22nd March, 2015
In his famous BBC interview, where he expressed optimism that he would win this weekend’s presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan also made an admission: he is not in charge of the military and he could not speak for them.
President Jonathan surely forgot that he is the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian armed forces.
His admission of powerlessness followed the interviewer’s barrage of questions on what the government used the yearly $5 billion security budget for, the whereabouts of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls and why it took so long for Nigeria, the ‘giant of Africa’, to embark on retaking territories lost to Boko Haram.
President Jonathan did not have any convincing explanation, except to say: I am not in charge.