EVEN though he obviously wants another term in the presidential villa in spite of his reluctance to make an open declaration of it just yet, it should worry us all that President Goodluck Jonathan seems to be swamped by the demands of his office. The office appears to be taking too much out of him.

By his body language the President seems a naturally quiet person, one not given to making trouble or looking for one and one is tempted to think that let for him, he would gladly give up the presidency if it proves too hot for him to handle.

But the historic demand placed on him as the first Nigerian president from a minority ethnic group- his sense of duty by his own people not to mention the fact that he obviously enjoys the office even if the demands give him trouble- his responsibility to the minority people of the oil-producing Niger-Delta would not make him yield his office that easily.

Yet the demands on him increasingly seem too heavy on his shoulders. He has obviously grown more grey hairs with his eyes looking more drawn than they once were. But then he sought the office, he is still seeking it and must therefore bear the burden.

He might be doing his best even if it is not very good enough. He seems acutely aware of the general perception by Nigerians that he is out of his depth. This might be fast turning him into a grumpy and, worse yet, cynical president. His cynicism is playing out in his apprehension of grave national issues that might define his place in the history of Nigeria.

Should Jonathan totally give himself up to cynicism like people who let anger cloud their sense of judgement, he would have ruined the little opportunity he has left to make a dent in the perception that his is a middling presidency.

Then, too, he would have once more proven Achebe right in his view that the major problem with Nigeria is one of leadership even though evidence abounds of the complicity and active involvement of the Nigerian followers in the country’s failure. Nor can any narrow definition of leaders as public figures invested with political power be of help as we struggle to find a way out of the maze in which we have driven ourselves.

There are a thousand and one things wrong with Nigeria; the many problems facing us as a people in this boundaried space we know as our country fall under different categories that can be summed up in one word- corruption. However and wherever you want to look at the matter, the single elephant that cannot be ignored as we grope for a way in this crowded Nigerian house is corruption.

This is, however, the very word that offends our president. Jonathan hates the word and this is not because he shares in the near-universal view that ours is a corrupt polity. Jonathan doesn’t hate the word because he believes it captures the essence of our problems. Rather the President hates the word because he thinks corruption is over-hyped among the problems confronting us. He said so during his last chat wit the media on national television. He thought lack of infrastructure, for example, is a greater problem than corruption.

But as I pointed out here last week, there is a direct link between our lack of basic infrastructure like good roads or constant electricity and corruption. Billons of dollars have been appropriated for electricity in the last 10 years. One estimate put the amount spent up to the period under the Obasanjo administration at N16 billion.

Rather than providing power what emerged is the involvement of certain persons, including lawmakers called upon to investigate the clear theft of the sums budgeted for electricity, in the misappropriation of the funds.  What happened to the fund generated for the welfare of Police officers? What happened to the so-called subsidy for petrol and the investigation that followed the theft of these funds? But the President thinks corruption is over-hyped.

It is important that Nigerians understand this stance of their President even if they don’t share it. Having some awareness of what the President thinks of the matter would aid our understanding of why the fight against corruption has never been won, why it is a lost cause right from the start.

Perhaps the President is not alone in this view. It is very possible that past Nigerian leaders have the same view as Jonathan in spite of their public avowals to the contrary. It would not be difficult for Jonathan to know the thoughts of these past leaders since those still alive among them are close to him as members of the highest advisory council in the country.

It may therefore not bother the President what Nigerians think of him as far as this matter is concerned. Did he not famously say he couldn’t ‘give a damn’ about what Nigerians thought of his stand on certain national issues?

Yet I’m inclined to cut the President a slack, interpret his comments in this instance in more charitable light by saying his ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ comment was an expression of his personal frustration and exasperation with the many problems Nigerians expect him to solve rather than a picture of his true feelings. If he knew the answer to the problems he is expected to solve, Jonathan would no doubt give it.

But he doesn’t know what the right answer is and thus lets off steam by periodic outbursts of emotion and careless utterances. His frustration also shows in the cynical way he responds to questions and reacts to issues. He is becoming thick-skinned and impervious to criticism, a trait he displayed again and again during his media chat.

This is one step from being autocratic for, if he doesn’t watch it, he might find himself taking very desperate steps to make up for his more obvious shortcomings. We saw this in Sani Abacha. It would be most terrible in an apparently easygoing man like Goodluck Jonathan.