Hold Jonathan responsible if Nigeria explodes – Soyinka

Written by The Punch Wednesday, 10 March 2010 12:25

The Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday asked Nigerians to hold Acting President Goodluck Jonathan responsible for the successes and failures of the present administration.

Soyinka’s position was contained in a message to be delivered today at a rally organised by the Save Nigeria Group, whose sole demand is the urgent implementation of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee’s recommendations.

According to the playwright, who is the Convener of Citizens Forum, the position of the acting president currently occupied by Jonathan is not entirely an original concept, saying he came into power as a result of the ill-health of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

He said if the nation exploded as a result of the ongoing manipulations and distractions by a cabal to perpetuate illegality after 2011, neither Yar’Adua nor the Presidential Advisory Council would be held responsible, but Jonathan himself.

He said, “If the nation explodes as the result of ongoing manipulations and distractions by a cabal to perpetuate itself illegally after 2011, the people will hold neither a phantom, nor the emerging 32-headed presidential monstrosity responsible. You will bear full responsibility.”

Soyinka recalled that a similar incident played itself out during the military regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, noting that after the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed, the successes and failures of that administration were linked to Obasanjo.

He, therefore, advised the Acting President not to be pushed around by certain cabal and even the governors under the guise of Governors’ Forum.

He said, “When Olusegun Obasanjo came to power unexpectedly after the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed, the nation was also presided over by a ghost, on Obasanjo‘s orders.

“He decreed that Murtala‘s portrait be displayed side-by-side with his own throughout the nation for a full year. To ensure that this continuity remained unbroken even after the year ended, he embroidered a new currency denomination with the portrait of his predecessor.

“At the end of Obasanjo‘s rule however, assessment was made - positive or negative - on him, not on a ghost. Murtala Mohammed ruled the nation in mortal frame for six months. By contrast, Yar‘Adua had already served in office for two years and some months.

“The circumstances are different in other ways, one obvious difference being that Jonathan‘s predecessor is very much alive, from all available evidence, but only as a phantom. From ghost to phantom - it is a sign of progress.

“So now, we come to my advice. Please say to Jonathan: prepare yourself also to vanish at a second‘s notice. Change your name - mentally speaking - from Goodluck to Goodbye Jonathan.

“Write a letter, undated, asking for leave of absence on compassionate grounds, ready to be presented to Yar‘Adua the moment he declares himself fit to resume duty. This, we do know, from carefully calibrated reports, is virtually tomorrow. By doing this, you silence all capers who suggest that you are after power.

“You indicate your readiness to accept any reversals of whatever decisions you may have taken during your acting tenure. In the meantime, however - and here we come to the crunch-remember that there is no provision for a phantom ruler in the constitution.

“Action, dereliction, evasion, blunders or successes are considered mortal responsibilities, and the buck stops at your desk, personally.

“Regarding the Governors‘ Forum, let me remind you that under Olusegun Obasanjo, I publicly berated the governors numerous times for allowing themselves to be bullied and ordered around like schoolboys by that President.

“By the same token, I find it even more obscene that even an Acting President should be pushed around by governors who properly belong within their own specific governance jurisdictions. There has to be consistency in relations under a federal structure, and a political party, even a ruling party, is not the same as a nation.”

Soyinka said that the SNG would insist that the implementation of the Uwais report was sacrosanct.

He said the urge to press for the implementation of the report was informed by the need to have its content actualised ahead of the 2011 elections.

He said he had made similar demands to Yar’Adua shortly before he proceeded to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Hes said, “The demands of the SNG are specific and directed at whoever occupies the presidential seat. Most immediate among these demands is electoral reform before, and in good time, before the next elections.”