•Jonathan
Former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Bolaji Abdulahi has defended former President Goodluck who had been roundly criticised as weak and clueless during his reign as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2010-2015 saying that the former president was not weak or clueless.
Abdulahi asserted in Port Harcourt at the weekend, during the first quarter August Meeting organised by Education Champion League committee for the review of his book “On A Platter Of Gold – How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria”.
The former Minister who also served as the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (2016-2018) disagreed with the widely held claims that the former President was weak and clueless but instead described him as a patriot, reports Sunday Tribune.
He said: “Definitely he’s not weak, definitely he’s not clueless from my experience. The most important thing I know about him is that he’s very patriotic. As a patriot he’s also someone who’s careful about how he uses power.
He understood the enormity of the powers of the president and he used to say that if he uses 30% of his power as President of Nigeria he will become a dictator. So he’s someone who is careful and who is also reluctant to hurt people. So because of his reluctance to hurt people, it’s possible that some will interpret it to mean that he’s clueless”.
“Some of the things that he did at the time some other people have done the same and even worse. So I think he was just a victim of the kind of politics of that time. I think if he had been president at this time, he would probably have had a different approach”.
Abdulahi who also is the author of “Sweet Sixteen”, described his latest book as an attempt of “a journalist trying to practice history”, saying he was inspired to write the book for a long while.
He added that as a minister he saw every event that played out from the point of view of a journalist and a technocrat, not a typical Nigerian politician and the irresistible urge to put pen on paper to document what he saw in Nigerian power play.
He stressed; “I saw everything in government from a news angle, but soon realized that I couldn’t report all that I saw in government. I saw myself mainly as a journalist and technocrat not as a politician and realized that I was excluding myself from the mainstream but the journalistic instinct in me took a better part, so the book came forth”.
The former Minister while commending the organisers of the event added that what inspired him to write the book was to document for posterity the inner political intrigues, complications and complexities that played out during the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s ( a minority Ijaw man from Ogbia in Bayelsa State) meteoric rise to the highest office in Nigeria as President and his eventual loss of the coveted office.
Abdullahi said he was elated that the review of his book was part of the programme of the first quarter “August Meeting” by the organisers who also used the occasion to launch the Port Harcourt Education Champions League.
He stated that the idea was to stimulate the culture of reading and writing among the younger generation was noble and should be encouraged.
He regretted that some of the upcoming generations were wallowing in ignorance even about their immediate environment despite the internet age because they were no longer intentionally reading and writing.
Kingsley Wali, the Convener of the August Meeting explained that the idea behind the Education Champions League, ECL, was to promote literacy and intellectual engagement in the state other than politics and political bickering.
He said, “A society that doesn’t read dwells in ignorance, and ignorance is a very dangerous tool”.
Wali explained that the Education Champions League (ECL), an Incorporated Trustee dedicated to fostering intellectual growth and community enrichment, saying that depending on the educational calendar of the state, the competition will start in April or May in first instance for Secondary schools in Port Harcourt for logistic reasons.
The league will be in form of quiz competition among participating schools pointing out that the first prize winner would take home a total of N10 million prize money with 50 per cent of going to participants, 25 per cent to the school and 25 per cent to furnish the school library.
He also announced that the organizers have secured voluntary sponsors for the competition for the next three years calling on schools and other individuals and organisations to key into the noble programme to boost literacy, and intellectual competitive spirit among the younger generation.
The Book Reviewer, Tombari Robinson Sibe, commended the author for the in-depth and incisive chronicling of the inner workings in Jonathan’s rise to the presidency and his eventual defeat in the 2015 general elections.
