By Mobolaji Sanusi

“People have a habit of inventing fictions they will believe wholeheartedly in order to ignore the truth they cannot accept.”—-Nishan Panwar

Year 2027 is two Gregorian calendar years away. Anticipatory human projections, subject to The God Factor, are allowed in the affairs of man but a specie of humans called politicians usually move beyond the realm of divine projections to the deluding stage of abnormal scheming. Needless to lose any sleep over this because politicians are an innately incurable optimists, threading on conjectural realms that even angels of wisdom dare to trespass.

As a result of this deluding foolhardiness, any unanticipated interjection brings out the animalistic proclivity in them. No wonder, save for former President Goodluck Jonathan, defeated presidents cum politicians are always reticent to voluntarily take defeats in their stride in this clime. They must fight to the last minute, mostly against the spirit of good sportsmanship.

This must have informed why former late president of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, showed exceptional gratitude before, during and after leaving office to Jonathan.

At any opportune time during his life time as president-elect and after being sworn-in, he had expressed undiluted reverence for Jonathan for voluntarily relinquishing power to him, an opposition, after his electoral loss as a sitting president in 2015.

At that point in history, public fears were palpable that Jonathan could have done otherwise but he refused. In the twilight of his presidency, Jonathan commendably chose not to listen to the voices of hypocritically avaricious politicians advising him not to hand over. He adhered to the dictates of his soul.

If he had listened to the voice of Babel, a perilous political stalemate could have ensued but he disappointed his con hailers when against their selfish expectations, picked his phone, called President-elect Buhari to congratulate him for his electoral success. What he did at that point when he followed the truthful dictates of his conscience is what the Americans call: ‘The Majesty of Democracy.” Until then, such statesmanship act at elections for especially that exalted position was a taboo in the history of the country.

Buhari throughout his life time was full of gratitude to Jonathan. And immediately after receiving his predecessor’s call, he was elated to have publicly declared: “I’ll continue to hold former president Jonathan in high esteem as a result of that singular act.” That profoundly re-echoing statement was made over ten years ago in 2015 and shall remain so even as Muhammadu Buhari is no more.

Also in October 2018, Buhari, while receiving a team from the Kannywood Entertainment delegation inside Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, again seized the opportunity to express his admiration for Jonathan when he reportedly said: “He (Jonathan) was in power as Deputy Governor, Governor (Bayelsa), Vice-President and President, all for about 10 years and he voluntarily accepted defeat and surrendered power to me.” This statement of Buhari conjures rarity in the minds of majority of power drunk Nigerian politicians.

In Nigeria generally, losers at elections are fond of rejecting election results and challenging such in court of law even when they know they stand no chance of winning or better put, no chance of getting justice largely because of the intricate nature of electioneering litigations in the country.

Politically revered citizen Jonathan stands out for voluntarily relinquishing power to the opposition after losing it to now deceased All Progressives Congress candidate, Buhari. Jonathan should not push his good luck too far with the clamour for his return to power in 2027 by his largely battered Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apologists.

They are making the calls, not necessarily because they believed in him or his capacity to lead the nation at this critical point in time: They are not beckoning on Jonathan to come forward and stand for the presidential election in 2027 because of any laudable initiatives as a past occupant of Aso Rock Presidential Villa; Jonathan’s era witnessed Nigerians anger over swelling corruption, devastating Islamist insurgency in the north with ransom killings a routine spectre in our polity and a coordinately mismanaged economy. By lobbying him to come back to power, his deceitful supporters are trying to exploit his leadership forbearance which is very clear in their engaging in what in legal parlance is called ‘forum shopping’ of candidates. This in their erroneous beliefs would guarantee seizing power from incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, come May, 2027.

To be fair to Jonathan, he has not explicitly come out in the public to say he was approached, has agreed or interested in stepping forward to accede to the selfish clamour of his so called political fans. However, his body language has not helped matters. The closest to debunking this was a not so recent statement credited to his wife and former First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, to the effect that her husband has not forgotten anything behind in the Presidential Villa to warrant his contesting against the incumbent president.

Despite Madam Jonathan’s public assurances, the vociferous clamour for Jonathan to return to contest in 2027 and his continuing silence in not coming forward to publicly debunk interest in pursuing such lawful but self-destructive ambition constitutes an avoidable distraction that leaves a sour taste in the mouth. In politics, more importantly, behind every rumour, there’s an iota of truth.

This evasive conduct of ex-president Jonathan is what informed putting forward this piece regarding why humans, especially politicians, will prefer to shed the applausive toga of honour, in pursuits of perilously adventurous gambits. If Jonathan publicly does that today, it will amount to nothing but his committing voluntary political honorific suicide. He would, if he tries it and loses, be de-robed of the honour and democratic legacy he enjoys today across the world.

As at today, Jonathan is undeniably an international statesman; a global ambassador, not on the altar of his sterling performance as president of Nigeria but simply because he toed the path of honour by voluntarily conceding defeat and peacefully handing over power to Buhari.

This was something that Buhari in his lifetime wasn’t even sure of doing to any opposition if he were to be in Jonathan’s position in 2015. No wonder, Jonathan has since been the toast of the diplomatic world. The African Union: The Economic Community of West African States and the United Nations amongst several other international institutions have come to respect and revere Jonathan because of that singular political act of his in 2015.

Now his coming out, if true, will destroy and shred into pieces his toga of global respect and ululation. This same set of apologists calling upon him to come forward and ‘rescue’ Nigeria are the same class of reactionary politicians that goaded ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo into virulently pursuing his failed Third Term Ambition. But for late Buhari’s gross lack of capacity and sheer incompetence in the management of the affairs of this country, no reasonable Nigerian should have in contemporary times pondered over returning Jonathan to power.

Ex-President Jonathan should not listen to deceitful people but remember that till date, the baggage of that ill-fated, selfishly conceived Third Term inordinate agenda still hangs on Obasanjo’s neck like an albatross notwithstanding his deluding posturing as a political saint in contemporary Nigeria, Africa and the world democratic order.

Reasonably discerning Nigerians and citizens of the world understand Obasanjo’s hypocritical leadership posturing on good corporate and democratic governance. Jonathan should avoid being lumped together with Obasanjo’s leadership class of democratic hypocrites who have forgotten to remove the speck in their own eyes while calling for removal of the log in the eyes of other leaders.

The deceptive apologists conjuring the 2027 Jonathan for president movie are obviously ignoring the unavoidable bitter truth of today’s polity and electioneering politics that of all the recycled politicians aspiring to tackle Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, in the upcoming 2027 presidential election, none can assuredly be said to have better plans for Nigeria. This doesn’t mean that the country as currently is, is near the promised land but embracing Tinubu for 2027 is the bitter truth the coalition of deluding oppositional gladiators chose not to accept. Too bad!

Yours sincerely believes that Jonathan should just ignore these political apologists’ delusional calls so that he can continue to go to bed each night, like he currently does, with his soul at peace and with an assured global reverence to the bargain.

•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of LASAA, is a managerial psychologist and managing partner of Lagos State based AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS

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