By Akanbi Thani.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan .
Undoubtedly, in the next few weeks of May, many revelations would be made on the political landscape of the country. As of the last count, more than 44 candidates have bought the Nomination and Expression of Interest form for the slot of the presidency at the price of N100 million for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and N40 million for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The game is, however, about where the parties would zone the presidency to. The south is asking for a fair hearing from the other zones in the country to get the ticket for 2023. Even among the southern zone, the south west and southeast are slugging it out to grab the presidential slot this time around.
However, a game-changer is being brought onto the stage in recently times. He is Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the former president under the PDP. From the rumour to campaigns and now purchase of presidential form of the ruling APC, Jonathan campaign has continued to enjoy different opinions from the legal, moral, successful precedence of development during his tenure to being a unifier and right experienced person in this time of quest for change of guard from the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Jonathan is from the south-south Nigeria and is being touted as one of those from the zone that would enjoy wide acceptance. This was buttressed on Monday by the purchase of form for him by a northern group.
The nomadic Fulani pastoralists and Almajiri communities picked the APC Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for Jonathan, to contest the presidential ticket. Leader of the group, Ibrahim Abdullahi said that Jonathan should be re-elected to enable him complete what he began.
“We have decided to purchase this form for our former president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to come back and rule this country and continue with the good work he started.”
He said Jonathan brought a comprehensive policy of reformation and integration of the Almajiri into the mainstream education system in the country.
“He set aside N60bn in the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which was to be used to develop livestock in Nigeria.
“I believe if government had continued with that programme, today, we will have been the Denmark, the Sweden, the Holland of the entire Africa in terms of livestock and beef production,” Abdullahi said.
He said though a lot of interest groups had been urging Jonathan to contest the 2023 presidential election, the Fulani Nomadic Pastoralists and Almajiri Communities decided to pick the forms for him to beat the deadline.
“Whether he agrees to contest or not, we need to purchase these forms for him; Jonathan is for all Nigerians, as a Nigerian, we believe he has interest of this country at heart; he will accept us,” he said.
According to him, a Jonathan presidency will unite the country and advance her development.
“I am 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 Jonathan. For me, Jonathan is the best among all the aspirants, irrespective of where he comes from and religion. He is the best president for Nigeria,” Abdullahi said.
However, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), a Fulani sociocultural organisation, says it did not buy any nomination forms for any candidate contesting elections.
The National Secretary of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, said: ”We wish to make it clear that MACBAN did not and will not buy any form for any Candidate contesting elections. As an association, we have far higher needs for money to assist our members being uprooted and killed in some part of the country.
”We look forward to seeing the manifestos of the various candidates and where our members fit in to determine who to fully support,” he said.
Similarly, Jonathan’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, distanced the former president from forms bought for him by nomadic Fulani pastoralists and Almajiri communities.
Eze, in a statement on Monday, said it was an insult for the community to buy the forms for him without his consent.
“It has come to our notice that a group has purportedly purchased Presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination forms of the APC in the name of former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“We wish to categorically state that Dr Jonathan was not aware of this bid and did not authorise it.
“We want to state that if the former president wanted to contest an election, he would make his intentions clear to the public and will not enter through the back door,” Eze said.
As this statement was been issued, Jonathan was spotted at the Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu’s residence in Keffi for an undisclosed purpose. This, political pundits said may not be unconnected to the call on him to contest under the ruling APC.
In another development, Dr Dennis Otiotio, Chairman, Bayelsa chapter, All Progressives Congress (APC), says former President Goodluck Jonathan is at liberty to join the party but has yet to do so.
Otiotio, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview on Tuesday, said that the APC in Bayelsa was not aware of Jonathan’s membership.
“The former president is not yet a registered member of APC. He is free to join any party of his choice.
“We are open and willing to receive him into our fold, as a political party desirous of winning elections, the only way to go is by admitting people into the party,” Otiotio said.
A renowned northern politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai described Jonathan as one that can clinch the presidency for the south: ‘’I have sympathy for Goodluck Jonathan, we have never met until he was thrown up into the national limelight. I believe in rotation, and as a foundation member of the defunct National Party of Nigeria, we introduced zoning to give opportunities to geopolitical zones to strengthen the unity of the country.
‘’We realised too early that if you allow the Hausa/Fulani, Igbos and the Yorubas to have their way, minority groups like the Edos, Taraba, Tivs may not have their bite, and the message is to force various groups to go into an alliance to achieve their political goals on a diverse set up because zoning or rotation are vital to the survival of democracy in a heterogeneous society. Therefore I was at home with Chief Jonathan’s presidency, it tallies with my position on how to unite Nigeria.’’
During the end of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure, he picked Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the most formidable team to succeed him and win elections for the then ruling PDP in 2007. The duo proved to be a case of complementarity for national development.
As the days pass by and the political machine keeps moving, would Jonathan once again bring the dice home for the aspiration of the south to come forth with a most acceptable presidential candidate for Nigeria?
