Criticizing the messenger rather the messenger is the practiced art of the vacuous. The resort to expletives and uncouth language is a hallmark of the frustrated. Why anyone would prefer close-mindedness to enlightenment is mind boggling to me. Conversations happen because conversationalists wish to constructively engage intelligently, in spite of different and sometimes strong views. It is not a matter of natural law that consensus be unanimous all the time. Incivility is distractive, unhelpful, and unproductive. It does not enrich conversation. It sucks away the oxygen needed for intelligent exchange of views. It does not change minds. It is wasteful, very wasteful of valuable time. It degrades the uncivil.
It is always possible to disagree and get along. When this is not possible, one or the other is far away from the truth.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ibigbolade Aderibigbe
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 11:47 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: NIGERIA: A TOUGH ELECTION YEAR IN PROSPECT
As usual anything said that does not fit into almighty oa side of the argument is "one sided." He seems not to realize that he is an extreme partisan analyst. Yet he deludes himself by pretending to be objective. His likes are nothing but chronic stooges who think they can wrap a bad product in the most enticing and attractive paper- However discerning buyers are not fools they "check-out" what they are out to purchase- So shall it be in the approaching elections in Nigeria- AMEN.
On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 11:27 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
What an obnoxious, one-sided, self-serving report. If we go by this report, all will be well with the 2015 presidential elections if Jonathan was not a candidate.
"President Jonathan had himself told us in the past that he would not be seeking re-election in 2015,"
Is Jonathan not entitled to change his mind especially if his party is okay with him doing so?
"… it is an open secret that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has a policy of alternating the presidency between the South and the North, a policy which was somehow truncated in order to accommodate his ambition for understandable reasons."
Is this claim not seemingly based on the arrogance of convenience which causes some to present assumptions and suppositions as facts in the furtherance of their self-interest? Is it political party for policy or policy for political party?
"President Jonathan would require a lesson in the science of human behavior if he assumed that many did not feel offended by what was to them some kind of political dishonesty."
What is the" science of human behavior"? What are its cannons and lessons? Jonathan cannot please everyone. No one can especially in politics. Jonathan like all politicians, has critics and opponents. That is okay. His traducers will do what traducers do including claiming to be judges of political honesty. Is this a case of giving a dog a bad name so as to hang it?
There will always be people who will question and contest election candidates' eligibility. That by itself does not mean that the said candidates are not eligible. In Jonathan's case, eligibility seems to have become a crude weapon of blackmail. The courts are quite competent to resolve the issue and will if and when it becomes necessary..
Jonathan is not God's gift to Nigeria. His opponent is not either even though he is sold to Nigerians as such, by his promoters. Jonathan has not performed as well as he has had the opportunity to. That alone is not a good reason to believe that Jonathan's opponent in the coming elections, will do perform better if elected. His antecedents, his political friends, and the horse trade that was his party's primary process do not attest to this presumption. He was actually worse the last time he was Head of State.
The hope must be that the elections will be free, fair, and peaceful and also that all politicians will respect the result.
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Assensoh, Akwasi B.
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2014 11:28 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk; Afoaku, Osita; Osili, Una O; doyinck@gmail.com; ovaughan@bowdoin.edu; dejigiri@yahoo.com; ovaughan@bowdoin.edu; dejigiri@yahoo.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: NIGERIA: A TOUGH ELECTION YEAR IN PROSPECT
NIGERIA: A TOUGH ELECTION YEAR IN PROSPECT
BY ANTHONY AKINOLA*
It is an indisputable fact of life that we all want to be proved right when we have made predictions. The prophet, who has predicted doom and gloom, praises the Almighty God for his gift, even if it is a whole village that has been ravaged by fire. In a similar vein, hose who have warned or predicted the possible disintegration of our nation would probably raise up their glasses in celebration if a calamity of unimaginable proportions were to befall us in 2015, the very year they have identified.as the fateful year.
The prediction of a chaotic 2015 was made by an American think-thank a few years ago. The year 2015 happens to be an election year,with all its implications. he proponents of the prediction would wish their expertise to be proved right,and could induce the process if it were within their powers to do so.
One is not in a position to know the discussions that take place in governmental circles, or among the privileged ones in the Council of State. Suffice to say that leaders of any serious nation would long have deliberated on the report that projects so much danger, with a view to mending delicate fences.
Most informed Nigerians know that the presidential election slated for February could be one source of danger. Professor Bolaji Akinyemi wrote an open letter to that effect recently, admonishing President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidates of our two main political parties, to do their best in preventing or curtailing possible post-election violence.Pastor Tunde Bakare had earlier warned that there might be no election in 2015,if the current state of insecurity in the country continued.Some prominent Nigerians--Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, Chief Afe Babalola, and Professor Ben Nwabueze, among others--have pointedly asked President Jonathan to supervise the 2015 election, rather than participate in it, for the sake of peace in the polity.
This writer is one of ordinary Nigerians, who share their view. President Jonathan had himself told us in the past that he would not be seeking re-election in 2015, and it is an open secret that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has a policy of alternating the presidency between the South and the North, a policy which was somehow truncated in order to accommodate his ambition for understandable reasons. President Jonathan would require a lesson in the science of human behavior if he assumed that many did not feel offended by what was to them some kind of political dishonesty. Not a few still begrudge him privately, even when they pretend to be going along with him publicly.
More significantly, the eligibility of President Jonathan to seek a further term in office is highly contestable. Should he contest the election without this matter being resolved, there would be those waiting to see if he could be sworn into office for a third time--the constitution seems to allow a maximum of two times. Should he win the 2015 election, his opponents would want to ensure that his joy did not last by taking him up on constitutional grounds.
Forget about those desperate noises being made by the so-called Ambassadors of Transformation, Goodluck Jonathan may not be the most popular president on earth seeking re-election. Telephone interviews with some of those who voted for him in 2011 reveal they might not be doing so in 2015.They claim to have been disappointed by his performance, his modest achievements having been rubbished by allegations of escalating official corruption and mediocre handling of security issues.
The reasons they adduced for supporting him in 2011 seem to no longer appeal. Regardless of whether or not Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria entered into a secret arrangement to support Jonathan to the detriment of his own party, most members of his party in its Yoruba stronghold voted for Jonathan on strongly-held sentiments.They were of the opinion that the North had dominated the leadership position for too long, that a member of the minority ethnic groups in the South had previously never been elected national leader, and that Jonathan came from the region that produced the wealth of the nation.
There is hardly any doubt that sentiments will still run riot in the putative 2015 election. There are those who will vote for either of the main candidates, Jonathan and Buhari, solely because of ethnic and religious solidarities, South versus North and Christian versus Muslim sentimentalities. Of course, there would be those who will be loyal to their political parties, as well as those who would view things strictly from non-partisan perspectives--more concerned about issues and their perceptions of the contestants. The most potent factor in Nigerian politics-election rigging-would still play its customary role. A tough election year in prospect, but I second the patriotic Professor Akinyemi in urging our leaders to let Nigeria be the main winner in an election that promises so much.
*The author, who has published several notable books columns on African political issues, lives and writes from Oxford, UK.
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