Oh GEJ!!!

I haven’t blogged in a long while. Some of that time, it was for a lack of topics that I thought were worth the read but most of the time, it was for the lack of motivation or time to put my fingers to a keyboard (used to be “pen to paper”). Today however, I have an excess of all elements and they are all embodied in the man popularly known as GEJ.

When GEJ made his Presidential debut I thought (as did most Nigerian’s) “Here’s a man with a grass to grace story. Here’s a man who knows the pains and agonies of lack (He did say he had no shoes at some point!). Surely he would know how to bring about change. Surely he would WANT to make a difference. Surely he would want his grass to grace story to end well and probably itch a mark or two for himself in the sands of time.”

I have been so sourly disappointed on so many counts and occasions since I first entertained these thoughts that I have lost count and have I resorted to bidding time till he is relegated to the archives of the long and sad story of the brutalization of the country called Nigeria.

There are so many ills and misdeeds one could lay at the feet of GEJ but at the moment one particularly resonates in my mind.

On the morning of Monday the 14^th of April, 2014 dozens of Nigerians lost their lives in a bomb blast attack by the infamous Boko Haram sect in the Nyanya area of Abuja . Picture from the scenes of the blast depict such carnage that the weak of heart have made conscious efforts to avoid them. So desperate was the need to help the survivors that even the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, went and donated blood. All we got from dear GEJ was what seemed like a half-hearted visit to the scene of the blast (several other curious Georges visited the scene as well) and hear-says from his not-so-eloquent Speaker. Is it that the Brit is more concerned about the hurting Nigerians than the Nigerian President or does the sight of his own blood make him queasy?! Even if the act by the High Commissioner was politically motivated, I dare say a politically motivated move that saves lives is better than a limp handshake!

Several hours after, on the same day, some members of the same sect stormed an all-girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State and carted off about 200 students in a style similar to that in which 20 or so girls were lost earlier in January. If there have been any search-and-rescue operations by our military forces they must have been EXTREMELY hush-hush and we all know that is not the style of our government. So I’m wondering “Don’t these girls matter to Mr. President?!” and “After every terrorism attack does he just like most Nigerians check to see how close to home the casualties are and   heave a sigh of relief when all family and friends have been safely accounted for?!” Doesn’t he ever wonder if just maybe the call to Presidency might be more than placatory remarks hurriedly flung from the steps of a plane bound for some western country or another so he can hobnob with the world powers on the bill of the Nigerian people?! What does he discuss with his other power-wielding friends at those meetings anyways, because it’s definitely not how to move the nation he leads forward!

Now I get to the crux of the matter…the reason I felt moved to speak. I was not shocked by his inaction on all of the above issues after all what is new about the President of Nigeria doing nothing as the country seemingly gets ripped at its seams by the many ills that besiege us? Nothing!

What is new to me however is how loud I heard GEJ speak on Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Wow was he passionate and all fired up! What IS sad is that he wasn’t speaking at the sites of any of the calamities that struck recently nor was he commissioning the eradication of the ill that has been scourging some parts of the northern part of the country. I heard our President’s voice at its loudest ever since his rise to power at a political rally in Kano less than 24 hours after all those people he purports to lead were killed and some more with promising futures stolen away to face new futures the thoughts of which cause me to cringe with pain. And No, he did not stop at the political rally. Our Dear GEJ flew to Ibadan to felicitate with the Olubadan of Ibadan who was celebrating his 100^th Birthday! Couldn’t his VP or some other of his hypocritical cohorts have represented him at that event while he sat with his service chiefs and strategists to review the events that had just occurred and perhaps pretend to be concerned about recovering those innocent girls? No oh! Mr GEJ’s priorities are obviously different so why should he bother?

My religion teaches that where a man’s treasures are there his heart will be. What does Mr. President’s heart gravitate towards? Sometimes I wonder (GEJ being a religious man and all), what would his response be on the D-Day, when he meets his Maker and is asked the famed question ”What did you do with the Country I gave you leadership of?”

On the premise that there is still a tiny part of him that really means well for Nigeria and its people, I give this advice: The next time there is a disaster or mishap in the United States (not because I wish ill on the country but because such are the times we live in), His Excellency should grab pen and paper and take diligent notes on how Obama reacts. I am beyond doubt that a thing or two would be gleaned.

Picture culled from here