Jonathan Caught The Joke

When it was speculated in some quarter that former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would vie for presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I considered such sentiment a mere figment of imagination. While everyone has a latitude and liberty to speculate, some of which may translate to reality, I did not need a prophet or a superior argument to convince me that former President Jonathan will never accept  any political overture or a presidential ticket, even if offered to him on a platter of gold, seamlessly and unconditionally from President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC).
The reasons are not far-fetched: Never had any Nigerian president or head of state, living or dead, suffered sarcastic and ignoble criticism from the opposition as the ebullient and peacemaker, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The criticism was so disparaging that even kinsmen and those who meant well for him preferred he should relinquish power to the blood thirsty and desperate “monkeys and bamboons” who were poised to wrest power inordinately. Unprintable comments were made about him and cartoons depicting a “dead” and ineffective government littered most western print media.
By his political antecedents, it is pertinent to state without fear of contradiction, that Dr. Jonathan could not be so desperate to forget in a hurry, the sordid spectacle of the recent past, an orgy that whoopped up sentiment capable of breaking this country. Strong advocates for Jonathan and his administration were ready for a show down.
Taking into cognisance the ugly scenario that played out about seven years ago, it is only the undiscerning mind that will eat with the devil with a long spoon. Nobody starts to use the left hand in old age, therefore even a consensual offer of the presidential candidacy by the All Progressives Congress smacks something sinister and unhealthy to Dr.  Goodluck Jonathan and the entire South-South region and Southern States. No gift from the enemy is actually free. Gifts make a way for the giver, Jonathan I believe is aware of this maxim, so did the needful by declining acceptance of the offer from the unfriendly “friend” from the Northern region.
Dr. Jonathan has an image to protect and should not allow the desperation of those in power to perpetuate party in presidency and shortchange the South in rotation equation, to rubbish his globally recognised reputation and integrity, built over the years. The scheme of the political marauders was a big joke and an “April Fool”. But Jonathan caught the Joke.
It will be recalled that until Monday the 30th March, 2015, when the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer for the March 28 Presidential Election, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in a  broadcast, conceded defeat to his closest rival, the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, I have viewed the polity as a self-serving, self-aggrandising game,  a game where moral values are subsumed under politicians’ whims and caprices.
In President Jonathan I found a leader whose love for his fatherland and regard for the sanctity of human life transcend the pecuniary gains associated with power. No doubt, Jonathan is not only the best democrat Nigeria had ever had and the second best in Africa after South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, He lived true and exemplified his avowed commitment to ensure a level-playing field, free and fair elections for all parties and their contestants, broaden the political space and commit to a ‘non fiction’  Independent National Electoral Commission.
At the inception of office on the 29th May, 2011, Jonathan promised  that the indivisibility of Nigeria remained sacrosanct. He said upholding the honour and glory of Nigeria was his mantra.
By congratulating Muhammadu Buhari on his purported victory at the 2015 Presidential Elections even in controversial circumstances sufficient to truncate the process and anul result, President Jonathan has kept faith with lyrics of the  National Anthem and National Pledge and proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is a statesman par excellence, a man of integrity. No doubt, Jonathan commands sterling leadership qualities worthy of emulation. A man of integrity who can find in the political space. In Dr. Jonathan is the answer,  marking him out as an exceptional leader in democratic governance in Nigeria.
Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry the wanton destruction of lives and properties in the Northern  Nigeria following the declaration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as winner of the April 2011 Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The then Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), whose presidential flag-bearer at the time was Muhammadu Buhari, had alleged wide scale malpractice and had contested the credibility and transparency of the election and validity of Dr. Jonathan’s emergence as winner.
And by his unguided utterances, part of which was, “the baboons and monkeys will be soaked in blood” Buhari instigated  unwarranted and unprovoked killing of innocent Nigerians in the North including National Youth Service Corp members.
I had expected President Buhari who by his actions called for the conflagration of Nigeria because he lost election, to show a sense of remorse and apologise to Nigerians and families of those who lost their loved ones in politically motivated killings.. I am still waiting for Buhari to apologise for sabotaging the administration of Dr. Jonathan through complicity in security breaches and the attendant colossal financial and manpower losses which is haunting his administration today.
But President Jonathan has at several fora unequivocally stated that no blood of any Nigerian is worth his political ambition. What a humane, God-fearing, selfless and conscientious leader!
By the prompt and timely acceptance of the 2015 Presidential elections,’ result as announced by INEC,   President Jonathan doused the premonition of crisis and unpleasant euphoria  that characterised  release of results and declaration of Buhari as winner especially when some electronic media organisations captured under-aged voting scenario in the North.
The political scenario in Africa shows  it is  difficult to unseat a serving president. For the first time in Nigeria, Jonathan proved that saying wrong . Consequently, he made the electorate to have a flicker of hope on INEC.
Recall that it was  for the reason of self-perpetuation that Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida annulled the june 12, 1993 presidential election of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who was the acclaimed winner of that election hence the change of democracy day from May 29 to June 12.  It was also for the same reason that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo instituted a process to review the constitution to accommodate a third term.
It is easier to assume power than to abdicate it because “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. For the petty and mean, leaving power is as painful as a leap into the dark or worse still, tottering on the brink of death when life is at its best.
I see the God element in Jonathan, that though he has the power to truncate the process and damn the consequences, decided to decrease for Nigeria to continue to survive as a nation.
It takes only the likes of Jonathan with a nationalistic and patriotic spirit to accept the outcome of highly flawed presidential election with a sense of decorum, rather than making inciting and inflammatory statements like Buhari did when he lost the 2011 presidential election.

By: Igbiki Benibo