It Is An Insult To My Person – Jonathan
By Akombo Aondona Abuja
Just when you thought there can be no more to it than what the nation’s has already witnessed since the All Progressives Congress (APC) started selling its primaries forms to aspirant last month, there comes a most curious twist to the show!
Well here is it: An amalgam of self-described nomadic pastoralists and Almajiri on Monday 9 May, 2022 announced that they have bought the N100 million presidential forms of the APC for former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, in a swift reaction, President Jonathan has dissociated himself from the development, which he described as an insult to his person since he did not authorize the group to buy any form for him and because he could afford to buy the forms himself if he chose to do so at any time.
Speaking to the media on behalf of the “nomadic pastoralists” and “Almajiri” when they came to pick up the form, a man who gave his name as Malam Ibrahim Abdulahi who also claimed to lead the buyers, said: “I represent two of the most vulnerable communities in our country, the nomadic pastoralists and the Almajiri communities who have decided to purchase this form for our former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan, to come back and rule this country and continue with the good work he has started.
“You may recall, ladies and gentlemen of the press, during Goodluck Jonathan era. He was the first president, since the independence of Nigeria, who found it expedient, who was magnanimous enough to remember the vulnerable population in this country, the Almajiri community. He (President Jonathan) brought a comprehensive policy of reformation and integration of Almajiri into the mainstream educational system in Nigeria
“It was the dream and the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan that if that programme has continued Nigeria would, one day, produce from the Almajiri system of education doctors, engineers, etc unlike what obtains today.
“Unfortunately, that programme was swept aside as soon as he left. The other part of the community the vulnerable community that Goodluck Jonathan wanted to really, you know, give a sense of belonging was the Fulani community and nomadic pastoralists.
“Recall that he set aside N60 billion in the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which was to be used to develop the livestock sector in Nigeria. I believe that if government had continued with that programme, today, we will have been what Denmark is in Europe, in terms of livestock production, in terms of milk, in terms of beef, and so on.
“Now looking at this, you know, situation, and of course, the problems Nigeria today is facing, we believe that only a leader with that kind of, you know, that kind of patriotism, a leader with that kind of fairness, a leader who is ready to give every Nigerian sense of belonging that should rule this country. And that leader is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
“We are ready not only to purchase these forms for President Goodluck Jonathan, but I want to assure you that the nomadic pastoralists have the voting power of about 9 million votes plus the Almajiri who also can produce about 5 million votes. In total our communities have about 14 million votes. All we are asking other Nigerians to do is to give us at least 2 million and we are home and dry.”
However, in a swift reaction, President Jonathan, in a statement by his Media Adviser Ikechukwu Eze, distanced himself from the APC presidential forms.
Eze wrote: “It has come to the notice of His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, that a group has purportedly purchased Presidential Nomination and Expression of Interest forms, of the All Progressives Congress (the APC), in his name.
“We wish to categorically state that Dr. Jonathan was not aware of this bid and did not authorize it.
“While we appreciate the overwhelming request by a cross-section of Nigerians for Dr. Jonathan to make himself available for the 2023 Presidential election, we wish to state that he has not in any way, committed himself to this request.
“We thank the general public for their concern, as we continue to encourage citizen participation in the affairs of the country.”
Nevertheless, public affairs analysts wondered why a group would fritter away N100 million on the APC presidential forms without by President Jonathan’s consent, more so when he is not a publicly-known member of the APC, a party to which he lost his second-term bid to in 2015.
However, some of them stated that it was not beyond the machination of “some power brokers to want to force Jonathan into the race. He has been hobnobbing with them of late. He cannot deny that. Even the so-called statement you said he put out has not settled the matter, to me o. He has not said he will not contest. And he can do that on any political party’s platform, I think.”
A school of thought among political analysts argues that “Northern Power brokers” wants President Jonathan to be president in 2023 “so than power can return to the North in just four years, instead of eight if someone like Bola Tinubu or any other southerner gets it in 2023.”
But others dismissed this as a ruse by the North, “the Fulani hegemony to cause confusion in the South.” According to member of this latter group who does not want his name in print, “to me, the idea is to use Jonathan to divide the South and retain power in the North. Look, what they want to do is bring Jonathan as consensus candidate in the APC, which will scatter the party. For instance, Tinubu, Amaechi and others like them will rather leave APC than accept Jonathan. How would they campaign for him, a man they used their everything to defeat in 2015? They would rather go to another party.
“Look, the North is not ready to give up power. They are just pretending. Look, when they bring Jonathan, or even any other candidate from the south, PDP will pick a Northern candidate and that is the candidate that will get the votes of the North in totality on ethnic and religious sentiment. A northerner like Prof. Kperogi has written about this plan, so I am not telling you something new,”
Reporters at the International Conference Centre (ICC) asked Malam Ibrahim Abdullahi if indeed President Jonathan had agreed to run on the APC platform. Reacting, Abdullahi said:
“As you may have heard a lot of you know interest groups have been coming out to urge him to come and contest but we felt that because of the deadline that was given whether he agrees or not, we need to purchase this form. Goodluck Jonathan is not for Goodluck. Jonathan. Goodluck Jonathan is for all Nigerians.
“As a Nigerian who we believe has the interest of this country at heart. He will accept us. You can see that we are almost late, you know coming to buy these forms. We have been pulling resources together selling our cows. We were able to raise this fund just yesterday and we decided to come and purchase the forms.
“We call on all Nigerians to support this project. If you are talking about Goodluck Jonathan, I don’t think there is any aspirant so far that we have seen that can be compared in any way with Goodluck Jonathan, unless if Nigerians are not serious or unless if we don’t want to reintegrate and unite in this country, unless if you want to continue playing the politics of religion playing the politics of tribalism. You can see I’m a Fulani man coming from the far North. But I tell you, there is no Nigerian today that I can cast my vote for or campaign for except Dr, Goodluck Jonathan.”
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