A President Without Balls, By Femi Fani-Kayode

October 3,
2013Premium Times

Femi Fani-Kayode

Permit me to begin this contribution by quoting a portion of an essay that I
wrote on September 26, 2011, which was titled ”On Goodluck Jonathan, David and
Goliath”. The portion reads as follows.

”A few days ago from the sacred pulpit of the hallowed chambers of the
National Christian Centre in Abuja and in the presence of the entire leadership
of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan proclaimed as follows- ”I am not David….I am not a general…..I am not
a lion…..I will defeat the Goliaths in our land”. These are deep and
instructive words yet I do wonder whether Mr. President understands the
spiritual and practical implications of what he is saying.

“If he says that he ”is not a David” how can he then possibly slay the
”Goliaths in the land?” If he says that he ”is not a general” how can he be an
effective Commander-in-Chief who commands the respect and confidence of his
army and his officers? If he says that he ”is not a lion” how can he overwhelm
the animals in our jungle that seek to destroy and ravage our land? The lion is
a noble and courageous animal that defends it’s pride and family and protects
it’s own. That is why it is known as the ”king of the jungle” and that is why
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself is known as the ”Lion of the Tribe of
Judah”.

“Every king worth his salt must have the spirit of the lion and the warrior
in him to a certain extent. It is a fundamental pre-qualification for good
quality and inspirational leadership and that is what distinguishes the
pretender and the usurper from a real king. May the spirit and weakness of Ahab
not be our President’s portion even though his words seem to have ensnared him.
History proves that weak kings and weak leaders always pull down and destroy
great empires and strong kingdoms.

“If you have any doubt about that consider what happened to the Roman Empire under Nero, Claudius or Caligula. If you
still have any doubts after that then read up on Russian history or watch an
excellent old film called ”Nicholas and Alexander” about Tsar Nicholas the 1st,
the last Tsar of Russia and how his strong-willed wife and his consistent
display of weakness shamed and brought down imperial Russia, destroyed the 300
year old royal dynasty of the Romanovs, led directly to the First World War
(which in turn led to the Second World War and then later the Cold War), caused
the communist revolution, led to the Russian civil war, resulted in the murder
of his whole family and ended in the establishment and creation of the most
evil and godless empire that has ever ruled half of the world- the cold and
all-powerful Soviet empire.

“That is what weakness, prevarication, inconsistency, cowardice, emotional
slavery, inexplicable fear and the celebration of indecision can do. Worst
still you don’t boast about such qualities because there is nothing to be proud
of in them. Always remember, whether you are a king or a subject, that courage
is the greatest of all the virtues. This is wisdom. Would someone please tell
our President”.

Once again please take note that the contribution that I quoted above was
part of an essay that I wrote on 26th September 2011, almost two years ago to
the day.

With the killing of 91 children by Boko Haram in Damaturu a few days ago,
the slaughter of 40 Nigerian troops by Boko Haram in Borno state recently, the
massacre of 41 school children in Borno state by Boko Haram two months ago, the
mass murder of no less than 7000 Nigerians by Boko Haram in the last 3 years
and the raging war that is going on in the northern eastern part of our country
between Boko Haram and our military today, those words and that counsel that
was offered two years ago seem even more relevant today than it was even at
that time.

The carnage that we are witnessing in our country today has come as a direct
result of the manifestation of weakness at the top. When a President tells the
world that Boko Haram are his ”siblings” whom he ”cannot move against”, as he
did earlier this year, he is asking for trouble. When a President keeps
offering Boko Haram amnesty even when they kept rejecting it and whilst they
were murdering his people, as he has been doing for the last three years, he is
asking for trouble. When a President installs and supports a party National
Chairman who describes Boko Haram as ”freedom fighters”, as he did earlier this
year, he is asking for trouble.

When a President announces to the world that he is ”not a lion or a David”,
as he did exactly two years ago, no one should be surprised when his people are
killed like flies before his very eyes. May God bring us a real leader that can
save our nation and may He take away this one who feels no pain and has no
empathy when Nigerian blood, nay even the blood of innocent children, is shed
with impunity. Under the tenure of our”lamb” President, more innocent Nigerians
have been slaughtered by terrorists than at any other time in the history of
our country except during the civil war.

What a mess! What a record! I continue to ponder about one thing though-
would the President have been so unperturbed and detached from the whole thing
if the children that were killed in their school yesterday morning had been
from his Niger Delta area or from the east. It appears to me that simply
because those kids were northerners, this President just”doesn’t give a damn”.
What a tragedy! Whether Christian or Muslim, northern or southern, these are
only children and they are NIGERIAN children each of whom is entitled to the
full protection of the Nigerian state. I have said it before and I shall say it
again, Nigeria
has become an abattoir of human flesh and blood under the tenure of President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and all those who support him should bury their heads
in shame. The blood of all those innocent people is on his hands because he
swore to an oath before God and the Nigerian people to protect them from such
evil. Instead of getting on with his job and doing so he has spent the last few
days boasting to the world about ringing the bell in the New York Stock
Exchange and receiving irrelevant, illusionary, self-serving and absurd
commendations for absolutely nothing from President Barack Obama. May God
deliver us!

Permit me to make a painful observation here. I was thoroughly appalled
about the fact that when our lamb President was asked about the latest round of
killings during his live ”Presidential Media Chat” programme on Sunday evening,
he not only told a lie to the world by claiming that only ”21 or 22 students
were killed” at a time when the BBC and CNN had confirmed that at least 45
bodies had been found (more were to be discovered later) but he also failed to
express his condolences to the families of those that had lost their loved
ones. He made the same omission when he failed to commiserate with or express
his condolences to the families of the soldiers that were killed in Borno state
whilst fighting Boko Haram simply because they ran out of bullets during the
course of the battle.

By way of contrast not only was he quick to offer his condolences to the
government and people of Kenya for the terrible carnage that was inflicted on
them by Al Shabab last Friday when 68 people were killed (I guess that to him
Nigerian blood is not as expensive or as important as foreign blood) but he was
also quick to offer the Kenyan government military assistance. If President
Uhuru Kenyatta decides to accept his offer let us hope that our lamb President
will give enough bullets to the soldiers that he will send. Our boys are deeply
courageous fighters and they certainly deserve that much. They also deserve to
have a Commander in Chief that inspires them, that watches their back and that
gives them the very best. May the souls of all those that have been killed by
Boko Haram in the last three years rest in peace and may the Lord take the
leadership of this nation from the lamb and give it to a lion king.

Permit me to end this contribution with the following observations. As crude
and unpleasant as it may sound the question must be asked – does our President
have any balls? Is he really a man? Does he have what it takes to fight a war
against terror or is it that there is more to this than meets the eye? Is there
a sinister and diabolical conspiracy and plan to ensure that elections do not
hold in the northeast and the northwest in 2015 given the fact that those areas
are very hostile to the suggestion that Jonathan should return to power that
year? Is this whole thing planned and contrived or is it a case of chronic
incompetence, ineptitude and weakness? Does Jonathan believe that it is in his
interest for the north to burn and for northern blood to be spilt? Is the
mindset of those that are pulling the strings of the view that since the
problem has been (to use the President’s own words in his last media chat)
”localised” and ”contained in a certain area” the government can sit back and
watch the locals slaughter themselves whilst they continue to drink champagne
in the Villa and fantasise about 2015? If that is the case has it not occurred
to them that their fellow Nigerians live in those areas where the problem has
supposedly been ”localised” and is the blood of those fellow Nigerians not red
as well? Are they less Nigerian because of where they were born and who they
are? Are the people that live in the villages and countryside not as important
as those who live in the towns and cities?

Whatever is really going on here God sees all and anything that is not of
Him will surely fail. If it is nothing but weakness and incompetence that has
resulted in this unprecedented carnage the President will answer before God for
violating his solemn oath to protect the Nigerian people from enemies within
and from enemies without and if it is a conspiracy to encourage and create
turmoil and chaos in the north just to ensure that they are excluded from the
vote in 2015, both Jonathan himself and Nigeria as a whole will reap the
consequences. It is worth noting that that is precisely what happened in Mali in the
elections that took place before the north was taken over by the Islamists and
it led to a full scale civil war. Any attempt to exclude any part of this
country from participating in the elections in 2015 under the guise of lack of
security or Boko Haram will result in the same thing with catastrophic
consequences for Nigeria.

Yet as Napolean Bonaparte once said, ”we must never account to conspiracy
what can easily be explained away by incompetence”. It is more likely than not
that the situation that is folding in the north-east and the feeble fight that
our government is putting up against Boko Haram over there is down to Jonathan’s
weakness and nothing more. So when asked the question is our President capable
of fighting the war against terror my answer would be that I am afraid that I
doubt it very much. He just doesn’t have it in him. As the former Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair once said about John Major, his
predecessor in office, he is just ”weak, weak, and weak’’.

I am a great believer in strong government and I am one of those that have always believed that President Olusegun Obasanjo was one of the best, if not the best, and most effective leaders that we have ever had in this country. I say this not because I had the honour and privilege of serving in his government but because, when it comes to his record in public office, the facts and figures speak for themselves. Not only are they outstanding but also they are yet to be matched and since he left office in 2007, everything has gone to
the dogs. Love him or hate him one thing is clear- not under Obasanjo’s watch would 7000 innocent Nigerians be massacred at will in the space of just two years by a bunch of murderous and heartless terrorists. He would have known exactly what to do and how to do it to put a stop to such callous lawlessness and anarchy right from the start. Equally  significant is the fact that such was his love for Nigeria that regardless of the region, ethnic group or religious faith that the victims came from, espoused or belonged to, his response to the terrorists would have been swift, decisive and utterly ruthless. He would have had Boko Haram in ”shock and awe” and the whole world would have marvelled at it. This is because in Obasanjo we had a President who not only had balls but who also had the courage, heart and guts to match them.

The greatest error that we as a people ever made and the worst tragedy and misfortune that has ever befallen us as a nation is the fact that a meek lamb ended up taking a throne that was designed and prepared for a lion. The unfortunate consequences of that tragic error and misfortune are there for all to see. The shedding of the blood of even the youngest, the most innocent and the most vulnerable in our society by Boko Haram on a daily basis is an eloquent testimony to that unsavory fact.