GEJ And The Success Of The Transformation Agenda by Comrade Nwokoma Messiah

In a few days from now President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will be handing over the reins of leadership of this country to General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress APC. The 29^th of May which is the day for the handover promises to be remarkable in the political history of our country. Whether our President will be smiling his customary smiles that day or boning will be immaterial but what promises to be a certainty is the fact that Nigerians’ expectations on the incoming administration will be the highest any administration will receive considering the gale of promises the Nigerian masses received from them.

Trust our Nigerian people, it won’t take long before they start reminiscing the good old days of President Jonathan when things used to be very wonderful. I have sympathy(?) for our  dear General who in the course of desperately wanting power promised Nigerians a lot both real and imaginary. But the way and manner they succeed will be measured by the success of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

Already there has been a concerted effort by the incoming ruling party to vilify the outgoing President and all his achievements through arm chair criticisms thereby creating excuses should they fail to deliver on their vociferous promises. I think Buhari has seen a glimpse of the enormous task President Jonathan had hence his reduced vitriolism when compared to the pre election  campaigns where mudslinging was a sing song for him and his party, He has also gone to the extent of endorsing Jonathan’s actions which he would have condemned before March 28^th. Hear him “I COMMEND JONATHAN’S ACTION ON SOUTH AFRICA CRISIS, NIGERIA WOULD HAVE BEEN IN CRISIS IF JONATHAN HAD CONTESTED THE OUTCOME OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

But the incoming Vice President a professor of law has been in the forefront in describing the outgoing administration as a failure. His latest being that the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan left the worse economy for Nigerians. Coming from a man of his standing and exposure, I am wont to wonder if this man has been in Nigeria or e was just flown in from ‘obodo oyibo’ (apologies to my Ibo brothers). Or are his comments the normal Yoruba way of the pot  calling kettle black? We will soon see. Trust Nigerians we shall soon see if the comments of this former commissioner for Justice in Lagos state and a known Tinubu boy is a true reflection of what is on ground or an adventure on mischief.

My problem with Osibanjo is that he is too loquacious for a Vice President. Namadi Sambo the outgoing VP even during the vitriolic politicking days did not decscend so low as Osibanjo has descended. I wonder if e is trying to take the shine off the President or he wants to act Idiagbon part 2. All the same, we shall be waiting and watching to see how the whole drama pans out.

Talking about the Goodluck administration, and its agenda the Transformation agenda, will Nigerians in a few period from this now describe it as a failure? I really don’t think so. Rather its success will come to haunt the incoming administration of Buhari if he fails the people. The transformation agenda which I believe was not aimed at transforming Nigeria from our present state to the United States over night. It was aimed at preparing the minds of Nigerians and setting a standard for us to move to a greater level. The transformation agenda was successful in a lot of ways and its success will remain indelible in the minds of the people. The Transformation agenda was more of a psychological transformation rather than a physical one. It was aimed at transforming the way Nigerians do things. The first sign of the Transformation was witnessed during the 2011 general elections when the President ensured that all the necessary support was given to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. The election turned out to be the most peaceful in the history of our country and a complete deviation from the Obasanjonic days of violent elections characterized by murders, blackmails, arm twisting, and ballot snatchings amongst others.

As soon as President Jonathan was sworn in, he understood how enormous the expectations of the people are and quickly put in appropriate machineries to transform the country. One of such was to sign the Freedom of Information Bill into law. This FIA was a turning point in the social life of Nigerians. They craved for it but was deprived especially by Obasanjo who hated freedom under Obasanjo, this bill would have rotted. The effect of this freedom of information Act, is the freedom at which Nigerians have today and it has impacted in so many ways in making the people more proactive in the affairs of the country. Never in the history of this country has its people shown the kind of knowledge about the politics of the country and also participated in its politics as they did during the last political era. This was transformation working. President Jonathan also ensured the success of the transformation when he, despite the threat of not getting reelected, allowed opposition politics to thrive. He created an enabling environment to ensure that the opposition was not stifled as Obasanjo would have done. This was also transformation at play. Human rights abuses were lowest when compared to previous administrations and to Ice the transformation, Jonathan despite witnessing a flawed election decided not to contest the outcome of such. He set a pace for Nigerians to understand that o or die politics is not the best for the country.