By Kassim Afegbua
This week and weeks to come,altercations and counter-altercations would form the theme of the political discourse in Jos, the Plateau State Capital over the directive of Mr. President that there should be an occupation of soldiers in that troubled but once serene and peaceful conclave in the middle-belt part of the country.

Mr. President had initially told the nation in such over-indulging verbiage that it is only the people of Plateau that could bring about peace in their domain, once they agree on ceasefire.

The position of the government and the u-turn to direct the Chief of Defense Staff to take over the security of the State signposts the naked fact that this government has run short of ideas.

By now, Governor Jonah Jang should have nothing to do with being the Governor of Plateau State, because by his television appearance when he visited the President and following his comments, he appeared to have given up on the issue. He queried vehemently; am I God? Is Jos the only State where there is security challenge in the country?

Jonah Jang’s attitude and mien can, on its own strength, provoke more problems for the people of Plateau State than the much expected solution. He shows a marked lack of understanding of the contemporary issues facing the people of Plateau.

His conduct draws inspiration from the larger conspiracy theory of the Peoples’ Democratic Party who foresaw this pogrom and went ahead to nominate Jonah Jang as its Gubernatorial Candidate in the April 2011 election and curiously elected by the warring people of Plateau. I am still pondering over this “ingenious” endorsement by a people that have been disconnected from good governance and accountable leadership as epitomized by this drifting Jang.

If Jang is pardonable on account of his near-absence understanding of the realities in Plateau, Mr. President cannot. The expression on the face of President Jonathan and his comments during his Presidential “Missile” chat when asked about Plateau, exposed the loose nuts in this administration.

Why did the President fail to deliver tasteful menu to the people of Plateau rather than asking them to prepare their own menu. Said differently, why would a President who presides over the entire country pass the buck back to the people of Plateau saying peace would return if the people agree to have peace? Does that mean he doesn’t have answers to this crisis?

It is like saying you people can go to hell until you are prepared to give peace a chance. Methinks government in every part of the world, owes it a duty and responsibility to provide a conducive atmosphere for all her citizens to pursue their legitimate aspirations without let, hindrance or molestation.

It is also a responsibility of government to create stability in the polity by ensuring that the system is actually working and able to meet up with the objective framework for which every government is established. Drafting the military to Jos after the President’s earlier comments, to me appears an after-thought.

What will the military be doing in Jos in the event that the people are still taking laws into their hands? What are they expected to enforce; law and order? Still talking about stability, every government must design its own approach and method of handling ethnic uprisings and provocations where the potency for such exists especially in a country as diverse and plural as Nigeria.

Stability in government according to the political thoughts of Madison, is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people which are among the chief blessings of civil society. Every government must derive its energy for the essential working of the system.

Under a democratic government, the principles of freedom or liberty, peace and security must flourish to give the people a sense of protection whilst pursuing their daily objectives. Once these symbolic principles do not occupy the thinking of government, they incautiously run into opposite extremes, which inadvertently cripple government business. The people of Plateau as well as Nigerians in general, desire to have freedom, peace and security.

They want to go out in the morning and return in the evening having tilled from sunrise to sunset trying to eke a living. They desire to read good and heart-warming literatures about their State and not the unpalatable dishes being forced down their throats as a result of this pogrom.

For any responsible government therefore, entrenching the culture of tolerance, understanding, flexibility and nationalism, must be a pre-occupation to achieve these common denominators. In all of these, President Jonathan has not lived up to expectation. If this is the bedrock of his transformational agenda, then, we have missed the compass.

I watched the Presidential Media Chat with painstaking attention to find out if the President has been thoroughly guided on how to make inspiring comments that would ordinarily elicit public confidence. I searched endlessly for those footnotes that would form the quotable quotes of his historical trajectory. I listened with rapt attention to filter the doable promises from the welter of watering promises.

Like old music with cracked tones, President Jonathan failed to inspire me. I want to listen to my President and go home with thoughts for food. I want to gain useful insights into all the allegations flying around and be able to make an impression about them from the point of view of my President.

I searched effortlessly for those catch phrases that great leaders are noted for, when they want to charge up the atmosphere for the people to follow, but what I got was pure monologue. The President simply spoke to himself and members of his kitchen cabinet.

I couldn’t see the energy. I couldn’t feel the pulse. I couldn’t inhale the sweet flavor of well delivered punch lines to good discourse. The President succeeded in exposing himself to opposition jibes. The ACN noted for its spontaneous riposte, tore the President’s delivery to shreds.

President Jonathan was busy throwing verbal missiles to all of us, describing Wikileaks exposition on him and his wife, as beer parlour gossip adding that Nigerians had already started discussing the six-year single term bill even before its arrival. When does he want us to discuss it?

When it has been passed through the backdoor or in PDP Secretariat as a “family affair” bill? And talking about allegations of corruption levied against his wife, the President saw that as dreamland concoction, wondering how someone could contemplate ferrying $13.5million through the airport. May I remind the President that two medium sized bags would swallow $13.5million dollars without any suspicion more so, when the bags are treated as diplomatic luggage. Who is deceiving who?

When next there are plans for another Presidential Media Chat, the President’s men must be able to do a little bit of research for him on areas of interest. They must present to him talking points that would meaningfully address the issues under discourse so that Nigerians would know that the real transformation has started. In other words, since the President claims to be an advocate for transformational leadership, he must be amenable to change to drive that leadership doctrine. It does not augur well, when small boys are sending text messages around pointing out the errors and potholes in a President’s media dialogue.

Even though we are aware that our roads are full of potholes as a consequence of our collective failure, our president’s verbal delivery should not convey potholes in such dismissive manner as if we do not have language or speech engineers around. I won’t take further insults from Nigeria’s “sms” merchants for taking the President on such grammatical drudgery. No, I won’t. Not when it involves my President.