GOODLUCK JONATHAN, ENOUGH!

[Kennedy Emetulu]

…

Okay, I strongly supported President Goodluck Jonathan in the last election, even though I’m not a PDP member and I have condemned and continue to condemn the present attempt to vilify him or make him a scapegoat of the supposed failure of his administration. I do admit he has a lot to be blamed for, but I just don’t think the present occupiers of Aso Rock should use him as an excuse for their own scandalous failures still dangerously unfolding. I believe Jonathan, like other previous heads of state and presidents has done his bit while in office and must be allowed to go anywhere he wants freely and contribute to national development and discourse as he deems fit. 

I have watched him traverse the world since he left office and I was convinced that he was doing this to garner support for his newly-established Goodluck Jonathan Foundation. I have also accepted the fact that he was being welcomed, hosted and given all manner of awards here and there abroad as a natural result of the commendable thing he did by handing over power the manner he did after the election of last year. Now, here is my problem: How long is he going to be globetrotting for? How can he be globetrotting now even more than he did while in office? What exactly is the purpose of all this? Apart from the work he did on behalf of the Commonwealth in Tanzania, I haven’t seen much of a benefit Goodluck Jonathan has brought to Nigeria or Africa with all these travels all over meeting with nondescript people here and there.

When I saw him return to Nigeria recently after the falsehood that he was seeking exile abroad, I was happy. But just as we were welcoming him home, he was out again and now is in London! I have just read the speech he delivered there and I’m wondering what that is all about. Who doubted his Nigerianness? Of what value is that Bloomberg appearance or that speech? Of what value is a speech that’s just a list of what he achieved while in government? How is that useful for where we are now as a nation?

Here is what I think: Jonathan is still prisoner to some of those who advised him wrongly while he was President, people who couldn’t sell his achievements properly to the Nigerian people, people who sat there complacently and watched the APC take power without providing Nigerians a better alternative in terms of ideas of government. These are people who allowed the opposition then to define Jonathan so badly that such a negative definition was enough to turn the election against him. These people are at it again. They are telling Jonathan that running around the world like some quixotic statesman is the way to go! No, it’s not! Enough of this crap! 

Jonathan should return to Nigeria and join hands with the President Muhammadu Buhari government, the Nigerian civil society and fellow citizens to save us from where we are now. Everyone knows Nigeria is in dire straits right now and he and his administration contributed to that state as much as bad policies from the present government too. His Goodluck Jonathan Foundation will not get the legitimacy it needs from outside. It is the people of Nigeria he is working for, not foreign media consultants, events organisers or PR gurus. He should come down home to Otuoke, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Abuja or Lagos and Nigerians at home will always find him something to do to keep him busy! Jonathan should know that apart from President Muhammadu Buhari, he is the singular most important factor in Nigerian politics right now. Of course, I’m aware that President Buhari consulted with him on his brief return recently, but that is not enough. He needs to sit down in Nigeria and help fashion out solutions to many of the problems we have on the ground. For instance, the Niger Delta is today back under the grip of militancy. He was a principal figure in ending it the first time as part of the Yar’Adua government. He should once again deploy that skill now and make himself a bridge between the government and the militants. I know the problem of the Niger Delta and its relationship with political leaders at the top from elsewhere, I know the age-old story of injustice, environmental despoliation, inequity and all that; but Jonathan was there for five years and couldn’t change much. Nonetheless, there must be something he knows and that he has learnt in that period that will be useful for Nigeria now. Let him begin to work with those he can work with to make sure the tension there is de-escalated. He can’t credibly do that from London. He has to be on the ground.

Of course, I know some supposed Jonathan supporters will attack me for this, but I really don’t care. They cannot be bigger supporters of Jonathan than me. But I do not only support him, I wish him well and it’s only someone that wishes you well that will tell you the truth, especially the truth you do not want to hear. Jonathan is still relatively a young man and has a lot to contribute to Nigeria and Africa. As president and national leader, he has garnered a lot of goodwill and a lot of enemies as well. The enemies, he cannot do much about, but the goodwill he can fritter away on these meaningless junkets. He should be in Nigeria consulting with young people and our future leaders and help fashion a future that is worthwhile for them. We know Nigeria is a leadership graveyard, but  all past and present leaders cannot just go about acting like bums and expect us to be happy. For our sake, Jonathan has to be different.  Enough of the wakabout!

….

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Enough indeed!

“You can help yourself
But don't take too much” ( God bless the child)

After a relatively long absence, like a prodigal son, Emetulu Kennedy has returned , surprisingly this time and all to the good, criticizing his former man , Goodluck Jonathan.

How are the mighty fallen!

All it takes for evil to triumph etc. and so I pray ,make this personal appeal and look forward to the eventual return of Lord Ogugua Anunoby who is still musing in action, over here. The speculation is that he went off in a huff because he was peeved - about something or other – but men in the public domain (even errant philosophers and miscreants) are usually more resilient, being made of the much thicker Delta crocodile skin which dry or wet can weather any weather. Lord Anunoby please come back ! We and I miss you, miss your often profound analytic acumen usually occupying and based on higher moral grounds and applied to our on-going national crisis situations ( the economy, the war against corruption & rediscovering the loot, Biafra, the Massacres of the Shia, Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen etc)

There are yet of course some Jonathanians who are still licking their wounds and tasting the bitter ashes of electoral defeat, still biding their time and within the orbit of their small spaces in existential time, forevermore on the lookout for faults and tell-tale signs of little cracks in the Buharian armor and armory.

May their nightmares never come true!

Of course the Christianized faithful also pray fervently for the second coming, for the speedy, early return of Jesus son of Mary, assured by faith that that too does not fall on deaf ears.

Coming now to the main point: The saying “three times lucky” was in default when Muhammadu Buhari took three legally constitutional shots at being elected president of Nigeria but failed to do so ( partly due to rigged elections – electoral fraud) but he proved lucky on his fourth attempt. I bring this up to contrast him with what for now looks like ex-president Jonathan's apparent disinterest in regaining his crown as leader of the PDP or as presidential candidate in the next or any future elections,

At first and after the good name that he has made for himself – conceding defeat without causing any mayhem and with such credentials then taking on the job of election watchdog in Tanzania , I thought that his subsequent travels have been to garner international goodwill and support that could stand him in good stead should he in the near future be dragged to a confession-hearing box at some anti-corruption court or tribunal …

Matthew 27:38 tells us that in the case of Jesus,

“Two robbers were crucified with Him, one on His right hand and the other on His left.”

In the meantime, to the main questions addressed to Emetulu Kennedy : So Goodluck Jonathan has been touring the world (and of course footing the cost from his own pocket) - so what's wrong with that?

Does an ex-president not have the right to travel as much as he likes and to wherever he likes, as a free man?

Is there somebody other than he himself that should determine what he does with his free time?

In some countries, ex-presidents ( and prime ministers) fade away from public view, sometimes never to be heard of again, although in the case of Goodluck Jonathan, with his administration under investigation, for a surety we are yet to see his back and we have have certainly not yet heard the last good thing about him.

Before we see or hear the last of him, as suggested one of the good works that he with a PhD in zoology and all the accumulated years of experience in statecraft, could be do would be to as much as possible try to prevail upon his countrymen of the Avengers and other Delta Oil militants M.E.N.D. etc to desist from sabotaging Nigeria's oil infrastructure and thereby damaging Nigeria's precarious economy and denting any possibility of economic and social justice to all the citizens of the country,

And if successful, that too could be part of the deal to lessen the personal burden that could be caused by pursuing the investigations of financial corruption in his administration to it's logical , bitter ending…

Nuff said.

Yours sincerely,

Cornelius

We Sweden

[Kennedy Emetulu]

..

Hahahahahaha!  Jesus Christ! Listen Cornelius Hamelberg, walk out your door, go out more. If you do, you will realise the world does not begin and end here.

…

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

I returned to Stockholm at 19.30 this evening.
I intend to be in Abu Dhabi after the month of Ramadan
Where does your world begin?
When will it end?

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Kennedy Emetulu,

Don't forget , we are on the same side of the human divide.

This, my blog, other scribblings, even some prayers, poetry, song, is just a form of keeping a diary,

sometimes recording a state of being. Unfortunately, also so much wasted time...

Here's some advice from Spike Lee (if you notice, in the movie, he is always counting money – that's the message….

I'm looking forward to your next article on Biafra, Boko Haram, Corruption. Fulani Herdsmane, Hillary Clinton,

 or whatever, this time to assiduously test any hermeneutic skills I may have acquired, because so far

, I haven't even been trying – but I can truly approach any text in a number of ways, about five ways,

 not that I intend to disembowel yours and by “yours” I mean your usual pontifications, with some

pointillist-like prick points (smile)

Here, where the word is still free, I'm still trying to figure out your bizarre response.

You admonish your man, your big man Goodluck Jonathan for flying around half the world in search of succor

(or maybe to patch his ear?) and would much prefer to have him grounded so that he can begin to follow your

 instruction; yet you want me (and nota bene, I'm not your man - indeed I'm not that kind of man - your kind) -

 and you say to me, “walk out your door, go out more. If you do, you will realise the world does not begin and end here.”

“I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender” (Stranger Song)

Emetulu Kennedy does not live my life for me, knows me not or how often I go in or go out and wants to issue me some

new commandments to add to the 613, by which I should “realise” that “the world does not begin and end here”, sounding

like Jesus talking about haba olam…

“Walk out your door, go out more”- advises Emetulu..

“If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors
And wander...” (Joni Mitchell - Free Man in Paris

On average , I walk 10,000 steps a day...

Well the day before you wrote that – was Sweden's National Day, the 6^th of June, glorious weather and I had many choices –

the Royal Palace to begin with but my Better Half and I and another Lady friend were picked up by Lady K who drove us to her

 and her Colombian partner's luxury villa in the Stockholm suburbs and there we had lunch, after which her man took me down to

his studio in the cellar, a dream studio - six guitars, percussion instruments, drums synthesizers etc plus some awesome recording

equipment – and played me some of his compositions – some jazzed up Cumbia ,a whole catalogue of various categories of music

 some of which I will be marketing in July.

Lady K – the only one who had not yet had a sip of alcohol drove me to a nearby station where I took the tube to kungsträdgården (the King's

 Garden) which is located a few meters away from the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. There was a slight delay crossing the street –

His Majesty horse-drawn cortège had just passed through and the Police had cordoned off the street - gave me time to put on my necktie -

add it to my dark green Pierre Chardin suit and with other members of the Jewish community march through security and into the Great

Synagogue of Stockholm where we witnessed the installation of Ute Steyer the first female rabbi in Sweden and the new cantor Isidoro Abramowicz

– a beautiful ceremony, psalm 121 and psalm 122 sung by cantor Maynard Gerber, psalm 100 sung by the Renanot vocal ensemble, a few homilies

the Emeritus Chief Rabbi Morton Narrowe, and from Eva Brunne the female Bishop of Stockholm who was one of the guests of honour and the ceremony

 concluded with the Priestly blessings – which I'm sure you know so well in English:

May Hashem bless and safeguard you
May Hashem illuminate His countenance for you and be gracious to you
May Hashem turn His countenance to you
and establish peace for you.

The service concluded with Adon Olam

After which the party continued, but that's reserved for my very personal diary…

Yours sincerely,

Cornelius

We Sweden

On Tuesday, 7 June 2016 20:03:03 UTC+2, keme...@googlemail.com wrote: