The immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a very lucky man. By divine arrangement, he became President of one of the most populous countries in the world almost on a platter of gold. Such divine arrangement must have been so strong to have picked him from the category of those who never have shoes to wear in their younger days to lead over 170 million Nigerians – of different characters and characteristics, manners and mannerism (apology to the orator of our time, Sir Yusuf Maitama Sule).
The more than five years he was on that Presidential hot seat, one thinks, should have moulded Jonathan into a mature politician, and of course, a statesman. I refer to the full meaning and implication of statesmanship.
But, the former President has lately been in the market place, exchanging dirty words with whoever dares to ‘attack’ him.
The latest was with the governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai, who dared to accuse him of favouring only the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the distribution of ecological funds during his tenure as President.
El-Rufai, through a committee he heads, and which was set up by the National Economic, Council (NEC), alleged that no money was given to none PDP governors (which was the President Jonathan’s party) throughout his tenure.
Jonathan did not allow the dust raised by El-Rufai’s allegation to settle when he went to town with a denial. In attempting to react, possibly in anger, Jonathan ended up confirming El-Rufai’s allegation. The only new thing he said was that it was not all the PDP governors that benefited from the fund, citing the former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, who is his best friend.
The anger which governor El-Rufai elicited in ex President Jonathan was so palpable that, he (Jonathan) had to, two days later, fire another salvo at the governor, this time around, shooting himself badly in the foot.
Jonathan raised two important issues against his adversary – El-Rufai: that El-Rufai had been attacking him because he refused to grant his request for a ministerial position during his Presidency and that El-Rufai begged him for money to campaign for the governorship of Kaduna state, which he granted by directing the then minister of state for finance, Senator Nenadi Usman to release N200 million to him (El-Rufai) as his (Jonathan’s) contribution.
Now, it appears very clearly that Jonathan has no good advisers around him. If he has, such advisers would have advised him not to make it public that El-Rufai begged him to be made a minister, when the same El-Rufai was already a ranking minister (of the Federal Capital Territory – FCT) in the cabinet of Olusegun Obasanjo, the President long before him.
Co-incidentally, it is on record that Jonathan himself begged Obasanjo to intervene in the controversies that trailed Bayelsa state gubernatorial primaries which sought to edge him out of the contest that time. Obasanjo did not only sympathetically listen to him, but later single-handedly made him running mate to late Umaru Musa Yar’adua who later became the country’s President (with him as Vice President). He subsequently became President at the demise of Yar’adua.
So, if it was proper for him to beg the then President Obasanjo to intervene in the Bayelsa state controversial gubernatorial primaries as a bona-fide citizen of Nigeria, why would it be seen as an abomination or an offence or a crime for another bona-fide Nigerian like El-Rufai to “beg” him for the position of minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Why did he make it look like it was a big deal, especially, when El-rufai had been a ranking minister long before he became President?
His advisers ought to have drew his attention to the implication and meaning of opening up a can of corruption that was embedded in his confessed donation of N200 million to the campaign purse of El-Rufai. First and foremost, Jonathan simply confirmed directly that he was actually the one that had been approving the distribution, via various sources, including his former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Nenadi Usman, of our national collective wealth to who he would. Or else, from where did he get the N200 million that he “dashed” El-Rufai and for what purpose?
By this confession, Jonathan might have made the job of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) very easy. All that the Commission needs now is to pick him up and go further to get information from him on who else he donated huge amount of our money to in his desperate attempt to win the 2015 Presidential election.
On political side of the confession is the question of the anti-party activities of the former President, who rode on the back of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power but preferred to be donating huge sums of money to opposition candidates, including El-Rufai to win vital election to the detriment of the PDP candidates.
As a matter of fact, everyone knew that before the 2015 election, Kaduna state was under the PDP leadership. Everyone knew too that El-Rufai contested the governorship of Kaduna state on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), against the PDP incumbent. What sense did it make for the then President Jonathan to donate N200 million to El-Rufai to assist him win the election in a state which his party was already leading?
And on the moral side Jonathan’s confession is the question of whether he understands that lives of millions of Nigerians would have been bettered if the N200 million he dashed just one person was invested in some social infrastructures?
Did he really mean it when he said that it is only those who are caught in Ajegunle market stealing pieces of meat that are corrupt?
We need to honestly appeal to Jonathan to do the saner members of this country a favour by keeping quiet so that, at least, the air would be a little bit clear for them to breath.
Enough of this infantile ranting that exposes his erstwhile incompetence on matters which even kindergarten children would handle better. [myad]
