Presidential Inauguration Day

Nigeria: Presidential Headaches What Hope for the People?

Opinion

President Goodluck Jonathan must be happy to have been inaugurated Nigeria's fourth executive president. He did so within a short political career that spanned barely a decade and at a modest mid-adult age of 53 years. This is spectacular given that Nigerian politicians itching to be presidents usually inch towards their sixties before doing so or before actualising such dream.

But that is where the joy ends, as the heavy burden following the inauguration could be a recurring nightmare for the occupant of the office of Nigeria's presidency.

Bombings/Boko Haram

On October 1, 2010, the nation was rudely woken by a twin bomb blast that exploded in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, near the Eagle Square, where the celebration of the country's 50th anniversary was taking place. By the time the dust settled, scores of persons had died at a time foreign heads of states, foreign nationals and other well-meaning persons had converged to celebrate with the president the attainment of 50 years of Independence.

On May 30, 2011, a day after the inauguration of Jonathan as president and 26 other state governors, bombs also went out in Abuja and other parts of the North including Bauchi and Zaria. A total of 15 persons were killed while scores were wounded. The development has become more rampant to the extent that nobody knows when the next bomb would explode and where. The Boko Haram, an Islamic sect that sneers at western education has claimed to be responsible for the bomb blasts including the Bauchi explosion which occurred in a military mammy market.

Since its emergence in the country, some three or more years back, Boko Haram, has not really defined its message and cause of action except the fact that it shuns western education and modern lifestyle. While detesting the idea of Muslims acquiring western education, it has driven its distaste further by engaging Christians and churches, attacking and burning churches in the slightest provocation. The latest was the one in Borno state, where a church was burnt down because an alleged homosexual was alleged to be a Christian. There are several instances in the past wherein churches had been burnt and Christians attacked.

Only recently, Bishop Owen Nwokolo of the Anglican Communion Awka warned that the Christians would be forced to fight back, given that no individual or group has monopoly of violence. As it is, the challenge is: what way forward since the Nigeria Police and other security agents appear to have failed under the burden of these sporadic attacks by Boko Haram. In fact, in the last one year, the police had lost over 50 men to their attacks. The army has also lost some, as nobody is spared in the attacks which occasionally, torch traditional institutions also.

100 Weeks in Brazil: Week 22: Presidential Inauguration Day

This year was a particularly significant day since the person being sworn into office would be Brazil's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff. It was a hotly contested campaign, and she was the former chief of staff for Brazil's most popular president ever, Lula da Silva. Due to the importance of this day, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was one of the several hundred foreign dignitaries that came to congratulate President Dilma and participate in the ceremonies. We decided that this would probably be a once in a lifetime event for our children, so we made our way down to the Esplanada to partcipate in a few of the many activities and concerts that had been set up for this special day. Even the Brazilian Communist party was celebrating, as noted by the balloons and flags that lined the route to the government buildings where the inauguration would take place. The color red is the color of the PT, the worker's party, that won the election. After I returned to the embassy, my family went to a couple of the other pavilions to see some of the other demonstrations and shows. The group in this photo were representing an indigenous tribe from the Amazon. As they sang, they invited members of the audience to join with them as they moved rhythmically in a circle. The older woman doing the singing also did some improvisational songs that praised the new Brazilian president. My family's favorite show was by a group of Ukrainian-Brazilian dancers from the south of Brazil. We knew that Brazil is a population made of people from all over the world, but seeing a Ukrainian folk dancing helped to sink in the message. This community has made it a distinct goal to try and preserve traditions from their homeland, and it really reminded me of the cultural celebrations that we have in Cleveland, which is another community made of cultures from around the world. The most exciting moment of the outing came when my youngest son got separated from the rest of the family. As they were moving from one pavilion to another, it started to rain very hard, and so everyone moved under the closest tent. During this mass movement, my wife noticed that our son was no longer with them, so she told the rest of the kids to stay put while she hunted for him. She found a nearby police officer and used her Portuguese to describe the missing kid: short blonde hair wearing blue Crocs with socks. (Definitely not similar to any of the Brazilian kids that day. The socks were the giveaway feature.

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