Before Jonathan Becomes The Last Incumbent President To Lose Election In Nigeria

Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan may be the first and last incumbent president to be defeated in a presidential election in Nigeria’s political history. From this time onward no incumbent president would ever allow himself to be defeated even if the country will burn thereafter. This should be of concern to the All Progressives Congress (APC) who is mismanaging its victory and gains of transfer of power from incumbent government to the opposition peacefully.

When former president Jonathan conceded defeated to an opposition party that was determined to unleash burning and killings if it had lost, he saved millions of lives, especially lives of those who stubbornly refused to relocate to their states of origin before the presidential election. What would have happened in Nigeria would have made the Rwanda Genocide of 1994 looks like a child’s play. The United States saw it, and so does the European Union and the world at large. That was why the United States on the eve of the elections stationed aircrafts in Chad to ferry American citizens away from danger when the killings would have started. But Jonathan was not desperate to stay in power like those after his job.

As commander in chief of the armed forces, he still have the service chiefs under his command, who would have ensured that peace was restored either by confronting the opposition as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi did to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or other means. Similarly he could have removed Professor Attahiru Jega as the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and appoint somebody with the temperament of Elder Orubebe as INEC chairman in his place. Perhaps there would have been no country left for us to be debating how much billions of dollars of oil money that certain United States officials told governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole was stolen by a former minister under Jonathan. Perhaps the newspaper headlines would not be dominated with threats of recovery of looted funds but everyone trying to ascertain whether the Nigerian project was what all the troubles or we are better off spliting it into six or more countries. These were the realistic options before Nigerians before the 2015 general election. That is the fact that respected Bishop Mathew Kukah of the National Peace Committee want those who are shouting from the roof top “crucify him! Crucify him!!” to take note of. You must have a country before you can fight corruption. It would be naïve for our leaders to think that President Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence has healed all the old wounds that influenced the outcome of the last general election.

By conceding defeat Jonathan has helped to strengthen our democracy in a continent where incumbent presidents are never defeated in elections in which they have the powers to manipulate the process as they so wished. Here Nigeria showed the world that there could be smooth transfer of power from an incumbent president to the opposition without spilling blood in Africa.

Now this does not mean that anyone who embezzled public funds under President Goodluck Jonathan should not be prosecuted. By all means prosecute such an individual and if convicted jail him as prescribed by extant laws, but by all means follow the due process and stop prosecution on the pages of newspapers.

It is also instructive that one of President Buhari’s closest associates in the South-South and former governor of Rivers State and Buhari’s Presidential Campaign Director General, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has gone to court to stop the Probe Commission set up by Governor Nyesom Wike to probe his administration alleging that he had already been convicted in newspapers by Wike. This is the same Amaechi that is part of those who reminds us every day how much was stolen under Jonathan even before the alleged corrupt officials are notified of the charges against them.

Below is an excerpt of Amaechi’s press statement on why he would not appear before the probe commission.

“However what Wike has set out to do is anything but a fair probe. The commission will not be fair to Amaechi because it was set up to indict him. Wike had repeatedly held that Amaechi, the person to be investigated, acted illegally in the disbursement of public funds and that Amaechi ran a corrupt government. Clearly, Wike has prejudged the matter and showed his bias that Amaechi is guilty even before investigations. This means Wike, with his prejudiced, made up mind has taken a position of a guilty verdict even before the outcome is known or established.
“The same Wike who had adjudged the yet-to-be-investigated conduct of Amaechi as illegal and Amaechi as corrupt, is the same person that has gone ahead to set up a commission of inquiry and will have the final say on the findings of the commission. What a sham!”
“This bias and predetermined agenda to indict Amaechi is obvious even in the terms of reference of the commission. In one of the defective terms of reference, Wike said the Commission should investigate the circumstances that led to the ‘sale of the state Hotel Olympia’.
 “Anyone who has been following events in Rivers State knows this Wike probe is just a fraudulent sham, a deceptive mission to indict Amaechi. Wike’s one-point agenda is to go after his predecessor. “This Wike’s probe is dead on arrival. It’s ill-conceived and ill-motivated. Wike’s probe is designed to twist and distort, or even completely alter selected legitimate government transactions in his desperation to cook up, and fabricate sham cases of corruption against Amaechi. Wike’s probe commission shall not achieve anything beyond political excitements, entertainment and theatrics.”

What Amaechi is passing through in Rivers State is not different from what former President Goodluck and his erstwhile administration is passing through in Abuja and both are not good for the sustainability of our democracy. Those in authority must follow the rule of law even in recovery of alleged stolen funds.