By Olatunji Dare
Given Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s improbable path to power, his unremarkable performance in office and the tentativeness that was his trademark, his life out of power seemed guaranteed a rapid descent into the obscurity from which he had been thrust into celebrity.
But time, it seems, was preparing him for a wholly redemptive second act, stripped of the starchy diffidence of the preceding act, the lexical infelicities, and the delicious locutions that a leading scholar has called “Jonathanisms.”
The Jonathan in this second act is new, contemplative and vastly improved. He is also liberated, freed from the sharp politicos and the hard men from the creeks whose shabby company he was constrained to keep back then, and in whose false adulation he was forced to bask during drinking orgies that continued far into the night, not in some seedy guest house, mark you, but right there on site. Or so they said, who claimed to know the habit of the house.
Nor did Mama “Dearis God o” Peace help matters.
Today you are more likely to find the new Jonathan in the exalted company of seasoned statesmen, authentic celebrities, top executives of corporations, think-tanks and foundations with a global reach, men and women who shape the policies that influence the course of events listening attentively to his every word and nodding appreciatively as petals of wisdom drop from his lips.
You are more likely to find him adjudicating in election disputes, chosen because of his reputation for fairness and even-handedness. Whether that reputation was earned or merely ascribed is of little moment. What counts is that his ls credited with that reputation, and that he has been deploying it in ways that confirm it.
Some of the old starchiness lingers, but on the whole, he is more relaxed, even jaunty on occasion. His delivery is crisp. In vain do you scour it for traces of the false equivalencies and analogies, and the breathtaking leaps of logic with which his speeches were strewn back then.
No wonder they want him to return to power for a third term that eluded his predecessor, President Olusegun Obasanjo and doubtless lies far beyond the reach of his successor, Muhammadu Buhari.
The transition from the old Jonathan to the new one was far from seamless, however. He experienced the kind of loneliness that only those who have held and lost high office in Nigeria know. It can be brutal and disorienting.
The phone that used to ring nonstop now sputters only intermittently. After a while, it goes silent for days on end. A ghostly silence pervades the house. The visitors who once thronged the living room and even the family quarters have all found better use for their time.
Invitations to all kinds of ceremonies dry up. Full-page congratulatory adverts that used to crowd out news content in the better newspapers on birthdays and wedding anniversaries all but vanish. Unsolicited gifts no longer arrive at the gate by the truckload.
For old times’ sake of just to kill boredom, you call up a former supplicant who would have stopped whatever he was doing back then and report immediately if you summoned him. Now he will not even take your call, or take it and without even pretending to be the steward or a guest and tell you that he is not at home. If he is in a foul mood, he might actually tell you gruffly that you have the wrong number and must never dial it again.
Ingrates, all.
Jonathan has been there; he knows the special loneliness that comes with being not just an ex-this or an ex-that, but of being an ex-president. From the way he narrated his experience the other day, loneliness after the Aso Rock years, is almost sepulchral.
His speech recently in Bauchi, as the special guest of Governor Bala Mohammed, at the commissioning of the governor’s first legacy project, the 6.25 km. Sabon Kaura-Jos bypass, was only too evocative of that experience
Hear him:
“I have been in government for a reasonable time, I have attained a number of levels starting from deputy governor and most of our experience is that after leaving office, some of the people you think that if they don’t see you will not eat, will just forget that you even exist.”
He could have said of such people that they would give you impression that they would have no intimacy even with their wives unless you approved it. But once you leave office, they forget that you exist. Liars, and bootlickers
His host, Governor Bala Mohammed, was not that kind of person, Jonathan told his audience. Unlike those aides and allies who had deserted him after he left office, the Bauchi governor was a trusted “son” and a person of unparalleled loyalty
“Today,” Jonathan went on, “is a very big day for me, and you know why, because it is not easy for somebody to work with you in Nigeria then, even after leaving office, that person still continues with that kind of strong relationship with you.”
Governor Mohammed, who once served in Jonathan’s Administration as a minister from the ranks of the Opposition was even more effusive. He gratefully acknowledged Jonathan as his mentor, and as a person who had made a great impact on his life.
Jonathan had every right to regard that day as one he would never forget. To immortalise the guest, the new bypass was named the Goodluck Jonathan Road. It was also perhaps the first time anyone would in public acknowledge the much vilified former president as a mentor.
All in all a fine outing for Dr Jonathan,
There is a larger point that I would like to make here about the sociology of leadership and followership in Nigeria. Dr Jonathan spoke of Governor Mohammed’s unparalleled loyalty. He would seem to imply that those who deserted him after he left office were deficit in loyalty.
Loyalty is not a one-way affair. There are those who would be disloyal, no matter what. But as a rule, loyalty begets loyalty. How many of Jonathan’s aides and allies could count on his support when they needed it? How many of them count on his standing by them?
The relationship between boss and subordinate In Nigeria seems for the most part transactional. It endures so long as it is profitable to either party. Or so long as there is a reasonable expectation of profit. If no profit is guaranteed, each goes his or her separate way.
This formulation seems to break down when applied to the APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his associates. Most of those who marched on the streets with him during the June 12 protests or waged the struggle from exile in the United States or immersed themselves in the progressive cause he has been championing have not deserted him, even though they have little to show for their steadfastness.
Officials from the time he was governor of Lagos can be seen or heard today representing him and speaking for him at events in Nigeria and abroad. His concerns have largely remained their concerns.
His legendary munificence helps, to be sure, but it does not explain everything.
On both sides, it is a matter of character. I suspect that it also has much to do with Tinubu’s large-heartedness, his willingness to forgive wrongs for the sake of a larger cause and move on. We saw that large-heartedess on display during his visit to the home of the departed Afenifere spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, to condole with his widow.
Odumakin’s unprovoked, full-bore tirade last year against Tinubu, his one-time patron, has gone down even by Nigeria’s tawdry history as something of a milestone in political obscenity.
And yet, it is from Tinubu that the most eloquent tribute to Odumakin has come. This large-heartedness I believe, is a major source of Tinubu’s teeming and enduring followership.
