It beggars belief that a cabal of cynical political manipulators from the North SAT somewhere in the NORTH and DECIDED that it will be EXPEDIENT for the North to make overtures to former President Goodluck Jonathan to SOUND him out on the possibility that he can be RECRUITED to come back to power in 2023 but on the CONDITION that that can only be possible if he decamps from his own known and identified party, the PDP, and joins the ruling APC and those artful manipulators BELIEVE that like an excited child in a candy shop, Jonathan will fall for this gambit and willingly go along with them.
The mere thought of it and the actual move to accomplish the plan, is not in any way a very good commentary on the perceived character, ability and disposition of Jonathan. Rather, it is a clear expression of the very low opinion they have of him. To put it more bluntly, it is an indictment of who they think Jonathan is. That, he is a plain, pliant, unprincipled and effete man, lacking in political sophistication whatsoever and who can, therefore, be tossed about like a reed in a tide.
If Jonathan does not think himself as fitting the above portraiture but as a man of principle, fairness and justice, upon hearing the rumour swirling about his possible draft by the North for 2023 on the platform of the North, for use by the North, to achieve some yet-to -be -disclosed Northern agenda, the mere thought of it should have caused him to wear sackcloth and ashes and parade the nooks, creeks and crannies of Otuoke and the streets and boulevard of some Nigerians towns and cities, lamenting, “How do they see me? Who do they think I am? Do they think of me as a pliable, unprincipled, unfair and a useless man who lacks even elementary self-respect? Do they see me as an any-how man who is not concerned about his personal dignity or the dignity of the people he has come to represent and to symbolize their fears and aspirations?
Surely, there is thinking that informed the thought that Jonathan is the right man for the plan and that he be approached for 2023. Do they think that having tasted power for six years, he is so enamoured of it and has become so desperate to go back that ne can fall for any plan that derogates his sense of dignity and self-respect? What becomes of the popular near nationwide clamour for an Ibo presidency come2023?
If Jonathan thinks much of himself and wants Nigerians to see him as a man of integrity, he would recruit his own wife, Mama Peace, to employ either a winged instrument and follow him in his parade and take up a lament, ‘There is God oh’’. This thing they want to do to the Ibos, there is God oh!’’
Let no one tell me that the idea is a mere rumour. We should wait for it before we seek to pass judgment. We must start to pass judgment right now in order to possibly nip it in the bud because the mere idea of it is not good at all.
In our country Nigeria where everything and anything goes, a political rumour is as good as a confirmed plan, the idea is indeed harboured. What remains is the manifestation. Before Jonathan bites the bait, a town crier ought to warn him because any acceptance of it will be akin to committing suicide. As this rumour started, I cast my mind back to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The late Sardauna and his followers in the North knew how desperate Awo sought to be president for even one day because he knew that even if he was president for one day the mere speech outlining his plan for Nigeria will change Nigeria for good! In spite of this knowledge, no one in the North would have contemplated approaching Awo and selling him the idea of his decamping form his Action Group party or the Unity Party of Nigeria to run on the platform of the NPC or the NPN.
If anyone dared to approach Awo the man would have called a press conference to wonder aloud to the world the motive of the people who approached him if the people who met him with such a proposal were sane or mischief makers who want to court his trouble.
The fact that people could approach Jonathan should therefore be a matter of how they perceive his person.
In case Jonathon is not aware, these parties that do not represent any ideology have nevertheless become more or less cultural expression property of the people. There are Northerners of President Buhari’s ilk or generation who believe that APC is a Northern thing and the South-South and South East who believe that thePDP is their own thing.
If Jonathan therefore dares to ditch PDP and runs on APC platform this is what will happen: the South-South and south east will not vote for him. In fact, they will align with someonefrom the North, most probably Atiku, in order to pour sand into his garri. He will be seen as a monumental betrayer of the hope and aspirations of his base to become a willing stooge in the hands of others. The whole thing will sound the political death nail of Jonathan.
Whether Jonathan eventually wins or loses, his image would have taken such a severe battering that he will not be able to recognize himself in a mirror. His people in the South-South will be the first to disown him for acceding to his image being put to disrepute. I will be the first to do so because I will feel humiliated on his behalf if he does not feel so. The Ibos who will feel that he is being used as a convenient spoiler to their legitimate claim will treat him like a leper.
In fact, he will not be able to spell his surname after the election whether he wins or loses. For some of us humble and appreciative souls who are always thankful to God for what some consider small mercies, we wonder why someone like Jonathan will like to be used in a clear plan to scuttle the fair and right agitation by the Ibos that as one of the tripods upon which Nigeria stands, they deserve to have the presidency in 2023.
Dear President Jonathan, cynical power wielders and manipulators have realised that there are three things that men of all races on earth fall for if they are sufficiently tempted: power, sex and money. That is why those people are approaching you. I want to humbly tell you that they have settled for you not because they love you so much but because they love themselves and their interest which is always number one in their consideration of everything.
Therefore, refuse to be tempted. Reject the offer. If God wants you to be president again, the initiative is not going to come from those people. It will come from somewhere else and you will discern it yourself.
Have you forgotten just so soon how these people and their agents were abusing you every day to such a level that you yourself once remarked that you were the most abused president on earth? They called you clueless, incompetent and unsuitable. What has changed now? Have you now become so ‘clueful’, competent and suitable?
Do not squander the enormous goodwill you earned for that singular, statesmanlike acceptance of your defeat in 2015. Anything else you do now is likely to cast you in the image of our usual type of politicians who live for power without any principles.
The year 2023 is the year of the Ibos to accede to the presidency of their country. Your region has had its just share. Do not allow yourself to be used to spoil the chances of your brothers, the Ibos. You are too much to be used for the role of a spoiler. A brother who loves you has said it. Heed the counsel.
