By Kennedy Emetulu
Okay, I strongly supported President Goodluck Jonathan in the last
election, even though I’m not a PDP member, and I have condemned and continue
to condemn the present attempt to vilify him or make him a scapegoat for the
supposed failure of his administration. I do admit he has a lot to be blamed
for, but I just don’t think the present occupiers of Aso Rock should use him as
an excuse for their own scandalous failures still dangerously unfolding. I
believe Jonathan, like other previous heads of state and presidents, has done
his bit while in office and must be allowed to go anywhere he wants freely and
contributes to national development and discourse as he deems fit.
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*Goodluck Jonathan |
I have watched him traverse the
world since he left office, and I was convinced that he was doing this to
garner support for his newly-established Goodluck Jonathan Foundation. I have
also accepted the fact that he was being welcomed, hosted and given all manner
of awards here and there abroad as a natural result of the commendable thing he
did by handing over power the manner he did after the election of last year.
Now, here is my problem: How long is he going to be globetrotting for? How can
he be globetrotting now even more than he did while in office? What exactly is
the purpose of all this? Apart from the work he did on behalf of the
Commonwealth in Tanzania, I
haven’t seen much of a benefit Goodluck Jonathan has brought to Nigeria or Africa
with all these travels all over meeting with nondescript people here and there.
When
I saw him return to Nigeria
recently after the falsehood that he was seeking exile abroad, I was happy. But
just as we were welcoming him home, he was out again and now is in London! I have just read
the speech he delivered there, and I’m wondering what that is all about.
Who
doubted his Nigerianness? Of what value is that Bloomberg appearance or that
speech? Of what value is a speech that’s just a list of what he achieved while
in government? How is that useful for where we are now as a nation?