From my mailbox; Re: Consensus or confusion?Dear Sanni, let us forget it; Jonathan is as bad as Atiku and Atiku is as good as Jonathan. Say no to one party system in Nigeria… god will elect for us (his anointed and not any of these miscreants)
Paul, 08135362031

Atiku Versus JonathanIt is on this note I want to start my weekly piece. This issue has received more than it ought to receive because of the way both players have been going about the business. I used to think that they both want to offer themselves for service until these episodes were released to the market and everybody has been buying into the quagmire. Instead of being a local and inside fight, they have chosen to wash dirty linens outside. The latest act and scenes were the utterances of both President Goodluck Jonathan and that of Atiku Abubakar. While the latter vowed to wrestle power through whatever means available, the former threatened to ‘prosecute’ whoever threatens the ‘peace’ Nigeria currently enjoys.
Meanwhile, while these actors are busy sending these signals, they have opened the door for their allies to say, do and act whatever script they feel it necessary to satisfy their masters. Even some clergymen are already joining forces with them. A case study is the statement credited to a senior pastor with House on the Rock, Paul Adefarasin, who felt religion should be the basis to elect leaders in trhe next election. Quoting him copiously as reported in many local dailies;
Do not vote for a Muslim President. Muslims have ruled the country for long. Nigerians used to be the most educated people in the world until the likes of Abacha and the Murtala Muhammed came and scattered our educational system to slow down the South so that the North can catch up, instead of speeding up the North.
We are sick and tired of politicians whose only objective is to fleece our public wealth. We have selfish people, selfish parents and selfish leaders who do everything for themselves and nothing for their children and successors. But, success is not success unless there is a successor. May God deliver Nigeria from ‘eldership’ and from a leadership that is overweight, undiscerning and blind. Do you know why Nigeria’s vast resources have not yet been discovered? It is because if they are discovered now, these useless people in power will squander them. But God is waiting for David to deliver us.
This is of course unguarded and reckless especially considering series of brouhaha that have engulfed this country in no time past. Still fresh in our minds are pictures relayed to us earlier this year from Jos, Plateau State. These are disturbances that have been widely been attributed to religious bigotry and non accommodation of other religious views. It also touches ethnicity and tribalism. Also, an unconfirmed report has it that the pastor also said that with over 100 million Christians in Nigeria any presidential aspirant who is a Christian should win easily. It is not what should be coming from the altar considering the nature of our country where there is a religious undertone to every issue and the whole country can overturn because of religion.
However, the bitter rivalry between Atiku and President Jonathan is unhealthy and shows desperation on their part. They have practically thrown caution to the wind and this shows nothing but indecency. It is on record that this is the first time in history of Nigeria that a party’s primary election is tensed up like this. It is up to Nigerians to allow these people or reject them at the pools. Left to me, the SMS above is good enough as guide for Nigerians to know the l