Under Jonathan, the nation moved from one embarrassing drama to the next. Take for example, the situation where a town in Borno was captured, and a president who ought to have initiated himself into such an environment since it was the main theater of the war against terrorism was said to have mouthed, “Where is Gwoza sef?”

What about the stories of the monumental corruption that was witnessed within his presidency, one will recall that with the exception of Sani Abacha, no other Nigerian leader supervised under his administration massive corrupt acts as we saw under Jonathan. It was more like a free for all, ‘A-looting Continua, Diezani and the rest Chop your own’ Even with the huge oil revenues that came in owing to the high price of crude oil disappeared into individual pockets, rather than be entered into our foreign reserves,  little wonder, the same man had his spouse forfeit huge amounts of money, neither can we forget the Dasuki Jamboree where money meant for arms to prosecute the war against terrorism found its way into private pockets while our soldiers were dealt death blows by Boko Haram. Is it any wonder that the same man did announce to the chagrin of Nigerians that “stealing wasn’t corruption”

For all that it is worth, Jonathan was everything but a Commander  in Chief. He rather would expedite his energies in hounding the opposition or those that did not agree with him or her Imperial First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan who also had a catalogue of embarrassments of her own. Or what was Rotimi Amaechi’s crime that for four years the presidency used every unconstitutional trick to edge Amaechi out of office, whilst turning the state into a theater of war on its own. Timipriye Sylvia, I am sure has not told Nigerians why he was denied a second term under the auspices of Goodluck Jonathan. The man who feigned that he was a democrat and that the blood of the ordinary Nigerian was not worth his ambition did not blink an eyelid while his associates stoked troubles in these areas and others.

In all these, one then wonders what Goodluck Jonathan forgot in Aso Rock that he now intends to go back to that office, perhaps he seeks to re-enact the political like of comeback tales similar to a number of Western and African democracies, after all the likes of Winston Churchill and Matthew Kerekou returned back to power after an initial humiliation from power, how this will work for him in a country with political complexities such as Nigeria remains to be seen. On what yardsticks will he be running for such an office again? Security, anticorruption, restoring the nation’s lost glories, much lost under him that a number of African and World powers began to treat Nigeria like a leper.

I will not even dwell on the constitutionality of such unbridled ambition, lawyers, typical of their practice  have contended for and against the said re-election into the office of the President owing to a particular amendment to the 1999 constitution, the said amendment it is claimed stops a vice-president who completes the term of a President from contesting to be President more than one time.

However, another school of thought holds that the  said amendments of  sections 135 and 137 of the Constitution  cannot bar the former President from vying for that office since he didn’t take his oath as president under the amended constitution.

Nevertheless, while the matter of such an ambition may be left to the wisdom of the members of the judiciary, the moral questions raised here on such an ambition ought to be answered by true Nigerians.

Why should Jonathan crossover as it is alleged into the APC for such a ticket? Should this not smack of what only political desperadoes will do? Moreso, are there not qualified southerners in the APC , from the three regions that constitute the South, fit and more qualified than Jonathan to preside over our national affairs? What about the issue of tenure? With Muhammadu Buhari completing his two tenures of eight years, the North will have used it’s part of the zoning agreement that rotates the presidency between the North and South, now, understanding that Jonathan will be entitled to one term alone, will it not be a disadvantage to the south, to be limited to just a single term?  Is such political arithmetic appropriate, given that the nation is presently riven by a number of secessionist and divisive actors who will only sneer at such an arrangement as the oligarchic attempt to ensure that power remains in the North. Or let us assume that President Jonathan is the only person endowed with the magic powers to fix the nation, should his tenure then end will the North be so benevolent to allow for a southerner to do another single term after Jonathan and then hand over to a Northerner? What stops the Southerner from seeking a second term as guaranteed by the constitution? One can thus agree that such an ambition is inherent with a poisoned chalice of its own.

Goodluck Jonathan should kindly jettison any desire to return back to Aso Rock, such an ambition is beneath the trademark of modern day statesmen.

Ahmad Lawan almost fell for his charms in 2019 until his own guardian angel rescued him. Relentless lobbyists were choking the new senate president to accept Festus Adedayo, perennial applicant for “political appointment” after every election cycle, as his Special Adviser on Media. In fact, he had already been interviewed personally by the Yobe Senator for the strategic job.

Believing he dazzled his boss-to-be enough, Festus, after being jobless for years, was said to have sent jubilant words to his kith and kin in his native community in Ondo State who, in turn, had begun to look forward earnestly to the day they would migrate to Abuja in “Aso ebi” for his swearing-in.

Then came the breaking news: Festus Adedayo has been dropped after all, from consideration as S.A. to the senate president! Of course, the development was quite shattering for Festus, even as a cross section of APC members were exultant, claiming a moral victory against a hack fond of attacking APC in his weekly writings, never sparing any insolent words against its leaders at every turn, yet shameless enough to go groveling for a job from one of the same APC leaders after electoral victory.

Typically, fickle-minded Festus was inclined to view the hand that took away his much anticipated “pot of soup” as belonging to the usual whipping boy, the fabled “Tinubu machine”.

This unrelieved agony, let the unwary be told, is the source of the bitterness that has been eating Festus ever since like cancer. The reason he would never allow any opportunity pass without venting his near psychotic anger on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, however ridiculous or illogical.

It perfectly explains his kamikaze attack on the National Leader of APC in the column entitled “Why Bola Ahmed Tinubu Must never be Nigeria’s President”.

But if any lesson is to be learnt from Festus’ job application fiasco in 2019, it is surely philosophical in nature and boldly underscores the value of character as perhaps man’s greatest moral asset. I shall return to this presently.

Before addressing the issues Festus raised there, one quick clarification. Anyone who knows Tinubu very well would attest he would be the last to move against the Abuja job applicant under the circumstance in 2019, in his enlightened principle that the young ones should be supported to grow. In any case, in strategic terms, giving Festus “something to eat” in Abuja would have simply meant depopulating by one, the rank of “wailers” — whether online or offline — up in arms against APC maniacally like a congress of famished baboons.

If you pardon Festus’ usual affectation of literary elegance betrayed by an incurable affliction of tautology, you would also realize that all the columnist crowed about in the miserable piece was largely a rehash of fairy tales often concocted by Asiwaju’s political opponents at every election cycle since 1999. The most audacious of such efforts was arguably the visual documentary of lies, half-truths and libels unleashed ahead of the 2015 polls in which Asiwaju spearheaded the coalition of progressive forces that would unhorse a ruling party for the first time in the nation’s history.

Of course, when challenged at the law court, the author of that piece of mendacity could not sustain the weighty allegations with proofs. Eventually capitulating with tails between their legs, they suffer the humiliation of having to not only retract every thing but also tender a public apology to Tinubu in national newspapers and television station repeatedly for days as part of restitution.

Yet, this farrago of discredited claims were the straws Festus lashed on to launch his latest calumny against Tinubu. He, at some point in the rambling piece, even permitted himself further liberty to ridicule Tinubu’s inflection as “cockney”. Ah! What a stark irony! — a thickly accented “Ara Oke” (provincial from a rural Ondo community) mocking the linguistics of a “Lagos original”! So much for a pseudo intellectual whose cognitive capacity hardly ever transcends the vulgarities of “Ayinla Omowura” and other jesters and clowns in Yoruba’s cultural backwaters.

Back to the real issue. Well, the senate president Lawan never told anyone publicly in 2019 why he abruptly dumped Festus like a leper. But it is safe to speculate that the very thoughtful politician from Yobe probably chanced on some managerial nuggets from America’s business icon, Warren Buffet, just in time. Truly, no sane man will willingly hire a snake that might turn around to bite him the next day.

By way of timeless advisory to leaders wishing to assemble a good team, the Berkshire billionaire stresses the primacy of integrity. His thought-provoking verdict: “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you’re going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb. Today’s hiring managers must dig hard in the interview process to get the answers they need to feel confident someone has the non-negotiable trait of integrity. Otherwise, ‘dumb and lazy’ may eventually show up and cost you.”

Indeed, anyone who has followed Festus’ zig-zag career path in the last two decades — from the newsroom to political appointment — will definitely have great difficulty in vouching for his sense of loyalty. While Tinubu has suddenly become his favorite punching-bag and subject to be called unprintable names today, how many would believe that the same Asiwaju was Festus’ employer for many years and provided him and his family livelihood for years.

We challenge Festus to deny he never worked between 2008 and 2011 as a journalist at National Life, a daily newspaper largely supported by Tinubu. We also challenge him to deny if, after National Life was rested, he was not immediately offered rehabilitation by The Nation, a newspaper where Tinubu also has interest.

In the said piece, Festus paints the picture of a conscientious reporter who in 2000 travelled all the way down to Lagos from Ibadan to investigate a story of alleged infraction by Tinubu and was blocked by a stentorian voice who belched “You can’t write the story… Go back… We will call you boss in Ibadan”. But our “investigative journalist” of the century conveniently omitted other details. Whether he was offered “welfare” and he was also ethical enough to reject. Or whether he never had any more interactions with Tinubu as Lagos Governor subsequently and if, whenever he was invited from Ibadan by Lagos State Government for periodic media parley up till 2007, he always refused offer of accommodation and generous “welfare”.

Of course, Festus’ last political appointment as Special Adviser on Media to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State was also not without Tinubu chipping a word or two. As the Yoruba would say, “Efi ni wa” (character is like smoke that filters out ultimately). Before too long, predictably, Festus’ Judas character found him out at his new job at Ibadan Government House as he was relieved of his job.

Now, if Festus pontificates sanctimoniously that Tinubu’s hands are filthy, he needs to explains in his next column his own hour of epiphany: before or after the fact? Snakes don’t have conscience.

But you must give it to Asiwaju, his generosity of spirit is legendary and it predates his governorship in 1999. His giving spirit is instinctive, believing in sharing whatever he has. Before ever dreaming of becoming governor, he discreetly sold off his landed property in Lagos (when Sani Abacha was terrorizing the land). One of those who assisted him in disposing off landed property was Babatunde Fashola who kept a good account of the proceeds which were quietly sent to Tinubu abroad to finance NADECO which was then at the forefront of pro-democracy struggle.

It is perhaps the reason Tinubu has remained blessed while traitors who ate his proverbial “oil and salt” and yet betrayed him often found themselves condemn to the penury of hate and bitterness.

So, when next Festus whines about Asiwaju and APC, you now know the reason. Of course, on account of his proven talent for treachery and hypocrisy, only fools are distracted by his sounds and fury which, according to Shakespeare, signify nothing.

• Dr. Balogun, a media practitioner, is based in Ogun State.

He had intimidating credentials. A man of many parts, he was never associated with any scandal or controversy. He was a model technocrat. Many people loved, revered and envied him because of his accomplishments. His calmness and lack of hostility were legendary.

But that perception could not be sustained once he joined the military government and became involved in the murky waters of politics.

Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan, a big name in the corporate world and a highly respected Egba chief, was not a politician in the true sense of the word. But he was brought into government to handle political problems at a delicate period.

It was doubtful if he was prepared for the enormity of the responsibilities thrust on his shoulders by the departing military interlopers. Neither was he equipped with the skills required for political negotiation and stabilisation of the polity during the “June 12” crisis.

If Shonekan had not served under the deceptive Ibrahim Babangida regime, his place would still have been assured in national history. In industry, he was a colossus; an enigma and a household name. If he had opted out of the interim trap, he would have become a hero of sorts.

Before his adventure or misadventure into power, he was a successful and fulfilled corporate administrator and industrialist.

A lawyer and boardroom guru, Shonekan was very hardworking and meticulous. He rose through the ranks in the old United African Company (UAC), becoming the conglomerate’s Managing Director and Chairman. He was a shining example in the industry. Governments, in those days, ignored his advice on budgeting and economic planning to the nation’s peril.

In private and public, he was largely perceived as a real gentleman. He was revered for his credibility, integrity and pragmatism. To many, he was a doyen of corporate governance.

Shonekan was at the apex of his boardroom career when the “Evil Genius” Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) requested him to serve under his leadership as Chairman of Transitional Government. It was later clear that he only wanted a figurehead. IBB told the beleaguered nation that he was not only in office, he was in power.

The nomenclature of Chairman of Transitional Government was created by IBB, who also had a military vice-president, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu. Also, at that time of political experimentation, diarchy was foisted on the polity. Civilian governors were elected. There was also an elected National Assembly. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) was a mixture of soldiers and civilians. All the structures were, however, inferior to the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) with Babangida as Lord of the Manor.

It was during that phased disengagement programme, a key element of the dubious, elongated transition agenda, that the curious title of Head of Transitional Government was created by a military leader as a decoy.

Shonekan, while presenting the budget to the National Assembly, presided over then by Senate President Iyochia Ayu, was like a powerless and shadowy Head of Hovernment that was transiting to nowhere.

In government, he was not politically influential. He was not even part of the IBB Kitchen Cabinet. The soldiers suspected him; he never understood their language.

During the 1993 electoral debacle, the Egba chief was cut in the web of intrigues. He lacked the skills required to navigate the slippery political and administrative terrain.

The 1993 presidential election, won by his kinsman, the late business mogul, Chief Moshood Abiola, was criminally annulled by the military. He had no say in the matter. He was not in a position to avert the tragedy, despite being an Egba chief, like Abiola. It was possible that he was not even consulted. Neither was he in a position to persuade the dictator to retrace his steps. To him, it appeared he was convinced that it was a military matter.

But he never resigned from the shadowy position of Head of Government. Therefore, a question of culpability was raised. It was a moral puzzle.

As IBB reluctantly stepped aside in disgrace, Shonekan became a beneficiary of power he never worked for. He was not the only person considered for the job. Other “candidates” for the interim job included the late Dr. Pius Okigbo, Dr. Mathew Mbu, Chief Tony Enahoro and even Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.

Shonekan was not congratulated by his fellow Southwest compatriots for accepting the job of a caretaker president when the winner of the credible poll was deprived of his mandate. He was despised by the electorate who had voted massively across the country for Abiola.

Rationalising the interim option, Obasanjo said it was regrettable but understandable. It was clear some people wanted IBB out, but they did not want MKO as President. Much later, Obasanjo said the winner of the historic poll was not the messiah.

Shonekan’s new title was the Head of Interim National Government (ING), a sort of novelty in administrative hullabaloo disguised to extend military rule.

Highlighting the elements of ING, Babangida said the interim government was expected to discharge its duties and responsibilities within a reasonable period. Then, he said he would be ready at the end of the interim government to pass on his experience in defence and security matters and any relevant information to the state. He also said during the period of the interim administration, he would place before Nigerians the full account of his stewardship.

The elements of ING confused the political class and the general public. Only the soldiers in power understood the shoddy arrangement.

As Head of Government, Shonekan was not addressed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. That portfolio was indirectly allotted to the Minister of Defence and Chairman of the Joint Service Chiefs, Gen. Sani Abacha. Shonekan’s tenure was not stipulated or gazetted. The pillar of the interim arrangement was Abacha, who harboured an agenda to displace him without firing a shot.

As top military officers were being sacked by Abacha, Shonekan was not in the know. An aggrieved officer, then Brig.-Gen. Joshua Dongoyaro, who was affected by the gale of retirement, cried to the powerless Head of Government over his sack. A confused Shonekan was said to have retorted: “Joshua, business I know. Politics I also know. But, this your military matter, o ti su mi o (I’m tired of it).”

The country was enveloped in tension. Shonekan thought he could douse it. He overrated his capability. Everywhere he went to, including palaces of foremost monarchs, the reception was not warm. Voters were brimming with patriotic anger over the cancellation of the election results. There were protests in major cities.

Shonekan was dazed when his inept regime was pulled down by the Judiciary. His days were numbered in office when Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of Lagos High Court said the interim contraption was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. The Head of Government ran into a credibility crisis.

Apparently, IBB deluded himself into thinking that by appointing an interim head from the Southwest, the tension would fizzle out. But public outcry intensified. Shonekan was rejected at home. His consultations with many opinion leaders across the country were unsuccessful.

Three months after assuming the reins, Abacha summoned him and he resigned under duress. The rest, as it is said, is history.

What were the achievements of the Transitional Government? Shonekan may have offered advice to the Babangida government to reshape the economy. He was an expert held in high esteem. But soldiers are not friends of critical admonition by civilians.

Besides, ministers of government, who were called secretaries, never related with Shonekan as “Prime Minister”. They still preferred to bypass him and submit their files to the military President for clearance or approval.

Of course, Nigerians never expected any significant feat again from the government than a successful presidential poll and a smooth handover. Despite the “Maradonic” dribbling for eight years, they invested in hope, the elixir of life. But it was a forlorn hope.

A mention of Shonekan’s name ignited the memory of that odious period. The pains of the annulment still persisted. There was confusion, outrage and condemnation of the military disrespect for national sensibility. Many protesters were killed by soldiers. Foreign bodies decried the perfidious act. But the military stood against the people, insisting on the subjugation of democracy through the barrel of the gun.

Shonekan knew that June 12, 1993, was a historic day. He knew that Nigerians rose above ethnicity and religion as they chose between Abiola and his National Republican Convention (NRC) rival, Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa. He knew that the poll was peaceful nationwide: there was no thuggery; there was no violence. Malpractices were not reported. Domestic and foreign observers hailed the poll, saying Nigeria was coming of age. He also knew that through the election, the electorate had issued a red card to the military.

After annulling the poll, the symbol of the struggle was caged. Consequently, the victor became the villain. The political class was polarised. The faithful were in disarray. Abiola never returned alive from detention. Up till now, the circumstances surrounding his death are only known to those who know but in the realm of conjecture to most people.

The history of treachery and betrayal will be narrated from generation to generation. Many were jolted out of their delusion that the military could voluntarily return power to legitimate democratic authorities without a popular uprising.

Sparing no thought for tomorrow, IBB missed the opportunity to write his name in gold.

Despite the finality of the annulment, many believe that history’s judgment will always be harsh on those behind the annulment.

Shonekan became the vicarious object of the annulment’s intrigues. He did not just witness the annulment but its horror. He never engineered it. But he could not resist the urge to profit from the rot.

Between 1993, when he was installed as interim head against the nation’s popular wish and Tuesday, January 11, 2022, when he passed on, Shonekan never narrated his own side of the story. He never spoke about his experience in power. Many reporters tried to extract the very important information from the horse’s mouth. But the erstwhile Head of ING was evasive throughout. He kept his cool, leaving people to their conjectures.

It was said that Shobekan accepted to head ING in order to ease the military out and preserve the unity of Nigeria. This is debatable.

The former IGN head attended the Council of State meeting and limited public functions; he refrained from making controversial statements, unlike his friend, OBJ.

Until his demise, he was accorded the honour of an elder statesman. But the question remains: what is the place of Shonekan in the political history of Nigeria?