Erasmus Ikhide: 22 Million Shoes For The Shoeless President

One would have thought President Goodluck “Ebele” Jonathan was a student of “Machiavellianism”, if he were a political scientist. A pip at the book; The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli mirrors Mr President’s deceit, deviousness, ambition, and of course, brazen unscrupulousness inherent with the characters in the book. Now the brutal reality has downed on him: the unpatriotic and uninvested nature of his politics and its fickleness is sinking his political ship.

In the beginning -2011 – President Goodluck Jonathan beguiles Nigerian electorate with the shoeless narratives and wheedled the people’s mandates unto the bargain. The greasy, shifty-eyed President got way with 22 million plus votes, even though the figures was sexed up.

Nevertheless, Nigerians empathised with him. Reason: he was shoeless.

There is no question he had good intention, but this well-meaning and democratically minded patriot unwittingly allowed sycophants to dig political grave for his government. What majority of Nigerians want is a government that would take a firm stand on any issue and lead them out of their hopeless plight. To this end, Mr President has been found wanting.

The President’s shoeless wile is well known. It was his call to electoral arms in 2011. Nearly four years ago, it resonated with a vast majority of ordinary folks. The unwary identified with the tale of a barefooted country boy done good encapsulated in the shoeless yarn. All simple folks saw themselves in the ‘I am Goodluck Jonathan’ tale. Today the narrative is inverted. In a normal society the president surely would have stood out as a grotesque cramp of misfit.

Sadly, that is not the case with us in Nigeria.

Ali M Ali gives an adequate explanation and reason why we are at the edge of the brink: “We are in an era of “less”. Everything is “less”. Modern day fashionistas insist that “less” is more. I am bewildered.

How could ‘less’ be ‘more?’ But in this country’s incredible political clime, this could’t be truer. The ‘less’ is, indeed, truly, more. Consider the on-going charming thriller for instance. It involves two narratives of the ‘less’ genre. The shoe (less) and the shame (less).

It is engaging. It is gripping. It is the kind of thriller that would keep you on the edge of your seat – all the time. Were it being shown in the theater, this thriller would morbidly fascinate the audience and kept it spellbound”.

President Jonathan is back at his swy, dizzy tricks. This time, with not very impressive and persuasive gimmicks. He roars with a long tirade: “Buhari can’t remember his phone number, throwing people into jail is different from frighting corruption, stealing is not corruption, buying new cars, houses and aircrafts by politicians and bureaucrats is not corruption, political opponents are behind by failures, I will implement National Conference Report if re-elected, I
will fight corruption, I will fight Boko Haram, I will stabilise power, I will, I will… I will! Mr President, no doubt, is a gifted manipulator, with a passion for intrigues.

Frankly, he has been less prodigious. His style of governance has brought Nigeria in the same stead with nations that scarcely protect their citizens. Over 2,000 people were butchered in Baga, Borno State at the weekend in the deadliest massacre to date carried out by the Boko Haram militias at a time 3.7 million people gathered to mourn 17
terrorist victims in Paris, the capital city of France.

With sadistic fancy, inherent with most blind sided absolute rulers, President Jonathan can only thrive in evil times like this, blaming others for his failures. With his acclaimed forensic talents and his subtle sense of political strateg