In his new book, Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, Chibok, 2015 and the Conspiracies, Mr. Reno Omokri, who was one of the aides to the former president, tries to defend him against the multiple charges of incompetent management, poor supervision of subordinates, and pervasive corruption, which the current APC Government and sections of the media have levelled against him. Although some critics may see Mr. Omokri’s feeble attempt as too little-too late, it is, indeed, a good omen that some of Dr. Jonathan’s aides and allies may be finding their voices at last.
Mr. Omokri’s new book is not only an attempt to speak in defense of Dr. Jonathan and his government but also a courageous effort to show that their term in office was not one bleak period of unmitigated malfeasance. Now that he has shown by his courage that one can actually stand up for one’s beliefs no matter how unpopular they may be, we hope that others who have been too timid and afraid of their shadows can now speak up too. There is no doubt that the level of corruption and evil doing in Dr. Jonathan’s government was monumental and beyond comprehension. It is impossible to justify any of the incredible stories we hear from the EFCC and law enforcement agencies.
Fortunately, in our culture and tradition, as well as by our legal systems, guilt is personal, and we cannot visit the President with the sins of his subordinates, unless he is proven to be complicit. This is the third leg of Mr. Omokri’s book, even though this is neither clearly stated nor fully developed.
The second leg of the book is that Dr. Jonathan was a victim of the conspiracy between some US Government officials and some Northern Nigerian politicians. This is the gist of the first chapter where the author labored seriously to show that Dr. Jonathan had no chance against the intrigue hatched by many forces that included the British Prime Minister, President Obama, Obama’s advisor, Mr. David Axelrod, who became consultant to the APC, and Nigerian pressure groups, including the #BringBackOurGirls team.
While there is considerable factual content in this opening chapter, it suffers from lack of sufficient evidence to support many of the claims. If the facts and evidence exist for the claims made here, Mr. Omokri ought to have been availed of them to make his arguments unassailable. The blame is not so much on Mr. Omokri as on the various government officers who had worked closely with Dr. Jonathan and who are the custodians of much of the evidence needed to tell a convincing story. One of the tragedies of the Jonathan Presidency is that many of the sectional leaders of the regime are now too scared to band together and organise their reputation management operations. This is why Mr. Omokri’s effort to show in this book that Jonathan was a victim who had no chance deserves commendation.
The third leg of the book is the attempt to demonstrate that Dr. Jonathan and his team had performed reasonably well in many sectors in all the states of the federation. Mr. Omokri tried to amass evidence from the states but, unfortunately, relied almost exclusively on official government reports and contractors’ accounts which may be accurate about the expenditure but are absolutely unreliable regarding the work done with the money.
So, when Mr. Omokri reports so gleefully about the completion of the Okpoko Ire Ojoto Erosion Control Project (page 43 and again on page 54) and the Onitsha River Port (page 43), he needs to be reminded that the erosion in Ojoto is as dangerous as ever and that there is really no port yet in Onitsha. It is true that every state was supposed to have benefited from the Federal Government’s gross expenditure in many sectors, but the full extent of the benefits is doubtful because of the usual collusion between some contractors and some government officials.
Other sections of the book such as those dealing with the Chibok girls, Niger Delta insurgency, and El Rufai’s views on Dr. Jonathan and President show Mr. Omokri’s determination to paint a positive picture of his subject. He is, however, constrained by lack of compelling evidence which indicates the absence of the necessary research support from the custodians of the information he needs. A book of this nature is in actuality a research report which is as good as the data generated from multiple settings and using diverse methods.
Mr. Omokri must have been seriously challenged in breaking the ice regarding speaking up for Dr. Jonathan and his government, and consequently there are some obvious flaws in this book. But despite these flaws, this book shows his unusual courage, fortitude, generosity, and good spiritedness. It would have been a much better book if he had the support of some of the ostensible beneficiaries of this singular effort. He deserves commendation for speaking up in defense of his beleaguered former boss whose ministers, senior special assistants, and PDP colleagues seem to now avoid like the plague. The Nigeria public is short-changed by the paucity of good books on our contemporary political landscape. Mr. Omokri’s book is a decent effort deserving of better encouragement
*Charles Okigbo teaches and conducts research in strategic communication.