries even as he characteristically employs
unpolished, intemperate and condescending language in
his rhetoric on Africa and Africans.
Finally, the Yar’Adua/Jonathan presidency has thrown
up critical challenges for us all, one of which is the
imperative to establish an efficient democratic system
that will meet the aspirations of the average citizen.
The organized opposition in particular can help do
that, not by being obsessed with the PDP’s internecine
squabbles to the point of taking sides as has been the
case of late, but by arduously working to provide
viable electoral alternatives.
Aonduna Tondu ( tondua@yahoo.com )
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