By Ochereome Nnanna

I DON’T know about you. But for me, the speech made by President Goodluck Jonathan at the National Christian Centre, Abuja last Sunday, was the most soulful he has ever made. The President is not known for his biting, piercing or inspiring speeches. Oratory is not one of his special attributes.

He says he is neither an army general nor Pharaoh. Yes, he is also no Barack Obama or Martin Luther King. But you must give him something for his “I had no shoes” speech on September 18, 2010 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Last Sunday at the national chapel, while participating in the church service to mark the 51st independence anniversary of our dear nation, GEJ took out time to answer back to those who accuse him of not being a strong enough president. So many things have happened which left many commentators and analysts wondering if GEJ was man enough to lead.

In fact, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir El Rufai, in an article on June 10, 2011 entitled: “Jonathan’s Tough Choices”, made a definitive declaration that the President lacked the guts to carry the nation over the threshold to greatness.

The reign of terror by the Boko Haram sect in Abuja, Suleija, Bauchi and Borno, as well as the unending communal crises in the Jos area further called his capacity to question. The ill-fated mission of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the home of Babakura Fugu on Thursday September 15, 2011 only for the latter to be killed by suspected Boko Haram assassins a couple of days later, came as a sign of caving in to terrorists. That is another worrying sign. The President seems to give in easily under severe pressure. He has not shown enough firmness and decisiveness.

In answering back, GEJ had these words which I found of interest: “Some Nigerians still want the President of this country to be a lion or a tiger; somebody that has the kind of strength, force and agility to make things happen the way they think. I don’t need to be a lion, I don’t need to be Nebuchadnezzer; I don’t need to operate like the Pharaoh of Egypt, I don’t need to be an army general. I can change this country without those traits…”.

My advice for the President is simple. Nigerians are not looking for a general or a Pharaoh. We had a general, Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzer rolled into the person of former President Obasanjo. He ruled this country for eight years under our nascent democracy. He did a few good things such as keeping the army in the barracks and exiting Nigeria from foreign debt trap. But he misfired the privatisation of government assets and caused billions of dollars worth of our commonwealth to roll into the private pockets of a few Nigerians and their foreign friends.

Obasanjo undermined our democracy by fouling the political parties, destabilising the federal legislature, compromising the Judiciary and nearly sabotaging the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the failed third term bid. By the time he left office many Nigerians were happy to see him go. I am not one of those who wish Obasanjo were still in power when Boko Haram made their second coming.

He would not have made a difference since he was unable to arrest the Sharia virus when former Governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima, let it loose on the North. He merely went to Kaduna, wept for the benefit of the television cameras and declared Sharia would fizzle out. Curiously enough, it did, but not before claiming thousands of lives of innocent Nigerians.

Nigerians are not looking for army generals and Pharaohs. We have had enough of them. They are responsible for keeping us where we are, 51 years after independence. We merely want GEJ to be more presidential. We want him to make the transition from Dr Jonathan, the deputy to President Jonathan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I keep asking myself: Why would Nasir El Rufai run away from Nigeria on assumption of the presidential office by Umaru Yar’ Adua only to return when Yar’ Adua died and have the guts to tell the world GEJ was not man enough for the job? Why would Nuhu Ribadu bolt into exile under Yar’ Adua and return when the man died only to enter the presidential race against Jonathan? Had Yar’ Adua not died, the chances were that these two Northern stormy petrels would have remained self-exiled.

Why would a gentleman, President Shehu Shagari crush the Maitatsine riots within three months and an ailing Yar’ Adua behead the Boko Haram Medusa in record quick time, while GEJ is about to settle for “dialogue” with this terrorist group after seeming to have failed to apprehend the menace as his Northern predecessors did?

I agree with the President in his assertion at the United Nations that the Boko Haram challenge would eventually be overcome. The question is, when and how? How many lives would be lost and how much in material property and national esteem?

Boko Haram is only one of the challenges waiting for an effective president to overcome on his way to taking Nigeria to the Promised Land. A bigger challenge lies ahead, especially in inescapable economic and political reforms.

To repair the economy, many long-established cabals will have to be pounded into the ground, especially in the oil industry and in the fight against corruption. Labour has to be brought into line to enable the economy embrace a new atmosphere of large-scale private investment, which will diversify the economy and create jobs. GEJ should take a look at the miraculous Lee Kwan Yew lesson which helped turn Singapore into a global model.

Another challenge waiting is in the area of constitutional changes. Does he have the necessary vision and patriotism to bring about the changes required to make Nigeria work? It does not require a Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzer or army general to do the work waiting to be done. Lee Kwan Yew was none of those. It requires an EFFECTIVE and VISIONARY leader!