When Nigerians spoke up about insecurity in the North, they were labelled as detractors; when the opposition party and concerned leaders spoke up, they characterized them as power hungry, Islamic fundamentalists and exponents of Janjaweed ideology; when the international media did, they were termed APC opposition collaborators, apologists or even pawns; when Hilary Clinton did, she was ridiculed as incompetent, and in fact the cause of the problem and the reason the Chibok girls were abducted; when the American government did, they were called busy bodies who have their own unresolved problems; when former PDP governors and other politicians did, they were immediately described as disgruntled.
Whatever the case maybe, those who complain, object, criticize, observe or even perceive that the PDP or the Jonathan administration should be doing more are simply labelled enemies of the administration.
They are considered “sick”, senseless conspirators and saboteurs, and they are described in many other unprintable words that should never be used in the kind of discourse that is the subject of the matter.
But now, a past President, a leader of the PDP, a former chair of the PDP BOT and, more importantly, a benefactor of the current President, has spoken...
He said the President did not believe the Chibok girls were missing initially. According to him, Jonathan considered it a political gimmick, and chose not to err on the side of caution when the lives of some of the most vulnerable Nigerians were at stake.
The former President, from his military and presidential experience, expressed the thought that this unfortunate approach adopted by the President wasted the most vital window of opportunity in rescuing the girls, and taking them out of harm’s way, the vital initial twelve hours. According to former President Obasanjo, President Jonathan, finally, slowly and reluctantly answered the call to act only when the international community put pressure on him and the matter overshadowed the World Economic Forum being hosted in the nation’s capital.
The former President described the current President as slow, and failing to meet Nigerians expectations! This is historic and unprecedented! There is no record of a former democratically elected President describing a successor in this manner.
Last weekend, on account of the wondrous technology of communication, broadcast and cable television, we were treated to the “American Wonder” of the value of citizens, and to what lengths nations should go to secure them.
The news as monitored demonstrated the real role of the President of a nation with the deployment of the best of America’s special forces to secure a non-contentious release of a soldier who, though in captivity for five years, remained unforgotten by his country. America, of the “AmericaWillKnow# fame, swapped five dangerous terrorists just to secure the life of one non-commissioned officer – a sergeant.
The President got personally involved and spoke directly to the King of Qatar who took custody of five dangerous prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, who America gave for just one of its own.
What was most touching and telling was that Mr. Obama personally took charge of securing the release of “just” one low level American soldier; whose existence in many ways should not mean much to him, going by Nigerian warped standard; one whose capture and detention did not stop him from winning elections.
He called the parents, brought them to the White House and shared his podium and moment of glory with them. They hugged, back-slapped, and walked away together holding each other fondly, endearingly and so ordinarily, perhaps, to eat brunch together in the White House.
Days before this happened, no security report of danger to his life could stop President Obama from flying across the world to celebrate Memorial Day in the heart of the war, and where he was most likely to be in harm’s way. He chose the epicenter over the attention-center. He chose Bagram, Afghanistan, over the White House in Washington DC. Nothing could stop him.
Contrast this with what is happening at home. When recently we had Children’s Day, our own President Jonathan didn’t go to visit the children who were in despair, children who had been unable to attend school on account of the Boko Haram insurgency, children whose lives had been changed forever by fear, tragedy and loss, children who had lost parents or siblings, some of whom want to be like him in the future.
Our only connection with them is the technological wonder of cable TV, with CNN meeting with them, touring their school, meeting their teachers, listening to them and transmitting their pain, their hopes, their aspirations to the world. CNN could go, but our own President could not.
We are today a people traumatized more by our leaders than our attackers. Our attackers have banked on the failure of our leaders to traumatize us even more. We are a people in despair, in pain and sorrow, not only for the lost souls or missing girls, but also for the soul of our nation and the missing leadership.
Traumatized by terrorists, traumatized by an incompetent government, traumatized by poor infrastructure, traumatized by darkness, traumatized by impunity, traumatized by our helplessness when those who steal go unpunished,
traumatized when children are missing and the President is dancing, traumatized when he, and the leadership of his party deny the obvious, when they belittle the lives of our children by disputing their abduction, when they insult the pain of parents, the fear and grief of communities, traumatized when we realize we can’t
depend on our government to protect us, or come to our aid, traumatized when the government spokesperson labels us who are victims of this government as opposition controlled states, traumatized when, to them, those who are concerned enough about the safety and destiny of our girls, are reduced to mere “campaigners” who are 90% opposition, traumatized to discover that our President only sees electoral capital, not human capital, not Nigerian capital, not citizens of Nigeria, traumatized at the reality of our exclusion by the President and the PDP.
At a point, trauma leads to delusion and irrational behaviour. How much more trauma can we take? As a nation, we are unraveling, things are falling apart, the center is not holding, anarchy is upon the land, but the reason is simple.
There is a failure at the center. There is rot, incompetence, callousness, ineptitude, a scale of corruption and stealing,a level of impunity that is emanating from the center. The stench is so bad, you can smell it far North, far east, far south, and far west. That is why things are falling apart, that is why the center isn’t holding, that is why anarchy is upon the land, that, I submit, is the reason for, and our greatest trauma.
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