SIR: Anybody who is close to the former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) should please advise him to respect himself and the image he had built so far and steer clear of the 2023 presidential contest.
Recall that the former president had said he is yet to decide whether or not to yield to pressure from different groups urging him to contest the 2023 presidential election. He said this on Friday April 22, in Abuja when his committee of friends and some youths from across the country visited him at his Foundation Office in Maitama, Abuja. His words: “Yes, you are calling me to come and declare for the 2023 presidency, yes I can’t tell you I am declaring, the political process is ongoing, just watch out.”
Notwithstanding that it is his fundamental and constitutional right to vote and be voted for, it will be rather cheap for President Jonathan to stoop low into yielding to the pressure by the few individuals urging him to consider vying for the number one seat.
One of the many reasons that led to his defeat in 2015 is betrayal by the people he held in high esteem or took as confidants. The same people, who could not put up with the feat he has made so far by becoming an internationally recognized elder statesman and peace ambassador after allowing a peaceful transition of power in 2015, are sadly the same people masquerading as concerned and lovers of GEJ who again want him back to power.
Without any iota of sentiment, these people are only out to rubbish GEJ and his growing world image. It is going to be a colossal mistake for him to fall for this trick. The truth is, even if he decides to honour the call to contest in 2023, he will lose the election.
From all indications, he seems to belong to no political party because he is one leg in the PDP and romancing the APC with the other leg. Let’s even assume he belongs to the PDP, he cannot win the party’s ticket and neither that of the APC which is a merger of many political parties with standing agreement of power rotation.
Although the body language of the former president suggests that he may likely accept the offer to run, he must be aware that those who want him back are only a fraction of the many individuals who do not. To say that Nigerians love him to the extent of returning him back to Aso Rock is to live in delusion. By experience, President Jonathan should be wise enough to read the handwriting on the wall. His close associates should with persuade him to shelve the call in order to continue to enjoy his good reputation internationally as the call for his return is only engineered by the enemies of the good image he has built so far.
- Jiya Peter Idowu,
Ilorin, Kwara State.