Rejoinder: Goodluck Jonathan, Enough!

By Enite Benjamin . . .

I must say, Nigerians are really ‘busy bodies’. I have made it a point of duty to always take a look at Ripples Nigeria, because the site has a way of capturing virtually everything that transpires in Nigeria’s political and business sphere.

While there today, I came across a piece written by one Kennedy Emetulu lambasting former President Goodluck Jonathan for what he described as ‘junketing’ around the world.

Emetulu’s take is that Jonathan has no business going from one country to another, while Nigeria is in dire economic straits brought about by a party that does not seem to know how to manage the situation.

Emetulu claims to be a fan of Jonathan, who he said he supported in the last presidential election, adding, that Jonathan is still a victim of the bad advisers that caused his fall from power.

Well, unlike Emetulu, I was never a fan of Jonathan, right from the days he took over from his former boss, Musa Yar’Adua. I had told anybody who cared to listen then, after he was declared winner of the 2011 presidential election, that Nigeria would be subjected to four years of no motion, no movement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m neither a fan of the present administration, headed by Muhammadu Buhari, which is a collection of strange bed mates, some very smart ones too, who are yet to come to terms with why they wanted the power in the first place.

But I must confess, I admire and respect Jonathan for what he did in taking the initiative to call and congratulate Buhari during collation of the last presidential primaries. This singular action saved Nigeria from being plunged into a crisis that would definitely have taken a number of lives with attendant bloodshed.

But back to Emetulu’s piece. How does it concern anybody, or Nigeria for that matter that Jonathan does not want to take part in active politics anymore, but prefers going around the world, for reasons best known to him?

Jonathan, like any other Nigerian is free to move around freely. No one should begrudge him that he prefers to stay outside the country at this point in time. It is his prerogative, and it should be respected.

Read also: Goodluck Jonathan, Enough!

So long as his trips are not paid for by the government, using taxpayers’ money, it should be nobody’s business where he decides to spend his time, whether in Nigeria, or outside it. Like  Emetulu rightly noted, Jonathan “like other previous heads of state and presidents has done his bit while in office and must be allowed to go anywhere he wants freely and contribute to national development and discourse as he deems fit.”

I dare say that it is the likes of Emetulu that offer leaders ‘useless’ advice, if he could assert that Jonathan should stay in Nigeria because the government “will always find him something to do to keep him busy!”.

He stated that Jonathan could be of use in helping the present government solve some of the pressing issues on ground like the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta area. As much as this is true, people like Emetulu should remember that the former president once said that in any capacity Nigeria wants him to serve, he is ready and willing to.

If the government needs Jonathan, they can reach out to him. And he can offer advice and counsel from whichever part of the world he may be in. do not forget, this is the internet age, and distance is no barrier to communication.

On a parting note, I urge you bootlickers and merry-go-round friends to leave Jonathan alone. We have had too much of people who feel that without one man, Nigeria will go down the drain. Every man is a leader in his own right, and there are hundreds of thousands of Jonathans, and Buharis for that matter still in the country.

So for the likes of Emetulu, Enough!

 

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