By Lekan Bilesanmi

The nationwide  rallies at the behest of  the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) have  continued to showcase different qualities that each of the six geo-political zones see in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

To quote the group, “President Jonathan has outperformed all other past presidents in their first terms”. He has driven massive revolution in all social, political and economic sectors of our national life using his novel transformation agenda programme as springboard.

When the South-East zone kick-started the rally, one thing stood Jonathan out in that Awka assemblage of the all who is who in Igboland. They saw and described him as the contemporary Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of the 21st century Nigeria, the new salt of Nigeria’s cohesion. The centre-point of our peace!

Evidently, the reason for this perception is simple, before the emergence of the good-luck-administration, the zone practically lacked any form of federal presence in terms of infrastructure.

The   most pressing 2nd Niger Bridge, seaport, dredging of the lower Niger, quality power supply infrastructure, international airport, extended functional rail lines and good dualized federal highways had remained issues for regular political campaigns by successive governments. Because the people of the zone were naturally imbued with commercial ingenuity, generally widely acclaimed for industry, enterprise, the serial unfulfilled promises were loudly becoming a mockery.

Alas, none was provided until their second Zik, Jonathan, came on board. That was direct from their own lips. No fewer than 1.6million of them signed up TAN’s register within hours of its release to coordinators, urging Mr President to continue.

A week later at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, the Yoruba proved bookmakers wrong when they  marched in their good numbers to add their voice to that of the Igbo to plead with the president to seek a renewal of his mandate. This, according to them, was to continue his massive life-enhancing transformation agenda for the nation. Of course this did not come as a surprise to many who had erroneously seen the South-West  as the base of Jonathan’s opposition.

This hitherto misplaced belief was because of the activities of some elite  who had carried on as champions and god of the Yoruba  whereas they were merely feathering their own nests. Imagine, if they are governors, their wives would be senators and members of House of Reps while their children, grand-children will either be the chairmen of local governments or take prominent committee seats in their state’s Houses of Assembly.

After all, even when their kinsmen were presidents, all the federal roads became death traps, the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos-Benin-Ore road, Ibadan-Ilorin, Ilorin-Kaduna, Lokoja-Abuja, Otukpa-Lokoja, Enugu-Oturkpo-Makurdi and many other federal highways remained a nightmare for motorists. Then came Jonathan who gave Nigerians a new lease of life and the people are happier for the wonderful intervention with the resultant effect of yearning for more of it, irrespective of where he hails from.

After all it’s just for another four years, not eternity. About 1.8million of them signed up Jonathan to continue. The South-South rally at Port-Harcourt would not have been surprising, after all, Jonathan is their very own. But one must not forget quickly that Rivers State, especially under Gov Rotimi Amaechi, has remained a strong base of those who decided to turn blind eyes to the good works of the PDP led Federal Government.

Fortunately the forces of opposition was not strong enough to prevent the people from trooping out to identify with the call on Jonathan to accept to run for the 2015 presidential election.  At that important friendship rally for Jonathan, TAN raise nearly 4million signatures in his support. It is also important to consider the message sent to the rest of North from the TAN’s North-Central rally at Minna.

Historically, South-South zone has always supported the aspirations of the North and it is time to reciprocate that good gesture by giving a solid backing to the call on their son, Jonathan, to complete his eight years tenure as done by the South-West, after which power would then rotate  to the North. Senator Ibrahim Mantu, a very experienced National Assembly player and former Deputy Senate President, speaking in Minna, attested to the fact that in equity, justice and liberty, infrastructural development, human capital development/empowerment and upliftment of the nation’s economy, Jonathan has performed wonders.

This, he acknowledged, has made Nigeria to be the biggest and fastest growing economy in Africa. He also established the fact that Jonathan created a niche for himself as a respecter of fundamental rights/freedom of all individuals in the nation which some people now capitalize on to rain abuses on his person and position without being afraid of any consequences.

Another senator, Barnabas Gemade, who represented the Senate President at the Minna rally, described the president as a leader with impeccable character who deserved to have his constitutional second tenure based on his remarkable achievements.

The icing on the cake of the North-Central rally came from the speech of the Chief Servant of Niger state, Gov Aliyu Babangida Muazu, who observed that Jonathan, through his mature administrative style, has been able to unite the state governors in the country contrary to the divide and rule tactics employed by some of his predecessors.

From the on-going, it has become a fact that Jonathan represents different quality to different individuals, groups and zones and can as well be described as a very big political elephant in the polity. Little wonder his sagacity and ebullience has befuddled the opposition into willing submission.

Nigerians are speaking and pleading from the depth of their hearts that the president should declare his interest for a second tenure. One can only hope that the president will answer the millions of Nigerians yearning for him.

So, as the TAN, other peace loving citizens and patriots take their message of hope, goodwill and friendliness to the good people of the North East states at Gombe, it is expected that the outcome would be heart-warming as in other zones.

And to borrow a leaf from an amalgam of voices, groups and divides from all segments of the whole North Central, North East and the North West zones under the aegis of the United North for Greater Nigeria(UNGN) led by Abdulganiy Adebiyi and Mohamad Shehu Zaria, certain points need be highlighted for the benefit of those willing to confuse other citizens in the name of politics. According to this group clearly made up of lettered men of honour and record, attention of sincere minded Nigerians need to be drawn to the details hereunder:

ON BOKO HARAM:
They noted that the biggest challenge facing the North today is the menace of Boko Haram which is destroying lives and property and slowing down development. Unfortunately, when those who should be elders were busy threatening to make Nigeria ungovernable if a Northerner did not become president in 2011, they only succeeded in pouring fuel into the insurgency. Instead of working with President Jonathan to save the North from this devastation, the so-called elders are very happy to play politics with it and hope that it will make Northerners vote them in 2015. We wish them luck.

PINE:
The President has launched the President Initiative for the North East (PINE) to tackle socio-economic challenges facing the North-East. He has launched the safe Schools Initiative as well as Victims Support Fund for Boko Haram Victims.
These thoughtful and humane initiatives have taken off, with all equally committed and kind Nigerians and corporate institutions as driving force.

ROADS:
President Jonathan is accelerating the dualisation of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road, which was started before him but had witnessed a slow progress. He is constructing (or has constructed/rehabilitated) the Gombe-Bye-Pass, Loko-Oweto Bridge in Nassarawa/Benue, Mararaba-Bali Road, Kano-Maiduguri Road, Hadejia-Kirikasama in Jigawa State, Kano Western Bye-Pass Flyover in Kano State, Kaduna Eastern Bye-Pass, Lafia-Awe-Obi-Tunga-Road in Nassarawa State, Ilorin-Omuaran-Kabba Road, to mention only a few.
Two more important axial roads have just been approved.