A season of conspiracies against Goodluck Jonathan, By Femi Aribisala

There are well-placed Nigerians, especially in the North, sponsoring aiding and abetting terrorism for the sake of political gain.
The Yorubas have a proverb. They say: “A witch cried out yesterday and a child died today. Who does not know that it was the witch who killed the child?” Some people have gone to great lengths to declare that if President Jonathan dares to run for re-election, they would make Nigeria ungovernable. Some, like Murtala Nyako, have even gone as far as threaten civil-war. It is, therefore, not far-fetched to conclude that, with the election only a stone-throw away, much of the turmoil we are witnessing in Nigeria today is the handiwork of the anti-Jonathan brigade.
Goodluck Jonathan must be the most vilified president in the history of Nigeria. He is abused and bad-mouthed with ferocious intensity. This really has nothing to do with his record in office. He is by no means the worst president Nigeria has ever seen. As a matter of fact, he is one of the better ones. True; he has not been able to address the age-old problem of corruption. Nevertheless, Nigeria has been making giant strides under his administration. The Nigerian government did not fool the world into having the WEF (World Economic Forum) in Abuja. It took place here because Nigeria is by all accounts an emerging frontier market in the world economy.
Obama’s Nigeria
President Jonathan did not bribe U.S. President Obama to proclaim Nigeria as “the world’s next economic giant” in 2012. Obama’s Nigeria is coming of age under Jonathan. The United Sates rebases its economy every two years. The United Nations recommends every country should rebase every five years. Under this administration, Nigeria rebased its economy after 23 years, and yet some Jonathan traducers accuse the government of 419 for doing so.
That rebasing has now shown that the much-maligned Nigeria is by far the largest economy in Africa. This should not come as a surprise. Under Jonathan, the Nigerian economy has been growing consistently by nearly 7% per annum. That is one of the highest growth-rates in the world. For the past two years, Nigeria has become the number one destination for foreign investments in Africa; according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A Nigerian industrialist, Aliko Dangote, is now the 23rd richest man in the world and, by far, the richest African.
Jonathan has so transformed Nigerian agriculture that the minister, Akinwunmi Adesina, was named Forbes Magazine’s African of the Year 2013. Today, poor Nigerian farmers not only have access to fertilizer, they have cell-phones so they can access the government for seeds, implements and vital information. The administration is engaged in extensive rehabilitation of rail and road networks nationwide. Travel by air today and you will discover that most Nigerian airports have been transformed. The foundation has finally been laid for addressing the problem of electricity. A long-anticipated National Conference is currently underway.
Jonathan is not the object of so much attack because he is incompetent, but because he comes from the minority South-South. Moreover, a Northern cabal that has been out of power for 15 years is desperate to return. The next president will have the prerogative of allocating a new round of juicy oil-blocks. For example, the oil-block Sani Abacha allocated toAlhaji Mai Daribe of Borno in 1996 had over 500 million barrels of oil which translates to over $50 billion dollars at current prices. That is the kind of largesse available to just one well-placed Nigerian in our winner-takes-all political-economy.
Political terrorism
Accordingly, the determination is that power must be wrested from Jonathan by hook or crook. Some are issuing threats: others are talking up impeachment in the legislature. These people are not averse to economic sabotage. Therefore, gas pipelines keep getting vandalized in order to impede power-generation. Let us call a spade a spade. There are well-placed Nigerians, especially in the North, sponsoring aiding and abetting terrorism for the sake of political gain.