Goodluck Jonathan,Nigeria’s ‘worst’president turnedbest ex-presidentGoodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s ‘worst’ president turned best ex-president Goodluck Jonathan
Few men in the history of any nation are
as privileged and fortunate, as former
President Goodluck Jonathan, to have
held every important position of authority
and power, consecutively for 16 unbroken
years. First elected in 1999 as deputy
governor, then governor in 2005, later as
vice president in 2007 and finally in 2010
as president and commander in chief of
the armed forces of the Nigerian
federation. Reputed to be amiable, simple
and meek; his steady rise to power has
been attributed more to divine providence
and sheer luck, as his first name implies
than any track record of proven
competence and capacity at statecraft.
Born on 20th Nov, 1957 in the riverine
community of Otuoke in Bayelsa State, to
Ijaw parents, Goodluck Jonathan is no
doubt Nigeria’s greatest personal
beneficiary of the 4th republic.
Expectedly, no literature is exhaustive and
no consensus of opinion yet about his
stewardship as president between may
6th 2010 and may 29th 2015, because it
may be too early to fully appraise his
tenure barely 14 months after he left
office. But one thing is certain; Nigerians
rejected him at the 2015 general elections
and elected the candidate of the then
opposition APC, Muhammadu Buhari as
president. The 2015 general election was
historic because in a rare precedence in
Africa, unheard off in Nigeria, an
incumbent president lost an election.
However, Jonathan’s loss of election and
PDP’S fall from power after 16 years was
a long time coming. The beginning of the
end for the PDP started with the predicted
and eventual death of former president
Umar Musa Yar’adua on May 5th 2010
after a battle for his life with terminal
illness. Events emanating from the long
medical vacation of Yar’adua and his
inability or unwillingness to hand over the
mantle of powers to Goodluck, his vice
even in acting capacity created a political
tension in the country. Members of the
Yar’adua administration’s kitchen
cabinet, the “cabal” in which Jonathan
was an outsider, were running the country
by proxy, because Chief Kaase Aondoaka,
the attorney general proclaimed that the
president could rule from anywhere
including his sick bed. But in a rare show
of unity, the country rose to the occasion
and in one voice urged then President
Yar’adua to tow the part of honour
{Olusegun Obasanjo} and
constitutionality {Muhammadu Buhari},
by handing over to his vice [ Save Nigeria
Group] while unable to discharge his
functions as president. Through the
ingenious “doctrine of necessity”, the
National Assembly of the federation
mandated Goodluck Jonathan to act as
president in the absence of the
substantive president and commander in
chief. The nation heaved a sigh of relief
and normalcy was restored. This event
further endeared Goodluck Jonathan to
Nigerians, with attendant goodwill
because he was perceived to be maligned
and marginalised in the scheme of things
in the Yar’adua presidency.
Once he assumed full powers as
president, it wasn’t long before another
Goodluck Jonathan was unveiled.
Nigerians mistook his timidity and naiveté
for simplicity; for he barely understood
Nigeria and Nigerians and remained an
outsider in the power equation throughout
his tenure. Beneath the calm and innocent
look of his was a man driven by high
ambitions and quest for power; he moved
swiftly to consolidate his hold on power
and prepared for his eventual election as
president. His gentle manners and
politeness effectively concealed a very
vindictive fellow who rarely forgives his
political adversaries; he quickly moved
against all his opponents and stumbling
blocks to power, beginning with AGF
Aondaoaka, whom he redeployed from
justice ministry to special duties and the
sacking of the then PDP chairman,
Vincent Ogbulafor, whose sin was pre-
maturely declaring an embargo on
southern candidacy for the presidency,
because the north had not run its course,
without first seeking the opinion of the
president, a southerner, who was set to
run for the presidency in clear violation of
the zoning arrangement.
Once he lost his re-election bid, we again
saw a different Jonathan. We saw a man
who rose from the ashes of defeat, dusted
up himself, accepted his fate by promptly
conceding defeat and putting across that
historic phone call to his opponent,
Muhammadu Buhari, congratulating him
to the relief of his countrymen and the
delight of the international community.
With this first step, Jonathan began a
giant leap from his perception as
Nigeria’s worst president ever to Nigeria’s
best ex-president. He quickly followed up
this gesture by organising the most
comprehensive and seamless transition
process ever seen in our country.
Jonathan’s greatest achievement was
losing in an election which he supervised
as an incumbent, because that historic
event has certified our democracy as fully
grown and mature. A loss for Jonathan
that was a massive gain for Nigeria.
Nigerians are now confident in the
electoral system haven been emboldened
by their ousting of an incumbent through
the ballot. To Jonathan’s credit, he
appointed a man of proven integrity and
capacity, Attahiru Jega, a scholar of
international repute as the chairman of
INEC. An appointment that was based on
merit and not on sectionalism, Jega’s
performance was unparalleled in our
electoral history. All the innovations and
reforms carried out by Jega were made
possible by the financial and moral
support of Jonathan, thereby
transforming Nigeria’s democratic
experiment to a proven theory; a theory
that power truly belongs to the people.
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