Expdonaloaded News; Conspiracy led to Jonathan’s fall –Egesi, ex-NIMASA DG

As speculations continue to rise over what led to the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 28, presidential election, former Director General of National Maritime Agency (NMA) now (NIMASA), John Patrick Egesi, has said that contrary to views in some quarters, what led to the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in the election was local and international conspiracy against his administration. In this interview, he spoke on various issues.
Excerpts:
There have been a lot of theories over what led to the defeat of PDP in the March 28, presidential election, what is your own view?
Nigerians are very good at speculations and theories. A lot of things have been said about the reason why PDP lost the presidential election. Some said that it was because the president was incompetent while others said that he was clueless. As it is said, everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion. But from my own standpoint, I want to say that what led to the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to do with performance. He distinguished himself in the service of the country when judged under the circumstance he served. What led to his fall was local and international conspiracy against his person and his administration.
In my mind, Jonathan stands higher than any world leader given the problems he had to contend with. This is a president who did not have any media to sing his praises throughout his tenure and they used this lacuna to continue to conspire and embarass his person and his administration.
For instance, his own CBN governor recklessly accused one of the government departments under his watch of 40 billion dollars unaccounted for. This particular accusation gravely lowered not only the president’s reputation but also that of all Nigerians, born and unborn. It was on this mischievous accusation that the Western world based their assessment of Nigeria.
Again, the Boko Haram infection that has been on even  before he became president  suddenly burst into an all-consuming  inferno with their easy access to arms from Libya with which they used to cart away the Christian Chibok girls. That became a platform for the likes of Oby Ezekwesili to use to thoroughly embarrass the president  when every right thinking human beings knows that every kidnap is a very delicate case..post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..In President Jonathan’s quest for arms, the powerful western government used a brick wall of ‘human right violation to ensure that he did not get arms that would give him advantage over the insurgents –all in a deliberate attempt to make him look weak. Yet in all these and much more, he remained focused, calm, courageous and humble in pursuance of his transformation agenda. Our airports are now unrecognizable when compared with what they used to be before he came on board; roads that previous governments left as death traps were transformed  beyond recognition, even his detractors, local and international have acclaimed the great progress made in agriculture  and in the other sectors.
But how do you see the outcome of the election generally and the emergence of Buhari?
My Catholic faith teaches me to work and pray to the Eternal Father for our needs at any point in time but also to happily accept the outcome of our prayers, even when it appears not to favour our request from God.  I believe that the reasons behind this teaching are based on two very important revelations of God’s nature. The first is that He is all-knowing, that is to say He knows what is best for us. The second is that God is Love and all-loving.
His decision for us in any situation, no matter how seemingly dark to us, is influenced by His love.  Let me also quickly add that one has to be God to truly understand why He does or allows certain things to happen but He never stops us from what I wish to call speculative reflections. I want to say he probably allowed APC to win for two reasons. The first could be because He wanted Nigeria to see them for what they are – that is a party that complains but without answer for our problems and  to give Buhari a rare opportunity to show Nigeria who he really is and not the ogre his record as a military dictator showed him to be.   It is therefore, left for him (Buhari) to appreciate this mercy of God by transforming himself into a true father of the nation and not the tool in the hands of vindictive power seekers.
For the PDP, God may have allowed their defeat because their system of internal democracy has become so bad that it is near impossible for the party to put forward God-fearing candidates that will truly serve the poor and down-trodden.  The young men and some women that took over the party since 1999 and have been elected into offices in many of the states have become oligarchic aristocrats who have lost the idea of why they are representing the people.  In spite of the wonderful performance of President Jonathan, the odious smell of the uncaring and dictatorial tendencies of the party oligarchy must have be too much for the Eternal Father to bear, hence their defeat.
It is said that President Jonathan made some mistakes that helped to cause his fall. Do you agree?
He is a human being and, as such, cannot be perfect. There are some very glaring mistakes he made which, when taken together with the circumstances of his life, history may be forgivable.  For example, his granting pardon to Alamieyeseigha, given the international awareness of his case, may have been too much for Britain and some Nigerians to comprehend and may have greatly tarnished his image, as someone who is not serious about curbing corruption.  However, when one considers that without Alams, he would never have become a deputy governor, not to talk of V ice President and later the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, one cannot help but forgive him.  While he is reported to have given free hand to his ministerial lieutenants – and they did perform very well because of this. He seemed to be unaware of gross excesses bordering on incompetence of some of his appointees whose sectionalistic behaviour may have so irked their subordinates that they sort salvation in the removal of the president that caused such appointments to be made.  Not helpful also is the fact that he did not firmly rein in his people whose utterances jar the ears of other well-meaning Nigerians.  Their utterances gave the impression that Nigeria is not a democracy. His jack-boot handling of the governor of Rivers State in his neck of the wood is most politically unprofessional.  This created a gash through which his opponents, the APC entered the politics of Rivers state.
Then what do you think should be his greatest achievement?
He nurtured and allowed the establishment of a free and fair election in a continent where every Head of State wants to rule forever.  Remember, his predecessor, Obasanjo seeking for third term and the show of shame presently in Burundi.  He kept his word that his “political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”. Even though he has enough information to call for a revisit of some polls, he decided to fall on his own political sword, than to allow the unwarranted blood-letting that greeted the 2011 election result to be repeated.  That is an unforgettable demonstration of love of one’s country and statesmanship at its highest.  The seed of a free and fair election he planted if watered by the in-coming President Buhari, Nigeria would make tremendous unimaginable democratic progress in the nearest future – particularly in the area of accountability and reduction in corruption tendencies.
What do you think will be the future of the South East and  South South  given the fact that they voted for the party that lost at the centre?
Funny, you would raise any form of apprehension, regarding any region that did not vote for General Buhari.  As far as I know, once a person is elected, he becomes the President of the whole of Nigeria – not that of his party; tribe, any particular state, section or political allies.  Any action of his that could cause inter-nationalities disaffection and remotely make any section of the country unwelcomed by virtue of the fact that they did not vote for him is a gross corruption of the Nigerian Constitution.  For a President-elect whose mantra is that “if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us”, the very allusion to such a possibility of regional exclusion or seclusion should be unthinkable.  In fact, it will be a corruption worse than stealing money. So, the issue of what will be the future of the South East and Lower Niger states of Cross River,  Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Delta States should in principle be as bright as those of some South West states, Edo and Northern states. As the father of the nation, what I believe should be uppermost in his mind is to ensure that all nationalities within the Nigerian Federation sees him as having their interest at heart.
Why then is the body language of those who voted for APC that of “it is now our turn?”
If by ‘our turn’ these individuals or states mean the execution of a particular macro-economic strategy, which they favour as against those who prefer other policies, say free market against socialist or communist tendencies of Prof Aluko, then they have every reason to say yes, “it is our turn!” but of it is the expectation that the new government will enrich certain section in preference to other section by virtue of their pattern of voting, I am afraid that cannot be defended. Otherwise, it will turn the four yearly voting system into kind of kalo kalo where one seeks to back a potential winner, as some “wise” advisers of Ndigbo put it, “you should not put your eggs in one basket”, even if it is Satan himself instead of voting for somebody who will advance your well being. In that sort of system, it will be better to seek ‘babalowo’s’ help to discern who the winner will be before going to cast one’s vote so that one does not end up on the side of a losing team.  As I earlier pointed out, voting among the Igbos is mainly a way of saying ‘thank you’ to those who have truly tried to be fair to them.  That was why they voted President Jonathan enmassse at the centre, Okorocha’s APC at Imo and APGA at Anambra states respectively.  Their recollection of Buhari is that of a draconian dictator whose economic principle did not suit their trading life style.  It would have been strange and extremely speculative indeed if they had voted for Buhari given their experience.  If I were Buhari, I would admire them greatly for it and seek to assuage their fears. He will be amazed at their faithfulness.
How do you see the future of the PDP?
The future of PDP depends on two things.  How politicians perceive the internal democracy of the APC.  If there is a higher level of selection than of election within their party democracy, they will lose relevance within a short time and the PDP’s chances of re-asserting itself will improve to the extent that the principle of election is found to be higher in the PDP.  However, if the PDP remotely continues on the part of money bag and arrangee system, we may be seeing the last days of the PDP.  There is definitely the need to re-invent the PDP and I do not think that its present management bred on power and party intrigue are the people to do it. However, the seed to open up the required change has been sown by President Jonathan – free and fair election. If sustained and watered by the incoming administration, parties and politicians will know that their game is up.