BY Chidi Chima
And so, President Goodluck Jonathan has become the first sitting president to lose an election in Nigeria. Not only that, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems poised to become the minority in the national assembly, completing the demystification of a party that used to brand itself as Africa’s biggest party — one that was supposed to rule for 60 years.
Why did Jonathan lose out in the power game? There are probably a million and one reasons, the biggest being that the opposition finally got its act together and fielded a man who has a natural street appeal. The frustrations of Nigerians with the PDP have been on for ages, and the successful formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should count as the biggest factor in these elections. But Jonathan had had it coming all along — starting from the removal of fuel subsidy in January 2012.
Below are some of the reasons that weakened his appeal to Nigerians since his overwhelming victory in the 2011 elections. You are free to add yours in the comments section.
The increase in the pump price of petrol in January 2012 was the first point of conflict between Jonathan and the populace, especially the youth. The timing — coming while people had travelled for Christmas — was a major factor in the popular resistance, but the allegation that nearly N2 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy alone in 2011 further fuelled public anger. Citizens held Occupy Lagos rallies, with Ojota being the biggest meeting point in the state. There was a paralysing strike by the labour unions. The social media, which hitherto worked in favour of the president, buzzed with anti-Jonathan sentiments. Although Jonathan held the opposition responsible for the sustained protests against deregulation, he never really recovered from the devastating damage the fuel price rise did to his government — despite cutting the pump price to pacify the protesters.
In the tragicomedy that followed the April 2014 kidnap of nearly 300 girls at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, Patience Jonathan, wife of the president, worsened an already sad affair by trivialising it. In what looked like a well rehearsed drama, she openly lambasted officials of the Borno state government and the school principal, and suggested that nobody was kidnapped. Then she shed crocodile tears in the cameras, wailing: “There is God o. All this blood that you are sharing in Borno… remember there is God in everything we are doing.” She famously asked the school’s principal: “Na only you waka come?” (“You came alone?”). She was probably expecting more officials from the state. The video went viral and global. The joke was on her at a time the world was mourning the plight of hundreds of kidnapped teenagers.
Michelle Obama played her part
The kidnap of the Chibok girls and Patience Jonathan’s drama led to the birth of a movement that gave Jonathan a nightmare he would never forget: the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group. The movement parodied the name of Bring Back the Book, an initiative launched by Jonathan to encourage a reading culture among school children. BBOG made a global impact, drawing international attention to the kidnap saga at a time the government was accused of not doing anything to address the issue. The security agencies and Jonathan’s supporters adopted a hostile attitude towards the group. They were threatened and harassed. However, the campaign got more popular, and #BringBackOurGirls was trending on Twitter across the world. International celebrities carried the placard, the most famous being Michelle Obama, the American first lady. Jonathan got the most negative global publicity from the activities of BBOG.
In March 2013, Jonathan did the unthinkable — he granted state pardon to DSP Alamieyeseigha, who had been convicted for corruption in 2007. Alamieyeseigha was the governor of Bayelsa state from 1999 to 2005. Jonathan was his deputy, but when his principal was arrested in London and impeached on his return to Nigeria on money laundering charges, he became the substantive governor. Alamieyeseigha’s conviction was said to have been “arrived at” as part of a plea bargain deal by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to get him to persuade Niger Delta militants to ceasefire and accept an amnesty. A state pardon was said to be on the cards, but Yar’Adua died in the process. Jonathan eventually granted the pardon — worsening his public image as a president who is soft on corruption.
Beyond the kidnap of Chibok girls which drew international attention to Boko Haram in Nigeria, many Nigerians had grown weary of government’s failure to contain the militants. Initially, there were sustained arguments that the opposition was behind the menace, which many thought might play to the political advantage of Jonathan. However, as the carnage went on, many Nigerians grew tired, and the tide began to turn against Jonathan. The impression that Jonathan treated Boko Haram with kid gloves was worsened when the elections were postponed by six weeks in February and the military began to record a series of victories over the insurgents, in collaboration with neighbouring countries. Many potential voters were not impressed, insinuating that Jonathan could have done that all along. Explanations that Nigeria had difficulties procuring arms to equip the military did not impress them.
The notion that the government of President Jonathan is corrupt was strengthened in 2013 by a letter written to him by the then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who alleged that billions of dollars of oil revenue had not been remitted to the federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He also alleged that monies were spent without appropriation, especially on kerosene subsidy. The president did not respond to the letter. After it was leaked to the press, Jonathan reportedly asked Sanusi to resign but he refused. Jonathan eventually suspended him and he never returned to office until, coincidentally, the emir of Kano died and Sanusi ascended the throne of his forefathers. Jonathan never recovered from the allegation of the “missing” $20 billion, despite reports that a PwC audit gave the NNPC an all-clear.
In October 2014, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, speaker of the house of representatives, announced his defection from PDP to APC, although it was more of a formality. To flex muscles, Abba Suleiman, the inspector general of police, withdrew Tambuwal’s security aides, quoting the constitution and declaring that Tambuwal was no longer speaker. This irked Nigerians, including those sympathetic to Jonathan. Matters were made worse a few weeks later when police officers took over the premises of the national assembly and tried to prevent the lawmakers from reconvening to discuss a request to extend emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Coming very close an election, the Tambuwal face-off added more fatal blows to the political standing of Jonathan. Although he later recognised Tambuwal as speaker, the deed had already been done, as the saying goes.
You can pick your choice. Is it the president’s retort of “I don’t give a damn” on national television when asked to make his asset declaration public? Or the delay in taking action over Stella Oduah, former minister of aviation, after she was indicted in the BMW armoured car affair? Or failure to act on the various allegations against Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources? Or his failure to rein in his wife, who constantly brought controversy to Aso Rock? Or failure to discipline the minister of interior, Abba Moro, who oversaw the deaths of applicants during the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise?
What did the most damage to Jonathan's presidency?
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