By Dele Sobowale

“Thirty millions, mostly fools” Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881; when asked the population of England.
Today, the same question about Nigeria will receive a similar answer: “160 million also mostly fools”.

Commonsense is not common; otherwise the majority of voting adults in Nigeria who were announced according to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, could not have marched to the polling booths, nationwide, April last year, freely and overwhelmingly voted for Goodluck Jonathan, despite warnings on this page, only to now turn around now and wring their fingers while the “bull” they have pulled into our  “China Shop” is wrecking the joint.

The bull of course is Jonathan and the China Shop is Aso Rock. Now the same people who got him into Aso Rock want to drag him out, ANYHOW, without consideration for the consequences. Be it on Boko Haram or power failure or fuel subsidy scam or pervasive corruption in government; they have the same answer – which any fool can give.

Hear them. “Jonathan must resign immediately”. That, in the language of Unijankara, means take a whip to the bull and let it wreck the premises even more. Obviously, if Jonathan retires he must hand the reins of power to the Vice-President and the bombs will start exploding in the Niger Delta; in addition to those detonated in the North at the moment; because those will not stop immediately on account of ethnic and religious cleansing going on simultaneously.

For some reason, almost impossible to fathom, a lot of grown-ups, who, without thinking deeply, voted Jonathan last year, cannot get it into their heads that getting him out will require patience and tenacity. The best time is 2015; not now; whether we like it or not.

Meanwhile, all we can do is to pacify him; prevent him from getting hurt or killed by Boko Haram and gradually escort him back to Otuoke with a container load of shoes. Anything else will amount to whacking the bull in the China Shop with an iron rod and setting it on a rampage that will devastate the joint. The guy has us by the balls.

Despite all the assurances by Reuben Abati, Jonathan remains the candidate to beat in 2015. Nobody else is deceived by the announcements. After all, he announced that he had not decided whether to run or not when Yar’Adua died. He later ran after “forgetting” that there was zoning agreement by his party from as far back as 2002 at a meeting Jonathan attended in place of the former Governor of Bayelsa. He endorsed the zoning agreement!!! So, if he has a credibility problem today, he created it. And he has reinforced it since then with several promises made and broken.

I thought that was clear from my writings in the past. Two recent articles have been misunderstood by people who either don’t read carefully or are bent on mischief. The first was WHY PRESIDENT, NSA MUST NOT RESIGN, the second, continued below, is Dear President, Try the Lyndon Johnson Option. The two have one central theme in common: GEJ cannot go now and his life must be protected at all costs, otherwise the consequences are dire.

It is amazing how many adults cannot distinguish between supporting Jonathan and protecting the best interests of Nigeria – even if Goodluck is the temporary beneficiary. Johnson option is actually asking Jonathan to go in 2015 yet the following responses were received from readers.

0806-747-8413: You are yet to tell us how much Jonathan (who you said you didn’t vote for) paid you for talking from both sides of the mouth. Ken”.

That is an adult engaged in defamation just because he can’t understand English. Another told me he is waiting for me to sell out to Jonathan like Reuben Abati. Well, he will have to wait, forever, in that home where honour is for sale. But, not for me!  How on earth asking GEJ to go in 2015 constitutes support for Jonathan beats me; but it also explains all the failures at WAEC and NECO; comprehension is a problem.

In my view (and this is my view) Jonathan appears to lack most of the attributes of a good leader. He communicates poorly, sets bad examples; lacks charisma; and has perhaps the worst cabinet in living memory. So bad are his Ministers and so underwhelming has been their performance that twenty SS3 students gathered together and paid to take the test could not name up to ten Ministers and often gave them the wrong portfolios. Some even think Patience is the Vice President.

Yet we must manage this disaster foisted on us by the majority who made fools of all of us in April last year. His staying constitutes a pain in the backside; his sudden departure will create a tragedy. That is the calamity that has befallen us. Resign now will not solve the problem, Ken. And all the Kens out there are invited to come and share the money. One fellow, named Jonathan, sent me a cheque for one hundred million dollars. I don’t want to chop it alone. Hurry while it lasts!!

Dear President; Try the Lyndon Johnson Option –2
“Grant gracefully what you cannot otherwise refuse”. Lyndon Johnson actually had a bigger problem than you did, when President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. The former President, from Massachusetts State, was murdered in Texas, the state of the Vice-President who would take over.

Just pause, Mr. President, what would have happened, if Yar’Adua had been killed while visiting Bayelsa. I can assure you, there would have been no succession because our second civil war would have started immediately. Even today, nothing like that can happen to you in Kaduna State without creating another pogrom. We live in fear while you remain in office.

In the three part series which ended last week, titled Why the President and NSA cannot resign I had defended you against scurrilous attacks by critics, political opponents and others, just misguided, against charges that you know the terrorists and their sponsors. Mr Okar of MEND, standing trial in South Africa had not made your life easier, or enhanced your reputation by swearing to an affidavit that you were the sponsor of terrorist attacks in 2010. I honestly still continue to give you the benefit of doubt on all charges for no other reason that none of them had been substantiated. But, you have a credibility problem. Few people believe you and that is unhealthy for a President.

Another charge, recently brought to the public domain by the National Security Adviser, NSA, was made against the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for which you are party leader. According to General Aziza, the party’s zoning principle, as a result of which some individuals were not supposed to rule, was the root of the problem we are facing. I cannot agree more with Aziza – even though your party members have asked for his head on a silver platter. That has been the fate of people courageous enough to tell the hard truth.

And, Sir, the last person to claim ignorance of what Aziza is talking about is you. And now some of the Northern governors, who, for selfish reasons supported your ambition in 2010, in order to get second term themselves are reportedly turning against any second term ambition you might nurse. Furthermore, it is doubtful if the politicians of the Southeast will again come out, en masse, and rally round your second term ambition.

The coalition of interests, which brought you to power, in 2010, is crumbling right under your eyes. The announcement that you have not decided about 2015 merely encourages people to redouble their efforts to ensure that you go home in 2015. The support you will need to leave any sort of positive legacy will be eroded with time and the competition against you intensifies.

My real fear is that if you again use the power of incumbency to seize power in 2015, you will go a long way towards making all the predictions about the disintegration of Nigeria possible. On the other hand, if you allow yourself to be defeated in a free and fair election in 2015 by a Northern candidate, you would have established the precedent that power rotation is out. The first casualties will be the Southeasterners who voted so massively for you.

Dear President, consider the Lyndon Johnson option. Announce as early as possible, that you will serve only this term and go home. Thereafter, you can fully face the task of governance and let the Presidential hopefuls go about slugging it out. In fact, that declaration alone will lower tensions everywhere and generate support from a lot of people for you and your programmes – whatever they are.