The ‘Sins’ Of Goodluck Jonathan

When the minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed attempted an explanation for the current fuel scarcity in the country-the worst since the Abacha Days-he said that Nigerians are paying for the sins of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

As a matter of fact, to the new government if not for Jonathan, Nigeria would have been a paradise by now. Take the issue of corruption and the way they blame Jonathan for it, you would assume that there was no corruption in Nigeria, until Jonathan came with the disease from Otuoke, Bayelsa State and infested Abuja and Nigeria with it. Yet Jonathan’s government was the only government in the history of Nigeria to have fought and reduced corruption in five years than all previous governments before him. You may doubt this, but let us look at the facts.

The Transparency International (TI) is recognized worldwide as an authority in measurement of corruption index of countries and it annually ranks countries according to their performance in the corruption perception index. In 1998, TI ranked Nigeria 81 out of 85 countries assessed. Nigeria was the fourth most corrupt nation in the world and the most corrupt in Africa. Was Jonathan the president of Nigeria in 1998? Of course it was General Sani Abacha, the one our current president said was not corrupt but European and United States banks have returned over $2billion (US) he stole.

In 2000, TI ranked Nigeria 90 out of 90 countries they assessed for corruption perception index. That year Nigeria was adjudged the most corrupt country on planet Earth. Was it Jonathan that was the president of the country in 2000? Of course the president was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who is now one of the confidants of the current president. Two years later in 2002, TI ranked Nigeria 101 out of 102 countries assessed. At that year Nigeria became the second most corrupt country in the world. Again I ask, was it Jonathan that was the president of Nigeria in 2002? The answer is also no. The president was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who is now a saint of sort because he helped the present government to win the 2015 elections. Similarly, in 2003, Nigeria was ranked 132 out of 133 countries assessed by the TI, making Nigeria to retain its unenviable record as the second most corrupt nation in the world, as Bangladesh retained the crown as the most corrupt nation. Was Jonathan president in 2003?

Now let us look at TI’s ranking of Nigeria under Jonathan’s administration. In 2011, Nigeria was ranked 143 out of 183 countries, thereby showing significant improvement in reduction of corruption in the country. That year Nigeria did better than 40 other countries in corruption ranking, who were adjudged more corrupt than Nigeria that hitherto wore the ignoble crown under Abacha and Obasanjo. Similarly Nigeria continued its progress in corruption reduction in 2013 under Jonathan, when the country was ranked 144 out of 177 countries. The progress report continues to 2014 where, the TI ranked Nigeria 136 out of 175 countries. So Jonathan in fact helped to reduce corruption in Nigeria than any president in the country’s history. Any other assessment of corruption in Nigeria outside the TI and World Bank, as being done by the present government using DSS, EFCC among others is mere politics.

As for the other former presidents like, Yakubu Gowon, Tafawa Belawa,Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, and Buhari, if you say that they were not corrupt, then why did that all the coup speeches for their overthrows since 1966 have a common theme: ‘They were overthrown as a result of CORRUPTION.’ Babangida’s case is a story for another day.

Now let us look at the governance of the country and the lies that was being told that Jonathan was the worst thing to befall Nigeria. The questions I ask those who spread this fallacy especially some ‘internet rats’ that does not have the patience to read through a 1200 words article talk less of doing detailed research before spreading the lies of the government of the day are: Was Nigeria a First World country between 1960-2011, and Jonathan came in May 29, 2011 and took Nigeria down to Third World status? Does Nigeria have two million kilometers of tarred roads at both federal, state and local government levels within the period and Jonathan send bulldozers to destroy them and since 2011 the roads have reduced to mere 200,000 roads? Was Nigeria within the period generating 20million megawatt of electricity and Jonathan came in 2011 and destroy the power infrastructure? Was Nigerian universities ranked among the top 50 universities in the world before 2011 and Jonathan came and the universities are now not found among the top 500 in the world? Was it Jonathan that killed Mohammed Yusuf, whose death is partly blamed for Nigeria’s current war of insurgency against Boko Haram? Was it Jonathan that wrote to the international community that Nigerian soldiers were killing innocent civilians in the war against Boko Haram, which made the United States and others not to sale weapons to Nigeria to fight the war? Was Jonathan the reason why the United States is yet to lift the arms embargo even when a new government is in place? Was it Jonathan that was president when Maitasine wrecked havoc in parts of the country killing thousands of Nigerians? If Jonathan was not responsible for all these decadents in the country since 1960, why is Lai Mohammed blaming his alleged sins for Nigeria’s current situation, which every fair minded person knows was the result of combination of actors including those at the very top of the All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government.

I don’t want to write about Jonathan’s achievements which even minister of Works Babatunde Fashola has acknowledged in the area of roads construction and the minister of Transportation Mr Chibuike Amaechi in the area of rail transportation. Detailed work on Jonathan’s record has been done by respected syndicated columnist Femi Aribisala.