Jonathan, please stay a statesman

BY PHILEMON ADJEKUKO

Since 2015, every election cycle in Nigeria seems to resurrect one rumour: that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan might attempt a return to Aso Rock. It has become a predictable distraction, fed by political opportunists who cloak self-interest in the language of national rescue. But Jonathan should know better. He should remain what he has already earned — a statesman with a measure of respect — rather than squander it by testing the appetite of a weary people.

Jonathan’s legacy rests largely on how he left power. His concession after losing to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 remains a singular moment in Nigeria’s democratic history. His famous words — that his ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian — are still quoted across Africa as the gold standard of leadership restraint. That, not a recycled presidential run, is his enduring gift to Nigeria.

Those who draw parallels with other former leaders who staged comebacks are being disingenuous. Their motives are not national but personal. They want leverage, bargaining power, or relevance. Jonathan must resist being dragged into their schemes. If anything, he should remember the trajectory of Buhari himself. Once revered in certain quarters — rightly or wrongly — Buhari’s return to power did not preserve that reverence. Instead, his reputation suffered a slow and public disintegration, leaving many of his old admirers disillusioned. Why should Jonathan walk into the same trap?

It is also worth recalling that under Jonathan’s presidency, the label “clueless” entered the Nigerian political lexicon. It stuck, not by accident, but because his administration was widely perceived as rudderless, indifferent, and complicit in monumental theft.

Jonathan is not unaware that his own party men betrayed him, openly and secretly, paving the way for his loss in 2015. A fact he reiterated only weeks ago. If they sold him out then, why does he think they will deliver him now if the opportunity to make a deal with the ruling party presents itself before 2027? Jonathan has said he does not need the advice of certain individuals. That is within his rights. However, he should remember the words of Proverbs 19:20: “Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.”

What exactly would Jonathan offer in 2027 should he decide to run? If his pitch is that the current administration is underperforming, that will not suffice. Nigeria of today is much more challenging than the one he administered. To ask Nigerians to return to the “style and genre” of wasteful years would be like inviting them to their vomit.

Jonathan should also reflect on the communiqué of the West African Elders Forum in March 2022, where he stood shoulder to shoulder with Obasanjo and Sierra Leone’s Koroma among others. They warned Africans that the rise of coups in West Africa was tied to democratic decay and leaders clinging to power without delivering genuine dividends of democracy. Does Jonathan want to become the very example he once decried?

And then the practical question: has he carefully examined his path back to the office? Where will the votes come from? Can he even sweep his own south-south zone, given the shifting loyalties and internal fractures? The south-west remains firmly the stronghold of the current president. The PDP, his home party, is in visible disarray. Promoters of the so-called new political vehicle, ADC, may not be little more than self-anointed redeemers who predictably reemerge each election season like cicadas, hungry only for the lush vegetation of power to consume. The promises made in 2015 and renewed in 2023 are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians. Some of the policies strongly condemned pre-2015 by then opposition parties are today like staple food.

Meanwhile, Jonathan’s home state of Bayelsa sits among the least developed in the country despite its small size and the large chunk of allocations it gets. Would it not be wiser for Jonathan to focus inward, to elevate Bayelsa as a model for others, rather than chase the illusion of national rebirth? His wife has already hinted that life outside Aso Rock has brought them more peace and joy than their years within. Sometimes, those closest to us see the truth more clearly.

A word, as they say, should be enough for the wise. Jonathan should hold on to the dignity he earned in 2015 and resist the siren calls of those who would gladly spend his reputation for their gain. Nigeria does not need another recycled presidency. Jonathan does not need another bruising defeat. What both need is honesty — and a statesman who understands when to stand still in the place history has kindly assigned him.