An Igbo proverb says that one does not learn to be left-handed in old age, but that is precisely the magic which some critics of Dr Goodluck Jonathan are prepared to perform. Taking off from PresidentJonathan's recent declaration that he did not amount to any of the great men in the Bible, these critics have engaged in literary flights of fancy which ignore the reality of existence, namely that the material essence of all life is far from literary. In this essay I intend to see farther than blind criticism, and if you think every journalist who lauds a public official must be on his payroll, well, please skip to the next page.Otherwise, please sit back and let us reason together.A lot of people would do anything to get to the presidency; they just cannot imagine Jonathan being so, as they say, 'weak,'' meaning 'having so much power and not using it.'' These are individuals with a past littered with blood, and a present crafted in deceit. They want the powers of the president, and when they provoke long debates on Goodluck, rest assured that they do not speak because they are grieved about the pains you and I go through. It is not easy to say this, but the frustrations which many pour into the media, the learned articles that they write detailing the president's failings are actually disguised apologies for their weaknesses, lame excuses for the maladies of yesteryears, and their family demons. T.S Eliot called poetry an escape from emotion.Some people write as if they are so wise and Jonathan is so foolish. It is a shame; a writer, who has just slept with a married woman and had another beer, goes into Gay, Melville, Greene, Yeats or, occasionally, Marechera or Mahfouz to show how really politically foolish Jonathan is. He will get an award for his informed commentary, but his masquerade will never change the dirty clothing of yesteryears.He will remain in his spiritual wretchedness because he is an utter idiot. And a great number of professors are not really men of wisdom.Jonathan got it right; he does not need to be a lion. He was not a lion when he gave us an election that will never perish from African history, an election that wrote his name in gold. Nor was he a lion when he gave us six new universities, and fuel at all times. I have looked at the road map launched on the oil and gas sector, NASRDA's space programme, the new agricultural blueprint and others and I believe President Jonathan should just concentrate on them and allow the noisemakers to ply their trade. Anyone who expects a Messaiah will have their strong man in the coming antichrist, the man from Rome, though. I'm looking at Western Europe.Obasanjo came and did extremely well in banking and telecommunications, and I would advise our Bible-honouring president---and the God of the Bible, which he has honoured, will honour him; He already did by giving him a position which the know-it-alls will never attain in their miserable existence, even as they grumble their way into the grave--- to leave well alone, and not think that no one appreciates him. Many do, most sincerely. I do.The USA became great because they had leaders who trusted in God, although they later had idiots who said 'As long as we have an army and a navy, we don't need old Jehovah.'' They were not afraid, in those days, to say 'In God we trust,'' but now that nation has been taken over by all kinds of God-hating spirits. You cannot even pray in public, but of course you can ravish strange flesh in public. Yes, Tupac's sex tape will sell for a hundred million dollars, and only the music in the background will be heard.As soon as Jonathan got in, he dwelt on a single term of six years, but the critics called it tenure elongation. What was, in reality, tenure clipping was tagged tenure magnification, and these Pharisees could not even see that the idea came, ultimately, from the university system where Vice-Chancellors now spend five concentrated years. A journalist who said that a state governor did not need to have a cabinet now has the mouth to say that the president should apologise for an imaginary sin. Well, the Hausa say that it is not by tallness that one reaches the moon.In all the mindless criticism, one thought pattern is discernible: Jonathan is not doing anything about Boko Haram. But just how can thinking be so shallow' Will terrorism be fought by newspaper fancies'Terrorism is fought in the night; you go after the traditional rulers sponsoring the madness and waste their business without mercy. You go after their girlfriends, give them a thorough beating, then cut deals.You put people's fingers between staplers; you go after some criminals and put a bullet into their brains. Tell me, how did the US get Osama' By democracy' By the newspapers' The papers would never have given their approval. And if you are a journalist who thinks you do not need the army or their tactics, well, the day will come when you will shit in your trousers, when you come face to face with terrorists and will not be writing an editorial. Let us give honour to whom it is due.Yet there are patriots who criticise the president, not out of malice, but out of genuine concern for the nation. These are honourable people, but let us all realise that we cannot force a man to be what he is not cut out to be, lest we return to the Sanni Abacha days when the president was a dedicated murderer and exceptional robber. In the final analysis, then, the president should just concentrate on two or three areas, and make a greater song out of them than the April 2011 elections.Awolaja is on the staff of the Nigerian Tribune
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