Femi Fani Kayode’s (FFK) cantankerousness in the past months is pretty bewildering and flustering. FFK, like some other foot-soldiers of the sly aging General and former President , Olusegun Obasanjo (e.g. El-Rufai, Ezekwesili etc) think that Obasanjo is some kind of god.
In their dejection and to cover the perceived rejection they feel have been meted out to them by the Jonathan Administration which save for Dr Okonjo-Iweala, has refused to enlist any of them in the new transformation agenda, these band of yesterday’s men have chosen to pummel the President, his presidency and his progressive agenda for Nigeria and Nigerians.
FFK calls OBJ a master strategist. That would have been fine with me IF FFK can explain to me where all that strategy was when OBJ could lost his ward, local government and state in the last elections of 2011. His strategy could not even win a seat for his daughter in the National Assembly.
These yesterday’s men and today’s loud mouthed goons kept mum when a sordid Third term agenda was being brewed and made ready for sale to Nigerians. Maybe that strategy worked at keeping them mum.
They all have one grouse with Jonathan. He has refused to bring THEM in.
IF they believe that they have the right to continue to malign and undermine the President, then kudos to them. Democracy is not a prerogative of one man but of the people whose right it is to make the choice of who will lead them and whether such a leader should lead by brawl, brawn or brains.
The likes of FFK should also not forget that while their master OBJ was saved from the gallows, cleaned, dusted up and then conscripted as President of Nigeria in 1999, President Jonathan is the beneficiary of a tremendous show of goodwill by the Nigerian people. His mandate therefore is to fulfill the promises he made to Nigerians NOT follow the avaricious demands of a band of retired generals who have at several points in our history, shortchanged our country, pilfered our resources and then damned the consequences while they retired to plush and posh mansions atop hills.
It was not the mastery of political strategy that saved Retired General Olusegun Obasanjo from the gallows of Abacha and eventually made his President. It was the Grace of the Almighty God. I believe that Femi Fani Kayode recognizes the power of that same God.
Mr President will therefore work hard to ensure that the majority of Nigerians reap the dividends of democracy and access a better life.
There may be crisis today in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but which large party has not had its fair share of problems? We have seen parties such as Alliance for Democracy (AD) metamorphose into Action Congress (AC), and then into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and then merge into APC. We have seen APP metamorphose into ANPP and then merge into APC. All these happened while PDP remained as one party.
President Jonathan is a man of great humility and an unbelievable ability to keep his calm even in the face of a storm. His ability to identify and balance the inherent critical interests, reconcile the warring parties and bring everyone together is not in doubt. He will most likely show to Nigerians that you do not need to witch hunt, blackmail, cajole and bully your political opponents for you to be called a political master strategist.
Fani Kayode will eat his words very soon. I pray he does that with a little more decency when the time comes for he is known to be pretty indecent in his responses to key issues. Ask Bianca Onoh.
Time will tell.
Written By George Kerley
