• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Democracy and Governance Bámidélé Upfront

Why Jonathan deserves soft landing while other looters rot in jail, By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

by Premium Times
August 11, 2015
Reading Time: 4 mins read
9

What happened on March 28, 2015 was a democratic revolution. With our Permanent Voters Card, a resolute Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman and his answer to curb rigging – the card reader, we renunciated fear and reclaimed the dignity of the Nigerian voter across the land.

The national and worldwide euphoria that greeted our political liberation is understandable but like all else, it came with costs. Our checkered history, the cancellation of the initially scheduled February 14 presidential election and the precedence of June 12, reminded us, how quickly victory can transmute into calamitous loss. We have also learned how a few, can determine the fate of many and how badly things can end. Even the most blinkered optimists in Nigeria knew the promise and hope of a new dawn can turn sour if Jonathan stonewalled.

Thankfully, Jonathan did not stonewall, when it became clear that no amount of vote manufacture from the Southeast and a few states in the Northeast could engineer a win for him. He bowed to mounting pressure from the international community, he recalled the near empty campaign fields, the deafening calls of “go away”, the specter of chaos and the influence of Nigerian chief arbitrator – General Abdusalami Abubakar and his crew.

For once, with the rare courage of his own convictions, Jonathan pushed away the brutal thumb of those who imprisoned him and recreated him as a figurehead and a useful idiot. He walked away from the orchestrated menace of Orubebe and company and welcomed the democratic outcome of a Buhari presidency, even if reluctantly.

We do not have the details of the gentleman agreement reached with General Abdusalami before he conceded. We do not even need to know. However, we know power concedes nothing without a demand. What was that demand? Was it reasonable? Even if it was unreasonable, President Buhari can make him a reasonable offer on our behalf. That offer is immunity from prosecution provided he returns his loot and does not interfere with the investigation. This is because he did the nation a favour. He defied the most disciplined, ruthless, and ideologically enemies Nigeria has within his own party – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and announced his concession. He could have elected an ignominious path, damning the consequences. He could have staked our lives after staking the entire treasury. He could have gambled away Nigeria, given our willing and compromised military and a politicized police. He conceded. For this singular act, I will argue, he does not deserve jail.

Since the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigerians had long suspected they have no President but Presidents. Unfolding events has revealed President Goodluck Jonathan was not in charge of his own administration. He was a man who had no idea what to do with himself. He realized himself only a few weeks to the election, when the bitterness of the electorates got to him. In a country where oil lubricates everything, everyone who was anything, involved cronies and associates in shrewd graft schemes at the expense of taxpayers, skimming from the national budget at will and stealing whatever money they could lay their hands on.

No money was off limit including those budgeted to save lives in the Northeast. In the last five years, the entire country was neck deep in stealing like never before. Even if we had no idea the heist was this grand, with everyone helping themselves to billions of dollars, we knew we could not have survived another year of grand looting and brigandage. We knew the enormity of the rot we were in and it was the reason we elected President Muhammadu Buhari to get us out of our mess.

I urge the President to spare Jonathan the humiliation of prosecution. After the forensic audit is done and the culpability of the major thieves known, he should be made to refund whatever cash is traceable to him and made to forfeit the properties he acquired while he was the Vice President and the President, except his country home. All other brazen thieves must make refunds and be roasted in the open fires of unforgiving Nigerian maximum security prisons for economic sabotage. It will send clear and unmistakable signal to future thieves.

On his part, Jonathan would serve himself and the country well should he concentrate on saving himself instead of trying to shelter a fraudulent legacy. He should help us put the dark age of free for all looting behind us. We are tired of his interference and attempt at stifling the ongoing effort at recovering stolen funds. We have had enough, he should please, go quietly into the Sunset or find some useful way of making himself useful by way of restitution for his unfortunate presidency.

His cause is not well served when he constantly reminds us what a failure he was and what a waste those years were. No matter what he does, his ministers and party men will have to face justice and account for their roles. This is not a witch hunt, it is the right thing to do for the sake of Nigeria’s future. Staggering sums of money has been stolen. So much has been stolen such that anyone who has stolen anything under N500million looks like a petty thief. It has become a daily thing and we are getting so desensitized to the mention of billions of dollars.

While working to put away thieves, President Muhammadu Buhari must remember that the core of our internal challenges as a nation is the lack of institutions. Corruption thrived because we have not succeeded in building institutions. The best way to tackle corruption is to strengthen democratic institutions and accountability and to cultivate and deepen an anti-corruption culture. It is important that we understand the fact that our economic fundamentals are weak. We dearly need economic modernization. We cannot continue to consume without producing. Economic modernization is the central challenge staring at Nigeria. The enduring legacy of President Buhari will lie in his ability to create a prosperous and politically stable country without unraveling a system that survives on a mix of crony capitalism, mediocrity and calibrated, state-dispensed patronage.

We heartily welcome the creation of the Anti-corruption Advisory Committee by the President and we wish Professor Itse Sagay and his group the success Nigeria needs.

Bamidele maintains a weekly column on Politics and Socioeconomic issues every Tuesday. She is a member of Premium Times Editorial Board.

Twitter @olufunmilayo

 

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

What Did We Do To Deserve This, By Femi Fani-Kayode

Next Post

El-Rufai’s Kaduna Demolitions: An Illegality Cannot Cure another Illegality, By Victoria Ohaeri

Related Posts

Trust and Confidence Building As Conditions of Good Governance, By Uddin Ifeanyi
Columns

The Policy Implications of 2021’s Low Growth Projections, By Uddin Ifeanyi

February 1, 2021
Akinwunmi Adesina: Africa’s Spotless Son, By Wole Olaoye
Columns

Iron Woman of Berlin, By Wole Olaoye

January 31, 2021
Rethinking Heroism and the Nigerian Civil Service, By Festus Adedayo
Columns

Aliko Dangote’s Costly Mess of the Libido, By Festus Adedayo

January 31, 2021
Why Lai Mohammed Must Be Fired Immediately, By Femi Aribisala
Article of Faith

Is God Invisible?, By Femi Aribisala

January 31, 2021
Religion As Africa’s Trojan Horse, By Osmund Agbo
Columns

South-East Governors: Preparing For a Post-oil and Restructured Nigeria, By Osmund Agbo

January 30, 2021
People Deserve The Coach They Hire, By Owei Lakemfa
Columns

Again, Entombed Humans Triumph Over Death, By Owei Lakemfa

January 30, 2021
Next Post
#IssuesForBuhari: From Clueless to an Issueless Government? By Victoria Ohaeri

El-Rufai’s Kaduna Demolitions: An Illegality Cannot Cure another Illegality, By Victoria Ohaeri

Nigeria and Biafra’s Wasted Memory, By Okey Ndibe

What Somaliland Taught Me, By Okey Ndibe

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

    EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,543 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
    Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Importance Of Keeping Secrets In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Importance Of Keeping Secrets In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Revisiting the Corruption Theory of A Departed Journalist, By Banji Ojewale
    Revisiting the Corruption Theory of A Departed Journalist, By Banji Ojewale
  • The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau
    You Will Be Held Responsible On What Happened To Your Children!, By Murtadha Gusau

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.