Dr Nnamdi. Oziri, a  scholar, School of Sciences, Federal University of Technology (FUTO), Owerri, bares his mind on some vital issues in the presidential media chat including the president’s refusal to declare his assets publicly. He also assessed the present administration and commended the president for his steadfastness amidst tensions and crises in the country, writes ANOZIE EGOLE.

Excerpts.

What do you think about the President’s refusal to declare his assets publicly?

Declaration of each political aspirant assets would definitely be essential as the constitution determines it. However, if the incumbent president defers to declare his assets now, he would no doubt do so when it is obvious that he will be running for another tenure.

In the chat, the president said is too early to say his 2015 presidential interest, what is your take on that?

Again, it is the president’s choice to let or not to let the public know of his future intention to run for an election.

I believe he has every right as a citizen of this country to say what he wants to say and when he wants to say it.

The court has issued an interim injunction stopping the renaming of UNILAG which was made by the president on May 29, how do you see the court’s decision?

If UNILAG is a private tertiary institution, one could then say that the president’s declaration for a change of name of the institution is going beyond his limit but if UNILAG is a public institution. So, one starts to wonder the premise of that interim injunction by the court.

It will be very interesting to know if the court has a precedence to support its ruling. Again, one should not forget, that the president is not only the number one citizen of the country but the commander in chief of all the forces and the chief executive of all the arms of the government. The court’s ruling must be supported with a huge burden of proof for its ruling, else they will be shooting themselves on their legs.

Sir, amidst tensions and crises in the north, president Jonathan still traveled to Brazil for a summit saying that it is for the country, do you think what he did was right?

Making a statement on the issue that faced the nation and even sending delegates to condole with the victims and making sure that a 24-hour curfew was slammed on the states concerned were the right steps to take in an emergency situation like that; and these the president did amidst the tension and crises in the northern part of the country. Continuation of his regular schedule of the national affairs such as travels for meetings was a right thing to do. As a matter of fact, that was a demonstration that things were under control and that even though that all hell is let loose against his government, that he is still in charge, and this is what is called the “with it” attitude of a good leader. He led the delegation and was on top of things with the cutting edge technology of the modern time.

How do you assess Jonathan’s administration, do you think he has performed so well to be given a second chance?

The president is doing well to have so far held the country together despite the fact that he has been so overwhelmed with a lot of distractions that make his administration look like things are getting out of hand. We hope that with his restructuring of the national security cabinet, things would definitely improve. If only the elected officials both at the national,  state and local levels would take cue and follow the national goals for all sectors of the economy, things would synchronize and we will be singing a new song and eventually will arrive at the vision 2020.