‘JONATHAN IS THE LEADER NIGERIA NEEDS NOW’

Executive Director Grassroots Initiative (GI) for Peace and
Social
Orientation, Mr. Richard Akinaka,  Sunday described President
Goodluck Jonathan as a leader who possesses the leadership qualities
Nigeria needed at her present state of development and democracy.

He told THISDAY that if not for Jonathan’s listening spirit and
considerate actions, the country would have run into ugly situations
with the pressures coming from all sides, praising him for having the
qualities to steer the ship of the state thus far.

democratic with an above average performance in overall assessment
especially in resuscitating hitherto comatose infrastructure like
roads, power and the rehabilitation of airports across the country
which were before his intervention, “like fishing ports.

“No doubt, in my experience of governance, this is the most
democratic
government we have seen so far. Society and nations can only grow on
thriving democracy where the people’s opinions count. The president
has performed above average. They are very visible, it is not a total
success though, there are failures in certain areas, but overall, he
has performed above average.

Look at the aviation sector; Nigerian airports hitherto could be
described as fishing ports, but today you can see new airports,
emerging as 21st century airports.

“There is power project everywhere around this country; there is
no
state that you go and you won’t see power project going on and the
generation level has improved tremendously. You see the railway, the
last time I heard about railway was when I was a young boy, today you
have railway service all the way from Lagos to Kano. Look at our
federal roads, so like I said, there are areas, certain agencies of
government that have not done well, but overall, the Jonathan’s
administration has performed above average and needs Nigerians’
support.”

Comparing Jonathan’s administration to that of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, the executive director of GI, said: “I believe that
God has been faithful to this country to the extent that at every
point in time, He gives this country the right leader. Baba (Obasanjo)
was the right leader for the time he became President, it was the
diciest period of this country; military government handed over to a
civilian government, and we needed a character like Obasanjo to
restructure the Nigerian army to forestall another era of military
intervention in our political life.

“Baba, with that experience, came and restructured the entire
military; so he was the leader we needed at that point in time to set
the path for pure democracy in this country. He came as a bullish
leader who will say this is what I want, stood firm and did what he
did to set the path of democracy in this country. If not for what he
did, the Yar’Adua era would have led to another era of military
government.

“Jonathan is the leader this country needs at this time having
experienced Baba’s activities as not much of a democrat to stabilise
this country. As a democrat, Jonathan will not use federal might. If
it was Obasanjo, the so called political feud between Jonathan and
Governor Chibuike Amaechi maybe would have seen Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) unleashed on Amaechi. Jonathan is the right
leader for this country at this time.”

On whether Jonathan should contest in 2015, he replied that he
(Jonathan) had constitutional right to run and asked those using
threat to canvass for positions from all sections of the country to
desist and rather appeal to reason and performance.
He also denied that former militant leader, Tom Ateke, was working to
destabilise Rivers State, arguing that he has a right to demand
accountability from the state government.