BY Taiwo George
Someone said if you want to talk about Jonathan’s presidency, there would be a combination of bad and good. Well for anyone who holds political office, there must be a combination of bad and good.
Those were the words of outgoing president, Goodluck Jonathan, at a farewell reception organised for him on Wednesday by Daar Communications, owners of Raypower FM and the African Independent Television (AIT).
In less than 24 hours, the curtain would be drawn on the administration of the academic-turned-politician who steered the ship of the nation for five years after serving in strategic positions for more than a decade.
In pictures and brief text, TheCable examines select highs and lows of Jonathan’s five-year reign.
On November 23, 2009, then president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua travelled abroad for medical treatment without empowering his deputy to act in his place. For months, he was absent from duty. After weeks of protests organised by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), the national assembly adopted the doctrine of necessity, which empowered Jonathan to become acting president on February 9, 2010.
On February 10, 2010 – his first day as acting president – Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle. Adetokunbo Kayode, who was the labour minister, was named minister of justice, while Mike Aondoakaa was redeployed to the ministry of special duties.
On May 5, 2010, Umaru Yar’Adua died after a protracted illness that almost led to constitutional crisis.
The following day , Jonathan was sworn into office as president. He contested again in 2011; and on April 18, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of the election. He was sworn into office on May 29, 2011.
Jonathan could have meant well for the country by attempting to completely cancel fuel subsidy on the first day of 2012 – as current events seem to portray – but that action led to Occupy Nigeria – a revolution against his government. The protest cost him the mass appeal upon which he rode to power.
For the first time since 1990, Nigeria’s GDP estimates was rebased in 2014 and the exercise placed the country as the largest economy in the continent. Nigeria’s gross domestic product stood at $510 billion ahead of South Africa’s $370 billion and Egypt’s $257.29.
The sports sector came alive under Jonathan with Nigeria winning different laurels, the height being the feat of Super Eagles, who were crowned the champions of the continent at the 2013 African Cup of Nations. Nigeria won that trophy after nearly 20 years of striving.
One of the areas where Jonathan was able to secure a landmark achievement is the agricultural sector, which at a point was neglected by successive governments.
A good instance is the introduction of e-wallet, which was able to curb corruption and enhance the development of farming. The wallets were introduced into the phones of farmers to cut off middlemen, who had been exploiting them and the government for years. By cutting off the intermediaries, the country was able to save billions that would have been spent on food import.
During a presidential media chat in June 2012, Jonathan was asked if his refusal to make his assets public like his predecessor would not make Nigerians feel he was corrupt and in his response, he said: “I don’t give a damn.” Trust Nigerians, particularly on social media, the president came under serious scrutiny. Three years after, it was one of the talking points of the election that sent Jonathan out of Aso Rock.
On February 20, 2014 – five months to the end of Sanusi Lamido’s tenure as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he was suspended by Jonathan over allegations bothering on financial recklessness. But everyone except the president and the PDP believed Sanusi was suspended because he raised an alarm that the NNPC failed to remit $20 billion to the federation account.
Jonathan’s history in Aso Rock would be incomplete without reference to his estranged relationship with his benefactor and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. In December 2013, after Obasanjo wrote a scorching open letter to the president, relations between the two leaders broke down. Obasanjo withdrew his support for Jonathan and left the PDP. His endorsement of Buhari’s presidential ambition is believed to have hastened Jonathan’s departure from the villa.
It is to the credit of Jonathan that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) embarked on reforms that sanitised the system. The card readers and permanent voter cards contributed to the success of the general election in no small measure. It reduced electoral malpractice to the barest minimum. During his tenure, governorship elections held in six states but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in only one state, which is Ekiti.
Jonathan’s administration also made pragmatic efforts towards reviving the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), which had been comatose for about three decades. Not only was there option to the over congested roads in a city like Lagos, air-conditioned passengers’ coaches were acquired and used for the benefit of Nigerians.
At least 16 job seekers died, while scores of others were injured during the recruitment exercise conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in March 2014.
NIS had 4000 vacant positions but 6.5 million people applied, leading to stampede, exhaustion and total breakdown of law and order in virtually all the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT). Many Nigerians believe that the government did not handle the issue appropriately.
It is hardly possible to argue that any other issue shook the administration of Jonathan like the Boko Haram insurgency. The abduction of over 200 students from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, sparked global outrage and literally brought the government on its knees.
In March 2013 – one year to the presidential election – Jonathan granted presidential pardon to Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, his boss while he was deputy governor of Bayelsa state. It turned out an ill-conceived, badly-timed move, as it reinforced public perception that his government would never fight corruption.
It would be harsh to solely lay the blame of the dysfunctional power sector at Jonathan’s footstep, but he did promise during his 2011 electioneering campiagn that he would fix the power problem. Summary is that he never did, and power even dropped to an all-time low in the twilight of his administration. Nigeria has been battling with the inability to generate adequate mega watts and the highest under Jonathan was 5, 500 mega watts.
On March 28, 2015, Jonathan became the first incumbent president to lose election and the way he handled the loss came as a surprise. He called Buhari to congratulate him on his victory and said he would not head to the tribunal to seek redress, becoming the first Nigerian president to be magnanimous in defeat.
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