Majority of DAILY POST readers have voted to dispute claims by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, that no past administration have achieved as much as President Goodluck Jonathan since 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. They rather upheld former president Olusegun Obasanjo as a better leader that the incumbent.
The former president had while addressing book writers last week as part of activities marking the Ake Arts and Book Festival in Abeokuta disclosed that “I rate this current administration below average.” Barely 48 hours later; the Presidency released a statement through Okupe saying Obasanjo’s rating was at variance “with the facts on the ground”.
The statement further added that “in terms of performance and achievements, no administration since 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain, has done as much as that of President Jonathan.”
This claim and counter-claim by the two leaders led DAILY POST to institute a poll on its website which asked respondents: Was Obasanjo a better president than Jonathan? The options were simply “better” and “worse”.
At the close of the survey by 12pm (local time) on Friday, a total of 1921 readers participated with 1180 of them (61 per cent) voting to claim that Obasanjo was a better president than Jonathan. The remaining 741 respondents (31 per cent) conversely voted to say that Obasanjo was a worse president than Jonathan.
Mindful of the limitations faced by a poll of this sort, this newspaper undertook the pain to check what was returned by the poll against how readers voted with their comments on the poll’s page as well as on the site’s Facebook portal. At the end of the day, there were 24 comments that came with the poll while another 372 comments were elicited by the poll on Facebook.
Stripped of all the irrelevant comments and replies to earlier comments by bloggers; the number of the entire comments came down to 267. When analyzed to see those who preferred either of two leaders as a better president, it was discovered that 183 of the respondents (68 per cent) suggested Obasanjo as a better president while the other 84 bloggers (32 per cent) rooted for President Jonathan as the better of the two.
Meanwhile, there were salient points made by some of those who commented that cannot be ignored. DAILYPOST took the liberty to edit some of the grammatical structures and syntax of these comments, but left the crux of their reactions intact. The views are presented below:
For Godwin Osaigbovo, he said, “you can’t compare them yet until after Jonathan’s administration. It will be unfair to do so. Nobody liked Obasanjo while he was in power, now everyone is suddenly praising him. Na so life be oo!”
A certain Princemark blogged, “Before you attempt to say yes or no with all wonderful reasons, find out who is a leader and what leadership is all about and then compare your findings with who a ruler is. Obasanjo was a ruler not a leader. President Jonathan is a third level leader but not an effective leader.”
Diamond Bobson posted, “Some of you can be so funny? Tell me one problem Nigeria has now that did not originate from Obasanjo’s or Nigerian past leaders era. Boko haram started in Obasanjo’s tenure. The issues of unemployment, insecurity, corruption, educational failure have always been there since northern leaders rule of over 40yrs and Obasanjo’s eight years in office. Obasanjo is the worst power taste, corrupt and great manipulator of all time. While in power, he used Nigeria as his palace from where he was manipulating almost all other African countries to his favor, choosing and sponsoring candidates for election as well.”
A respondent who adopted the sobriquet: Harry E, posted, “Obasanjo was not really a leader. President Jonathan has done very well in all sectors such as: Agriculture, Aviation, including road and rail transport system. What can you say of Obasanjo who ruled with impunity? His government was very corrupt with killings and pre arranged plane crash prevalent while he was in office.”
Equally siding with President Jonathan was Tayo brisibe, who posted, “I’ll waste no time in voting for Jonathan as a better president because he is more refined and he made our economy the 26th fastest growing in the world. He brought back the trains and rebuilt airports. He was even able to set up new universities. Obasanjo is nowhere near him.”
Here again is the opinion of another respondent who simply identified himself as Sam. He posted thus: “Anyone who says Obasanjo’s government was better than that of President Jonathan is not sincere and is blinded by selfishness, ethnicity and lover of party more than lover of Nigeria. These are few of many reasons why Obasanjo was the worst president and cannot be compared with the incumbent: during Obasanjo’s administration, only one company supplied cement to the entire country and it was sold for N3200 and above (Eagle Cement, Ibeto and others were crippled) – corruption;
“There were fuel scarcity every week and our roads were characterized by long queues. There was a statement credited to him: that Nigerians buy a bottle of beer for N200, that they can then easily buy fuel for any amount; Under his watch, this Boko Haram started and he did nothing because they were killing the Igbos and some south southerners: they killed Igbos and loaded the corpses onto a truck and sent it to Aba, which made other parts of the country to start their own killings; What about the 1% every Nigerian was paying whenever she recharged her phone. Whose account was it going? Have we forgotten so soon the political killings? How was electricity, railway, airport, etc. during his time? Which area can you say he was good, is it in rigging elections with impunity, or is it the destruction of innocent lives at Odi? Were killings in the north at his time not much more than was done in Odi? What did he do? 8) I believe in the truth and it’s only by accepting the truth that we can move this country forward. Note that when you say the truth, you condemn evil and encourage good. Obasanjo’s administration cannot be compared with that of President Jonathan before god and man.”
Yet, those who voted for Obasanjo as a better president will have none of the foregoing as a certain Bobnnanna posted, “Yes! Elder Obasanjo’s administration was better than after their first 5years in office. How much was a barrel of crude oil during the first 5 years of his tenure and how much was it during Jonathan’s? How much was Nigeria’s debt before Obasanjo and how much was it before Jonathan came on board? How much was Nigeria’s foreign reserve before Obasanjo and how much was it before Jonathan? Yes, the both of them had/has corruption in their government but who was fighting it, even among his cabinet members and tribal men?
“In Obasanjo’s first 5 years, we were exposed to a global life style, the GSM revolution (2000-2001). But what has Jonathan’s government offered that can be felt even in the villages? Comrade Adams Oshiomole used the labour union to mount opposition against Obasanjo without being politicized, but you know the opposite is the case today! It is endless! What about the divisive nature of Jonathan’s government which divides Nigerians along religious and ethnic lines? It was never perceived in Obasanjo’s days! Grounding governors’ planes; ceiling Emirs’ palace; using ex-militants as security guards, etc.”
Boniface Maisamari maintained that there was no basis for comparing the two, noting that “Obasajo is far better than Jonathan. During Obasanjo’s era, there were job opportunities as against what obtains in this present administration. Only few of them are enjoying themselves.” Alalade azeez aderemi posted, “Jonathan ke? A docile president; He allows corruption. He is surrounded by corrupt politicians. He cannot take decisive decisions. I regret voting for him in 2011. Anyway, it will never happen again.”
While Babatunde Latopa, alleged that “All the key projects that President Jonathan is commissioning were started by Obasanjo.” Saying, “I like Coodluck Jonathan as a person but not as leader,” Prince Samuel Joseph gave the only reason for preferring Obasanjo’s presidency to that of Jonathan was because “he was more proactive than Jonathan.”
Equally worthy of showcasing was the position of Ikeagwu Nneke, who posted that, “While I will give it to Obasanjo as being a better president than Jonathan. I won’t fail to take into consideration the fact that Obasanjo had everything going for him. He had been in the army all his life and even rose to become a head of state. Hence, he had the wherewithal to stand up to those whose predilection is to exploit the nation. But Jonathan is a neophyte, a political tryo, if you may. Nigeria is too big a country for Jonathan. He doesn’t have what it takes to handle Nigeria’s complex situation.”
The former president is seen as having a penchant to publicly condemn the government of Jonathan who many believe he helped to get into power. Obasanjo has written an acerbic letter to President Jonathan some months ago where he said the present government was stinking of corruption. He also alleged that the president was lying to Nigerians, destroying the country and promoting corruption.
President Jonathan in that instance publicly responded to Obasanjo, describing his open letter to him as self-serving and provocative. He went on to dismiss its content as “most reckless” and “unjustifiable.”
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