Jonathan should withdraw from 2015 race – Chris Okotie

heehehe..everybody is talking....General Overseer of the Household of God, Rev. Chris Okotie, has compared the fortune President Goodluck Jonathan has enjoyed and the task before him as an aspirant with those of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson.

He said the only difference between the two is that the Nigeria’s first citizen refuses to follow what he called the honourable path.

In an article posted on his Facebook page, the outspoken cleric said Nigeria currently faces the similar challenges that made Johnson, who took over when John Kennedy was assassinated, to withdraw his intention to go for second term.

Okotie thus wondered why, in the face of rising insecurity and declining economy, Jonathan has refused to follow the step of the man he shares so much with.

“Both Johnson and Jonathan were vice presidents who succeeded their late bosses when they died in office, and went on to get elected in their own rights. Both presided over their nations in times of great political turbulence; in Johnson’s case, during the Vietnam War, in Jonathan’s case, the Boko Haram insurgency and sundry woes. That’s where their similarities end.

“President Johnson shocked the world in the heat of the nomination process leading to the 1968 presidential elections when he suddenly withdrew from the race because of the turmoil generated by his poor handling of the Vietnam War and widespread race riots at home. He was, nevertheless, applauded because of the nobility of his action which effectively sealed his place in the pantheon of American statesmen. He chose his country’s peace over self aggrandisement and the allure of office,” he said.

He lamented that Jonathan had, amid crises, chosen to manipulate the Peoples Democratic Party hierarchy to endorse him as the sole candidate when he could have taken the humble pile in the interest of the country.

“He is presiding over a deeply divided country, torn apart by religious bigotry, unprecedented official corruption and a badly managed insurgency. While this poor record ought, naturally, to deflate his presidential ambition like Johnson’s, Jonathan unabashedly schemed his nomination, unopposed, for the 2015 presidential elections.

“He and his PDP cohorts fail to realise that, if you cannot solve a problem, you invariably become part of it. That was why President Johnson didn’t seek re-election. The U.S leader knew the bounds between honour and dishonour, and he chose the honourable path,” he continued.

The cleric noted the difference between constitutional right and morality, saying right becomes burdensome in absence of moral ethos. He argued that the President was presiding over an army that is largely “war-weary”, a situation that made them desert the war front in droves and compel them to cherish ceasefire more than Boko Haram fighters.

Coupled with “the agonising plight of the Chibok girls”, rising corruption and tumbling economy, Okotie said, the best honourable option before the President was the same decision Johnson took 46 years ago.

Rather, he said, Jonathan was more concerned about cheap politicking that would deliver him victory next year.

“One is amazed at the crude, undemocratic manner President Jonathan goes about seeking a renewal of his mandate in the forthcoming elections. Long before the Independent National Electoral Commission lifted the ban on political campaigns, the PDP unleashed a horde of pro-Jonathan political organisations on the nation.

“More than any president, Dr. Jonathan has used his incumbency to the greatest advantage, deploying strong arm tactics, and the nation’s resources whenever he deemed necessary; whether in dismantling the Governor’s Forum which threatened his re-election bid, or sacking errant governors through instigated impeachments. The President’s under hand tactics serves one purpose: clear the way for his re-election in 2015! If this is what democracy is all about, we are in serious trouble,” concluded Okotie.

Okotie’s lengthy and educative article has attracted divergent comments, some of equal disappointment at Jonathan’s insensitivity to the plight of the country. But some have taken on Okotie, describing him as the one who has not really displayed good leadership.

Maureen Ifeanyichukwu charged the popular cleric to go back to the holy book to crosscheck what God says about his responsibilities as a follower. She expected Okotie to have understood that the “northern elite are using Boko Haram” as a bargaining tool and to control their less-educated kiths and kins.

David Akpakpan added that the fact that people love Jonathan now more than when four years ago was a testimony that most Nigerians did not share Okotie’s position.