Waxing lyrical in their tributes to President,Goodluck Jonathan for his unprecedented act of statesmanship in conceding defeat at the March 28th, 2015 presidential elections to Mohammadu Buhari, the distinguished diplomat (who had also in a political contest , intriguingly yielded leadership to Shehu Shagari, former president of Nigeria , 1979-1983) was so effusive in his praise of the noble mien of Mr. President, who although highly demonized while in office, has become a hero at the point of exit, through a single gallant act of accepting defeat with candor which is a very rare attribute in African leaders.
Danjuma too, was equally generous in pouring encomiums as according to him “President Jonathan has made history, set a record to be emulated by the rest of Africa and indeed the whole world”.
As the military general in charge of the army during the unfortunate 30 months Nigerian civil war, TY Danjuma certainly knows what he is talking about.
Even more interesting is the fact that both Maitama Sule and TY Danjuma who have spoken so glowingly are not particularly fans of President Jonathan, having had spats with him in the course of his administration, so their comments must be seen as altruistic and accorded the weight of gold which they deserve.
Indeed, the blood of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent Nigerians could have been shed (as was the case in 2011 when 800 lost their lives owing to post elections violence) if President Jonathan had disputed the elections result that was fraught with technical hitches, but as a God fearing leader and in keeping with his promise that his political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, the marine biologist from Otuoke, is leaving Aso Rock without, as it were, raising dust or blowing a fuse.
President Jonathan who was swept into office in 2011 with the massive votes of Nigerians in excess of 22 million against Mohammadu Buhari’s 12million, rose to the top of the political echelon on the basis of his humble background encapsulated in his “I had no shoes” appeal and a promise of “fresh Air” in the highly polluted Nigerian political atmosphere.
After failing to act on time against Boko haram insurgents, faltering on the management of Nigeria’s oil/ gas resources and what was regarded as a seeming acquiescence with massive corruption in the polity as well as a perceived lackadaisical attitude towards tackling youth unemployment, defining Jonathan by his mistakes was looking like a fait accompli.
Surprisingly, the assumption that Jonathan’s mistakes will define him has proven to be so untrue as nobody second guessed him well enough to anticipate that a mere phone call to congratulate his opponent several hours before collation of votes was completed would end up being a political master stroke and trump card.
A cursory study of the man Goodluck Jonathan will reveal that he is a man of fidelity even though his adversaries may not agree due to the oft touted belief that he made a promise in 2011 to serve only one term but reneged thereby breaking PDP’s gentleman’s agreement of rotating power between the north and south of Nigeria every eight (8) years.
Nevertheless, when he made a vow to rout Boko haram insurgency in north east Nigeria, he kept his word: In eight(8) weeks Boko haram that was in control of a large swathe of territory in Nigeria is going into extinction; when he promised to investigate the alleged fraud in the nation’s oil/ gas industry, he kept faith by being the first to authorize independent forensic audit of the oil behemoth, NNPC by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, PWC and when he committed to bequeathing a credible electoral process to Nigerians, he did by appointing Attahiru Jega whom he had not met personally before offering him the job and he approved the use of card reader machines in the 2015 general elections which is largely responsible for the current election being adjudged one of the freest and fairest, despite the technical hitches experienced in the use of the gadgets.
In fact, when the general elections were rescheduled, most Nigerians thought it was the death knell or nunc dimitis for democracy in Nigeria as Jonathan was believed to be harbouring the hidden agenda of perpetuating himself in office via the obnoxious Interim National Government, ING concept but he put a lie to that notion on March 28th when the election leading to his loss of power was conducted.
Equally noteworthy is the fact that , Jonathan did not abuse the rights of opponents by sending economic crime agencies like EFCC etc against critics of his government as one of his predecessors did. As a matter of fact, some have argued that, if Jonathan was not a true democrat, he could have scuttled the chances of the opposition parties bonding together to form APC that later nailed his political coffin.
These gestures and particularly, his early concession of defeat have now essentially defined president Jonathan hence the encomiums currently being poured on him by world leaders including president Barack Obama of the USA .
Viewed against the backdrop of the terrible human carnage arising from recent post-election violence in the East African nation of Kenya and Cote de voire in West Africa President Jonathan is deserving of the accolades that he is receiving locally and internationally.
Apparently, while Jonathan had remained true to himself, it is his opponents and, by extension, the media that have been misunderstanding the essential Goodluck Jonathan.
Indeed, instead of reading Jonathan’s body language, Nigerians have been focusing on the body language of his close aides and associates as well as his wife’s which perhaps explains why we all failed to identify the truth in his several avowals to hand over power to whoever wins the presidential elections- a promise he is keeping, to the utmost surprise of most Nigerians and foreigners alike.
Before ascending the presidential throne in 2010 following the sudden demise of President Umaru Yar’adua, Jonathan had served as Vice President of Nigeria. Without throwing tantrums or throwing a punch, the famous Doctrine of Necessity enacted by parliament to resolve the leadership lacuna created by the death of a president while in office, propelled him to office as Acting President.
In 2011, being eligible, he vied for the office of president against the grain of PDP grand norm and won the election to serve for another term. Thereafter, trouble began as he was not seen to be keeping to his lofty campaign promises.
It is also on record that Jonathan, at a church service in Abuja, pointed out that he is not a lion or a tiger so expecting him to capture Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau alive or resolving Nigeria’s gargantuan challenges with a magic wand over night was beyond his capacity.
In the light of the above, we all have to take the blame for expecting extra ordinary performance from an ordinary folk whose ambition was to be a mere school teacher until politicians yanked him out of the ivory towers where he was comfortable with his humble environment, berthed him briefly in OMPADEC where he served as director and finally catapulted him in to the den of political lions who would stop at nothing to make him the king of the jungle -a borrowed robe that he will be shedding on May 29, the inauguration date for the new govt.
To Jonathan’s critics, if at the nascent stages of his tenure he had acted as a truly detribalized Nigerian by reaching out to and associating more with nationalists like Maitama Sule and TY Danjuma as opposed to identifying with and pandering to members of his ljaw ethnic group, like Pa E K Clark and militants such as Asari Dokubo, who literarily reduced him to an ethnic leader by often threatening to take dire reprisal actions against other ethnic groups if Jonathan were to be ousted, he would not have lost his national leader appeal as reflected in the March 28th presidential elections where he was embarrassingly trumped.
Recall that during his contest for the presidency of the USA which he won in 2008, President Barrack Obama was faced with a similar dilemma of being defended by his church parish priest who alleged a racist bias against Obama as a black presidential candidate.
But the Obama campaign organization quickly dissociated itself from the priest’s position and averted the backlash and possible push back from the white voters that could have been elicited by that race induced comment.
Unfortunately, Jonathan’s handlers were simply not savvy enough to see the folly of being pigeon holed into an Ijaw leader instead of the national leader status thrust on him by virtue of being the president of Nigeria, which he admitted he did not anticipate.
All said and done, after May 29th, l hope our former president, as he would then be referred to, can go back to his original life of dwelling in his unpolluted and pristine mangrove of Otuoke, Bayelsa state.
As they say in my local Ika dialect, Alua!