The Jonathan Presidency – the Man Goodluck Jonathan

Jide Ajani

24 April 2011

analysis

This is the story of President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan as he prepares to run Nigeria for the next four years with his new mandate. This report attempts to present the man who would rule Nigeria to Nigerians. Beyond the man in public glare, this is an insider’s account of the man, Goodluck Jonathan.

His demure demeanour has become his greatest asset; Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that is.

The story starts from the dingy backwater settlement of Otueke 51 years ago.

When last October he told Nigerians that he went to school without shoes and carried his books on his head, he was not telling an unfamiliar story.

However, what made his story inspiring is his ascendancy to the exalted position of President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There can be only one at any given time. He is the one.

Rewind to Friday December 11, 2005. His boss and former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, was being flown to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, in handcuffs after his impeachment had been arranged.

But, while some aides to Jonathan savoured their new disposition as aides to a new governor, Jonathan, who had just been sworn-in as governor, locked himself away and broke down in tears. Here was a man he had served under as his deputy for seven years being whisked away while he took over his post. The joke in some circles then was that Jonathan was perhaps the most subservient deputy governor in Nigeria. But subservience, the ugly twin of humility, has its rewards.

By February 2007, those who had despised Jonathan for being a willing tool in the hand of former President Olusegun Obasanjo were to lick their sore when Jonathan was picked by Obasanjo to become the vice- presidential candidate to Umaru Yar’ÃÂ�dua.

And, if people were in doubt as to how luck works, Goodluck’s mysterious rise to become Nigeria’s president is an example.

But how lucky can anyone become?

Is luck transformational? Is it a virtue? Does it work easily?

Jonathan, who is married to Patience, developed the virtue of humility. And, the luck that has worked for him is for the simple reason that humility radiates a positive aura which, in turn, attracts luck.

But, that seeming docility which some Nigerians are quick to point at is the very essence of Jonathan’s strength. Every leader has had to contend with public opprobrium to his person. While some are said to be brutish, some cunning, Jonathan’s cross is that his demure demeanour is incongruous with the personality that Nigerians want. But Obasanjo was quick to look mean and serious and his looks only succeeded in landing Nigeria where the country is today.

Handling treachery in high places

Yet consider:

After the late President Yar’Adua was flown-in in February 2010, a Tuesday night, the country was on edge. Jonathan, who was vice- president, did not know his boss was being flown in. Even after he was wheeled into Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Jonathan was not allowed to see him. Another vice-president would have kicked.

The secrecy involved in the ailment of Yar’Adua, coupled with the governance-by-proxy which Nigerians were subjected to for some four months, got to a head.

While ministers waited for Jonathan to call the EXCOF meeting to order, on Wednesday, February 24, 2010, two security aides to then ailing President Yar’Adua walked into the council chambers. In fact, the two security aides posted sentry behind the seat of the president and commander-in-chief. The signal they sent with their action was that they were waiting for their boss, Yar’Adua, to walk in and take his seat. Some of the ministers in the chambers saw that as an optimistic sign but they were mistaken. It was a sign that Jonathan would not be allowed to sit on the chair and the aides to Yar’Adua wanted to ensure that. They did because the EXCOF meeting of that day never held. The trite argument in some quarters then, back and forth, was that as acting president, Jonathan ought not to have sat on the chair. It was a humbled Jonathan who met with ministers, later that day to announce that the meeting would no longer hold.

Mind you, by the time all these were happening, Jonathan was already acting president, empowered by law. But, by the night of May 5, 2010, that argument became lost.

Bringing PDP govs down to earth

Jonathan was to again shock the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, state governors late last year when he struck at the heart of their conscience.

At a time when some governors were playing yo-yo with their support for Jonathan, the latter made a passionate plea.

A source told Sunday Vanguard details of what the president said to the governors at a meeting: “I have not been known by people to be a desperate individual. Even after the president died, and the mantle fell on me, I attempted to carry everybody along. It is not a do-or-die affair to become the president of this country.

“Whatever we do here,” Jonathan reportedly said, “we should put Nigeria first and understand that whatever our party does will affect this country greatly. I am ready to make concessions for all of us to have peace and move ahead as a people and as a nation.”

Then the shocker: “If the party leaders and members say they do not want me as their presidential candidate, I would gladly accept it because I believe in God and I believe God Almighty is the one that gives power. As a party, we should ensure that after the primaries, we do not leave ourselves too bruised to win the general elections”.

After this solemn plea, the PDP governors came out to openly declare their support for him. That is not all.

Presidential Trickery: Between Jonathan & Sambo

Because Nigeria’s political evolution had suffered so many idiosyncrasies, yet the politicians remained incrementally worse, Jonathan was in a quandary when he was confronted recently with the dilemma of who to choose as his vice-president after the demise of Yar’Adua. Obasanjo and some other politicians of note wanted their wards to be picked. Even the Governors’ Forum flexed its muscle.

Unknown to all of these individuals and groups, Jonathan had something up his sleeves.

He had had talks with Mohammed Namadi Sambo, the governor of Kaduna State.

While all the jostlings were going on, Jonathan equally consulted widely but had his choice very close to his chest.

In fact, Jonathan, it was gathered from an Aso Rock source, helped some politicians who thought they had so much influence to wield, to fan the embers of speculation in the direction of their own choice.

Sunday Vanguard was informed that Jonathan made it clear to Sambo that he wanted somebody who could be trusted and he found that person in him.

It was also agreed between Sambo and Jonathan that their discussions would be kept as a secret. Both men agreed.

Therefore, while the Senate came out publicly with what it described as its choice of nominee for Jonathan, the latter simply lapped it up.

On the part of Sambo, the Senate’s choice of his predecessor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, as nominee to Jonathan, did not bother him.

Reason: Jonathan never requested any such nominee from the Senate.

Just as the Governors’ Forum also flexed its muscle on a possible vice-presidential nominee, Jonathan never requested the forum to forward a name.

What Sunday Vanguard was, however, told was that Jonathan kept it very open. He consulted as widely as possible.

In fact, according to an Aso Rock source, Obasanjo was made to “believe that whoever he presented to Jonathan would eventually get the job. But that was a dummy.”

The source further said that “in truth, President Jonathan deferred to the former president but there was never a time that guarantees were made or given on the matter.”

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