Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, may seek reelection in Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election, the publisher of Ovation Magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, has said.
Jonathan, who ruled Africa’s most populous nation from 2011 to 2015, lost his bid for reelection in last year’s presidential polls to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress.
Since leaving office Jonathan’s profile internationally has risen, and Mr. Momodu says the Peoples Democratic Party chieftain may stage a comeback bid in 2019.
In an article titled, “The second coming of Goodluck Jonathan”, Mr. Momodu explained that the victory of US President-elect Donald trump “should bring us back to our senses”.
He wrote, “I have been reading about the rising profile of our former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and wish to state without equivocation that no one should rule him out of the 2019 presidential race. I first hinted this possibility about two months ago and wish to reiterate that Nigerians should prepare for the shock that awaits us. The story of Donald Trump should bring us back to our senses. Nothing is impossible. The second coming of Goodluck Jonathan may be so far-fetched or even belong in those categories of impossibilities but I wish to plead with our government and my fellow citizens not to rule it out. As one of those who made our modest and humble contributions to the coming of this Buhari government, I’m pleading with trepidation.
Mr. Momodu blamed the ex-president’s rising profile on the failure of the government to maintain “the economy it met”.
He said, “Nigerians would have been ready to enter fire with Buhari. But there are just too many unresolved problems and challenges. The excuses that Jonathan and company left this peculiar mess behind has refused to fly.”
The business magnate said that the expectation of Nigerians who voted massively for the ‘change’ preached by the APC during its campaign are “confronted with the reality of an economic recession they never planned for; a situation they did not experience under the Jonathan administration and under previous governments”.
He said, “The BBC reported on Friday how Jonathan caused a stir in Sokoto State during his visit to the state to pay his respects to Ibrahim Dasuki, the late former Sultan of Sokoto. According to the report, Jonathan was received by a large crowd of admirers, some holding banners bearing the words “Come Back Baba Jonathan”.
“The same voices that chanted “Sai Baba” and “Jonathan Must Go” are now fiddling with the tunes of the possibility of a Jonathan to stage a comeback. Here lies the irony of political triumph and the paradox of high expectations.
“The euphoria and momentum that saw the exit of Jonathan and the emergence of the Buhari change administration has since begun to wane following the inability of the new government to hit the ground running with the tenacity of a government in a hurry!
“There are many who believe that the poor management of the ensuing economic recession didn’t help matters. Suddenly, Nigerians who had high hopes and voted massively for change are now caught in a limbo between confusion and uncertainty.”