Former President Goodluck Jonathan now hugs the international limelight like perhaps no other Nigerian leader before him.
And he’s been spewing falsehood and fallacies as he ambles along from one continent to the other.
It all stems from that historic phone call placed to President Muhammadu Buhari, hours beforeAttahiru Jega called the election for the latter.
Sambo Dasuki, who served as Jonathan’sNational Security Adviser (NSA), has been passed around all law enforcement agencies and courtrooms in the land for making away with $2.2billion.
The money was meant for procurement of arms for the military.
Certain individuals who benefited from the Dasuki largesse, have offered to return some of what was handed them, others have asked for a plea bargain.
Army Chiefs who served under Jonathan have offered to return homes and cars acquired from Dasuki-Gate.
A few others have blissfully confessed they didn’t even know the money came from looted funds.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) keeps churning out revelations bordering on the manner of looting that went on under Jonathan, by the day.
It’s been dizzying to keep up with the figures being churned out.
Renown human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) believes the $2.2billion loot linked to Dasuki is a conservative figure. Falana pegs his estimate at closer to $6billion.
In the face of all of these revelations, it’s startling that the Commander-In-Chief at the time of the monumental heist is absolving Dasuki or anyone else who has been mentioned as a partaker in the looting spree, of any wrongdoing.
That he is even doing it with a straight face before an international audience, is mind numbing.
Speaking to a group of young chaps at theOxford Union in Oxford, U.K, Jonathan said Dasuki never made away with $2.2billion.
“They said the National Security Adviser stole $2.2billion. I don’t believe somebody can just steal $2.2 billion. We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the army and so on and so forth and you are still saying 2.2 billion, so where did we get the money to buy all those things?”
Question for the gods?
Not really.
This just offers a window into the manner the Jonathanian mind functions. It’s a mind perpetually in denial. It’s a naïve, pubescent mind.
It’s a mind so badly taken advantage of by anyone who came in contact with it in government circles.
Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor,Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had accused then Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of making away with $20bn of oil proceeds.
Jonathan’s reaction on national television will forever remain a classic.
“If you steal $20billion today”, Jonathan said, an index finger jabbing at the floor, “America will know”.
He didn’t believe anyone or group of persons could make away with that much money in looted funds.
But they did.
Pronto, Sanusi was relieved of his job as CBN Governor and his international passport seized. He had become a pariah for blowing the whistle and was on the verge of being hounded by the State when the Kano Emirship came calling.
As President, Jonathan couldn’t believe that his Ministers - Stella Oduah and Abba Moro - were capable of any harm or any forms of larceny.
As the world raged on about one purchasing bullet proof cars to satiate her taste for luxury and the other duping young job seekers; mercilessly ending the lives of some of them in stampedes, Jonathan looked away in disgust and held onto his ‘priceless’ team members.
He couldn’t fathom how anybody could say anyone who worked under him was capable of nicking a dime.
You had to be raving mad to level any form of allegations against Alison-Madueke, Oduah, Moro and now Dasuki.
So, the looting went on unchecked under a mother hen who believed her chicks could do no harm. He provided them cover and rose to their defense time and again.
Even a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa pitched in right under Jonathan’s roof. He just couldn’t be bothered. His domestic servant was next and on and on it went.
Nigeria under Jonathan was a bazaar for the greedy.
“Yes, there were some issues; yes, there are still corruption issues; but some of it were blown, I’d say exaggerated, and they give a very bad impression about our nation. You cannot say the national security adviser stole $2.2billion. It is not just possible,” Jonathan reiterated for emphasis.
Jonathan was also in denial when, during a visit to Kenya, he was reminded of how poor Nigerians were back home.
Not true, said the nation’s President. You only needed to look at the private jets acquired by Nigerians during his reign to know that his compatriots weren’t faring badly, he told his bemused audience.
In Oxford, Jonathan reminded us the Judges now under investigation for corruption, would have been spared the agony if he were still calling the shots from the presidential palace.
“One thing about the issue of corruption is that these matters are in court. Let’s allow some of these processes to end. Lately some judges’ (homes) were also invaded. There are so many things involved and we have to follow up these matters to conclusion before we know the fact.
“I don’t want to be seen as a former president challenging what the sitting government is doing so I have decided to keep quiet for the court to look into them,” he said.
Seriously, we can do with his silence right now.
For Jonathan, corruption as a construct doesn’t exist. Not surprising from a man who said stealing isn’t corruption.
There’s no nicer way to put this - Jonathan is awfully deluded and naïve. It is little wonder he was such a misfit as President.
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