Jonathan Is Too “Nice” To Be Nigeria’s President

I’ve never met President Jonathan before and I’m not particularly looking forward to meeting him. That, however, shouldn’t stop me from forming an opinion of him.

My opinion of President Jonathan is that he is a nice person, with his fedora hat and toothy smile. The sort of person you’d like to have as an uncle because every time you visit him he will always spoil you with sweets and biscuits.

We used to have a president, one of Jonathan’s predecessors, whose name I won’t bother mentioning. He had a famously short fuse. Rub this old man the wrong way and you’ll regret it.

No, Uncle Jonathan is not like that. He’s soft spoken, answers every question with a smile even if the question was calculated to embarrass him.
The problem is that as Nigeria’s president ‘nice’ does not cut it! No Nigerian president can afford to be ‘nice’!

Be firm, courageous, disciplined, above board, have integrity, approachable, hard-working, intelligent even friendly but you cannot afford to be ‘nice’.

I can imagine how Goodluck Jonathan feels being president of the world’s largest black nation and largest economy in Africa. Only a few years ago he was a Zoology lecturer. He woke up one morning and he was deputy governor of a state; before he knew what was happening he had become governor, shortly afterwards he became vice-president of the country and eventually president. I don’t think the realisation has dawned on him yet that he is no longer that friendly, nice lecturer who is always ready to give his students an extra helping hand.

I don’t think Goodluck Jonathan realises that he is the Commander-in-Chief of a country at war so much so that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) issued a directive that he should not be addressed as Commander-in-Chief except in a military context. He is either Commander-in-Chief or not, does the context matter?

You cannot blame the SGF, however, because it appears Mr. Jonathan does not realise he is Commander-in-Chief of a country at war with a rag-tag army that employs medieval tactics like kidnapping underage girls to promote their campaign. A barbaric army whose leader has no respect for the Geneva conventions if at all he’s ever heard of them.

People like Abubakar Shekau don’t do diplomacy or ‘the Rule of Law’.

It took a foreign leader to remind the world that Nigeria has lost part of her territory to Boko Haram. Until all the super powers started sending their soldiers and Intelligence officers down to Nigeria to look for the missing girls our ‘nice’ president seemed completely powerless and overwhelmed by the situation.

President Obama comes across as a nice chap, smiling, chatting, making jokes and delivering pizzas but records show that Obama ordered more drone strikes in four years than Bush ordered in eight.

He wasn’t being ‘nice’ when he ordered Osama Bin Laden’s execution because he realises that when there’s a national threat the nation’s leader cannot afford to be ‘nice’.

Carter was a jolly nice man but he didn’t get a second term in office because Americans didn’t like the way he handled the Iran hostage situation. His successor, Reagan, who had no qualms bombing Ghadaffi’s compound and killing his seven year old daughter in the process, is still regarded an American national hero till date.

The Americans have the Patriot Act, a legislation that strips you of your humanity completely. That’s not ‘nice’, it’s a matter of National expediency.

Mr. Jonathan was quoted as saying the kidnapping of the girls would mark the beginning of the end of Boko Haram. Really, Mr. President? Probably not while you’re still president because we all know you’re a nice man who wouldn’t hurt a fly and that is why criminals are getting away with murder in Nigeria.