THE REAL OPPOSITION TO PRESIDENT JONATHAN. FEMI OJO

Never in our contemporary political history in Nigeria have we seen a strong opposition articulately opposed to the ruling party as we have now. Our polity is currently witnessing a strong oppositional voice against the current President and his party. These oppositional voices are not only from the members of the main opposition political party whose political mantra is “change”. The real opposition to our President and his party is from the collective energy of Nigerians whose aspirational hopes and futures have been put in a state of obscurity and frustrated by the current political class.

My assertion above was inspired by my boss, Dr. Chidi Amuta (one of the foremost public intellectuals in Nigeria) while in his office, where I went to pay homage and as usual, first, we got talking on the current political events in Nigeria and subsequently, I got lectured. He was the one who opened my intellectual world about the prevailing abysmal situation of our country and it was him who inspired my sagacious being on the real opposition to President Jonathan’s re-election bid.

On the periphery of analysis/commentary, one may misconcept that the political opposition to Jonathan is the Nigeria’s new mega political party called “All Progressives Congress” (APC) but beyond that, the real opposition to President Jonathan and his party are plethora and they are all over the country, for instance, many unemployed Nigerians who have genuine enterprise spirits and have potentials but who are not economically engaged due to the inability of our government to create  a society that inspires genuine economic enterprises. The real opposition to President Jonathan is seen in the devastated parents, relatives, friends, and sympathizers of the abducted girls, who were kidnapped in their search for knowledge but who are yet to be rescued by the government and reunited with their families. President Jonathan’s inability to protect the lives and properties of Boko Haram- Struck victims all over the country to me has inspired opposition to his re-election mostly by those who are affected by this menace. President has oppositional political enemies in many graduates who currently roam our streets in search of jobs and who daily live their lives in obscurity, the list is endless, just to mention but a few.  The All Progressives Party (APC) might appear to be the political venue that demonstrates the antithetical tendencies to President Jonathan’s re-election but sincerely the party only understands the time and takes opportunity of the prevailing unfortunate political situation which we have found ourselves.

Mr. Jonathan’s oppositions are many; they are virtually in all the demographics that made up our population. Such oppositional elements are found in those unpaid pensioners who labored in their youthful age for the country but sadly now live in abject poverty after bowing out from public service.  Pathetic, many of such old folks even died while queuing to have their meager pension paid!  There are so many opposition to Mr. President among vast majority of Nigerian families whose economies have retarded based on the current administration’s socio-economic policies that have gone awry. These are the real opposition and they are the ones with PVCs, who are fanatically determined to vote punitively.

The Majority of Nigerians who daily visit our government hospitals but who are unable to be treated due to lack of equipment and unavailability of expertise knowledge are the ones who are opposed to the Mr. President. Our youths who have suffered brain drain and are currently abroad in search of greener pastures due to bad economy by this administration also constitute to the growing opposition to Mr. President’s re-election bid.  The President and his associates need to understand that the opposition to his electoral victory in the coming elections and by and large, to his party is not primarily from the main opposition party but realistically speaking, his enemies are the many wrongs of his administration. Such enemies are therefore within and outside…the battered image of the country in the committee of international community due to inept political leadership and embarrassing corruptible practices at home has given Nigeria and indeed Nigerians debauched brand in the global village. This is another one opposition to Mr. President!

President Jonathan like Buhari in my premise, represents a man who does not have a deep understanding of our challenges, the only difference is that the latter has a near-saint image, identifies our enormous challenges, even though may not deeply know the strategies to take to confront such challenges but have smart lieutenants who can experiment in our political laboratory.  

As the elections approach, Mr. President must realize the political truism of these conflagration of many oppositional groups that are ready for punitive votes against him and he ought to develop a multi-faceted strategy to see how he can win some oppositional elements( I fear, this may be too late) while the political venue ( APC) that represents the conflagration of those who are dissatisfied with the current administration’s unimpressive performances should politically congeal their strategies maturely.

Finally, Mr. President‘s dangerous opposition are men and women within his party who currently act as though they love him but who only hide.  These are men described by Oscar Wilde as  “the coward who show betrayal with kisses” The other most dangerous ones, are the ones who over do the President’s re-election bids, they speak without caution, sell his candidature naively creating more enemies for him and making bunkum of his political message to the Nigerian masses. These men belong to the category of Mr. President’s internal opposition who are salable opportunists and desperate power drunk.