By Emeka Obasi
Honey is sweet as true love. Political power tastes sweeter, one needs great statesmanship to walk away and stay outside its corridors for good. Leopold Senghor did it, Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela toed the same path.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan did not really walk away in 2015. According to him, Nigeria was more important than the bloodletting that hung in the air after the Presidential elections. To avoid carnage therefore, he conceded defeat to the All Progressives Congress candidate.
President Muhammadu Buhari will not stay beyond May 2023. The worry now is that there are extraneous forces working hard to decide what will happen after the president’s departure. Some of these individuals claim to be close to Aso Villa.
I am quite convinced that Buhari has no plans to control the government after his exit. The man is determined to go and rest after these eight dramatic years.
However, before that rest there is seeming restlessness among politicians, in and out of power.
It appears Jonathan has also become restless of late. I guess those who understand him have cashed in on that to work very hard. The former president could have been a good swimmer in the creeks, I doubt if he played good soccer.
There cannot be another Diego Maradona in football. There will not be another Maradona in Nigerian politics. Jonathan has left everyone guessing. Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are goal getters, with their cupboard filled with silverware.
Jonathan’s crowd may try to dribble their way back to Abuja and open the seat of power. I do know that it will take more than good luck to shake the net, like Ronaldo and Messi, and win a ticket to Buhari’s chair in 2023.
Yes, there is so much uncertainty about the future of the country. There are heightened agitations and palpable suspicions. Some folks are busy planning for themselves. And suddenly, they may have found a pawn in this power play.
The way politicians are warming up for the presidency is laughable. The Igbo have done their homework. In the spirit of fair play, they have asked for support to climb up, for the first time since July 29, 1966. Of course, he that is down needs fear no fall.
In the past the Igbo were taunted for inability to agree.
Not anymore. The story has changed. Other ethnic nationalities have been unable to agree on Buhari’s successor. Never in the history of this nation have we had legion coming out for the presidency.
It takes good money to purchase nomination forms. What baffles me is that while many Nigerians cannot even find left overs in the waste bin, millions of naira are coming out of the pockets of compatriots. I have seen pastors and farmers flash millions.
This situation is definitely created to shake the president. Some of the aspirants say they were endorsed by Aso Villa. I feel there is something wrong here. They have not considered the fact that only one person will wear the crown.
Jonathan has not come out in the open to say what is not going on because the people know that when a child dances in the middle of the road, his drummer is somewhere inside the bush. We have seen his photographs with Dr. Abdullahi Adamu, a good friend.
Perhaps, our own dear Goodluck has mastered some dribbling skills like Godwin Ogbueze who dribbled the entire opposition and the referee in 1971. And Ogbueze means killer of king.
In Liberia, there is a soccer club called Fulani. Jonathan knows Liberia so well. Their president, George Weah, a retired world star, has dined in Port Harcourt and one of his good friends, Taribo West is ( Kerekese) Izon, like the former president.
When I read that some gracious Fulani fans of Dr. Jonathan had purchased APC presidential nomination forms for him, there was a tinge of sportsmanship. Such gesture should be applauded. Imagine Asari Dokubo and his boys buying a form for someone up North.
Buhari is clear on where he is headed to after May 29, 2023. Jonathan may not be sure what the future holds. Recently, there have been calls for an Interim government or a National Unity government to manage the country as from the middle of next year.
I checked my records. The last Interim government we had died in November 1993. Justice Dolapo sent it to the morgue with a November 10 verdict that Chief Ernest Shonekan’s regime was illegal. Gen. Sani Abacha buried it on November 17, 1993.
Jonathan is a November child. Some people may try to push him forward as Interim president if eventually the nascent move to go in through the backdoor does not work. There is always a way to bend the constitution, this is Nigeria.
By the way, Justice Akinsanya died in November 2020. Jonathan is a zoologist. Politicians in the tropics love animal kingdom, small wonder there is confusion in the polity. For once, let Goodluck bark and free himself from land mines.