The decision to recount my encounter with the president while he was governor of Bayelsa State is borne out of the compelling need to do a minor background check on him, which may afford us the opportunity to juxtapose his behavioural pattern before he became president and his current style of administration.
Like every other person, my travail in politics is fraught with pieces of experience – sometimes palatable and other times nauseating – through the privilege of association with people in positions of authority. But one thing stands out, which is the fact that I have thrown in everything in my possession humanly possible to sustain any political relationship regarding such to be a learning and sowing process because sowing begets reaping.
However, as a student of political behaviour, I have found some experiences intriguing when analysed alongside prevalent political culture. One of such was my encounter with Governor Jonathan on whom providence had deposited the responsibility of piloting the affairs of Bayelsa in the absence of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was paying his political dues at the time. This opportunity came when Dr. Alex Ekwueme, with whom I was working, took me and a few security details to Yenagoa on the occasion of a book launch of the chief judge of the state then.
Quite frankly, during the period I worked with the former vice president, I was opportuned to meet many important people while we were regarded and treated as special guests at every event or place we visited, during which we flew around in one of the presidential jets. But in that very instance, I did not know what awaited us until we got to the Bayelsa/Rivers border where a government delegation, including the chief judge, was detailed by the governor to usher us in the Government House. The governor, along with his wife, wasted no time in accommodating us at the Presidential Lodge next to his modest lodge.
To cut the story short, as we got upstairs, I noticed the giant portrait of Alamieyeseigha in the sitting room and I pinched myself with the question: Is this not the picture of the wanted governor? From that moment, I began to experience the rare kind of humility exhibited by this gentleman politician who left no stone unturned in making sure that his numerous guests, which included Governor Peter Odili of Rivers and those who were in the state to reconcile political squabbles among the politicians in that state.
A gala night preceded the book launch, the next day, under the chairmanship of Ekwueme. You could feel an infectious humility as Jonathan inquired from everybody, including the drivers, how he could make everybody comfortable. At night, he strolled in casually to personally invite us to dinner, during which he familiarised extensively. I remember Dr. Ekwueme sending me to call the governor, and on my way to the next building was seated the first lady plaiting her hair. When l inquired of the governor, she calmly and nicely pointed in the direction of the sitting room. When I got in, Jonathan was in a roundtable with people whose dressing depicted that of militants – in shorts and bathroom foot wears. When he saw me, he quickly got up and asked me if he was needed and I nodded, still baffled by that kind of humility.
In fact, I cannot capture everything in this piece; but suffice it that this president is just born a good man and is on a very sacred mission particularly designed to carry us through the crucibles of a peculiar evolutionary trend, and as such should be given maximum chance and support to finish what he started. If I must add this confession; the type of monetary gift I got from him, which Ekwueme didn’t know about, was first in history.
I will live with that reflective encounter with Jonathan and his wife for a long time to come. Therefore, is it any surprise that he has not changed much, judging from his mannerism and style of leadership, particularly as we weather through this trying period of insecurity, in today’s Nigeria where humility has come to be misconstrued as weakness?
• Onyechere is Special Adviser to the Abia Governor on Public Communications
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