Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has finally confirmed speculation of as far back 2019 that he still wants to return to the office after serving close to six years as president. What he thinks he can achieve in four years, which he failed to achieve in his last time out, still baffles me.
In 2023, yours truly was one of the many voices that warned him to stay away from seeking re-election and to continue to enjoy his global status as statesman and a beacon of democracy and democratic governance who is also recognised internationally for his politics that is devoid of violence and bloodshed.
Jonathan still remains one of the very few former African leaders in a sea of despots and maximum leadership, who enjoys that status today. His willingness to hand over as incumbent without any form of resistance and bloodletting has since etched him in the history of Nigerian politics as not only a national but global ambassador who has remained relevant and busy with a reputation that precedes him wherever he goes.
In 2023, we warned him that the times have changed and that the era where the president completely hands over the duty of independently conducting elections to INEC ended with him. We also warned him about the APC presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. We told him that Buhari, who did not hesitate to order soldiers to shoot and kill unarmed protesting youths at the Lekki tollgate, would not hesitate to deal with him.
Sadly, he seems hell-bent in pursuing his ambition. But as they say, it’s better for one to remain silent in the face of a false impression than to open one’s mouth and erase all doubts.
Jonathan stands to suffer the same fate of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, whose return as a civilian president for eight years completely erased whatever goodwill he enjoyed as military head of state.
The same Buhari who was seen as a messiah was eventually pelted severally by his own people in the streets of Katsina before his demise.
Jonathan, after being cleared by the court as being eligible to run and finally receiving the Turaki-led PDP ticket on Saturday as its presidential candidate, is all but certain to be on the ballot but for the uncertainty around the party’s current status.
In my reckoning, the only thing I consider worthwhile with the Jonathan move is his identification with the Turaki-led PDP. Obviously, that is a bold statement to the fact that the Wike-led PDP cannot be the authentic PDP.
Wike claims on one hand that his faction is the recognised one in the eyes of the law, yet he consistently continues to use government machinery to harrass and intimidate the other faction. How is it that he has ascribed to himself the duty of interpretation and enforcement of court judgment. He is even so petty that he threatens venue operators not to allow the Turaki group access to venues for their events. If this does not qualify as abuse of official powers, then what else does?
How can a party that has once led the country and has been competing strongly after losing power now be reduced to a shadow of its former self just because of the bloated ego of one man? How can Wike insist that because he is benefitting from the APC, the PDP must remain comatose and invalid? How Wike is able to convince former Senate President Bukola Saraki and the rest to tag along with him remains a mystery.
How can Wike back APC in elections from council up to presidential and still claims, tongue-in-cheek, to belong to PDP?
Wike, who started out as an apprentice politician in PDP and rose to be minister and governor under the PDP, is happy today to see that same party dying while pretending to be more interested in the wellbeing of the party than all those who guided and helped him cut his teeth as a politician. He has severed all contacts with all those who helped shape his life and is now insulting and disparaging all his benefactors. He is so big now that he now thinks that the Jonathans, the Peter Odilis of this world, must defer to him.
Jonathan’s decision to support the Turaki faction is a boost for them, and that also explains why the Wike faction has been making snide remarks against the former president.
That said, Jonathan should be told by those he listens to that this mission will only lead to one destination, and it will not be in his best interest. One does not need the gift of clairvoyance in this instance.
He and other former presidents should be content with just being the voice of the nation. They should only lend their voices in guiding political office holders aright. This nation has suffered too much misgovernance, and the responsibility of building the nation should not be left to the machinations of public office holders alone.
Finally, while this treatise might just be coming a little too late, the very essence of it is just to stand as a reminder when eventually, Jonathan’s nose is bruised and his reputation dragged in the mud and rubbished all in the name of seeking a return to office.
