Assuming, without conceding that, indeed, Jonathan knew nothing about the nomination form, and is actually not in cahoots with the APC wizards in their game of musical chairs, why not say so categorically and unmistakably? When did ‘I will not run’ become such a complex thing to say? Jonathan may think he is fooling Nigerians, taking all for a jolly good ride, but truth be told, the joke is on him.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
I am in love with the phrase, ‘political silly season,’ which, I understand, possibly came from an article in the July 13, 1861 edition of the London weekly newspaper, The Saturday Review, and was listed in the second edition of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
So iconic is the phrase that it has remained in use till date. It is defined as a period of time in which the behaviour of an individual or group tends to become uncharacteristically frivolous, mirthful or eccentric – a period marked by outlandish and illogical activity or behaviour.
It is understandable if in politics, the silly season is a time, especially just before the elections, when undeliverable promises and wild accusations are the order of the day. Politicians the world over make promises during political silly seasons they neither have the capacity nor intention to fulfill. They simply use those unfulfillable promises to wheedle the politically unwary and corner undeserved votes.
But Nigeria’s political silly season goes way beyond all that. Granted, the activities of politicians are mostly frivolous and illogical, but it is even more so in this election cycle. What is going on is simply bizarre and beyond the pale.
Or how else can one explain the self-inflicted and completely avoidable injury of former President Goodluck Jonathan who seems to be in a quandary whether to remain in his political closet or be man enough to throw his hat into the 2023 presidential ring.
Jonathan, an unknown political entity before 1999, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current political dispensation having served as a deputy governor, governor, vice president and ultimately president. He only failed in his reelection gambit in 2015 when the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), founded on February 6, 2013, barely two years before the elections, supplanted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after 16 years on the saddle.
And Jonathan’s unbridled greed for power and unbelievable naivety explain why PDP lost power. To that extent, he was the greatest enabler of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. If Jonathan had honoured the agreement he reached with PDP chieftains in 2011 to do only one term after completing the term of his boss, President Umaru Yar’Adua, who died in office and allow power to rotate back to the North, there would have been no Buhari presidency in 2015.
He reneged on that agreement and northerners, most of them PDP members, who saw his action as a gross betrayal of trust rallied round the APC that fielded a northern candidate.
Even northerners who hitherto could not stand General Muhammadu Buhari’s atavistic socio-political disposition rallied round him, a man who had all but bid farewell to his presidential ambition in 2011 after three failed attempts.
So, Jonathan resurrected Buhari’s dead political career. The 2015 presidential election was lost by Jonathan and not necessarily won by Buhari and he remains the reason why PDP is in political wilderness today.
Sadly, the former president is at it again. Rather than being remorseful and asking for forgiveness, Jonathan claims to be the offended party. The PDP, like the proverbial millipede in Igbo folklore has remained stoic, even as Jonathan who stepped on and crushed its head continues to wail and complain of disrespect.
For too long, Jonathan stopped taking part in PDP activities. He even boycotted the last national convention of the party, while at the same time having a hot romance with the APC.
It is no gainsaying that as the age long Scottish ‘if wishes were horses, beggars would ride’ axiom goes, Jonathan would gladly run for the presidency again if Buhari assures him that victory would be a fait accompli, delivered to him on a platter of his fabled good luck.
Of course, those who are wooing him are not known to be Father Christmas when it comes to the issue of power. In the event that it becomes inevitable that power must rotate to the South after Buhari’s statutory eight years in office, they see in another Jonathan presidency the shortest route back to power by 2027. Besides, in Jonathan, they see a gullible leader without spine, someone who could easily be manipulated, a puppet who will be in office while the puppeteers are in power pulling the strings.
By acquiescing to this unholy alliance, Jonathan is pretending not to know that he will be shortchanging the entire South. Besides, he has no qualms torpedoing the quest of Ndigbo to produce the next president knowing full well that their unqualified support for him is the only reason Buhari went for their jugular and labelled the Southeast a “dot in a circle.”
Granted, politics is not a game of morality, but a man’s conscience need not take a flight simply because he is in the arena of politics.
READ ALSO: Southeast Presidency: Calling out Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi, Uwazuruike, other Igbo quislings
Southeast, 2023 presidency and imperative of zoning
If Jonathan decides not to support the aspiration of the Southeast, a quest which building blocks are erected on the solid foundation of equity, fairness and justice, that will be true to character and no one should begrudge him in the unlikely event that he once again enjoys another coronation as the president of this beleaguered country.
But he should be man enough to step into the arena rather than hide behind a finger pretending that he is not a member of the APC and disowning those who bought the party’s presidential nomination form for him.
Trying to distance himself from those who bought the form is childish because the APC officials who sold it to the so-called Fulani pastoralists and Almajirai, no doubt, knew who the beneficiary was. At least, nomination forms are not sold to non-card carrying members of political parties.
Even the attempt to deny his “benefactors” is characteristically childish and unconvincing. As Buhari’s aides were busy ululating on the social media about APC’s new catch, Jonathan was pretending to be grossly offended by the action of those who bought the APC presidential form for him.
But even that façade of righteous indignation evaporated sooner than later when in a space of just one hour, he issued two statements blowing hot and cold at the same time.
In the first statement by Ikechukwu Eze, his media adviser, Jonathan said it was an insult to his person, knowing the position he had held in the country, for anyone or group of people to procure a presidential aspiration form in his name without his consent.
“It has come to our notice that a group has purportedly purchased Presidential Nomination and Expression of Interest forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the name of former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,” the statement read.
“We wish to categorically state that Dr. Jonathan was not aware of this bid and did not authorise it.
“We want to state that if the former President wanted to contest an election, he would make his intentions clear to the public and will not enter through the back door.
“While we appreciate the overwhelming request by a cross-section of Nigerians for Dr. Jonathan to make himself available for the 2023 Presidential election, we wish to state that he has not in any way committed himself to this request.
“Buying a presidential aspiration form in the name Dr. Jonathan without his consent, knowing the position he had held in this country, is considered an insult to his person. The general public is therefore advised to disregard it.”
The ink had barely dried on the paper before the statement was revised, drastically toning down the contrived outrage.
This time, the former president neither considered it an insult to his person nor advised the public to ignore the gambit, he meekly thanked the general public for their concern and encouraged citizens’ participation in the affairs of the country even as he continued to negotiate behind the scene with APC leaders.
Assuming, without conceding that, indeed, Jonathan knew nothing about the nomination form, and is actually not in cahoots with the APC wizards in their game of musical chairs, why not say so categorically and unmistakably?
When did ‘I will not run’ become such a complex thing to say? Jonathan may think he is fooling Nigerians, taking all for a jolly good ride, but truth be told, the joke is on him.
The story of Jonathan and APC reminds me of another Igbo folklore of the old woman and inine (a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera). While the old woman is busy planning how to eat the insect, inine is also plotting how to purge her.
The liaison between the former president and the ruling party will not end well. At the end of the day, he will be disgraced and Nigerians will know him for what he is – unreliable, fickle, slimy political opportunist.
Even if he decides to halt the abhorrent drift today, it is already too late. The damage is done and history has sealed his fate. And it is a well-deserved comeuppance for betraying, when they needed him most, not only a political party that gave him the wings to fly but also a people – Ndigbo – that backed him to the hilt and continue to take the flak for their unalloyed solidarity.
