THE RISE AND FALL OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN
Many will ask in 10 to 20 years time, what was the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan like and alas those who chose to turn history on its head will confuse future generations with glowing tales of how humble and delectable Goodluck was, that he was a victim of circumstance, a deliberate plot akin to a gang up of a Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba Majority against a kind hearted harmless Fisherman's son, a minority from the South South.
Thus one is compelled to set the record straight so that posterity will not be deceived by the sugar coated tongues of future sycophants.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not lose the Presidency on 28th March 2015, he lost his grip on power years ago, Nigerians were just allowing him dig himself deeper into his hole of future departure as they waited patiently to show him the door once the next election election cycle came round.
Indeed it is necessary to chronicle the fall from grace to grass of Goodluck Jonathan so that future leaders may learn from a classical case of deliberate self sabotage.

One of the people who played the greatest role in the fall from grace of Goodluck Jonathan is his wife Patience Jonathan. From being an unknown quantity as the Vice President's wife, faith propelled her to be the nation’s first lady.
Instead of wearing a cloak of humility and championing laudable humanitarian causes she began to become a beacon of political interference.
The day she over stretched her boundaries and incited the open rebellion to her husband's rule was the day she brought the office of the first lady into disrepute by engaging Governor Rotimi Amaechi an elected official in an unseemly verbal engagement over matters of State. That was the day I first took note of this woman and for saw that she was building a castle in the air that will soon come crashing down.
Patience instead of letting the matter die a natural death proceeded to engage in a spurious vendetta against Governor Amaechi and unwisely prompted her husband to pick a fight with one of the most powerful Governors in the country.
Amaechi made many overtures to reconcile with Jonathan but the proud peacock that was pulling Jonathan 's apron strings rebuffed all attempts to tow the path of peace.
From here shenanigans as the Permanent Secretary without portfolio to her open confrontation with Turai Yar Adua to her goading Amaechi out of PDP and promoting the rise of certain thugs in Rivers State to undermine the Governor, Patience Jonathan thought she was doing her husband a favour not knowing she was sending his Presidency to an early grave.
Matters ultimately came to a head during the campaign for reelection when she suddenly became the censure of all attention thus Nigerians were left wondering if it was Goodluck Jonathan they were voting for or her.
Her notorious comments of insulting the North by saying they give birth to children that they throw away was the final nail in the coffin of any hope of Goodluck winning some vital states in the North. Then her further talk of encouraging her supporters to stone opposition figures was like a sucke punch that earned her a mention before the International Criminal Court.
Patience Jonathan did not demean her husband's Presidency by her grammatical errors and social inadequacies but her lack of understanding of the various cultures of Nigeria and a morbid taste in being too overbearing, suffocated the life out of her husband's presidency.
Her myriad of faux pas are too numerous to mention from her role in sending policemen and thugs to disrupt the peaceful sit in of the ‪#‎bringbackourgirls‬ campaigners to crying crocodile tears on National tv and collecting the list of kidnapped chibok girls then doing nothing about it. God truly delivered Nigeria from this woman who felt her husband staying for 4 more years was their birthright, alas its just a privilege bestowed by the Nigerian people. She will definitely not be missed.

And for future Presidents, they must learn to cut the excesses of their wives. They should groom them to be cultured ladies who exude grace, style and compassion. Once a woman's voice is higher than an octave then it is either she is a nagging wife or her husband is deficient or both.

Namadi Sambo. I have written numerous pieces about the colourless VP from Kaduna but alas a summary of how he conspired to bring about the end of the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan must be elucidated.
Namadi Sambo failed in his duty as a Vice President. At the height of the Boko Haram crisis in the North he sat by and did nothing. While the people in the North were dying in droves, communities sacked, school girls kidnapped and millions displaced from their homes, Namadi Sambo said and did nothing. Quintessentially he was gambling that jeeping a low profile will put him in goodstead to succeed Goodluck in 2019. This was a flawed assumption.
Unknown to the camp of Goodluck Jonathan, Namadi Sambo was fast becoming a liability to his Presidency. But alas the myopic charade that cocooned Goodluck could not allow him see beyond his nose.
And issues came to a head when Namadi Sambo started preaching a message of he is now the only true Muslim born in Mecca called Namdina and that Buhari is a fake Muslim for choosing a Pastor with 5000 churches as his running mate all eyes began to watch Namadina closely and unfortunately he failed at the first test as a tape of him fumbling while reciting same sacred text from the Koran suddenly became viral in the North.
Many Southerners may not understand the implications of this but to a Muslim these words misrepresented is akin to blasphemy from a man called Namadina. That was the day this Sambo became totally useless to Jonathan and was now a liability or lodestone around his neck. Namadina could never bring in votes for Jonathan for he had reduced himself into a hate figure in the North.
A Vice president is just 1 foot away from the Presidency, that much should have impinged on Jonathan ' s mind hence a more colourful person who could bring real substance to his Presidency like how the savvy Oshinbanjo complements Buhari would have helped to save a Jonathan Presidency.
Future Presidents should be more circumspect when choosing their vice Presidents.

Sambo Dasuki, the second Sambo also had a major part to play in GEJ's downfall. He was the National Security Advisor who kept Jonathan sequestered in limbo. It was his duty to keep the President informed about the problems of Nigeria but alas for reasons best known to him he hid many problems from the eyes of the President.
He is the mastermind behind the South African Arms deal that used the private jet of the President of CAN to fly out illicit funds for a black market arms deal. This scandal eroded alot of confidence in GEJ and Sambo handled the matter poorly costing the President huge political capital.
From the Chibok girls to the sacking of Baga to the King of Morocco phone call saga, the National security advisor was repeatedly slow in updating the President hence the President was repeatedly embarrassed and seen to be clueless once confronted with issues that required urgent attention.
Sambo was indeed supposed to be the eyes and ears of the President but alas he left his president blind and deaf hence the results we see today.
A National Security Advisor is one of the most sensitive positions in any government. He must be proactive and decisive. He must be in the President's hair 24/7 hence must be a trustworthy person of impeccable character and high moral standing. The history we know of Dasuki throws a lot of warning lights and now in hindsight his appointment as National Security Advisor appears ill advised.

The Godfathers. Mentorship is important in Leadership. Every leader must have endured tutelage under someone which will help mould his leadership style. Obasanjo was key to the rise of GEJ but the two soon parted company. No matter how large Obasanjo maybe he deserves an audience before his pupil but alas the bees in Jonathan ' s ears deceived him into thinking the counsel of Obasanjo was unjust. They even rejoiced when Obj's PDP membership card was torn up and the man said ABJ, "Anyone but Jonathan" Unknowingly they didn't realise that OBJ was playing Pontus Pilate, washing his hands off the blood of a Jonathan set to lose an impending election.

Thus Jonathan exchanged the counsel of Obasanjo who is far from a Saint for the counsel of the heathen. Edwin Clark and DSP Alams, who became the kitchen cabinet of GEJ. These two individuals are local champions who promote a strict Ijaw Agenda that deserve absolutely no seat in any discourse on how to move Nigeria forward. At least the Patriotism of OBJ is beyond doubt but Clark and DSP are a different kettle of fish. These are the two humming birds that sang the song of deceit that reduced GEJ from being a national leader loved by the people in 2011 to their level of being a local champion despised by most in 2015. As they sang their beautiful tune the sensibilities of GEJ diminished as he lost focus of the reason why Nigerians elected him into office which was to fight corruption and impunity thus instead he pardoned corrupt individuals and dismantled the anticorruption apparatchik Yar Adua and OBJ struggled to build. Indeed this angered Nigerians greatly for corruption is perceived as one of the major problems of Nigeria and any leader who dares belittle this into the realm of goats eating yam and other shenanigans is courting fire and a backlash at the polls.
This is the cross GEJ has to bare for listening to the unwise counsel of his godfathers.
Future Presidents must chose their godfathers wisely. Don't chose a godfather whose outlook is restricted to the palm tree in front of his house because very soon you will be trapped in his microscopic world drinking palm wine together under that palm tree for days without end.

The sycophants and unalloyed praise singers. My father taught me long ago that one must have 2 types of close friends. Those who praise and encourage you when the going is rough and those who criticise you when the going is good.
The first set help you through the obstacles in life, the second keep you humble, contrite and honest.
GEJ had neither. His best friends were the sycophants. The endless praise singers that will praise him when he does either wrong or right that the poor President couldn't even tell day from Night for the constant refrain around him was good morning. The list of these unsavoury characters are known to all.
Theses figures who serve Any Government in Power (AGIP) are well known for their antics and have led to the downfall of many Nigerian Presidents in the past so it is very sad that they have conned another President once again.
The one true friend GEJ had was Sanusi Lamido Sanusi , the former Central Bank Governor. That was the only man who tried to break through the veneer of sycophants around GEJ but alas the man was totally given over to the sweet melody of the hummingbirds hence was cajoled by the custodians of corruption to humiliate and send Sanusi packing.
How ironic that today the Sanusi he sacked is Emir for life while GEJ is now a lame duck President waiting for handover date to enter the unemployment market.
The team of sycophants led GEJ along the path of perdition attacking the personality of Buhari instead of running an issues based campaign. While Buhari was building bridges in the former of strong alliances, the sycophants were burning the little bridges Jonathan had left. Even when the dying embers of his rule was about to be extinguished these parrots kept on talking out of sorts giving false hope where none existed.
A President must have sincere people around him who can guage the pulse of the people and relay it back to him promptly. To lose another President to this nest of vipers is one tragedy Nigeria can ill afford in the future. Let the days of sycophancy come to an end and the days of truth and justice be ushered in.

But the number one person behind GEJ's failure is himself. He lost sight of his humble beginnings and started to become proud and pompous. No one could talk to him and he would listen for the sycophants and godfathers had sole access to him.
The day his Presidency started to end was the day he came on tv and said he didn't give a Damn about publicly declaring his assets. In a country where the perception of massive corruption is held in high regard Jonathan made nonsense of the war against corruption telling tales of goats and yam in the midst of no corruption exists only common stealing remains, these words incensed Nigerians and filtered to the grassroots. Thus the rumour was the most corrupt President ever was ruling Nigeria.
And Jonathan did everything in his power to encourage that notion. Allowing the Fuel subsidy scam to continue, rewarding persons accused of Malfeasance with Plumb Ministerial positions or tickets to higher office and even letting off many with only a mere slap on this wrist. This is one area that cost GEJ his Presidency.
The second is the handling of boko haram. For years GEJ treated Boko haram with kid gloves. This made him appear callous and evil in the eyes of a lot of Nigerians. It's common knowledge that Boko haram is neither a disciplined or formidable force yet for years their evil was allowed to grow unchecked. This is one question Goodluck will have hanging over him for ever. Why did you allow the killings to go on for so long?
The once proud Nigerian military was brought to the brink of imminent collapse under GEJ. Soldiers wives protesting, mass mutiny and tactical withdrawals into other countries also known as desertion/shameful retreat became the order of the day. In the end a multinational force from Neighbouring countries had to be mobilised to check this menace. Mixed with the sudden political will generated by the general elections GEJ suddenly woke up to his duty but by then it was too little too late.
GEJ'S supreme failure was failing to keep his wife in check. She made more powerful enemies for him than friends and totally alienated him from his people. She and a trioka of women turned GEJ into what OBJ called the 1st Hostage. GEJ was now seen as clueless and incompetent and the time was rife to ease him out of power peacefully via the ballot box.

Unlike many other 1 term President's in other climes they can trace their failure to a singular event. GEJ's case is different as in a myriad of events led to his downfall. The days of honoring himself are over. Nigerians should not cry for Goodluck. He had his chance and blew it big time. May others learn from the RISE AND FALL OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN.

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he was warned ahead over mama peace