Jonathan Goes For Broke

Dogged by challenges capable of denying him re-election in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan has taken the battle to the doorsteps of his known and perceived political opponents, using the carrot and stick approach. Last Wednesday morning, he shocked members  of the Federal Executive Council when he  fired nine ministers, who are believed to be irrelevant to his  second term bid  and are more loyal to their governors. Will the ouster of the ministers remove the mounting roadblocks to his re-election? There seems to be more questions than answers.
The sack of  nine ministers was something that had long been predicted. The  announcement in the middle of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday,  did not take many by surprise. What, however, bothered  the Exco members and  many Nigerians was the way  it was carried out by President Goodluck Jonathan.
For real, those who had really been pencilled down for offloading by the President were those who were known to be nursing gubernatorial ambition and had been somewhat distracted from office by their political fixation. In that category were Bala Muhammed, the Federal Capital Territory Minister, who is reported to be eying the seat currently occupied by Governor  Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State; the Minister of State for Education, Nyesome Wike, from Rivers State; Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, from Nasarawa; and the Minister of Police Affairs, Capt Olubolade Caleb,  from Ondo.. But all that was torpedoed by the soaring tide of dirty politics, which almost swallowed the players and grounded their game plan. Jonathan  was suddenly taken aback by the split of the once united People's Democratic Party (PDP)  into two camps on August 31, when they had assembled at a high-profile ceremony at the Eagle Square to anoint some national officers loyal to him.
It was an assault that hit the President and his men below the belt and left them with a sour taste. Since that affront by the Abubakar Baraje faction, which has come to be dubbed as the New PDP, nPDP, for short, the 'largest party in Africa' has never been the same. From all indications, the umbrella (PDP), which symbolises  accommodation and resilience, has virtually been shattered  by turbulent winds from several fronts. While Jonathan and his men are battling to secure a second term in office, the nPDP is seen as the opposition, working to install  former Vice President  Atiku Abubakar  in the next vote.
Thus, what the President did on that Wednesday morning was nothing but a 'coup' against the former members of the cabinet, whose only 'offence' was that they were and are still close to the seven PDP governors, popularly referred to as G-7, who have an axe to grind with the President.,
By all standards, the retention of the 'offending ministers' for about two years by Jonathan  his strategists reasoned, was like putting salt on festering sore largely because they were portrayed as political liabilities, who neither aided Jonathan's sagging political profile nor added value to the new battle he is waging against their political benefactors.
Those who are strategising for Jonathan ahead of his re-election in 2015 had been tinkering with the idea that it would be suicidal for him to first edge out ministers who have gubernatorial ambition while those who do not love him are retained. They, therefore, asked him  to  flush them out of the system and pave the way for the appointment of 'politically relevant' hawks or bullies, who are capable of taking on 'recalcitrant governors' in their respective states and clear the way for his seamless re-election.
An analysis of those sent packing reveals that 99 percent of them were seen  as 'apologists' of the 'rebel' governors' in the cabinet.
The nine sacked ministers were nominees of former President Obasanjo and the seven governors, who are currently embroiled in a political face-off with  Jonathan and the leadership of the PDP.
The list  shows  that, apart from the former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Okon Ita Ewa, who was personally nominated by Jonathan in 2011, most of the axed  men and women,  were seen as sympathisers  of Obasanjo and the PDP 'rebel' governors.
Analysts find the removal of  Ewa puzzling to pave the way for Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State to name a more politically-relevant minister, who would be able to work with the President  and win more support for Jonathan in the next elections.
Ewa, a nuclear physicist, who had known Jonathan for several years, was brought directly into the cabinet without the input of political stakeholders in Akwa Ibom State and is said to be almost apolitical.
A reliable source told Sunday Vanguard that the President moved against the ministers following intelligence reports, which indicated that most of them were loyal  to their governors  rather than being loyal to him.
Read more http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/president-goes-for-broke/