By Eric Elezuo

As it was in the buildup to the 2023 presidential election, The Boss can exclusively report that former President Goodluck Jonathan, who held sway between May 6, 2010 and May 29, 2015, may have come under intense pressure to contest the 2027 presidential election, in a bid to unseat the incumbent, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Jonathan was unseated as an incumbent in 2015 by the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari.

Tinubu’s administration has in the last one year been condemned as anti-people, as a result of the government’s policies, which has impoverished Nigerians and created hardship, hunger and more poverty than ever experienced. Stakeholders believed that if the situation remains as it is till the next electioneering, Tinubu will not have a chance even if he employs money politics to retain power.

Sources close to The Boss confirm that the former president, who was ousted in 2015 as a result of a coalition and consistent mergers of opposition and breakaway parties, is once more touted as a replacement for the “disastrous” Tinubu government, which has only spent about 15 months in office.

Prior to the 2023 election, Goodluck Jonathan was rumored to have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to wrestle power with all aspirants under the party’s platform, including Tinubu. Political analysts had argued that among those who had shown interest, none was in the green light to restore Nigeria to parity as a result of the way and manner Buhari handled the affairs on eight years. Much as the rumor gained massive ground, Jonathan finally debunked the possibility, thereby creating the enabling environment for Tinubu to emerge, and eventually won the general election.

In 2022, news broke that the former was on the verge of joining APC after a coalition of northern socio-cultural groups, basically of Fulani extraction, purchased N100 million nomination and expression of interest forms of the APC for him to contest for President again in 2023. Jonathan, however swiftly rejected the presidential form.

Speaking through his Media Adviser then, Ikechukwu Eze, the former president said it was an insult for the group to have bought him the form without his permission.

The Newss Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had quoted unconfirmed sources, which attempted to prove the former president was being pressured to re-contest. Some of the them, according to the sources include APC bigwigs, three unnamed African leaders among others.

The report said, “Several bigwigs of the party have also been calling Jonathan to pledge their loyalty and support to the former president.

“At least three top African leaders called the former president on the matter. They all urged him to run.

“One of them specifically told him that it didn’t make sense travelling all over Africa settling disputes only to shy away from leadership responsibility in his home country.

“Another reminded him of the implication of failing to put the experiences he garnered as a former Nigerian president and as a continental statesman to good use.”

According to the source, some of the African leaders told Jonathan that Nigeria was passing through challenging times and in need of “a unifier like Jonathan at this time”.

The situation of 2022/23 is playing again like the deja vu phenomenon.

Of whatever options available to the APC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the North, Jonathan is considered the real deal as a result of his known inability to run for two terms. Others, obviously, are sure to harbour the ambition to go for another term if selected for the 2027 period, and that explains why Jonathan is the most preferred bride among the caucuses and the northern oligarchy. The collaboration, they believe is a win-win situation where both the parties and Jonathan will eat their cakes and have it. The APC and the North will have power remain in their domain as the tenure years lasted, and will have it back after four years.

With the rising profile of Jonathan in the international circle and the fact that Buhari and more recently, Tinubu, have failed to match his achievements in human capacity and capital development, the Nigerian public and the political elites have continued to place premium in the possible return of the former president to complete his four years in office.

In the north where the administration of President Tinubu has received the greatest, bigwigs including the governor of Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, asked for the return of Goodluck Jonathan, saying that will be the only reason he would step down from contesting the presidency in 2027

Bala Mohammed, one of those who served in the administration of Jonathan, and stayed with him in his troubled days, said he is contemplating a presidential bid but will drop his ambition if the former President decides to contest.

Mohammed made this statement after a Non-Governmental organisation, NGO, asked him to consider running for the presidency, proving the tempo of seen and unseen pressure directed towards the former president to throw his hat in the ring.

According to the governor, Jonathan has experience and would do a good job if he gets the mandate to manage the country.

“With regard to your call for me to present myself, I am still contemplating my chances as the leader of the opposition.

“I know there are good leaders within the PDP, especially my boss Goodluck Jonathan.

“I have always said that as long as Jonathan is around, I will not present myself for leadership of this country, unless he decides not to run.

“If we can persuade him to come forward, I will support him with my blood. Out of modesty, he is still not ready. I hope you will meet him and encourage him to run.

“He will do a better job because he has the experience. We know the prices of things; we know the level of inflation.

“During Jonathan’s regime, he was inclusive, addressing issues like the Almajiri system and creating initiatives for unemployed youths.

“His leadership recruitment was exemplary. We need leaders like him – young people with energy, foresight and drive,” he said.

The Boss can also confirm internal decisions among northern politicians, who are fed up with the administration of Bola Tinubu with the excuse of total marginalization of the region, saying it will do the north good if Tinubu is removed in the next election. However, they fear the replacement of Tinubu by another southerner, who may want his complete eight years in office, thereby giving the south a 12 leverage in consistent leadership.

“Consequently, that is where a Jonathan comes into the picture. Jonathan can only do a constitutional four years as president, having done the first four years earlier. So, he won’t pose a problem in 2031 when the north wants to regain power.

“In fact, he will be instrumental to helping the North to regain power at the appointed time,” the source said.

Across the length and breadth of the nation, feelers have revealed that Jonathan has remained a much sought after personality to re-enact the magic that saw Nigeria among economic leaders; a leadership that reflected on the citizens in all postives. The bargaining power of the naira was comparatively strong in the international money.

“Today, the case is disastrously different. The citizens are languishing in abject poverty, and insecurity screams louder no thanks to the APC governments of Buhar, and presently, Tinubu.

Much as 2027 is over 30 months away, the next couple of months will make clearer the road to the presidency, and the gladiators that will be in the front burner. It is still whether Jonathan will succumb to the mounting pressures, or will he, like he did in 2022, turn down the request, and remain a international statesman.

Time will surely tell.

THE MAN GOODLUCK JONATHAN

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR, GCON, remains arguably the only Nigerian politician, who has occupied all political offices on a platter of gold. Born on November 20, 1957, (67 years in November) and very much eligible, Jonathan remains a force in Nigeria, politically and in the internationally. His popularity ever since he was booted albeit unceremoniously, out of office in 2015, has continued to soar, giving him a status many of his followers believe is equal to the most important person in the country today, especially as he willingly conceded defeat without rancour.

“My ambition is not worth the drop of blood of any Nigerian”, has remained a quote of his that has found solace in the hearts and minds of not a few Nigerians. Jonathan is termed legendary considering that not many in his shoes would have played ball as he did even with barefaced electoral malpractices his loyalists were ready to prove.

His lost to Buhari in 2015 turned out to be a blessing in disguise as a lot of people has score Buhari and his APC administration abysmally low. He has therefore leveraged on the dismal performance of the present government to relaunch himself and his career in both politics and diplomacy.

He was born in Ogbia to a Christian family of canoe makers from the Ijaw minority ethnic group in Bayelsa state, where he had his early education. He received a Bachelors degree in Zoology, a Masters degree in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology; and a Doctorate in Zoology all from the University of Port Harcourt.

Before joining politics in 1998, Jonathan worked as an Education Inspector, a Lecturer and an Environmental-Protection Officer.

On 29 May 1999, Jonathan was sworn in as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa alongside Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who came in as the governor of the state on the platform of PDP. Jonathan served as Deputy Governor until December 2005. On 9 December 2005, Jonathan, who was the deputy governor at the time, was sworn in as the governor of Bayelsa State upon the impeachment of the current Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State Assembly after being charged with money laundering in the United Kingdom.

In 2007, he was privileged to be selected as running mate to eventual presidential winner, Umaru Musa Yar’dua. As a vice-president, Jonathan maintained a very low profile though he participated in cabinet meetings and, by statute, was a member of the National Security Council, the National Defence Council, the Federal Executive Council, and Chairman of the National Economic Council.

He was instrumental in negotiating an agreement with many of the major militant groups in the Niger Delta, to lay down their weapons and stop fighting as part of a government amnesty programme.

In February 2010, he was named Acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, following a controversial doctrine of necessity from the Senate of Nigeria, due to President Yar’Adua’s trip to Saudi Arabia in November 2009 for medical treatment. There and then, he became active, and on February 10, 2010, during his first day as Acting President, Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle.

In accordance with the order of succession in the Nigerian constitution following President Umaru Yar’Adua’s death on May 5, 2010, he was sworn in as the substantive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 6 2010. He went ahead to choose Kaduna State governor, Namadi Sambo, as Vice President. In 2011, Jonathan and Sambo stood for election and won, and so began his own tenure in office as President, Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, becoming Nigeria’s 14th Head of State.

In his inauguration address, he declared that his government was to focus on a Transformation Agenda and promised to continue implementing the seven-point agenda policy framework of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. He cited anti-corruption, power and electoral reforms as focuses of his administration, stating that he came to office under “very sad and unusual circumstances”.

It is instructive to note that under Jonathan’s administration, Nigeria rebased its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for the first time in over a decade to become the largest economy in Africa overtaking South Africa and Egypt. He has been praised for assembling some of the best technocrats to help him run government following in the footsteps of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and his immediate boss, late Yar’dua.

Jonathan is credited with revolutionalising the infrastructure sector, opening up vistas for the construction of new railways in the country, including the Abuja-Kaduna railway, Lagos-Ibadan railway and conceptualised high speed rail projects. There are the construction and beautification of many federal roads in the country, including the Lagos-Benin expressway, Abuja-Lokoja expressway, Enugu-Abakiliki expressway, Onitsha-Owerri highway and most parts of the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. Also, construction of the second Niger Bridge between Onitsha and Asaba to relieve the pressure on the old Niger Bridge which was completed in December 1965. Construction of airports across the country. The Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu was upgraded into an international airport, directly connecting the South-East region of the country to the outside world for the first time since independence.

Among his many pluses, he gave a soul to the Almajiri caste of the north, creating schools to absorb homeless children of that region. He also established six universities across the geo-political zones.

Jonathan’s low point in administration was the January 2012 Occupy Nigeria Protests, which shut down the country for close to two weeks over government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy. The same people that berated Jonathan for the decision today canvassed for the removal.

Many analysts has said that the recent events have proved that Jonathan was a better administrator as most of the things he was called names for in times past has been initiated and propagated in today’s Nigeria.

Since leaving office, Jonathan has remained a focal point in international politics. In 2019, he was appointed as the honorary Special Adviser to the Bayelsa Education Trust Fund Board. In June 2019, Jonathan emerged as chairperson of the newly inaugurated International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP). In July 2020, Jonathan was appointed Special Envoy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); to lead mediation talks during the 2020 Malian protests. His avalanche of awards and recognition speak volumes of his style of leadership and perception to human life.

Jonathan is married to Patience, a very vocal and visible member of administration during his hay days in Aso Rock Villa.