In the pursuit of happiness in the Niger Area, a functional geopolitical solution will not be the least needed ingredient
Goodbye and Goodluck Jonathan
By Adeola Aderounmu
Some of us grew up with the awareness that our parents and grandparents told us to be careful about the things we say with our mouths and the things that we wished for.
Though he has denied it on several occasions and it bears no relevance any longer l can repeat that one of my keen observations the last time l visited Nigeria in 2010 was the campaigns of both Jonathan and Atiku.
I was actually stunned by the promise of Goodluck Jonathan as he begged to do only one term. Yes, I call it begging based on his body language and the way he expressed himself. It sounds like just let me do one term and Nigeria will be paradise again (but not in those words).
Nigeria political landscape has mostly been devoid of men of integrity. A few good men who may have some elements of integrity usually get choked out. They don’t last the campaign or they don’t get the vote because Nigerians are predictable voters.
They don’t even support the people with integrity to the extent where their votes may (now) not be counted. National and state elections are usually scandalous, rigged and manipulated. The 2015 election is reportedly full of malpractices.
In 2010/2011 Jonathan was a clear choice because at that time Atiku’s corruption files were already in the public domain thanks to his corrupt boss Olusegun Obasanjo whose corrupt files were also in the open as they fight for third term-to be or not to be.
That Jonathan was a clear choice at that time arose from many other factors. His criminal tendencies were watered down as he became Obasanjo’s choice after the demise of Yar Adua.
In addition the opposition parties at that time were not formidable.
I have written under several headlines about the laziness of Goodluck Jonathan and his extreme weaknesses as a person both as the deputy governor and then governor of Bayelsa State.
But at the national level, most of these deficiencies were not widely known. Even then Nigerians are gullible when one considers how criminals have emerged as selected or elected politicians over the years.
So this issue with Jonathan’s previous criminal records was not special.
If the anticorruption agencies in Nigeria were firm, committed and credible, Mrs. Jonathan would have at least being arrested because of her roles in fraud and money laundering. There is no way she would have had access to large sums of money or these types of crimes without the help of her husband Mr. Jonathan.
But when they arrived at the national scene after scaling all these hurdles, one would have expected the Jonathans to live a life of repented souls.
They did not.
They threw caution to the wind. They built houses made of gold in Bayelsa. They had probably the largest number of parties and ceremonies since Aso Rock was built. They did what they like and how they like acting like the presidential palace is part of their inheritance.
Jonathan made more than 200 electoral promises and achieved almost nothing. Instead he turned to propaganda and employed professional liars as PR machines.
For some reasons that will become clearer for sure in the days and years ahead security reached an all time low as terrorists took over more than 15% of Nigeria carving for themselves a region in the North East of Nigeria.
One could go on with all that went wrong under Jonathan which his sympathisers will not like to read or hear about. They will fight back.
For them and the Jonathans Nigeria remains a geographical expression and the purpose of winning political offices is for personal enrichment. .
Mostly true, but sad anyway. The question is: should it or does it have to go on like that?
Apart from security, there is hardly any problem in Nigeria today that started with Goodluck Jonathan.
He stated this fact so much it not only became a reference point but also his exclusive reason for non-performance.
I think as soon as Jonathan became the ruler of Nigeria he forgot that the reason why he was the clear choice over Atiku and Buhari was because people wanted a break; l mean people wanted a change from the category of people that have been destroying Nigeria at the center.
Until he became VP to Yar Adua, a relatively unknown Jonathan has only been destructive at the local and state level.
Led by Obasanjo, a man who thinks he knows everything, Nigerians even invaded the social media to ensure that the man who lied that he didn’t have any shoes an a boy became the ruler of Nigeria.
Jonathan-if the results of the last election are credible and anything to go by-is still a popular figure in Nigerian politics. I mean he almost won a re-election. Since the elections were not completely fair, he could actually claim (as he tried to do lately) that the presidential election was rigged!
He said he wanted one term, that’s what he got.
In my personal opinion, the machinery that installed Goodluck Jonathan was the same machinery that uninstalled him.
It was with great confidence that a few politicians have stated before the elections that Buhari will win. Let those who understand the abracadabra of Nigerian politics go figure that out.
One of my friends who visited Nigeria and left just before the 2015 elections told me that he was sure Buhari would win by a landslide victory. His explanations and reasons were no longer stark as we look together at the figures of the elections.
It is either Buhari was over estimated or Goodluck Jonathan slept for too long.
There could have been a remedy for Jonathan’s curse (the one term curse)
The easiest way and the only remedy perhaps for his one term curse on self could have been a performance-based cure.
Rather than perform Jonathan was romancing criminals of all types. Drug barons, ex-convicts and murderers found favour in Jonathan’s eyes. He played their God.
He continued the trend that Nigerians had known for years. He fell people’s hands.
Jonathan did not fight corruption one bit. He promoted and thrived on it.
He appears not to be in control of the situation. He is misinformed and ill-informed. He is not proactive.
When he departs at the end of the month Nigeria will be in her worst economy shape ever! Nigerian workers are not getting paid, fuel scarcity is back, tears and sorrows fill the land.
No one knows what the APC mandate will be like, only time can tell. But may the likes of Jonathan never see the apex of power again.
Sometimes though l wonder in whose hands the hope of rejuvenation of a country lies. Isn’t it logical that in a country where workers don’t get paid and the unemployed have no hopes of fulfilment-that the way forward lies with the people and what they decide to do or not?
I also wonder if the future really lies in the hands of a new government with old known faces of failure or a revolution by the people.
The people should be demanding for justice from those who ruined their lives and a return of every naira or kobo in the hands of the criminal politicians, at national and foreign banks.
Jonathan and his destructive team are leaving. They could be free or the law could take its toll on them.
Jonathan, goodbye and good luck!
But Nigeria is going no where! Dumb politicians don’t know that.
The people of Nigeria need to throw sentiments away. They need instead the armour of discernment. Nigeria belongs to them and their unborn generations.
Our lives will pass away. Power is transient.
What is more profitable and sensible than barbaric looting and senseless accumulation of wealth is to build a society and a country where peace and social justice reign.
For Nigeria the destruction of lives and institutions have been massive.
The road to freedom is going to be rough, long and unwinding. Along the way the people must pick up constructive education, natural intelligence and wholesome patriotism that will place value and merit above mediocrity.
In the pursuit of happiness in the Niger Area, a functional geopolitical solution will not be the least needed ingredient.
A View From The Scandinavian 