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Permit me to begin this contribution by quoting
from a portion of an essay that I wrote on 26
September 2011 which was titled ‘’On Goodluck
Jonathan, David and Goliath’’. The portion reads
as follows- ‘’A few days ago from the sacred pulpit
of the hallowed chambers of the National Christian
Centre in Abuja and in the presence of the entire
leadership of
the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan proclaimed as
follows- ‘I am not David….I am not a general…..I
am not a lion but I will defeat the Goliaths in our
land’. These are deep and instructive words yet I
do wonder whether Mr. President understands the
spiritual and practical implications of what he is
saying.
I say this because if he says that he is not a David
how can he then possibly slay the Goliaths in the
land? If he says that he is not a general how can
he be an effective Commander-in-Chief who
commands the respect and confidence of his army
and his officers? If he says that he is not a lion how
can he overwhelm the animals in our jungle that
seek to destroy and ravage our land?
The lion is a noble and courageous animal that
defends it’s territory, pride and family and
protects it’s own. That is why it is known as the
‘king of the jungle’ and that is why our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ Himself is reffered to in the
bible as the ‘’Lion of the Tribe of Judah’’.
Every king worth his salt must have the spirit of
the lion and the warrior in him to a certain extent.
It is a fundamental pre-qualification for good
quality and inspirational leadership and that is
what distinguishes the pretender and the usurper
from a real king. May the spirit and weakness of
the biblical King Ahab not be our President’s
portion even though his words seem to have
ensnared him. History proves that weak kings and
weak leaders always end up pulling down and
destroying their own empires and kingdoms
simply because they are incapable of providing
strong and decisive leadership.
If you have any doubt about that consider what
happened to the Roman Empire under Emperors
Nero, Claudius and Caligula. They were not only
weak but they were also slaves to their insatiable
and uncontrollable passion and craving for pretty
young boys, strange and controlling women and,
in the case of Caligula, well-endowed and sexually
active animals. If you still have any doubts about
the dangers of weak and morally bankrupt
leadership after that then study Russian history or
watch an excellent film titled ‘Nicholas and
Alexander’ which is about Tsar Nicholas 1st, the
last Tsar of Russia and how his strong-willed wife
and his consistent display of weakness shamed
and brought down imperial Russia, destroyed the
300 year old royal dynasty of the Romanovs, led
directly to the First World War (which in turn led
to the Second World War and then later the Cold
War), caused the communist revolution, led to the
Russian civil war, resulted in the murder of his
whole family and ended in the establishment and
creation of the most evil and godless system that
has ever ruled half of the world- the Soviet empire.
That is what weakness, prevarication,
inconsistency, cowardice, emotional slavery,
inexplicable fear and the celebration of indecision
can do. Worst still you don’t boast about such
qualities because there is nothing to be proud of
in them. Always remember, whether you are a
king or a subject, that courage is the greatest of
all the virtues. This is wisdom. Would someone
please tell our President?’’
Once again please take note that the contribution
that I quoted above was part of an essay that I
wrote on 26th September 2011- approximately
two years ago. Let us get back to today.
With the killing of 91 children by Boko Haram in
Damatru a few months ago, the slaughter of 140
Nigerian troops by Boko Haram in Borno state a
few weeks back, the massacre of 41 school
children in Borno state by Boko Haram four
months ago, the mass murder of no less than
7000 thousand Nigerians by Boko Haram in the
last 3 years, the burning to the ground of an army
barracks with it’s attendant slaughter of the family
members of army officers and military personnel in
Bama a few days ago and the raging war that is
going on in the north-eastern part of our country
between Boko Haram and our military today those
words and that counsel that was offered two years
ago seem even more relevant today than they
were even then.
I believe that the carnage that we are witnessing
in our country today has come as a direct result of
the manifestation of weakness at the top. When a
President tells the world that Boko Haram are his
‘’siblings’’ whom he ‘’cannot move against’’, as he
did earlier this year, he is asking for trouble. When
a President keeps offering Boko Haram amnesty
even when they kept rejecting it and whilst they
were murdering his people, as he has been doing
for the last three years, he is asking for trouble.
When a President installs and supports a party
National Chairman, by the name of Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur, who describes Boko
Haram as ‘’freedom fighters’’, as he did earlier this
year, he is asking for trouble.
When a President announces to the world that he
is ‘’not a lion or a David’’, as he did approximately
two years ago, no-one should be surprised when
his people are killed like flies before his very eyes.
May God bring us a real leader that can save our
nation and may He take away this one who feels
no pain and has no empathy when Nigerian blood,
nay even the blood of innocent children, is shed
with impugnity. Under the tenure of our ‘’lamb’’
President more innocent Nigerians have been
slaughtered by terrorists than at any other time in
the history of our country except during the civil
war.
What a mess and what a record. I continue to
ponder about one thing though- would the
President have been so unperturbed and
detached from the whole thing if the children that
were killed in their school just a few weeks ago
had been from his Niger Delta area. It appears to
me that simply because those kids were
northerners this President just ‘’doesn’t give a
damn’’. What a tragedy. Whether Christian or
Muslim, northern or southern these are only
children and they are NIGERIAN children each of
whom is entitled to the full protection of the
Nigerian state. I have said it before and I shall say
it again, Nigeria has become an abbatoir of human
flesh and blood under the tenure of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and all those who
support him should bury their heads in shame.
The blood of all those innocent people is on his
hands because he swore to an oath before God
and the Nigerian people to protect them from
such evil. Instead of getting on with his job and
doing so he has spent the last few months
boasting to the world about ringing the bell in the
New York Stock Exchange and receiving
irrelevant, illusionary, self-serving and absurd
commendations for absolutely nothing from
President Barack Obama. May God deliver us.
Permit me to make a painful observation here. I
was thoroughly appauled about the fact that
when our lamb President was asked about the
latest round of killings during his live ‘’Presidential
Media Chat’’ programme a few weeks back he not
only told a lie to the world by claiming that only
‘’21 or 22 students were killed’’ at a time when
the BBC and CNN had confirmed that at least 45
bodies had been found (almost 100 were to be
discovered later) but he also failed to express his
condolences to the families of those that had lost
their loved ones. He made the same omission
when he failed to commiserate with or express his
condolences to the families of the 140 soldiers
that were killed in Borno state a few weeks back
whilst fighting Boko Haram simply because they
ran out of bullets during the course of the battle.
By way of contrast not only was he quick to offer
his condolences to the government and people of
Kenya for the terrible carnage that was inflicted on
them by Al Shabab just one day before when 68
people were killed at a Nairobi shopping mall but
he was also quick to offer the Kenyan government
military assistance. I guess that to him Nigerian
blood is not as expensive or as important as
foreign blood.
If President Uhuru Kenyatta decides to accept his
offer let us hope that our lamb President will give
enough bullets to the soldiers that he will send.
Our boys are deeply courageous fighters and they
certainly deserve that much. They also deserve to
have a commander in Chief that inspires them,
that watches their back and that gives them the
very best. May the souls of all those that have
been killed by Boko Haram in the last three years
rest in peace and may the Lord take the
leadership of this nation from the lamb and give it
to a lion king.
Permit me to end this contribution with the
following observations. As crude and as
unpleasant as it may sound the question must be
asked – does our President have any balls? And if
he does just how big are they? Is he really a man?
Does he have what it takes to fight a war against
terror or is it that there is more to this than meets
the eye? Is there a sinister and diabolical
conspiracy and plan to ensure that elections do
not hold in the north-east and the north-west in
2015 given the fact that those areas are very
hostile to the suggestion that Jonathan should
return to power that year? Is this whole thing
planned and contrived or is it a case of chronic
incompetence, ineptitude and weakness? Does
Jonathan believe that it is in his interest for the
north to burn and for northern blood to be spilt? Is
the mindset of those that are pulling the strings of
the view that since the problem has been (to use
the President’s own words in his last media chat)
‘’localised’’ and ‘’contained in a certain area’’ the
government can sit back and watch the locals
slaughter themselves whilst they continue to drink
champagne and kai-kai in the Villa and fantasise
about 2015? If that is the case has it not occured
to them that their fellow Nigerians live in those
areas where the problem has supposedly been
‘’localised’’ and is the blood of those fellow
Nigerians not red as well? Are they less Nigerian
because of where they were born and who they
are? Are the people that live in the villages and
country side not as important as those who live in
the towns and cities?
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